Celebrated another birthday yesterday (Cindy’s) and it was about the most perfect day you could get! Woke up to warm sunny skies and Chris got our day started with a yummy breakfast of eggs, buttery Cuban toast and coffee. Headed out for a morning surf session and the conditions were great. Hard to beat surfing great warm waves (no wetsuit required) in the middle of January! We surfed for a few hours, then had a couple of beers and lunch at the Gilded Iguana. Afterwards, we relaxed at the house for a bit, then I headed to Tica Massage for my birthday massage. Thanks mom and dad for the birthday fun money!!! It was the best massage I’ve ever had- they put you in little huts with the windows open and the breeze coming in while you’re getting massaged with aloe which makes your skin feel nice and cool and it is fabulous!! Walked back to the house in a daze with every muscle in my body feeling totally relaxed. Much needed after 5 straight days of 3 hour surf sessions! In the meantime, Chris had booked our fishing trip for the next day with Fishing Nosara, and headed out for an evening surf session. I walked down to the beach to watch the sunset and meet up with Chris. Afterwards, we got cleaned up and walked on the beach to La Luna Restaurant in Playa Pelada for dinner. La Luna is right on the water and has a beautiful ambiance. Once we crossed the path from Playa Guiones to Playa Pelada, we noticed that there were hermit crabs all over the beach so we stopped to watch them for a while. We started with ceviche for an appetizer which was delicious. Then, I had the snapper and shrimp with a coconut lime sauce, with rice and veggies which was fabulous! Chris had the fish tacos. We followed it with a trit for dessert which is an ice cream sandwich with vanilla ice cream with a chocolate swirl sandwiched between 2 of the best sugar cookies you’ve ever had. You can buy trits in the grocery store here, so we thought La Luna may have a homemade one, but actually it was the same thing, just covered with chocolate syrup, ha! Oh well, it was good anyway! Then we walked back to the house with full bellies and called it a night. It was truly a wonderful birthday!!!

The conditions have been the same the last couple days, so we have taken advantage with surfing every day. Wake up, coffee and breakfast, wax the boards, walk to the beach, surf for a few hours, walk back to the house, make lunch with at least one ice cold cerveza, siesta nap or reading, walk around town or down the beach, make a drink and head to the beach for sunset, make dinner or go out to a restaurant, and finally sleepy time.

Cool to see everyone gather on the beach for sunset with a bunch of peeps in the water surfing since the winds usually switch back offshore near sunset. Planning on a beach campfire sometime soon.

Cindy is gonna be the color of a local before we leave, which will lead well into our caribbean sailing trip next month. I’m holding out well with no sunburn yet by fully utilizing the surf hat, sunscreen and long sleeve rash guard.

Been trying to cook at home for most meals, but eat out at nearby restaurants occasionally. Had some awesome ceviche the other night at Pacifico Azul.

I got up a bit earlier today to try out a sunrise surf session at 6. Had some great rides in the second hour and then Cindy came down around 8 and the winds cooperated for a couple more hours of glassy 3-4 foot rides. Camera man from surfing nosara was in our area, so hoping they took some photos of us. Didn’t see any on their Facebook page, guess we haven’t achieved sufficient surfing skills yet… Will head over to their shop later in the week and see if they took any photos of us.

Checked into some fishing trips yesterday and planning to head out on Friday. Hopefully stock the fridge with Mahi or snapper!

Noticed quite a few New Yorkers in this area, thinking maybe cause JetBlue flies direct from JFK to Liberia which is the closest airport here.

Cindy’s birthday tomorrow!

Thought about writing this post in Spanish, but unlikely it would make much sense and probably need to learn some more before i try that.

After breakfast yesterday, we waxed the boards and walked down to playa guiones. So nice to be about a 3 minute walk from our place.

Wax On, Wax Off

Onshore breeze had already started, so the conditions were not great but still ride able. Discovered quickly that we are in much better physical condition than our last visit in 2011. After a few paddles back out in 2011, we were about spent. This time we surfed about 3 hours until the conditions worsened. Great way to start the trip! Cleaned up back at the house, then walked a couple minutes over to the super market to stock up on some food. Immediately saw some howler monkeys up in the trees above the main road.

Cooked a nice meal for dinner and enjoyed some of our ron centanario rum. Indulged in a couple of our Trits for dessert. Trit is an ice cream and cookie sandwich they only have here and for some reason tastes like the best one ever.

Relaxing in the hammock chair with a frosty beverage on a warm afternoon.

Sunday, feliz cumpleanos a Cristobal! Woke up early to get some glassy surfing conditions for my birthday. Sun rises here around 6, but was able to make it down to the surf around 8. Enjoyed about 3 hours out in the water with my beautiful wife surfing, might have to make this a habit for all future birthdays. Took some gopro footage, but won’t be able to share any of it until we get back to our laptop in the states.

Worked up a serious hunger surfing and decided to use up my meat of the month choice at lunch today. An aussie burger from the gilded iguana, which is a cheeseburger topped with with bacon, fried egg, beet, carrots, pineapple, lettuce and tomato. Spectacular!

Had a successful day of travelling yesterday.  Smooth flight into san jose from orlando, then about a 4 hour taxi ride out to nosara.  Got checked into our house, which is really close to the beach, restaurants, etc.

Enjoyed a couple cold imperial brews at the restaurant named gilded iguana with a much needed meal.  Mighta been the best tasting food and beer we have had in awhile, since we went about 8 hrs since we last ate.

Grabbing some breakfast this morning, then off for some surfing!

Surfer's special with Lazano sauce, yummy!

