Whatup guys.  Kevin here with Monday's report. 

Today I bring you guys a really interesting report.  A lot of the time, I think people lose context when it comes to the report.  If you think about it, do you guys actually understand what you're looking at? 

Allow me to explain.  I am giving you this report based on my personal knowledge of waves.  I've been all over the world and I live here so I see these waves and surf them myself every single day.  I know what these waves are supposed to look like, and I know when they're good, and I also know when they're not perfect.  

But having the bar set so high kind of warps my perspective a little bit.  I don't really know where all of you guys are in your surfing abilities, I don't even really know who's reading this.  But the point is, that these reports are coming from the mouth of an experienced surfer.  

This report is interesting because it kind of breaks the 4th wall, I think.  I'll describe the waves, describe my line of thinking, and describe what I did.  Hopefully, it wil all make sense.  Lets get to it.  

So, as a reference, this is a photo of me that was taken last week. Awesome wave, I still remember the details. However, this day wasn't even perfect Pangas. It was good, but it wasn't perfect. Pangas gets twice as big as this. But, is this what all of you guys are looking for? Are you guys even looking for waves this big? Feel free to shoot me an email with your thoughts and comments. [email protected]

I guess that's what I'm trying to say here.  Just because it's not perfect doesn't mean that it's not good. 

So after all those nice waves, here's the crazy thing. I didn't surf it. I look at these photos now, and think to myself, "man, this most likely would have been the session of the day if I had paddled out...but I didn't." In retrospect, it probably would have been. But the thing is, I don't really care. Let me explain...

Popoyo is about a 20 - 30 minute drive from Hacienda Iguana. The Rancho Santana headland blocks your view of anything past, so your brain kind of just "forgets" that there's any other waves. Hacienda Iguana is so beautiful, nice, and comfortable, that you kind of get lazy to leave in order to explore. Nothing wrong with that.

Random sidenote: Remember what I said the other day about Valentine's day vibes in the air? See photo

**COUPLES MASSAGE SPECIAL AVAILABLE CONTACT US FOR DETAILS LOL**

So ironically, I took this photo after I got out of the water.  Shot this from inside the hostel.  Only three people out when the set of the day came in and this girl caught one of the waves.  Honestly was probably one of the best waves of her life.  The thing lined up all the way to the beach 

But at the end of the day it didn't matter. Even though I didn't score the best waves of the day, I still had a really really fun sesh and I caught a few waves! It's been a long time since I started surfing, but I do remember that there were days when I didn't even catch one wave. I would be so stoked to catch even just one wave. I caught a bunch of waves today,and even though they weren't "good" it was still super fun.

The takeway here is, don't get discouraged if you guys sometimes get skunked.  Even the best surfers still get skunked sometimes.  But I guess the whole point is that it doesn't really matter.  The only way you're going to score epicly is if you take some risks.  Sometimes the risks pay off, and sometimes they don't.  That's half the fun.  I guess the beauty of surfing is that even the "failures" aren't even that bad.  

That's one thing I think we all need to remember as we continue to surf: Sometimes, the best surfs are the ones with zero expectations. Just look at this sunset. God rays. Such a good day.

Anyway, I'll leave you guys with an interesting conversation that I had with one of the dudes who lent me his powerbank so I could charge my phone at the hostel. He saved my ass. Thanks buddy. Didn't even know the guy. Life is good.

The guy, his name was Nick, he asked me, " What is this place like in the summer? I've only been here in the winter."

" Well," I said, " you see all these waves here? When there is swell, every single one of these waves works."

Sage wisdom.

But it's been two years since I was here last. I've only ever actually been here one season - and not even a full one.

Only time will tell if that year was special, or if that's just another year on the Pacific Coast of Nicaragua. Either way, I'm determined to find out.

Stay tuned....

kevin-huang.com

instagram.com/kevinjhuang_

P.S. if there's any moral to this story, it's sometimes the best thing to do is to just paddle out.