Shifting Peak

Sometimes the whole surfing thing can just turn into a bit of a drag. You miss a swell, and then you’re out of rhythm and you miss another one. You have some serious work commitments and you miss a third one, and then you get a touch of winter flu and miss the fourth.

When you start feeling better you chase a swell with the ferocity of a grom with a car, but by the time you get there the wind is up, the tide is wrong, the crowd has arrived and it smells like your dog pissed on your wetsuit in the garage.

Sometimes it could be a better option to stop, recalibrate, and adjust your focus. Sometimes a break from surfing can give you a burst of freshness. Sometimes going away from the sea can actually show you the way.

Sometimes it could be a better option to stop, recalibrate, and adjust your focus. Sometimes a break from surfing can give you a burst of freshness. Sometimes going away from the sea can actually show you the way.

We were staying at the St Regis Resort in Mauritius - for our #MauritiusEscape as part of All Aboard Travel. A well-executed retreat from the brats, who had been left in the hands of the good mother-in-law, and the wife and I were off on a little adventure. I was planning on surfing my brains out and my tits off, and the St Regis is perfectly situated right in front of the One Eyes pass on the Le Morne peninsula.

It’s Le Morne, as in Yawn, and not Morne as in du Plessis, as we overheard some other South Africans call it. I had a quick surf when I arrived and the waves were firing, but I was feeling a bit jaded with life, a bit foggy. Like I needed a hot Nandos Burger, or some cheese. I don’t do drugs, and there was no Nandos around, so the funk remained. Maybe it was the climate (humid) or maybe a creeping malaise had climbed on board. I decided to go and climb a mountain.

The Le Morne Brabant is a massive chunk of rock that sticks skywards. It has a wild history, with slaves jumping to their death off the summit when they were given their freedom. I know, they got that one wrong. It was raining in the morning when we set out.

Our guide for the 3-hour hike was a fit and strong Mauritian trail runner called Yan. He has a company called Yanature, for organised climbing and hikes in Mauritius. Comes highly recommended.  He led the way. The first half was a simple walk up a trail until we came to landing with incredible views both ways. Then we started to climb.

It took about 10 minutes of solid climbing before I realised that I was way out of comfort zone, that if I slipped I would fall to my death, literally, and that there was no one except my wife and Yan who would hear me scream. The climb was treacherous. It was raining, and there were vertical drops all over the show.

At certain extremely gnarly ascents there were ropes embedded into the rock that we could use to climb with. It was scary, and I thought about stopping, and turning around, at every single resting spot.

As we got close to the top I realized that I was shaking. I had long since lapsed into absolute silence, as my breathing had become ragged, and my voice a little bit higher-pitched than usual.  

The final climb was just plain crazy. We were five hundred and fifty meters in the sky, sheer drop behind us into a forest below, and hands that were shaking so hard it was hard to grasp the rocks. My adrenal glands were squirting like crazy and there was that taste of old copper in my mouth. We made it. It was exulting.

I sat down at the summit, and peered down at the waves reeling down the reef below. I recognized the feeling for what it was: fear.

I acknowledged that I had been way out of my depth, dizzy, scared, and quite prepared at more than one stage to stop the craziness.

On deeper contemplation, it felt like I had just surfed waves way too big for my skill level, in a totally terrifying session, but I had caught a bomb, just one, and survived.  

Our adventure was called #MauritiusEscape
We travelled with All Aboard - https://www.facebook.com/#/All.Aboard.Surf.Travel
We stayed at St Regis - https://www.facebook.com/stregismauritius
Yanature - https://www.facebook.com/yanatureadventures