A leak in the 'new' unit of my refrigerator kept me in Puntarenas yet another week. Thus, my window for solo voyaging closed, as an old friend was due to join me at the end of September. Seth Bloom was just the person I needed to stoke the fire of this surf mission. Seth and I had been neighbors when my family lived on 24th street in Del Mar in the 90s. He and his crew were the classic surf junkies. By observing them through my high school years, I learned how to ride waves. They were masters in the art of using the beach and the waves for fun on any day, at any time, and in all conditions. They had been quick to let me know when I was kook, but tolerated me tagging along almost whenever surfing or snowboarding was on the agenda. My family loves the ocean, but none of them are surfers and no one had yet published a girls' 'How-to' on surfing. Desperate to learn the sport as quickly and thoroughly as possible, I was a sponge in their presence-silently soaking up the useful information and letting the rest float on by.
