Take the surf away, and what have you got?

The best place on earth, that's what.

It's been super windy these past two days... gale warnings have been in effect for pretty much the entire weekend. It was windy enough that it not only ruined any chance of surfing, it even messed up the dive plans. Instead of doing what we had set out to do, we just went for a dive around the corner of Grice Point... going down to a maximum depth of 50ft. The visibility was about 6 ft. It was not exactly a fun dive. Added to that was some equipment issues... for dives in the past, I've been wearing my 5/4 zipperless hooded surf wetsuit which fits me perfectly well and therefore does not flush (except in serious surf). Everyone around here thinks I'm nuts, because those who are dumb enough (or impecunious enough) to dive in a wetsuit dive in a 7+7.... which totals 14mm where I have my 5mm, and 7mm where I have my 4mm. They got a whole bunch of all new wetsuits in, and they managed to convince me to try one of their new 7+7 suits. The women's suits didn't fit, so I had on a men's. As you can probably still remember even if you haven't seen me in a while, I am not shaped like a man (though I will have to do another paragraph on this later), so it flushed considerably more than my perfectly fitted surf wetsuit. To make it even more entertaining, I had 38 pounds on my weight belt as usual... and discovered upon descent (or attempt at descent) that another 9mm of neoprene basically meant that I wasn't going down. My bouancy options were float, and float higher. Blargh. Anyway... eventually it did all work out... and I got tangled up in a bed of kelp. Blargh.

There must be something wrong with me... because I'm really looking forward to the next dive.

Since I wasn't going surfing (couldn't surf on Friday night either... went for a walk on Schooner and Long Beach instead... it looked nasty at Cox (there were kite surfers out... never a good sign)) , I went to Comber's Beach for a walk instead. I hadn't been there for a couple of years. The last time I was there, it was with Tina during the winter of my 27th year... I remember drawing sierpinski gaskets in the sand. Comber's Beach was the first beach I saw on my first trip to Tofino on the May long weekend in 2006. We saw it at low tide, and there were many of this sort of jellyfish thing that seemed to have a sail. I've since found out what they were and forgotten. It was an excellent walk... and one during which I was accompanied only by my own thoughts. An eagle re-engaged me in the world, and then we both left.

After Comber's, I came home and made dinner... and the previous solitary walk was so goo that I then decided to go walk on Chesterman Beach just after sunset. I had "Surfer Girl" stuck in my head the whole time.

This morning, I had breakfast with ULTE1, cleaned, and then went for a walk into town. I waited for check-ins that showed up late... and then walked to Tonquin and spent some time on the beach. It wasn't a solitary walk... which is fine... because it's always good to switch it up... especially since I live so much inside my own head that most of the time, the rest of the world could just not exist for all I cared.

It is important to not live so much inside one's own head, David Foster Wallace reminds me... which is why I'm so looking forward to sticker bombing! What would be a better way to engage with the rest of the world! I'm tempted to order more of those stickers from Texas even before the first batch arrives... and I'm so hoping it arrives soon.

It's not all about the surf, apparently. This is the best place on earth.