This was my last time out on the board before packing it in for home and I was determined to not leave empty handed.

When I finally got my lineup right, moved back a skosh on the board, dug as hard as possible with each paddle, I caught a beautiful wave after a solid drop in. I was excited enough not to care as I clasped my hands, looking up to the heavens thanking them for giving me this one.

It wasn’t until a while after the sun had set that I finally let a wave push me all the way into the beach. As I was walking the half mile back to my villa, I passed a group packing up.

One of the guys asked me how it was and when I told him what I had experienced, he went on about how he and his brother had tried that morning and they couldn’t get anything out of the waves. It turns out that he too was pearled incessantly and got so fed up with it that he moved in to surf the white water.

Words don’t describe how grateful I was to run into him – I felt night and day better about my experience this weekend.

As I walked on, dusk was turning into night and it was all but dark by the time I was washing off my board.

I slept with my room open to the outdoors again and as I was falling asleep, I tried to keep my eyes open as long as possible to watch the evening surf from my bed.

I hadn’t realized it until now because I had been so intent on looking at the surf, but I could see the stars without even having to lift my head. It was incredible.

I awoke early the next morning as the sun was making it’s way up from the horizon. When the gulf was fully illuminated, I saw just what the report had predicted. The swell had died off and it was the most serene end cap to an incredible weekend.