TRAVEL & ADVENTURE
Surfer Girl Diaries
Photography & Story by Elaine Abonal
La Union
Manila
Siargao Island
Palawan
Cebu
“ I may be biased when I say this, but as much as I enjoyed surfing in other countries like in the US or in Indonesia, surfing my home break beats all the hype written in other magazines.”
Nobody forgets their first love. That feeling of excitement and liberation, of being addicted to something or someone that you want to be part of your life – whether it sounds exaggerated or not – FOREVER. The first time I stood up on my board and caught a wave, with the sunset shining on my sunkissed skin and the sea surrounding my body as if it was giving me a big warm hug, I fell in love. I fell deeply, madly, and crazy in love. With surfing, with the ocean, with nature, with what it means to be one with the anything that has something to do with the water, and with the people who understand you because they too have fallen in love with the same thing. After that first wave and that first weekend of learning how to surf, or what I’ d like to think of as the art of dancing with the ocean, my life was changed.
A lot of people travel around the Philippines to frolic on powdery white sand, lie around and get a tan, or get drunk by the beach. Those things are fun for a girl but this girl looks for something else – WAVES. And the Philippines definitely has it.
Ever since I started surfing 9 years ago, I’ ve always looked for coasts with waves, otherwise I easily get bored. Don’ t get me wrong, I’ m no pro and I am definitely what one would call a soul surfer. I love“ playing” and dancing with the ocean in easy waves with my friends and I don’ t care too much about winning contests or catching the
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