Nice writeup. Just FYI, we're near Puerto Rico, not Costa Rica! You're thinking of all that Cafe Britt coffe we drank. That was Costa Rican.

Folks when I first heard the forecast for 18 to 24 foot shore breaks I didn't believe it so that night I looked up the report and sure enough, 9 to 11 foot long rolling swells with 18 to 24 foot shore breaks. I thought we would have to cancel the trip. I changed our route to stay south of the cays up to St John and then decide once I saw the north swell whether or not we would keep going. It was spread out enough that it wasn't that bad, but they had closed all the beaches on the north shore which is a rare thing. As long as we didn't get too close to shore it was long rolling swells of about 9 to 11 feet just as predicted. It dropped off as the day grew longer. Where Rob said I stopped at great thatch BVI I was deciding to cross now or go to Tortola to check in to customs and wait it out. We decided to cross now. The swell really wasn't too bad because of the long intervals, but good grief the current was murder. I will say Rob is a strong paddler and we fought it out and I was never so glad to see Jost. (with a J Rob, but pronounced with a Y)

Anyway Rob don't feel too bad about the second spill. That is one ugly ground swell in that area and short intervals. Definately that was 6 to 8 feet and steep faces. I kind of took you that way on the way back to give you a little taste of what can happen on an otherwise calm day. There is a shelf along there that drops off sharply and there's always a bad ground swell there. Honestly I knew that but as flat as it was that day I really didn't think it would be as bad as it was especially with the previous days all being north swells. I figured 4 to 6. Hey, missed it by just two feet. I really didn't expect the close intervals.

The first spill... Ummm... Stick with the fish story! Just kidding. I busted yesterday on a reef in a two-foot wave. Happens to all of us at some point.