A week in Toronto

I was on a business trip to Toronto last week, officially from monday to wednesday and then i decided to take extra 2 days off personal time to move around the city. Thankfully weather was unusually warm and made my weekend worth, back in California it was cold and got back to normal before i head back, so in a way, a good trip for me in every respect.
On my last trip to Buffalo i got to see Niagara from US side, but i heard it better from the other side of the border, this time i get to see that and i need to admit, yes it is. The real fall you get to see from Canada, other than u can take the maid of the mist and get closer, but thats the only view u can get of the fall from the south.
Second day in downtown Toronto, i took a bus tour to figure out things of my interest for saturday and visited CN tower, all 3 levels. Saturday i spent doing my favourite thing, biking around central island. Took a ferry to central island, which is the biggest of all the islands in Ontario lake and rented a bike to cover most of it within the short day and it indeed was the best part of the whole trip.

Otters the Dogs of the Ocean

One of the best thing about Monterey bay is its rich ocean life. From Otters to Seals to to Sharks, everything moves in that small part of the bay and thats a big reason i go back Kayaking every year, year after year, through the same small stretch around Monterey bay aquarium.

This year was particularly better for several reasons, first, the tides were high, which made the takeoff easy, the waves were high and choppy, that gave the ride extra swing, like hopping on the back of a camel. The currents were strong towards the beach and made the forward journey 5 times harder, means more workout for the upper body, on the contrary, i didn't had to paddle at all on my way back, the current took me to the shore :)


The best part of the 2 hr session were the Seals and Otters, they almost made a show as if they were waiting for us to get in the water. Form back-flips of the seals to mama Otter chasing its baby and tossing on her belly, time passed like I wasn't there for more than few minutes. Otters are as much fun to watch as Dogs at home and I am pretty sure they like humans too.


I get amazed to think that 70% of this planet is water and with billions of species, i haven't seen more than maybe 100 species of life that lives here. Life is so short and there's so much to do, and with that, let me get back to bed and prepare myself for my adventure through the next unknown.

Live to Swim, Swim to Live !

Saw it on the dash of a car and i couldn't agree more. Today i completed a mile long swim in a record time (a record for me ) :) and planing for a triathlon later this year, i think i can start with the untimed ones and gradually move on to something more competitive.
In the waiting is a kayak trip around Monterey in 2 weeks and back to surfing after the winter storm, Spring, you make me smile.

Great weekend in Tahoe

This Saturday my friend and I headed for Tahoe at 5 in the morning, reaching Sierra-at-Tahoe around 10, with so much fresh snow, it was one of the best times to be there, am I am so glad that I did.
The next day, Sunday, is especially worth mentioning here. Morning i got up to a feet of snow and my car covered all over; while i cleared it and headed to the slopes, it continued snowing throughout the day. This was my first experience snowboarding in this massive snow shower, i would stop short of calling blizzard.
Fresh snow keep covering the old ski marks and every downhill ride gave experience of being the first one on the slope. The snow shower at times reduced the visibility to zero, forcing us to stop wherever on the hill and wait till its over before continuing the descend once again.
Oh ye, how can i forget to mention, this is the first time i used my new MORROW snowboard kit and I LOVED IT!

Another Weekend worth talking about

Well last 3 weeks drained in rain and everyday commute was a nightmare.

Anyways, on one hand it was good, since we got enough rain to fill our water supply this year. Finally it opened up yesterday, a very nice day indeed, sunny and warm with kool wind. What made this Saturday special was it was the "Big Day", the Mavericks was ON!!. For those who don't know what Mavericks is, its a big wave surf competition, held every year (except last year) in Half Moon Bay, Mavericks are one of the world's toughest wave to surf on. With waves of height 30-40 feet crashing onto the rocks in the red triangle, its held in the most hostile conditions; no wonder the best surfers from all across the world fly on a 48 hour notice to ride these big waves and probably take the first spot.

So I got up at 4:30 in the morning and saw the competition from the beach. Cheers from almost 40,000 spectators on this sunny day, made the day much more fun.

After watching Greg Long win the Final, i head to San Francisco AT&T park for Kooza, one of the wonderful performance of Cirque du Soleil and ended the day pretty well. Today I took advantage of the sun and went out on a 3 hr bike ride. A nice weekend when i look back and I feel contended. Looking forward to the week ahead and the next weekend.

Surf Session at HMB Jetty

Saturday seemed to be a nice surf day till I got in Jetty. The water was way cold even with the wet suite. Wave were of moderate height, but were too frequent for me to handle, I was done in a very short time. This was the first time that i could hear myself breath heavy, indeed i got tired in first 30 mins and had to go out to the beach before i could go back in again. After the second spell i gave up, the waves kept pounding me till they practically threw me out to the beach. Am not sure if its because I generally am out of shape in winters or the waves + the temperature were punishing. No surprise I heard few regulars at the Board shop on how difficult it was for them to surf at the Jetty a day before.

First snow in Tahoe and guess where I was?

Ye, waited too long, no snow in Nov. Finally a relief, 3 feet of fresh powder last weekend. It started on Thursday and lasted till late Saturday. I guess I don't need to mention that I spent my weekend in Tahoe, hwy 50 was beautiful, snow all over the hills, the tress, on the lake and from the sky. Took me 5 and 1/2 hr to carefully drive my Prius to the South City, where I stayed for Saturday and an hour next day to my favourite Squaw Valley. I hooked on my Snowboard at 10 in morning, continued till 4 pm and was back in Bay Area by 10 in night.
I feel so good right now, relieved and rejuvenated. Weather forecasts heavy snow next week, but i got some visitors for next 3 weekends and need to be in Bay Area. I hope it gets a lot better in Jan and continues till as long as am satisfied :)