Since we leave for Costa Rica tomorrow, we will both be celebrating our upcoming birthdays there (Chris on jan. 13 and mine on jan. 16). So, Mom and dad took us out for a delicious birthday dinner at the Fat Snook restaurant in Cocoa Beach. For anyone in the cocoa beach area, I highly recommend it! My dad and I had the Cobia special with a mustard sauce and fried green tomatoes. Chris had the tile fish special, and mom had sea scallops and jumbo shrimp over rice with a Newburg sauce. Yum!!! After dinner, we headed back to the house for cupcakes from a local bakery, Simply Delicious. And simply delicious they were! Looking forward to our next adventure- Costa Rica!

Spent the last few days on a sailboat attaining my American Sailing Association certifications 103 and 104. I had completed the initial 101 certification back in 2008 in Fernandina Beach, but never followed through on additional courses. This latest combo course required a 2 night stay on the sailboat anchored in open water or docked at a marina.

Started the class on Sunday morning. Though the weather was great, the wind was very light most of the day, so focused mostly on maneuvering under auxiliary power rather than sailing. Headed home around 5pm, since the overnight portion didn’t start until Monday.

Monday’s weather changed significantly with 20 knot winds out of the northeast and mostly cloudy. Provisioned in the morning at Publix for cooking on the boat. Was able to get in a decent amount of sailing just offshore. Plan was to head back inshore and anchor overnight in the banana river, but the lock at port canaveral was under construction so we couldn’t pass thru until 6pm. Decided to dock at a marina instead.

Tuesday was a steady but light east wind with overcast skies. Made our way through the barge canal towards the Indian river lagoon, where we sailed south to anchor near a restaurant that evening. Excelled on the first written test during the afternoon sail. Enjoyed a tasty fish dinner and headed back to the boat via a dinghy.

Enjoyed a glassy evening anchored out on Tuesday night and woke up on Wednesday to decent southeast winds and some sunshine. Made quick work of the 12 mile sail back to the harbor and did well on the second written test too.

Glad to have these new certifications in my sailing resume, plus learning some new maneuvers and techniques during the class!

The great weather continued the last few days here in Florida, so we’ve been taking advantage with some surf sessions.  Cindy hasn’t been able to partake much due to some dental issues that started up in Chicago, but luckily she’s getting it fixed now rather than while we are traveling international.  Thanks uncle Gary!

Brother-in-law, Matt, and I went out for a couple hours this afternoon.  Waves were ultra small, but conditions were ultra glassy which makes for easy paddling and practicing some new skills.  It’s an amazing peacefulness when the ocean is calm as a lake, plus a bonus of the occasional swell waves for surfing. Hard to beat an early January with 75 degree air temp, 70 degree water temp, sunny, calm winds and tasty waves.  Sister-in-law, Laura, joined us on the beach and snapped some action photos of us.

Rogue wave!

Ye old goofy foot, but have been practicing riding regular as well

Wipeout on a lower tide wave breaking on the sand bar

Resumed studying today for my upcoming sailing classes which start on Sunday.  Looking forward to some sailing and hopefully new certifications next week.

Beautiful day here in florida. Slept in a bit after staying up for new years eve, then headed over for a surf session with a couple of the brother-in-law’s. Caught some smaller but fun waves for a couple hours, then walked back to the house. Nice to be back in the water and exercising outside.

Cooked up a tasty low country boil for a family dinner tonight, then our inaugural white elephant gift exchange.

First in line for shrimp, sausage, potatoes and corn

Spent the last couple days hanging out with family in Chicago. Cold weather definitely limits any outdoor activities, but were still able to get in a 30 minute indoor boot camp workout on Sunday.

Cooked up a nice dinner at home last night, then enjoyed looking back thru old school projects from my sister and I. Quite entertaining looking back thru those old things. Said our goodbyes last night and today to the family and headed to Milwaukee for our flight back to Orlando. Seemed to be our smoothest winter trip to Chicago in recent history, with no delays on either direction.

Will be spending the next few days celebrating a belated Xmas with the kasimier’s.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

You may have noticed a recent decrease in the blog updates, but there was a good reason…

Our original plan for this year was to spend christmas in cocoa beach with cindy’s family. Cindy’s sister had to work on christmas, so we started to think about changing our plans and possibly switch locations, since we would be celebrating with them after new years day. Swapping locales was something we wanted to do anyways, as it would put us back in sync with our cousins since we alternate holidays with each family. A few days after we returned from new zealand i checked into flights to chicago. Found a good deal into milwaukee, so we booked it.

Planned to make it a surprise visit, so started making up stories to my family about our xmas plans in cocoa beach. Did well in leading everyone in chicago to believe we were not coming this year. Flew out of Orlando on xmas eve and arrived in milwaukee that evening, then took an amtrak train down to glenview, illinois and finally a cab over to lake zurich. We had learned that my family was over at my brother-in-law’s parent’s house.

Pulled up the house and unloaded our luggage, then knocked on the door. SURPRISE! Definitely surprised everyone at the party, but quickly learned that my mom had gone home sick, so we’d have to rethink a plan to surprise her. Drove home later that night and planned to get up early on christmas day for our next surprise. Mom came downstairs around 9am, where cindy and i were sitting at the kitchen table. SURPRISE! Always a joy to see the reactions, which usually include a double-take and that split second where seeing you seems normal, but then the brain catches up and realizes you weren’t supposed to be here.

The surprises continued on christmas evening at the schaul family get-together and last night for the smith-gallaugher-erickson get-together. Once again cindy and i were able to pull off a great surprise visit, even with facebook updates normally informing everyone immediately.

Headed down to the city today to catch a show called “book of mormon” by the dudes who created south park, then off to dinner. A nice blanket of snow going by on the train ride this morning, definitely looks like Christmas. Based on our upcoming travel destinations, looks like this will be our only winter weather for this year.

Happy hour at Fleming’s in downtown Chicago before the Book of Mormon show nearby