Saturday
On Saturday, April 15, we welcomed three lovely ladies into our Chica Brava Cloud Farm location. Joelle, from Maine, and Julie and Kathryn, two sisters, from Washington. After an introduction of the house and a briefing of the schedule for the week, the ladies hit the hay as we had an early morning of surf planned for them.
Sunday
6:00am Coffee is on. And by coffee I mean 2,3,4 cups to get us moving and grooving. Mind you the coffee at the Cloud Farm is to die for so we may have splurged a little bit. After eating a massive buffet style breakfast of eggs, fruits, gallo pinto and more, we all enjoyed some relaxation time by the pool before we loaded our trucks and drove off to beautiful Playa Remanso. On our first day we had Joelle, Julie, and Kathryn on the inside “Mastering the Pop-Up” and getting comfortable on their boards. While Julie and Kathryn continued to practice on the inside, Joelle decided she was ready to hit it and give the outside a try, since she had previous surfing experience. Joelle, along side of instructor, managed to grab some sweet rides her first day. After surf we of course enjoyed a lovely meal, yet again, and knew it was time to get some shut eye because the following day would be another early morning.
Monday
5:30am Breakfast…I told you we were getting an early start. Since we base our entire surf schedule on ideal tides, we were up and going early, with of course, a few cups of coffee and a full belly from our yummy breakfast. On Monday, we made our way to Remanso again. We felt completely humbled and lucky to arrive to an empty beach and two hours of surfing before a single person paddled out. With it being our second day at Remanso, the ladies already had an idea of what to expect. After some stretching, goal checking, and review of what we hopped to achieve that day, the three ladies made their way out to the surf. By the end of the session, Julie and Kathryn had truly perfected the pop-up, keeping their eyes on the beach, their feet in proper position, and their knees bent to get awesome white-water waves. Joelle also had some really beautiful rides in the outside, catching both rights and lefts on her new favorite board “Smurfette.” The ladies ended their evening with sunset yoga and dinner at the delightful Cloud Farm hill overlooking the bay of San Juan del Sur.
Tuesday
Guess what…5:30am breakfast. By Tuesday, our girls were in an early morning routine and were totally embracing it. We loved this! After the two previous surf sessions, the girls were stoked to get back in the water and perfect everything they had learned thus far. While Joelle begin “Angling with her eyes,” she quickly learned how this little tip could improve her surfing immensely. Not only did she angle with her eyes and cruise down the line, but she cross stepped so gracefully along her longboard. Both Kathryn and Joelle grabbed countless waves in the first and second hour and totally impressed us with their drive and desire to keep pushing and riding beautiful waves all morning long. After the surf the ladies made their way back to the cloud farm, took a dip in the pool, had some delicious dinner and called it a night.
Wednesday
Breakfast, theory, and video review to start the morning. On Wednesday, the ladies learned about wave science and types of breaks which would be very useful information for later on in their surfing careers. We made our way to Remanso hoping for some off-shore winds and beautiful lines to ride that day. We were fortunate enough to find that Playa Remanso was exactly where we were supposed to be. The waves were clean, beautiful, and oh so great for our varied leveled surf ladies. Wednesday was all about enjoying the ride. Julie and Kathryn began cruising with the wave, both left and right while remembering that bending their knees would provide a nice, long ride to shore. Joelle, of course, continued to kill it in the outside. She never failed to impress us with her ever so stoked grin and desire to improve with each wave. While Wednesday is often a chill day, known as “Worked for it Wednesday,” our ladies never once hesitated to grab as many waves as possible. We were so stoked to have them surfing with us!
Thursday
Why was Thursday so great? We went to Playa Hermosa. What a beautiful location! The new route in car called for some groovy tunes and windows down to enjoy the breezy, beautiful 45 minute ride to the playa. We were all so excited to emerge ourselves in the warm, crystal clear water. Kathryn and Julie set a new goal of “paddling” and totally took on the challenge. The paddling and popping-up combined gave them the surfing sensation they were so excited to experience when they first signed up with us at Chica Brava. Joelle was super stoked to surf Hermosa and found some of the most beautiful nugget waves we have seen, during the second hour, in a long time. Best of all, Joelle sat in the line-up with about 7 local surfers who cheered her on every single wave, even chanting “Chica Brava!” Oh, so cool to watch. This is totally why we surf!
Friday
Our last and final day in the surf. Of course, it started with lots of coffee, lots of food, and lots of stoke. We wanted to finish our last day where we started, in Playa Remanso. Friday was all about having fun, and we sure accomplished that. While Kathryn and Julie played with hand positioning to get the perfect shot with our photographer Erick, Joelle grooved on her second board, “Robert August,” absolutely soaking up every single wave. After about two full hours of surfing Remanso, we were all so grateful to have spent so many days together. These chicas are legends! One full week of surfing and so much excitement to continue searching for waves back home in the States after leaving us in Nicaragua. We continued to have fun as the ladies enjoyed massages, some town time, and a beautiful last dinner at the Cloud farm with the entire team. We hit it with one last final bang, popping champagne just after sunset, toasting to an incredible week of surf and life-long friends. True Chica Brava style!
Final Note
We would like to thank you chicas for an amazing week. There is nothing that makes our job more exciting that seeing the smile on your face from sunrise to sunset. Please continue surfing and never lose that beautiful spirit we saw every day, in and out of the water! We are humbled to have been a part of this group, so thank you all again!
Kelsey Cecil
Surf Instructor/Host”