Scribbles Abroad

Here’s a little video we put together

We got to La Union in the dark after a 5 hour bus ride.  We caught a nice bus this time and rolled in style.  After reading our trust lonely planet book we had them drop us off at the Sebay Inn.
The Lonley Planet is a truly precious commodity when traveling.  It has helped us get our bearings in every country so far, but……….the problem with the Lonley Planet books are that they highlight certain establishments who then get a lot of business simply from the book.  The prices are never the same as soon as a book is older than a year after publication because the establishments can afford to charge higher rates because of higher traffic.  Its not always true but it has occurred multiple times on our trip thus far.

The view of the land from out in the lineup.
So back to Sebay, yeah we got had the first night.  Fully ripped off.  But it’s still cheap in US dollar standards.  We moved the next morning to a place right on the beach right in front of the point break and it was about half the price.  Since it wasn’t in the Lonely Planet they hadn’t yet been tainted, or would it be blessed, you be the judge.
The first morning we woke up to fun long rights breaking along a point about a two-minute walk up the beach.  Louise and I surfed for about two hours than came in to find a new place to stay as explained above.  After we moved we got a bite to eat and then got straight back in to the water.

The wave starts out steep, then goes fat, and then goes steep again.  Fun long right point break.
In the morning there were about 10 people out, when we went back out it was just the two of us on the outside and two others on the inside.  This was our best session while there.  It was 3-5, glassy, and reeling.  It wasn’t the most treacherous wave but it was pretty fun.

Louise working her way around a section.

Our good room was right at the point.

This guy was our alarm clock.  He would walk up the beach with food in his pots and a horn that he would honk.

We moved to a hotel called The Mona Liza Resort and it was just what we needed.  If you make it there you should stay here.  The main restaurant is right next door and the accommodations are much more affordable.
We spent 4 days in La Union, got there on the peak of the swell and then rode it till almost the end.  Towards the end of our stay in La Union, the throngs of wanna be surfers showed up and littered the lineup.  On their NSP epoxy fundboard, they turned the break into a slalom event, but it was still fun with an added challenge.   We were just glad that they showed up towards the end and not at the start or peak of the swell.
Traveling around we’ve been keeping a steady eye on the swell maps.  Primarily checking www.buoyweather.com.

While in La Union, actually while in Baguio, we saw that Siargao, the home of Cloud 9 was going to be receiving a solid swell shortly.    We packed up and started what some seem to think is one of the gnarliest journey’s in surf travel.  The infamous trip out to Cloud 9 is coming next.

Sunset at La Union.  Rode the fish most of the time because of the fat sections.

Jolly Be Deez Nuts, this is the Philippines McDonalds.  Just as healthy too.

We were there for full moon.  It was the brightest one I had ever seen.

The surfers and locals had a great no littering policy and a beach cleanup once a week.  www.greenzinc.com/projects/

I’ll put up a short video in a few days.  Youtube is currently down.