“I think that we should stay here Captain. Why would we leave such good waves when there is nobody else around to surf it?”
Words that every surfer has heard before, but sometimes the allure of what else may be around the next corner is too much to handle. So, after a short debate, we pulled anchor and left to explore the archipelago after two days of surfing the perfect reef-grinding cylinders at a spot called “Machines.” The next four days were a mix of dying swell, increasing westerly winds, hours and hours of motoring on the open sea and plenty of second guessing our decision to leave the best wave many of the guys on our boat had ever surfed.
Although we did ride some super-fun, playful waves breaking over the most brilliant technicolor reefs I have ever seen, the sound of tubes cracking down the line at Machines still kept me awake at night. Though maybe that was the broken A/C and pool of sweat in the 88-degree bunk. Either way, when I closed my eyes, I could still see Machines spinning and spitting in my mind’s eye.
Nobody out. 85 degree gin-clear water. Head high and perfect with a channel that is 60 feet deep. Paradise, right? Not quite when you’re stuck thinking about this other wave and what may be going on with it. Such is the draw of truly mechanical waves. They lure you in and won’t let you go. Countless lives have been put on hold in order to surf those perfect days at spots like Honolua Bay, Jeffrey’s, G-Land, etc. These are places that surfers change their very lives to be at when they’re on because the magnetic pull of a fast, down the line, perfect wave is so incredibly strong that they can’t resist.
Why resist? Why go anywhere else? Why wasn’t there a surf resort built on this wave? How could nobody else be out except us? When will somebody else show up? These are the questions we kept asking ourselves as we began the nine-hour motor back to the wave. The questions were many but the answers could wait. Time will tell, but the waves won’t wait. They won’t stop peeling and reeling down the reef. They won’t care whether you ride them or not. They are beautiful to watch with or without a surfer riding them. They break so perfectly that they burn an image in your mind when you close your eyes – one view from the lineup looking into the tube. One view from the channel looking at the speeding wall and the best of all views of course is from inside the tube. This all combines to grasp the body and soul to the point where you never want to leave the place.
I’m home now, and I can’t get past these memories. I can’t properly explain the perfection to anyone that wasn’t there. I can try, but words fail. Even the images pale in comparison to the beauty of being there in person, but I know that I will be going back again. There is no need to leave. No need to go look for other waves. No need to surf at the wrong tide. No reason to be impatient. Just waiting for the Machine to turn on again.
You can surf Machines, too! Go there with Waterways Travel.
