Lost Boys & Co.

  Lost Boys & Co... O ne year ago today some of the boys were gathered at the counter sharing stories with Anderson.  This is the kind of situation you want to monitor closely if you're a parent.  Especially Boris sharing the weekends happenings...  (from l. to r.  the Professor, John Suddith, Jetski and Anderson)  Speaking of John Suddith he's recovering now from a motorcycle accident that left him with a broken back.  Fortunately he wasn't paralyzed, but he was dragged twenty feet across PCH and unceremoniously deposited on the curb... C loudy and 10 miles visibility this morning, with winds out of the SW at 5.2kts and smooth seas.  The air temperature was 50.9 and the water is 59.2.  High tide was at 10:35am +4.3' and low tide will be at 4:00pm +1.2'.  We had a west swell out of 260º at 5.2' and it was 3' to 5' with some excellent waves.  We hit the water with José Bacallao this morning and it's always a pleasure to surf with him.  There's

  Lost Boys & Co... D on't be so hard on yourself...  (#1) A hazy 10 miles visibility under partly cloudy skies.  Winds are out of the south at 3.9kts and the sea surface is a bit bumped.  The air temp is 56.3 and the water is 58.8.  High tide is at 8:28am +4.7' and low tide follows at 2:30pm +0.2'.  We have a SSW swell out of 210º at 3.6' and it's 4' to 5' with some thick fat ones on the outside...  Wind is kinda knocking things down, but could be good tomorrow... " W hy are these men laughing? (#2)"  Probably because they're anticipating the good time at Laurel Tavern tonight...  see you at 5:30pm... ✠ "When the surf breaks, we'll fix it" The Professor!!

  Lost Boys & Co... Y ou know how it's overcast most of the day, but things clear up just before sunset...  Well, this was one of those days (#1).  Apricot sky fading into dark blue, indigo...  and the parking lot, very photogenic... S un was trying desperately to break through this morning and visibility was 5 miles.  Winds were light onshore and there was a slight bump on the sea surface.  The air temp was 55.6 and the water is 58.5.  High tide was at 7:37am +4.7' and low tide will follow at 1:54pm -0.0'.  It was slabby and high tide with a SSW swell out of 199º at 3.0', but it looked bigger than that and we'll venture that it was more like 3' to 5' on the inconsistent sets... D o YOU know the difference between Iowa and Idaho...  (#2)  Actually, this is the map of the state of Idaho, with "Iowa" emblazoned on the inside.  This is what passes for humor in Idaho...  Iowa is pretty square (shape) except for where it bulges into Illinois and Wis

  Lost Boys & Co... F armers use these gloves to (#1)...  Wait...  Never mind... H azy sun this morning and 5 miles visibility.  Winds are light out of the SSW by 1-2kts and the sea surface is smooth.  The air temperature is 55.5 and the water is trying at 58.3.  High tide was at 6:39am +4.6' and low tide will be at 1:14pm -0.1'.  We have a WSW swell out of 254º at 2.6' and it's 2' to 3' and needs a little less tide... F ins to the left... (#2)  Should you be lucky enough to be one of Redondo High's outstanding surfers, one of these beauties will be making it's way to your mantle... S pring is here and this mamma dove and one of her two offspring were eating and enjoying the sunshine (#3).  A pair of doves made their nest in this succulent plant next to the south scullery window here at Mar y Fuego...  Our National Geographic moment... R emember happy hour is at Laurel Tavern this Friday.  5:30pm at the main table...  unless someone is there already.

  Lost Boys & Co... A lthough extremely rare, we managed to catch this "fogbow" (#1) on Saturday as the sun began to burn through the fog.  It actually arced over the pier, but we couldn't get back far enough to catch the entire phenomenon... O vercast this morning with 3 miles visibility.  Winds were variable early, at one point turning offshore for about 10 minutes, but they were primarily WSW by 1.1kts and the sea surface was smooth.  The air temperature was 56.3 and the water was 59.0, but felt more like 57 or 58.  Still stings the hands a bit.  Low tide was at 11:29am -2.0' and high tide was late at 6:30pm +4.0'.  We had a SSW swell out of 195º at 3.0' and that what it was in the surfline, breaking fairly far out on the rising tide... S ince Louie-Louey's/Anthony's/Moon's went under we've been scouting out places to eat on Monday nights.  Originally, this started out as a Monday Night Football gathering, but it's morphed into a yea

