JD's Journal : Island Reverie

I wake up at 5.30 - it's dark and very warm and humid. Push aside the mosquito net and pull on some shorts. Switch on the coffee machine - it's sitting on a small table which is about the only furniture in the room. Smells good. Out the door and walk about 50 yards through the mangroves to the beach. The dawn is just coming up. The sea is glassy smooth, and there's a swell. Day one of a new swell.

Back at the hut, the coffee's ready. Put the milk powder in, take a sip, loving the feel of hot coffee on a warm tropical morning - it's a different, more welcoming buzz than the jolt from the Clement Street 7/11 at 5am on a cold Norcal morning. Makes me happy. Eat a banana. Drink water. Check the pack - wax, extra leash, booties, leash string, swiss army knife, two litres of water.

Pick up the board, strap on the pack, and walk to the road - it's light enough to see now, although the jungle on either side of the road is still dark. It's warm enough to walk without a shirt, even this early, and I settle into an easy amble.

The break is in the harbour of a small village about a mile away. It's an easy, flat walk. Nobody's up yet. By 8.30, the road will be jammed with Toyota trucks driving people from one village to another, but right now it's quiet.

Dogs wake up as I walk by. Roosters howl as the light comes up quickly. A truck goes by. It's a twenty minute walk.

At the break, I sit down on the rocks and watch. It's already getting hot in the sun, but the shade is cool and fragrent still. The wave is head-high, crystal blue and perfect. There is only one other surfer on this island, and he's not coming out today, so this is all mine, all day. No anxious watching for SUVs rocking into the carpark, no checking the dudes checking me as I have my session - all alone, all day.

There's a nice, clear channel. The tide is a couple of hours before high, so the reef is safe. Time to go.

Put the rashguard on. Wax the board. Drink one of the bottles of water. And paddle out.