Nicaragua Secret Spot Pumps!

Nicaragua is currently seeing a large SW swell. With conditions coming together for a nearby Popoyo Nicaragua secret spot, we woke up early to head out to surf and shoot photos of a fast, hollow left-hand pointbreak. Upon arriving, I shot for about 45 minutes. Longtime Nicaragua local Jan Glenn of “Casa Ensueno” was the only guy out, catching the prime sets as usual. A traveling surfer and his girl showed up, and he paddled out to the takeoff spot. Many large sets were coming in. Sometimes 10 waves or more to a set. The swell had a lot of west in it, and only about 50% or so of the tubes were makeable. The traveling surfer caught one wave and his leash snapped. Magically, his board went straight to the keyhole in the reef, the only non-rocky safe zone at this break. Jan quickly and expertly recovered it. Not so lucky for the surfer, however, a heavy rip was running to the north towards the area where the large swells were belting the rocky coastline. He tired quickly and started doing the backstroke, later saying he nearly vomit he was so spent. A small group gathered quickly on the beach, hoping for the surfer’s safety. Luckily, he finally made it back to the calm of the beach. This just goes to show you that it is always a good thing to have someone watching your back while you are in the waves.

racy, hollow lefts

perfect left

The hollow lefts continued pouring down the point, and I quickly broke down my camera gear and entered the water. At this point, I was the only one in the line up. The first set came to me as soon as I reached the takeoff zone. I pulled into a tube, and traveled a bit before being pinched. My next wave, I got a big, long, fast, dry barrel that was easily the best I’ve had in a year. Next wave I got donuts stalling up for a tube, having to paddle the entire circuit as the rest of the set rolled in. My last wave I got a quick smallish, dry barrel on takeoff, and got clipped trying for a second. I decided to call it a day as this is a low-tide spot and the tide was quickly rising. Only four waves, but one good barrel. With the area beachbreaks being closed out with the large swell, the only other surfable wave in the walkable or bikeable area today will be outer reef popoyo.

the rocky point

broken leash guy paddling out

broken leash guy

On another note, I just now heard from my neighbor back in the states that a huge fire claimed more than 80 houses in our neighborhood. Sadly, my house burned completely to the ground at 3 am. It took only 5 minutes for the house to go up in flames. If I was not here in Nicaragua, I certainly would have been sleeping in the house. Before I left the house on April 2nd, I had removed or sold all of my possessions as I was moving semi-permanently to Nicaragua, and the house was sold with a closing date of May 5th. I built the comfortable, little house in 2003, and it was a sometimes-difficult decision to sell it. Some of my friends thought it was a crazy move. It is now as if a large chunk of my old life and memories has been purged by fire. I’m still in shock and it will take a while to digest. I’m not sure what all this means yet with the insurance and mortgage, but I do feel lucky to be alive and able to enjoy yet another perfect day of life here in Nicaragua.