Pascuales is heavy. Seriously heavy.

As you roll into Boca de Pascuales you see a couple of hotels, some small palapas, a couple of tiendas and some umbrellas on the beach. About a fifty yards into town, there is a break in the palapa restaurants and you see the surf. Saturday night was definitely the biggest we saw it. Roughly the end of the W-SW swell that we had hoped to pick up in Barra de Navidad. I’m pretty sure I’ll never forget seeing that first wave, some unknown surfer silhouette charging down the face of this gaping, wedging, monster of a wave; a solid 3-4 feet overhead and pounding. I’m certain that Pascuales is the heaviest wave I’ve ever surfed (seen) and supposedly this was the end of the swell. You should’ve have been here yesterday was the going mantra (for you non-surfers, this is always the going mantra as surfing stories and fish stories have a lot in common).

I paddled out the next morning into slightly smaller but still grande waves. All it does is barrel – over and over and over again. For me, there is no shoulder, there is no late take off. No whack on the lip. Just air drop off the peak and hold on until it either swallows me up or I get spit out, arms held high like I just got that perfect 10 you needed to win the world title. Morning number two was slightly smaller still (the pictures are from this day), but still not for the faint of heart. I was in the water at 7:00 and by 8:30 my shoulders were burning but not as much as my stoke. I had managed my way into a couple of meaty ones and lucked into a full cover-up backside barrel. Needing a bit of rest I paddled out the back to recover a bit. A huge roller came right at me, not wanting to look the kook that I am, I turned and jammed my tail into the face, two strokes and to my feet as fast as I could manage, apparently not quite fast enough. I made the drop but the barrel was already cranking over. It picked me up spun me over the falls and then just for fun scooped me a second time.

Wha???? No leash?

The thing about Pascuales is that it is super shallow, maybe only 18 inches in some spots. The wave comes from deep water and smacks the shallow sand bar pitching the lip of the wave over the front on just about any swell from any direction. I must have looked a bit stunned by the time I made it back to the peak. A local asked if I was ok and then a Mexican paddled over and said “poco lento” (a little slow) while holding his thumb and index finger about two centimeters apart. “Are you sure” I asked rhetorically in English, turned and stroked into the next wave that came my way, a smaller left… the other thing about Pascuales is that the backwash off the beach can double up the waves or, worse, pitch a launch ramp about half way down the take-off that sends you uncontrollably hurtling through the air while the face of the wave chases you down for some more punishment.

That was the last wave of the day for me. Natalie and I might walk down the beach in search of a less pitchy wave that we can surf together. We’ll kick it here another day or two and then head south to softer, gentler, kinder, breaks when the next “real” swell fills in.

For the whole set of surf pics check out the flickr set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22504035@N04/sets/72157625420530076/