Africa: Week 1

Winter is over, at least for me. After a sweet six weeks of winter vacation, snowboarding whenever, and sleeping quite a lot, now its time to get back to work... If you can call it that. For now I am sitting here, on an island, in the middle of the White Nile river, in Uganda, which in fact is in Africa, in an everlasting summer. It's the dry season, so the suns out, hot as can be palm trees all around. The nice part about dry season is the lack of mosquitos, at least during the day. Though every night they come out in swarms. Though by sunset I am generally already asleep, safe in my tent. Wake up in the cool morning air, just as the sun begins to tip the horizon. Monkeys running through the trees(somehow they made it onto the island). During the day, while we have classes, whether they be in the shade under a tree, in one of the few chill spots(domes with a roof and couches, pillows or hammocks) or maybe next to the river, sometimes even in the river. Generally, even with school, its a very relaxing day on the Harry Lemon( yes that is the name of the island we are staying on). Only every once in a while will we come in contact with a Cobra swimming in the water, though it is advised to use caution when sitting on the grass due to the large biting ants. Overall just a chill day, until we get to the river that is.

The White Nile is a very high volume river. The Nile Special rapid, named after the beer, is about a ten minute paddle upstream, and a ferry across the current to get to the waves. There are two waves the come in at a different time of day. The first wave, Club Wave, comes in around 8 or 9 in the morning and stays in until about 12 to 1. The second and more famous wave, Nile Special, comes in around 2 or 3 and stays in past dark. Club wave is a pretty sweet, 30 foot wide, 5 or 6 foot tall wave/hole (river right is a wave and river left is a hole) This wave is sweet for the begging/intermediate play boater, as its fairly sticky, with a good pile and bouncy. Nile Special on the other hand is a tow in wave, and is a 9 foot tall green monster, and if you know what your doing you can get some of the biggest tricks there.

Every day we switch between the two, due to having to do school we are only able to go to one. The waves are some of the best I have ever surfed, and with switching to a the bigger Biscuit 55, I am able to get huge amounts of air with some of my tricks. I am not much of a wave boater but I have been able to hit some massive air, Pan ams and Blunts, and every once in a while I can hit a huge snappy Blunt-Nasty Combo.

So far, though only my first week here in Africa, it has been one of the more spectacular weeks of my life. I am afraid I am currently unable to continue writing about what amazing experiences I have had here already, due to a lack of battery power and time. But definitely check back in for another post next week.(which will hopefully be accompanied by pictures.)

Jordan P