Beautiful day for a surf

Bernard was still not feeling too great but we had to get up early to check out the predicted 11' surf.  We drove 10 minutes down the road to Surfer's Point and could see the waves breaking way out.  It was hard to judge the size until we got closer and could see the surfers.  Here are some pics so you can judge for yourself.

 Surfer's Point

Hmm, I think I'll pass

We watched the waves for about an hour from the cliff before Bernard made the difficult decision not to paddle out.  The combination of not feeling 80%, the ½ kilometer paddle out and not having enough board for the waves contributed to the decision.  We'll try and post some video up later.

We watched one more set roll through and then drove around a bit looking at a couple other breaks and settled on Redgate since it had a nice beach and wasn't too crowded.  The water was deceivingly beautiful and enticing but it was really a fast, heavy beach break.  Bernard's first wave was a free fall from the top of the lip to the sand.  That pretty much set the tone for the rest of the session. He had fun nonetheless.  AM wasn't able to get any pics of Bernard, but shot a few pics of the area.

Dramatic shot at Redgate Beach

Surfers at Redgate

Thumping beach break

After we left the beach, we were both hungry so we drove back into town to eat. Many places were closed for New Year's Day, and we ended up going back to Settler's Tavern. Just as we arrived, we ran into Bridget and her family grabbing a table, so we enjoyed a nice meal together. Since Bernard still wasn't feeling 100% (even less so after the pounding he took at Redgate) we decided to stop by the grocery store and pick up some food to make for dinner, along with some excellent local wines. We spent the rest of the night chatting and relaxing.

This may be the last post for awhile because we will be bareboating in the  Whitsundays for the next week.