Get ready to be kinda jealous.  Hannah, Ila, and I just got back from a week-long excursion to Barbados with my sister Caroline and her husband Blake.  How was it?

First of all, it’s freakin gorgeous:

And the waves were insane.  These first few pics are from a spot called Tropicana.  It’s a kind of random reef break on the West Coast.  Super shallow with something called “fire coral” underneath, which, apparently, you don’t mess with.  At certain points my feet would hit the reef just while I was sitting on my board out at the takeoff point!  Not a place you want to fall. Lucky for us, our first time we surfed there it was pretty manageable size-wise. It was also pretty darn perfect.  The beach there is also beautiful.  This first pic is us checking it for the first time, as some random dude gets shacked.  Needless to say we were pumped.

We had a couple of really fun point breaks right near our place on the South Coast, basically at the south point of the island.  One of them was a perfect longboard wave. The girls had a blast here.  It’s called Freights.

These next pics are from a spot called Mullins, another west coast reef break.  Bigger than Tropicana but not as shallow thankfully, and it had a right and a left.  Also had a gorgeous beach with a great restaurant.  I think it’s safe to say we got this spot about as good as it gets.  (P.S. The right was even better/longer than the left, but it was harder to get pics of.)

The following pics are from the world-famous Soup Bowls, arguably the sickest wave in the north Atlantic. The winds and swell were wrong for the spot when we surfed it, which ironically meant that we didn’t get it nearly as good as a lot of the other random spots we surfed, but still, it was easy to tell how much potential the place has.  I forgot my board shorts this day, so I’m wearing my regular shorts held on with a leather belt. I had to pull the pockets out because they kept filling up with water.  When you add to that the pale skin and reef booties I was wearing to protect my tourist feet from the thousands of merciless urchins covering the reef, I was about has dorky looking as any surfer could be.  But we did have head high Soup Bowls almost completely to ourselves so it was worth it.

Every Thanksgiving Weekend we go to Hatteras with our friends to relax and surf. Check out these shots that Caroline took:

We are already gearing up for Summer 2010 and have been reminiscing about some of our most epic days of last summer. Here is the first post in a series devoted to some our favorite days of Surf Hatteras 2009. . .

Week 3 Day 3

Coleman, one of our beloved surf instructors, will be back again this summer! Watch out.

Ross is always looking to get in the tuuuube.

Tubular.

That was one fun day!

It was a beautiful day full of good waves, beautiful scenery, and some evening thunderstorms!

Genavera and Danielle playing patty-cake.

Lauren and Nicole throwing a party on a wave.

Forrest shredding it up.

Danny is cruisin!

Alex on a pretty wave.

Woah there Walker!

Maggie tried a shorter board today and did awesome!

Ross in a “rossell.”

Olivia paddled into her own waves today!

Nicole had some great rides, as usual.

Lauren enjoying the ride.

Nick, smiling for the camera.

Kristen showing the kids how it’s done.

Buddies.

Genavera on a good-sized wave.

Elaine setting herself up for a nice ride.

Conrad applauding himself.

Bryan has real talent.

And a great smile!

Bocce ball break! Look at these studs.

We got Lauren to smile on camera! She tried hard not to.

Nicole sporting her new hat.

Danielle striking a pose.

Thomas getting up close and personal with this wave.

Walker is always trying to tuck into the barrell.

Danny.

Forrest.

Bryan.

Ross again.

It has been an amazing week and we are very proud of all of our campers!

Everyone is doing fantastic and catching lots of rides. . .

Thomas showing some style here.

In front of the famous “Nights of Rodanthe” house.

Olivia has awesome wave judgement.

Nick shredding up a fun wave.

Maggie always goes for the head dip.

Nicole belongs on a surf board.

Walker getting some head dip action.

Lauren heading into shore.

Forrest sporting his beach hair.

And getting some fun rides at the same time!

Walker and Coleman

Genavera on a nice backside wave.

Elaine showing those pearly whites.

Nice wave Elaine!

Danny paddles into his own waves with ease.

Danielle with a perfect stance.

Girl wave!

Conrad making the drop.

Bryan and Baino sharing a wave.

Alex going down the line.

Aww sibling love.

