[Craig T]

Originally Posted by trader220

To my friends on this thread and especially Baz (for always posting inspirational photos)….

I have been laid up in the hospital for 10 days. Even the docs at U Penn can’t figure out what’s wrong with me. In general I have been a real mess. For the first 5 or 6 days I slept 23 ½ hours a day but the last handful of days I have been awake and coherent for long stretches. In that time I have decided to go on the road again. My destination is probably going to be Chicama Peru. At almost 51 I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to really enjoy a full day of surfing over a 10 day trip, and I want one more adventure before it’s not realistic to consider a trip like this anymore. Wasting away in the hospital and looking at this thread has been my inspiration to make one more big trip. Thank you to everyone who keeps it going.

I have surfed up and down both coasts of the US. I have surfed Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua a number of times. I surfed Tenerife a couple of times. I surfed Cape Verde for a 10 day span. I have surfed the better spots in France. In the late 80’s I surfed Mundaka too. I went to Maui for 14 days on my honeymoon (needless to say my now ex-wife was not all that happy with my activity of choice).

I was never much of a big wave surfer and at times and in different places I was in over my head and skill level but for the most part I have been fortunate enough to have caught some fantastic surf wherever I have been for at least parts of the trip if not all. Over the last 20 years my board of choice has gotten longer and longer and my free time to travel has gotten smaller and smaller. So much so that since my separation / divorce my surfing has been limited to a couple dozen days a year when it’s really been worth the drive to the Jersey shore and I can make it fit my schedule. Basically pre-hurricane strong swells which fit my custody schedule. My 8 year old has been hanging out with me on the front of the 12 footer in tiny slop for the last couple seasons too.

My question is this…. Have any of you guys or gals been to Chicama? What’s it really like? What are the seasons like? I guess its close enough to the equator that there are no local seasons but there must be better swells coming from somewhere in different times of the year? What’s the wave like. The shortest board I own is a 9 foot performance long board and I am not looking to get into wicked fast nasty hollow breaking in two feet of water over reefs or lava. I also don’t want to go all that distance for waste high incredibly slow mush even if it’s really long. I am old but I am not that soft so I don’t need fancy digs or fancy food.

Once I get well enough to start training again, I figure I’ll need a few months of work to be strong enough to do more than bob around and catch an occasional wave. I don’t want to waste a trip, but I also realize at my age I am not going catch everything that moves. I’ll be going solo so I don’t really care about the night life.

Any input, suggestions, tips, good links will be greatly appreciated.

First, I'm very sorry you're struggling with undiagnosed health issues. Hopefully it will pass. I wish you well.

As you obviously know from your extensive surf travel, surf movies and magazine photographs give us an unrealistic impression of all surf spots. Even if a break goes off one or two days a year there is somebody there to take the video or photograph of perfection. Chicama does have pretty consistent surf (similar to like CR and Nic), but rarely is it like the photos. June through October is your best chance in Peru.

I missed a trip with friends to Chicama in Sept of 2008. I had plane tickets in hand when a work process heated up and I had to bail out. They were there for five days and only had one day of memorable surf. They also said the water was surprisingly cold, requiring 3mm wetsuits to be comfortable...due to the Humboldt Current. All said they would not do it again due to long flights, cold water, etc.