A Spanking by Mother Nature Herself
All Images Captured by::: Heidi Parker of Seeking Santosha
It’s a thick wave no matter what the size and it’s name clearly dictates the force it will bring as the bottom falls away and the lip hammers down in knee-deep water. The paddle out is short. A heavy over vertical drop can throw surfers off-balance and if you hesitate for one moment, consequences will be paid. If you sit on the beach long enough all sorts of entertainment can be had including surfers crawling out of the sea like the fish that were a part of the human evolution theory. The more time I spend in the ocean and how it calls me back each time we are apart for too long I start to believe this evolutionary theory to be true. Just the way sea turtles come back to their birthing spot year after year to birth their own eggs. Us surfers are drawn to the sea in the same way. Carrying broken boards and themselves as they bleed out the courage that carried them there in the first place.
A spanking from Mother Nature herself is what you will get even if you surf well. At this beach you are guaranteed, no matter what your surfing ability is, to feel a significant quiver reducing ocean power beating to keep you humbled for years to come. The first afternoon I stepped on this beach I remember the sound more than the site and I knew I wouldn’t be paddling out. Waste high barrels that day looked as dark as the coal that powers a freight train, which normally isn’t the case in Nicaragua, and the sound equally resembled a train coming down the track and as it shunts to a halt I can see why they clearly nick-named the spot THE BOOM.
I F you’re the kind of surfer that S E E K S waves that suck the sand off the bottom and throws it over head on any given normal day in shallow knee-deep water this is your wave. I F you are the kind of surfer that S E E K S hallow waves that can knock your eyes out of your skull and hold you down till you beg for mercy, then you have probably already been here. For those of you who haven’t and are brave enough to go, this may just be your kind of wonderland, you sick twisted soul.
As I watched Pro Surfer Blake Jones rip turns as gracefully as if he was surfing a wave with no consequence my gaze turned down the long stretch of sandy beach only to see my two friends carrying our friend out of Mother Nature’s grip. Blood dripping down his back right calf and then before I could look away the wound opened up and like a fireman’s hose it force-fed the sea red. First thought was shark attack, but no, he didn’t make the drop. The wave threw him to the bottom of it’s floor like an angry child disposing of an unwanted doll and punished him for his poor selection. He landed on his fin and the force of the wave held him down as Mother Nature kept the beating coming until she decided enough was enough.
As we hauled his broken ass in the back of my truck to the hospital 45 minutes away, my mind raced back to the previous day I did paddle out but only to catch a boat. Standing on the beach my heart raced with much anxiety that I wasn’t sure if it was the four cups of crack coffee I had drunk at sunrise as the sound of thunder welcomed in the new day or if it was my intuition telling me don’t go! My friends turned to me before paddling out, “You can make it Heidi, time the sets.” As the tide kissed my ankles, knees quivering with fear I watched them one by one crawl into the boat. A powerful force inside of me overcame any rational thought and before I knew it I was being dragged into the boat.
After our surf session only minutes away my friends saw the worried look on my face as we returned to the BOOM. As we jumped off the boat Matt turned to me, “I will paddle in with you Heidi, we will time it.” Paddling over, my friends went for it, catching a wave in. I started to paddle and a wave that didn’t look so big quickly doubled in size as it hit the sand bar, I instinctively ditched my board. My friend wasn’t quite as lucky, she didn’t make it over that wave and I watched her crawling out of the sea onto the beach like the fish that crawled out of the sea.
Later that night as her bikini bottoms hung in the shower with an inch of sand sandwiched in between the two thin layers we nervously joked about the after math of a BOOM beating and how we survived to tell the tale.
Life never stops demanding more and more, just as waves won’t stop coming. Learn which waves to surf and quit protecting yourself from that fear that is just part of who we are and go deeper. Waves have a way of stripping you from the illusion that you are untouchable. Practice being humble. The whole purpose of life can change with just a flicker of awareness and as soon as you begin to accept this knowledge, the sooner you will have freedom to be yourself. And go -surf the waves of karma!