Today we woke up to some fun, glassy waves and the water was crystal clear like the Carribbean! Here is a peek…

This is what we call sheet-glass.

Ross the boss.

Walker, with smooth and controlled style.

Party wave!

Olivia is a natural surfer.

Maggie has no fear.

Lauren on a pretty, green wave.

Forrest going backside.

Nick had some great rides!

Thomas, giving this wave a high-five. Thanks for being awesome, wave.

Genavera is loving life.

Elaine, dodging some kiddies. Watch out!

Nicole really knows how to charge.

Nice ride Danny!

Conrad on a friendly wave.

Bryan shreds.

Alex with a solid stance.

Danielle can see the fishies swimming by in this water.

Everyone is looking forward to another fun day tomorrow! Good night!

We had some crazy storms last night, but this morning the waves were PERFECT and every single camper had some amazing rides!

This is what we call “sicky gnar gnar.”

Walker getting into a sweet little barrell.

Thomas is back for another week of shredding.

Lauren going down the line on her first day!

Nick had a ton of nice rides.

Conrad! Notice the dolphin behind him in this shot.

Bryan the ripper.

Nicole gets better every year.

Look at Olivia go!

She is all smiles too.

Maggie showing her style.

Forrest grabbing a rail.

Genavera showing us how it’s done.

Elaine did great today.

Danny is always having a good time.

Danielle, really getting the hang of it.

Alex enjoying every moment.

Taking a break.

After an awesome session.

Thomas again.

Walker.

Nicole.

Nick.

Mag-pie heading into shore.

Lauren celebrating her wave.

Ila clapping for the surfers.

Genavera with a big smile.

Forrest pulling into a nice one.

Olivia.

Elaine.

Danny.

Danielle.

Conrad.

Alex.

Bryan again.

Everyone is pumped for another day of surfing tomorrow!

Today we had the best waves yet!

Watch out, they spit.

Zack attacking this wave!

Holden in the tube!

Chris going down the line perfectly.

Tom Crowbar on a pretty little peeler.

Sarah W. going backside.

Sarah B. had some great rides today.

Tuna is flying!

Morgan charged big time today.

John the shredder.

Jarno!

Janie is one tough cookie.

Nice one J Lo!

Hannah Sassafras practicing her stance.

Rachel rocked this surf session!

Eliza gets the longest rides.

Party wave!

Coleman’s crew.

Holden.

Hannah!

There were tons of dolphins out today!

It has been an incredible week and we are so proud of all our campers!

Everyone is improving immensely, catching lots of waves, and sharing lots of laughs…

The waves were good by the pier today. Here’s Zack enjoying a nice, long ride.

Jarno from Germany had some fun rides today and we finally caught them on camera!

Julia (Tuna) showing some style.

Sarah W. with perfect form.

Tom is cruising down the line!

Sarah is full of smiles.

Rachel performed a few dance moves on her surfboard today!

Morgan could go pro at the rate she is improving!

Janie always has a great attitude and is ready to surf.

The water was a bit cold for this Florida boy today, so he spent a little time on the sandbar.

Woah J Lo, that is a nice wave.

Peter gives this session two thumbs up.

Baino playing a trick on the girls.

Bocce ball champions!

Holden with some nice speed!

Hannah had some great waves today.

Eliza is a natural.

Chris, right before his victory dance.

To the beach!

Everyone had a blast on our Jockey’s Ridge outing!

Tuna is looking a little sandy.

I think Jarno has enough sand to play with.

Running up the hill . . .

Then sliding down it!

Big smile.

Sand surfing.

Hooray!!

It was a wonderful day. Only one more full day left!

It has been a beautiful day and everyone is having a blast!

Hannah is really catching on!

Holden onto a nice ride!

Eliza going down the line.

Sarah B. did really well today.

We love Fro Fro’s hair!

Julia S. charging.

Jarno and Zack heading into shore.

Tom on a nice one!

Sarah from Cville, showing us how it’s done.

John goes for all the bigger ones.

Jarno!

Janie always catches a ton of waves.

Julia L. gets better every day.

Chris going down the face of a wave.

A beautiful morning.

Buddies.

Bocce ball!

Zack attack!

The Julias.