How 'bout that surf in Cocoa Beach

At a distance I came remotely close to looking like a surfer while walking to the beach with a long board tucked under my arm, sporting some cool board shorts, and even a half sleeve tattoo. I felt cool and kept telling myself how much fun I was about to have riding my first waves. Yep, I was proud walking towards the water among a few other surfers that were definitely locals and knew what they were doing. I could tell they were good just by how tan they were. I figured I had about 2 more minutes to look like I knew what I was doing.

I reached the depth of water to where the other surfers were hopping on their boards to begin paddling out to catch the next set of waves. I took a few quick glances to see exactly how to go about it and then plopped up on my stomach in the correct paddle position. I couldn’t wait – I was about to catch my first wave.

Within seconds it was painfully obvious it was my first time EVER attempting to surf let alone even touching a surfboard. I do mean painfully too as I was completely exhausting myself just trying to stay on the board while paddling out as my body continually slipped off from one side to the next. I repeated this process enough times that the layers of wax on the board for feet grip began turning into a weapon as the board had decided I was no longer worthy to ride it. My stomach endured several scratches and scrapes to the point of becoming raw from the numerous attempts to hang on without sliding off.

Finally, after huffing and puffing for close to an hour and unable to catch a wave (as easy as it looks) I decided at least I will sit on the board and float out passed where everyone catches the waves to regain my energy. I figured I would use this time to view some more surfers for strategy. After all, this always seemed enjoyable and peaceful when you look out to the ocean and see all these surfers just chillin’ on their boards floating around chatting. I paddled out a little more to my own space and then propped myself up on the board in the sitting position. “Nice,” I thought to myself as I looked around. Not even one minute went by and I got a huge cramp in my left groin and had to bail from the board immediately… that’s when I decided I was done with my first day of surfing and headed to shore.

We leave for S. America in four days. Buenos Aires is our first stop. I've spent several hours in research and finding places to stay as well as familiarizing myself with the better neighborhoods to call home for a bit. Think I may have found some decent apartments to check out. We will soon find out.