Arugambay: Out on the open road

Full moon Flash

House for sale in pinebrook artane
Life here in Arugam continues to treat us well. Stu and I have been focusing a bit more on our surfing, and are making sure that we are getting out in the water at least once a day. The swell is still fairly small, but it sounds like it should be building through June and July, which should give us a wider variety of breaks to explore.A? At the moment, Whiskey Point continues to be our favourite spot, with a consistent and mellow wave that always provides some fun. Wea??ve had some great sessions there, both alone first thing in the morning and with surfers from around the world. Yesterday we made the most of having our own tuk-tuk and not needing to book a driver, by setting off on our earliest surf yet, leaving the hotel at 4.30am in order to arrive at Whiskey Point in time for first light. We went with Jimmy, one of the hotel guests, who was leaving at 7am that morning (hence the need for such an early rise). It was amazing to watch the sun slowly rising above the sea and watch the sky change from blue to pink to orange as we bobbed around on our boards. Pure bliss!

Flash tours with Jimmy, Min and Rover

Stu and I have also both enjoyed a couple of confidence building sessions at the main point in Arugam, Buy innopran xl which is a much more intimidating place to surf due to the combination of crowds (there never seem to be fewer than about 20 people in the water) and the shallow reef. I had a short lesson with Fawas, the Chairman of the local surf club and someone wea??re helping out with some of the planning for the forthcoming international surf contest.A? It made a huge difference having someone provide some tips and advice on where to hang out and which waves to paddle for, and I managed to get my nicest rides of the trip without any worries about the rocks beneath the surface. I think wea??re both finally beginning to feel like we can actually call ourselves surfers, and although therea??s still a huge amount that we need to learn, we both seem to be making the most of the waves that we catch and generally feeling more relaxed in the water.

Flash the tuk-tuk has been a big success so far, and despite having a few minor technical problems (which Stu got fixed at the garage this morning) has been huge fun. We are definitely attracting less attention now than when we first bought him as most people are now used to seeing us driving back and forth the main road. Saying that, I still feel like I need to wave like the queen as I sit in the back seat with my trusty driver up front.A? We havena??t yet added any bling a?? we need to wait for our licence plate to come through before we can start getting any work done a?? so he still looks rather plain in comparison to his local cousins, but Ia??m sure he wona??t stay that way for long. Ornamental shovels seem to be quite a popular addition that you see strapped to the back of the tuk-tuks round here, a trend we hadna??t quite understood until Flash got stuck in the sand at Whiskey Point a few days ago and we needed to co-opt 3 passers by to help us haul him out!

Hotel life is still good fun, although it can feel pretty all-consuming at times. Improvement works continue as the owners try and get the new rooms finished and ready before the high season really kicks in.A? I have been trying my hand at hotel accountancy, with a fairly basic but hopefully helpful attempt to get a handle on what the hotel spends and what kind of income wea??re making.A? In the meantime, we continue to have a steady stream of lovely guests with whom wea??ve been happily whiling away the hours playing carom and sharing a beer. All good.

source:

http://www.surfandcurry.com/2010/05/out-on-the-open-road/