#3: Go on a surf trip

When I originally added this to my bucket list I was envisioning surfing somewhere exotic, maybe Costa Rica or something like that? The reality was that I was only about 90 minutes from my home in San Diego, at a gated community called Las Gaviotas in Baja California, Mexico.

The trip came about because a buddy of mine was celebrating his bachelor party down there. He and his friends are big into surfing, and most, if not all of them have been on many surf trips around the world. Although I had just returned days earlier from my honeymoon in Hawaii, I had never been to Mexico and figured this was a great opportunity to go with a bunch of seasoned travelers and surfers.

I took a half day from work and met up with two other guys. We loaded up the SUV, and made the 90 minute or so drive with no incidents. Once we arrived we immediately put on our wet suits and headed out to surf. One of the houses our group rented was right on the water, the other bigger house was a couple blocks away from the water. The weekend consisted of eating, drinking, and surfing. The waves were a decent size but pretty weak. I brought my smallest board which was a mistake, but luckily there were plenty of boards I could borrow that were better suited for the conditions. On Sunday morning we headed back towards good ol' US of A. The wait at the border was an unpleasant two hours of inching forward...inch by inch, as vendors came to your window and try to sell you crap.

Like I said, this isn't what I pictured when I added "surf trip' to my bucket list, but between surfing Waikiki one week, and spending the next weekend in Baja surfing...I would say it definitely counts.

#23: Swim with sharks

Me and my wife celebrated our honeymoon on the Oahu island of Hawaii. Before the trip I spent a lot of time going through a guidebook, trying to find things to do, places to see, and food to eat. One of the activities I found was a shark cage dive. It was cheaper than I expected at around $90 a person, but I wasn't sure if Pauline would be on board with the idea. A day or two into our honeymoon we went through the book again, and tried to book the weeks activities...to my surprise Pauline agreed to the shark cage idea.

We woke up at 5:00am the morning of our shark dive, ate a light breakfast, took some Dramamine, and made the 30 minute drive to the harbor. The boat took us, and about 13 other passengers 3-4 miles off the coast to where the shark cage was stored. The boat hooked up to the cage, and we were briefed on how to behave while in the cage. The cage fit about 8 people at once, so the boat was split into two groups...Pauline and I were in the first group. We put our gear on, pressed record on the GoPro, and climbed into the cage.

The water was a perfect cobalt blue, and the sharks wasted no time swimming up to the cage and checking us out. The sharks were sand bar sharks, and about 3-4 feet long...definitely not Great Whites, but still neat. Between the cage bobbing up and down, and my head moving in all directions trying to get video of the sharks, I started to get sea sick...breathing out of a tube didn't help either. After 20 minutes in the cage our time was up, which was okay with me since I was trying not to chum the water. I climbed back onto the boat and headed straight for the railing...I didn't puke, but I did spend the rest of the trip staring off at the horizon and taking deep breaths.

After the shark dive we headed back home and climbed right back into bed. Between the early wake up call, the adrenaline, and the sea sickness, we were pretty exhausted for the rest of the day. I enjoyed the activity, but I will think twice about climbing onto a boat again...no deep sea fishing trips for this guy!