Windsurfing!

So, we left off last outside of Gilligan’s Island – a really pretty harbor near the town of Guanica PR.  The shoreline here is all part of a protected National Forrest.  Interestingly, it is a ‘dry forrest’ – receiving an average of less than 14” of rain per year.  Because of the protected status, there are only 50 or so houses in the area – houses that were there before the formation of the Nat’l Forrest.  This all makes for a beautiful spot.

After our time dragging around the harbor, we were visited by a guy buzzing by on a windsurfer.  I talked to him a bit and learned that his name is Mike and he is visiting friends who had the windsurfers and that he’d ask his friend if we could come by and borrow one.  Later that afternoon, we swung by again and said that his friends would be happy for us to come on by and that they would give the girls lessons.

In the late afternoon / early evening, we stopped by, and sure enough, were welcomed in with open arms.  Mike and his family have been coming to his friends place for the past 20 years to visit and go windsurfing.  The friends are Gerd and Toni – a German couple who have been living in the US for the past 20 or so years.  They currently live in the Seattle area in the summers and spend the winters at their beautiful house on the water in the National Forrest here in Guanica.  Their place is amazing with a front yard that looks like a windsurfing / aquatics school.  It has a shed full of 10 to 15 windsurfing sails, 5 sea kayaks, a Sunfish sailboat, and other assorted water toys.  On the bottom level of their house are two apartments that Toni and Gerd use to house the many, many visitors they have throughout the winter (like Mike and his family).  Toni and Gerd are amazing.  They are two of the nicest, most full of life, most generous, and generally ‘good’ people I have ever met. They were busy that afternoon, and invited us to stay another day or so to take windsurfing lessons. In Gerd’s words – ‘the lessons are cheap – costs you only 60 minutes per hour’.

The next day, we did schoolwork in the morning, and went to Gerd and Toni’s in the afternoon.  There, Gerd set-up a few windsurfers and started teaching the girls how to windsurf (undoing the bad habits I had taught them).  Aside from Mike and his family (wife Denyse and 18 YO daughter Izzy), there was another couple – Petra and Torsten visiting from Germany.  Torsten helped Gerd teach – he spent time with Sally, while Gerd helped Lucy (Heidi took a day or two off – as she had a sore back from tubing and from the little bit of windsurfing we tried the day before).  I even got a chance to go out – but was limited to a pretty small area until I showed Gerd that I was competent enough to safely get myself and his windsurfer back safely (which was totally cool).  A bit of background – when I was Heidi or Lucy’s age, I got my first windsurfer and taught myself how to use it.  So, I’m somewhat competent on a board, but nobody is confusing me for an expert – as my self-taught ways are less than precise.  That being said, I ‘passed’ the initial test and was able to go out a bit further and had a great time.  The bay in Guanica is perfect for windsurfing – good wind (20 + kts) and very small waves – a great combo.  After our day of lessons, Gerd invited us to come back – as he was pretty sure that with a few days, he could turn the girls into windsurfers.  He also wanted me to come back so he could show me the right way to windsurf so I could continue to teach the girls the right way (instead of my flawed, self-taught way). We were planning to head out to the next harbor the following day – but this offer was too good to pass-up.  We ended up staying a week! Here are some good pics of us having fun.

 Mark (after some lessons)

This week was great.  It will stand out as one of the best weeks of our journey.  Not only did we learn the right way to windsurf, we made some great friends and had some great times.  One morning, Toni took us on a fantastic hike around the National Forrest.  She is a great guide – showing us interesting things we would have never noticed on our own – such as some cool blow-holes, interesting plants and flowers, and a really pretty cliff walk. Another afternoon, Gerd showed us his woodworking shop and some of the really fantastic things he has designed and built – like a really intricate, working clock, some beautiful guitars, a ukulele – and more.  We also got to know Petra and Torsten and the girls had fun making jewelry with Izzy.  It was really tough to leave – but after a week, we felt it was time to move on.  Next stop (and next post) – Ponce.