Shirihama Beach... Gorgeous... a beach south of
Hachinohe... only about 50 min. total driving away... we are technically not allowed to swim in the ocean right by us because the tide and current are so strong, (a group and special forces died doing ocean exercises a few years ago) anywho... its still pretty strong down south but legal... (I went back a couple weekends after this and it was warm enough not to need a wet suit and I was body surfing... I am pretty sure I almost died... I got pounded pretty good a couple of times against the bottom... thank goodness its sand break not reef break or I would be really destroyed... I came out with huge rash burns on my back and bum from the sand... and when we tried to surf dawn patrol the next morning... we were camping on the beach... the waves were so strong that after I caught my first wave I spent forever just trying to get back out past the surf, and eventually had to give up cause my arms were so shot from paddling... oh and Derick went swimming in the ocean for the first time in his life and got hit by his first wave... remember these are really strong waves... had no idea what to do, go beat up, face full of saltwater and when he resurfaced he threw up... ha ha.. poor kid... and then another wave got him and same thing happened... I dont think he has the same love for the ocean as I do... I feel a connection with the earth while I am out in the water, the raw, dangerous, pure energy of the earth... I would go surfing and body surfing everyday if I could... ) anyway back to surf camp...
We drove down the coast to different beaches looking for the best surf, this is one spot we scouted... It blows my mind... huge coastline, gorgeous surf... not a soul in sight... score for us! Geoff (my boss and surfing guide) said had this been down south there would be hundreds of surfers out there even on weekdays... so what if we have to wear wetsuits...
Is this really surf camp appropriate... I dont know but it smelled great, and we would be dead without it!
I had a 9 foot plus board... way to long for my with the type of waves we had... but as the adult you have to make sacrifices and the kids were even shorter then me so it was all good... the waves broke in a tunnel you know like in the movies... so with a board this long you had to stay way back, my entire legs were hanging off the back or else the board would do a nose dive off the front of the straight drop down of the wave, that was pretty scary, I nose dived about 5 times probably before I figured out how far back I needed to be and I am pretty sure I almost died about 5 times. I would fall forward into the crashing wave with my board crashing on top of me... and so I had to just curl up into a ball protecting my head until the wave decided to spit me out... one time when we were just learning how to paddle out and huge... huge... wave was coming and I knew I could not go over it, I looked over at Geoff with what I am sure was a panicked look on my face... and he just said "hold your breath"... so I did... it was pretty scary... after that he taught us how to "turn turtle" if I big wave is coming that you know you cant go over (and you have a longboard) you have to roll over on your back underwater the board over you upside down... it is way more effective then just holding your breath...
The whole gang practicing "popping up"... I guess it payed off becuase everyone of us caught a wave the first day! IT WAS AWESOME! You can see how thick the sea fog can be here... sometimes its crazy thick
Pumped after our first round of surfing!
Body surfing after we all tired our arms out... these were our learning waves... the waves the next day (the ones at that beach I was talking about earlier) were two to three times this size... like if I was standing they would be probably six feet over my head!
HA HA... this makes me feel safe...
Snorkeling... we had to find stuff to do while waiting for the surf to get good! we also went sea kayaking!
Just to prove I was there!
We stayed at this little Japanese bead and breakfast... we had traditional tatami mat rooms to sleep in with futon mattresses in the closet that folded out... it was super cool and surprisingly comfortable... and we got dinner, choice of ramen or curry... the ramen was AMAZING! I LOVE RAMEN!
the last night we had a fire on the beach with smores and everything... it was great! We even star tripped... Becca you would be jealous! Star tripping is where you look up, pick a star, stare at is and spin in a circle as fast as you can for 15-20 seconds and then somebody turns on a flashlight and you have to run to the light... most people take one step and fall flat on their face... its the best game ever... best played before you eat 10 smores... ugh
And the last day the sun finally made an appearance... and even though we basically forced sunscreen on the kids... we had some major burnage... I guess maybe it was a good thing it was cloudy the first two days!
Sumo dude statue outside of the sumo stadium!
This is me with one of the sumo wrestlers... he is high ranking as seen by the white diaper... the lower ranking guys have gray ones... these are their practice diapers.. they have colored ones they wear in the real tournament.
Side view...
Practice... these dudes were actually pretty muscular... and some didnt really have big bellies... I asked what they eat to get this big... compared to other Japanese... they said soup... hmmm
Best view of the day!
Me with the two nerdiest sumo wrestlers ever! Ha ha they cracked me up!
I cant figure out why this picture is turned I have uploaded it like 5 times... its not turned on my computer... anywho... this was our bento box (lunch box) it was some tempura fish on a peice of seaweed on top up rice with some pickeled ginger... on the side was a meatball, a dumpling sort of thing... and a tomato... it was okay... it would have been better warm... it was all cold
Before the real tournament started the big sumo guys wrestled the little learning sumo kids... it was HILARIOUS! and super cute!
The first little kid squatted and stomped his feet and everything and then when the big guys stepped towards him the little kid turned and ran away... This little kid however tried so hard but the big guy just picked him up and carried him away on his shoulder... it was really funny
The stadium was pretty big, the sumo floor was in the middle, then a whole bunch of asian people sitting cross legged on the floor for 6 hours... thats pretty amazing to me, and then we were on the second story in stadium seating... thank goodness... and my butt still hurt
They had this big ceremony where they would all come out in thier little skirt with butts showing and all sing...
This was the final match... the one that decided that grand champion... I dont remember who one... but what happened was they both went at each other and at the last second on stepped out of the way so the other went fly out of the ring cause he had so much momentum... the crowd was so angry they all started booing... they apparently were expecting more from the grand championship!