  Lost Boys & Co... J ah Morgan (#1) sporting hat and gloves prepares to try and eat breakfast.  Yes it was a bit nippy this morning!  The water was 56.1 and the air was 48.6, which made for a rather brisk go-out.  The tide was low at 7:40am -0.3' which made for some steep drops and gaping holes to fly through.  To top it off the wind was offshore by 3.7kts and the sea surface was smooth...  Very nice.  We have a west swell out of 267º at 3.9' and it was a fun 3' to 4'.  Nice if you had a longboard and better if you went short... O n Isla Santa Cruz there's this spot called Las Grietas, that's a chasm near the sea (#2).  It's about 40' to the water and then the water is deeper than that.  There's no direct outlet to the ocean, but the salt water seeps through the rocky substrate and fills the pools.  Amazingly, it has these huge fish that passingly resemble catfish without the whiskers.  (#3) In the middle of the pools is this rock wall that you

  Lost Boys & Co... " R ain, rain, soak the turf,  all the Lost Boys want to surf."   We made that up all by ourselves...  No, really...  And come on, what else rhymes with "surf?" S o, photo #1 is from a couple of days ago when the wind was playing hell redistributing the sand.  Now, in our imaginations we picture that this is exactly what's happening to the sand bars under the water as well.  And if you saw the surf yesterday, it kinda makes sense... A guy asked us this morning if it had ever rained in April before?  We immediately said, "Well hell, of course it's rained in April before!  How long have you lived here?"  He said he'd been in Hermosa going on 3 years.  "Hmmm, probably hasn't rained in April in the last three years..."  But it rained this morning!  Visibility was 5 miles and it was cloudy.  Winds were onshore from 5 to 8kts and the sea surface was choppy.  The air temp was 49.3 and the sea temps are around 55/

  Lost Boys & Co... T his is the celebrated Blue-Footed Booby in full dive (#1).  Unless they're standing or you're lucky, you're not going to see those blue feet since they keep them tucked under their feathers most of the time in flight... W ait, how did the Sahara Desert get started (#2).  Well, Timbuktu used to be a pretty green place and then they had a big wind, kinda like us yesterday and there was this patch of sand in the middle of the city that just kept growing...  Right now there's about 15 miles visibility under cloudless skies. Winds were offshore by 2.2kts and the sea surface was smooth.  The air temperature was a chilly 46.3 and the water is at it's lowest point this season at 55.2.  Need more sun...  Low tide was at 5:42am -0.5' and high tide will be at 12pm +3.9'.  We have a WSW wind swell out of 254º at 4.3'.  It was a solid 3' at most spots with some ear-ticklers on the odd set... A Big Daddy sighting at Brother's Tuesday

  Lost Boys & Co... H ere's LoLa getting ready to set sail from Floreana (#1).  She was accompanied by some of the local fauna that followed her to the dock, including a couple of seals and a grip of iguanas... Y eah, it's still windy.  So windy that we watched a guy jump in the water next to the Hermosa pier, get blown to the Breakwater, across the King Harbor parking lot, through the yacht club, across the harbor, ping-pong through the Horseshoe Pier and we lost sight of him before he hit the jetty at Topaz...  In other words visibility was about 7 miles.  13 to 15kt winds and plenty of white caps.  The air temperature was 50.0 and the water has dropped a couple of degrees more to 55.6.  Low tide was at 4:56am -0.5' and high tide will be at 11:08am +4.3'.  We have a 4.9' west swell out of 260º and it was 3' to 5' at most spots... T he dock on Floreana is a pretty simple affair (#2) unless the surf is pumping.  When that happens you wait until the boat

  Lost Boys & Co... Y et another "Amazing Morgan Milestone" as she logs 1000 SURFING DAYS IN A ROW!  So next time you surf three days in a row and you're thinking, "whoa, I'm a little sore!" remember that Morgan is only 997 days ahead of you.  She was feted in fine fashion with cake, mimosas and her surf familia...  Surf a 1000 days in a row and we'll do that for you too!  Do you like chocolate or white cake? M ore wind this morning as we battened down the hatches.  10 miles visibility under hazy skies and the wind was blowing out of the west at 9 to 14kts.  White caps were the order of the day.  The air temperature was 51.5 and the water has come up from the bottom at 57.0.  High tide was at 10:23am +4.6' and low tide will be at 4:07pm +0.7'.  We have a west windswell out of 275º at 4.3' and it was peaky and almost rideable at 3' to 5'.  That didn't stop Morgan and her coterie of stalwarts...  They made it look almost good! T

