Friday was a beach day at Honeymoon Island. I woke up around 8 so had a Starbucks and then headed over there. This time I parked on the causeway, right near the entrance of the park and dropped my boat in there. (Later I wished I'd parked in the beach lot so I'd have access to my board but Derek had two boards there and I was able to check out the Bark Expedition in the surf.)
While I was lying on the beach, I saw a pod of outriggers in the channel. It was Peter & Tamas with the campers. They seemd to be doing a workout so I stayed on the beach reading until I saw them turn back. I paddled out so I could take a few photos of them paddling. As I approached, Pete made some negative comment about my technique, " I knew it was you because of this", mimicking clown-paddling so I paddled over to talk to Tomi and Steph who were out in singles. Steph looks amazing - 5 months pregnant! We all headed into the beach - there were some decent bumps to ride.
We had lunch at the Honeymoon Cafe. They were actually setting up for a wedding - how fun would that be, getting married at your local beach? After our burgers we went went back to the beach for tanning and playing. Tamas went out on the Ex-P first. That surfer background is everything in SUP. He was so natural at it. As soon as he was done, I grabbed it. Even though it's supposed to be more stable, a beginner board, I wasn't as comfortable on it as I am on my Competitor. I paddled into the waves and turned. A wave broke at my side and I bailed. Since I hadn't done the leash up tight enough it slipped off my ankle but I'd already grabbed on at the board end. I fixed it back onto my ankle but when I pulled myself up on the board, my bikini bottoms slipped down. I wrestled them back up and then climbed back on the board.
I tried to catch a wave but just wasn't able to get up to speed. Frustrated, I wanted to just pitch the paddle and use my arms but the board is far too wide. I turned and went back out again, paddled to the channel marker and turned back again. This time I came closer to catching a wave but that counts for nothing. I rode the wash back in - about 250m up the beach from where I wanted to be. The waves were breaking really close together so I figured it would be easier to walk it back than float it. I might have been wrong about that. After me, Theresa from the camp took a turn. She was a natural and caught a really good ride on one wave. She attributes it to being a windsurfer and skiier but I wish I'd had the facility to catch a wave on it. Hopefully there'll be waves the next time I'm there.
I got back to the house and showered. Bob and Dan took the pontoon boat out to drop the buoy for tomorrow's race and Jeanie and I planned to meet them at Miss Vicki's. Jeanie got hung up cutting hair at the Boat Yard so I met the guys and she showed up later. We had some pitchers and then went to meet Peter and the campers at Pappas.
Here's the thing about a Greek town with a bunch of restaurants...which Pappas restaurant did they mean? The first one we went to, everyone referred to the real Pappas, now called the Riverside, a great place to watch the sunset. In order to get to the rooftop, you have to go through a hall. We were kind of concerned that there seemed to be a wedding going on but we decided it was actually a rehersal.
It didn't take long to figure out we were at the wrong restaurant. The group was at the "Original Pappas" which apparently used to be called something else. Carl and the Tarpon Springs Outrigger Club were also there. It was nice to see Clem, who used to come to Peter's camp, now paddling with TSOC.
With two big groups in there it was difficult to get service. A group of us went up to the bar and were able to get food and drinks in a reasonable amount of time. Some of the group were going on to another bar but I bailed and went home. Jeanie wasn't far behind me so we sat on the porch with a bottle of wine, looking at the bayou.