Got picked up from the hotel early this morning by Ian Ravouvou Muller ( self confessed surfaholic ) who runs a surf tour company called fijiansurf , we just managed to get a little breakfast in, as he was at reception at 6:30 am to pick us up ( early bird gets the early worm early barrel ) So now we are on the boat, on our way out to the oceanBeautiful morningThat's the board on the bottom of the photo, wedged in the boat as we speed away from the main island of fijiDestination, Island on the horizonMainlandThe Island Tavarua, gateway to CloudbreakOur boat, so we get of at Tavarua. Tavarua is known for 2 amazing waves, the famous left of cloudbreak, & the left called Restaurants. But. Interesting situation here, all the surfers in the world know of these awesome surfspots, and they are on an island, an island owned by a couple of seppo's, who tightly control who gets to surf these spots, as they have a mini resort on this Island, and people pay top bucks to stay here. It is a week booking only, no 2-3-4 nights, it is 7, 14, 21 etc..day bookings only. And the "public" can't surf out here, well, you need to get out here in a boat, so they can see you coming, and if you try to go surf, they'll just literally chase you out of the water, but on change over day, the end of a 7 day cycle, is the one day "public" can go surf the place ( for a small fee ) but it is limited to seats on the boat that goes out there ( 15 pax ) So today is one of those days, and we have one seat confirmed for me, but not sure if there is a spot for Jacqui. So that's what we going to do now and find outThose small lines you see, that's Restaurants, which is not breaking today ( too small swell )If I had more time and bucks , I could stay here for a few weeksThe whole process of trying to get on the boat to Cloudbreak was taking too long, the wind felt like it was going to pick up, and without really knowing the breaks here, I was concerned it would be on shore. Plus the fact you need to sign a 6 page contract to go surf this spot I was like, what the fuck, this is so far removed form the spirit of surfing ( fucking seppos and their lawyer mentality ) So I barred it, I had little grommet waiting patiently , but keen to get going to Namotu, so yeah, barred it, and now on the boat again, leaving Tavarua behind us and heading to the next islandNamotu, also an Island where you can, smaller, but not much, and great lefts, with a right hander on the other side of the passageSo now we get of the boat to sign a 1 piece page paper, that will allow us to surf Namotu
Glassy morning
Got picked up from the hotel early this morning by Ian Ravouvou Muller ( self confessed surfaholic ) who runs a surf tour company called fijiansurf , we just managed to get a little breakfast in, as he was at reception at 6:30 am to pick us up ( early bird gets the early worm […]
Sonny Vandevelde