Surfing in bear country


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North America » Canada » British Columbia » Sooke
October 27th 2010
Published: October 29th 2010
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I have been travelling around canada for 3 weeks now, with a big wetsuit and booties in my bag, so yeah I wanted to check the surf. I heard stories about people surfing Sombrio while bears run around the beach, so though I should defineatly give it a try. I started in Victoria again, no need to hitch hike, just taking a 2.50 bus over to Sooke. I thought it would be an easy short ride, it looked so close on the map. Didn't know that it was a commuter town, took the express bus and still it took me two hours til I made it, bloody traffic jams. I had no idea where to jump out so waited until the bus driver dropped me off. I had an address in my book where I could meet Jimmy, but I was not sure if it was the right one.
I started walking, it was dark (of course) and ran into a woman and asked for a campground, in case I wouldnt make it to the house. Appearantly there is no such thing in Sooke, but she said, I could camp at the end of Otter Point road if I had to, just be careful about the bears and coughars....yay!
I started walking and it must be the longest damn road in the world. Totally overpacked I walked through the dark along the street. Only 6 blocks I though...yeah right. After about half an hour I was pretty exhausted, lots of cars passed me but noone thought the dude with the huge backpack had no fucking idea
where he was or what he was doing, noone stopped. I got tired, had a look around possible campsites and about another half an hour later, I thought, fuck this I will just camp here. Here, was a front yard, I just walked up to the house to ask permission. The owners didnt think it was a good idea, because they both had a coughar and a bear roaming the premisses.
Great! But they offered to drive me to my friends place, which was great, so I eventually some phone calls later, made it.
The next day we went to Sombrio. Surfing culture here is weird. Everyone talks an aweful lot about their gear, their fin systems the amazingness of their surfing. I didnt get it. Surfing for me is not about that. It is about being part of nature, feeling the ocean, the scenery, sitting out there and finding serenity and sharing this moment with your friends. Every now and then you paddle for a wave, feel the power and be greatful. So I was not very impressed when I saw a tent city. People were warning me to not take the left or right break because that was for locals only. What do you mean, locals, we are at a beach and hour away from the next town, locals? How can you own a wave? What is it about localism anyway, wouldnt you want to share a great spot with likemined people. Maybe not, maybe 20 people per wave is rediculous. I thought it was packed. Anyway, I went in and had a great time, and that is what counts.
The next day we got up rediculous early just to listen to the surf report, they actually didnt want to go. I mean it is nature, beach etc. If there are no waves we can do other stuff....appearantly not. No bears by the way, not yet.

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