We found ourselves wide awake very early in the morning during our first day in Orange County. We had boarded a plane at 9pm Friday and arrived in LA at 6pm Friday, so we ended up having two nights of sleep in a row (although the first was a pretty rough sleep on a very full plane).
Our brilliant plan was to take advantage of being awake ridiculously early and go for a drive along Pacific Coast Highway, checking out the beaches and watching the sunrise. Sounds good in theory, but when we stepped outside of our hotel we were met with drizzle and overcast skies. David reasoned that bad weather = good surf, so we should definitely still go to the beach. For anyone who knows David well, this will not surprise them at all.
We started at Huntington Beach, famous for hosting the US Open of Surfing. Above is David standing on the pier. This was a fun walk, despite the rain. There were lots of people out fishing from the end of the pier. We spotted a seal swimming in the water and some manta rays.
What seemed to us like an overly large number of surfers sharing some pretty small waves. The bad weather = good surf equation didn't seem to stack up in this case. We commented that this is the type of waves that David uses to give Ethan surfing lessons at home. Perhaps this perspective is a product of our upbringings on the Gold Coast and Sydney - lots of waves, with a relatively smaller population. Or maybe Huntington Beach is home to a large population of very dedicated surfers who will go out in any size surf? David was impressed with a man who surfed directly underneath the pier.
We drove to Newport Beach and stopped there for a while, but didn't take any photos. Newport Beach was ok. I think it is difficult to be overly impressed when you are being rained on. The picture above is of Laguna Beach, which I thought was very pretty, even in the rain.
Our brilliant plan was to take advantage of being awake ridiculously early and go for a drive along Pacific Coast Highway, checking out the beaches and watching the sunrise. Sounds good in theory, but when we stepped outside of our hotel we were met with drizzle and overcast skies. David reasoned that bad weather = good surf, so we should definitely still go to the beach. For anyone who knows David well, this will not surprise them at all.
We started at Huntington Beach, famous for hosting the US Open of Surfing. Above is David standing on the pier. This was a fun walk, despite the rain. There were lots of people out fishing from the end of the pier. We spotted a seal swimming in the water and some manta rays.
David still on the pier, looking towards the shore.
Our bird-friend that was watching us walk along the pier. Bright blue life-guard tower in the distance.
What seemed to us like an overly large number of surfers sharing some pretty small waves. The bad weather = good surf equation didn't seem to stack up in this case. We commented that this is the type of waves that David uses to give Ethan surfing lessons at home. Perhaps this perspective is a product of our upbringings on the Gold Coast and Sydney - lots of waves, with a relatively smaller population. Or maybe Huntington Beach is home to a large population of very dedicated surfers who will go out in any size surf? David was impressed with a man who surfed directly underneath the pier.
We drove to Newport Beach and stopped there for a while, but didn't take any photos. Newport Beach was ok. I think it is difficult to be overly impressed when you are being rained on. The picture above is of Laguna Beach, which I thought was very pretty, even in the rain.
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