  Lost Boys & Co... I n photo #1 the Professor ponders the abundance of Spanish moss on the local trees.  We kept being amazed at how un-equatorial everything seemed.  It wasn't that hot, the water wasn't as warm as Nicaragua or El Salvador and the humidity wasn't bad... I t was better than one might have imagined this morning, as the wind calmed down and changed almost 180º.  It was out of the NE by 2kts, but the surf had a significant bump to it early.  The air had dropped again to 50.9 and the water a couple more degrees to 56.7.  High tide was at 8:25am +4.8' and low tide will follow at 2:41pm +0.1'.  The swell was from the west 260º at 5.9' and it was 3' to 5' with some rogue fatties...  Fun and it got better as the morning warmed up... T he entrance to the snorkeling spot on Lobeira (#2).  You can see the clarity of the water and the sand bottom.  The water was about 75, but it was nice to have a spring suit just to keep off the chill and stay

  Lost Boys & Co... These red crabs, Grapsus-Grapsus (#1), don't look real.  They look like they've been hand-painted.  They're predominantly red, but they have flecks of sky blue, yellow, orange, white and black.  When everything else is trying to hide with protective coloration, these guys stand out like sore thumbs! You could pretty much sum up the report today with "Windier than hell! (#2)"  Winds are straight out of the north from 15 to 20kts and the sea surface is beyond choppy.  The water temps have dropped back to 58, with some obvious upwelling.  High tide was at 7:46am +4.6' and low tide follows at 2:14pm +0.1'.  So we have a wind swell out of the west at 8.5' and it's anywhere from 5' to 9' and pretty disorganized...  Looks like more wind scheduled for mañana, but we're going to look anyway... This red succulent (#3) grows in different spots on Floreana and the marine iguanas that live near it adapt with this brick colore

  Lost Boys & Co... S o this is the black sand beach on Floreanna (#1).  This was early afternoon and the kids had just gotten out of school, so they flocked to the beach.  There are six of them.  Our bungalow is in the background with the blue tin roof.  LoLa had just been to the market.  At the market they have a limited number of canned goods (corn, sardines, garbanzos and hearts of palm,) in other words the kind of stuff you haven't used in three years and you give to the food drive.  They have mozzarella cheese, which has been treated to have no flavor and the consistency of Silly Putty®, ground corn meal and beer.  If you wanted to have meat loaf, you would be shit-out-of-luck...  On her trip to the store she also stopped by one of the "restaurants."  Restaurants is a perfectly good word, but we put it in parenthesis because these are restaurant-bar-homes-inns.  You have to go by in the morning and announce that you are coming to dinner (if they are open.)  They

  Lost Boys & Co... T here are 18 major islands in the Galapagos chain, but probably only 9 have any significant permanent population.  The main island is Santa Cruz, but the largest island is Isabella.  If you go there every island has something special to offer, but we chose Floreana as a side trip.  Mostly because there's quite a bit of mystery surrounding the island and it's the subject of the book "Satan Came To Eden."   Besides that, when our friend Yogo found out we were going he invited us for a drink and told us about his year on the island.  There are a hundred and fifty-seven permanent residents and basically four families.  As we pulled into the harbor we saw this black sand beach and this blue roofed bungalow (#1) above it.  That would be our residence for the next three days... 10 miles visibility this morning and we're glad to be back in the South Bay.  Hazy sun and the winds were light offshore, but not for long.  They changed early and then t

  Lost Boys & Co... On the Galapagos island of Santa Cruz, there are several fabulous white sand beaches.  This was Las Griegas (#1) and the sand there was not only white but the consistency of powdered sugar... This Surf in the So. Bay is taking a jump and should be in the 3' to 4' range mañana.  We have a steady swell out of the west and the sea temp is holding at 59.4. You're supposed to stay 10' or roughly 3 metres away from the wild life (#2).  LoLa just had to have a touch.  Of course if you get TOO close, the iguanas blow a cloud of salt out of their nostrils!  Actually, there are so many iguanas, turtles and tortoises that you pay hell staying that far away.  The turtles swim up to your face in the water and the iguanas look so much like rocks they're hard to avoid! #3 is a Black Tipped Reef Shark.  This is a small one, about 3' long.  In some places they get to be 6' to 8' long and like juicy snorkers.  No matter how big, it seemed to be a b