My pregnant surfing experience so far…….

I found out I was pregnant at the beginning of my work season as a Surf Instructor. I thought to myself how long can I surf? Is It safe to surf? Should I be pushing people into waves?

There is no one size fits all answer to surfing during your pregnancy. So I did and I will continue doing what feels right to me and my body. Most importantly I am listening to my intuition.

Firstly you need to talk to your healthcare provider and discuss surfing with them. I was told not to start any new exercises and to just stick to what I normally do. Being pregnant and surfing for me isn’t about improving my surfing. I stick to what I know I can do, not the time to try new tricks and big barrels.

Here is what my journey has been like so far with a bun in the oven.

How has travel changed with Covid-19 & how to be a responsible traveler in 2021

I have no doubt most people are ready to travel after over a year of social distancing and lock downs. It is normal to have mixed emotion about traveling during Covid. Feelings of guilt, selfishness, fear and anxiety are common. Most tourist based economy’s need you to survive. They don’t have the option to work at home or get financial aid. Here at Sister Surf retreats we are doing our part and following local laws to stay open. We want tourism, the locals want tourism and as long as we all are responsible then please come support us. It has been a long year to say the least and we are so happy to be up and running again. Here are some details and traveling to Puerto Rico and Costa Rica.

Our days orbit around the tide

The three of us sisters are water beings through and through. Day to day routines shift with the tides. In Playa Grande we surf near the high tide, if it is an early morning high tide we dawn patrol, midday high tide we begin our days with a yoga class. One thing is for sure each day begins with a cup of piping hot coffee or tea. We rise with the sun and go to sleep closely after it sets.

Here is what I do every morning to set the pace for my day

Lost your stoke? Need some new reads? Not frothing on cold water surfing? Open up one of these books and be taken to a tropical paradise with some cool buds and tasty waves.

El Salvador, regular foot heaven.

I had read about El Salavador in one of my all time favorite surf travel books, “In Search of Captain Zero”. So when a friend of mine wrote me asking if I could go on a surf trip with her somewhere, El Salavador was the first on my list. For one its only two countries away from me and secondly I had been scoping out tickets to go there for months. I had found some great deals on Volaris airlines and asked a friend of mine that lives in Costa Rica who also surfs. It did not take much persuasion. We booked our tickets and off we went.

The most common question I get asked by beginner surfers is, how do I know what wave to catch?

You may have heard the saying “its not the destination its the journey”. Its always kind of annoyed me because the journey normally means long plane rides, delays, layovers, canceled flights etc. and I just want to get to the destination already and skip the “journey” part. It does not have to be that way at all. I prefer to think of the journey as an adventure and wherever I end up even if its not the place I had intended to go as the destination.

Growing up as a surfer in the Virgin Islands you experience a lot of days with no surf (flat spells). We could go weeks without waves. When the surf would finally come up I would find myself winded and tired after just a few hours of surfing. Flat spells not only took a toll on my physical body but my mental as well. When I first started surfing all I wanted to do was surf. I had to find another activity that would calm down my mind as well as keep me healthy, flexible and strong for surviving the flat spells. Here are the few things that have helped me over the years.