It was unplanned and unexpected. I was never supposed to be anywhere but in Baler last week. I forgot that it was my cousin’s birthday and it was the first time for me to be in the same city as he was for his birthday, I just couldn’t say no to an invitation to go.
Having slept for less than six hours for the last 48 hours, I wasn’t in my normal adventurer mode. The usual me would never sleep the whole journey because I would want to remember the directions in case I’ll go back. I would have slept through almost the entire six-hour drive from Paranaque to Baler in Aurora if not for my backseat buddy named Buddy, my cousin’s golden retriever).
I never checked the forecast if there were waves in Baler. I must have thought that I was still in Mindanao and during these months almost everywhere I know is flat as a lake. You could imagine my reaction when we arrived at Sabang Beach, and the waves were pumping head-high walls of beautiful, long-awaited swells. I was shrieking!
I wanted to get in the water immediately, but I knew best to wait till I’ve eaten at least a meal for the day—I haven’t had any food since 2:00am, and I barely slept. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the past two years is that no food and no sleep is a dangerous combination to have when surfing. So I did what I think the mature thing was—get food in my belly and rest a little bit from the travel. Besides, I didn’t have a surfboard with me, and I didn’t know anybody.
I prefer surfing when I have friends or at least friendly locals willing to orient me about their spot even just for a little bit—at least tell me where to enter, where to exit and what to expect with wipeouts (although I forgot to ask about this when I got into the water).
After having a fantastic vegetarian brunch at Charlie Does Cafe, I felt the lack of sleep attack and instantly, I looked for a bed to crash. We quickly left for the room we booked, turned the air-conditioner on maximum and settled into our respective beds. I decided to rest a bit and maybe by the stroke of some miracle be able to get the courage to surf even if I have no clue and no friends around.
This is where I thank social media. I posted a video of the waves on Instagram Stories and a few minutes later got a message from a fellow surfer I met a few months back during the Philippine Surfing Championship Tour (PSCT) La Union leg. It was then I realized I knew people in Baler! I quickly replied back that I wanted to surf, but I didn’t have a board or anybody to go into the water with.
A few minutes later I was loading a longboard onto a tricycle with Baler’s star surfers Mark Aguila (2017 PSCT Men’s Longboard Champion) and Neil Sanchez (2017 PSCT Men’s Shortboard Third Place) to join me in the water. To be continued next week! Stay tuned!
