My one wave at Tres. 1997, last day of our stay. In the morning we surfed 3xOH Wilderness near our hotel over top of Sr Gonzales bar on the beach in Jobos (its still there) then packed up and drove to Rincon when the wind came up.tres has a channel.
good thing too....
Paddled out at Maria's with about two hours to surf before we needed to start the long drive back to the airport in San Juan. Marias was about 2xOH with an occasional bigger one and to this day the best I've ever gotten it. Surfed our brains out.
With about 15 minutes left before we' needed to hit the road I paddled into my final wave of the trip from in front of the pistons. Such a gem and since it was my last wave I rode it until there was nothing left and began paddling in.
When I got to the inside the current had taken me about 3/4 of the way to Tres. I'd never been down there except on a tiny day and never seen Tres break. The water was really churned up on the inside and 3 footers were slamming into the shelf like shore as the current dragged me at walking pace. I had no idea where to get out. Panic set in when paddling between lumps my hands started hitting the tops of coral heads. It was starting to look bad the closer I got to Tres. Decided my best course of action was to paddle out and around Tres and ride one in. Now that I've snorkled that entire zone I know it was the right choice. Worked my way out. Got outside and there was one other surfer. By Tres standards it was small but to a worn out, scraped up, sunburt guy paddling out and seeing a couple solid ones detonate on a reef he'd never surfed it seemed enormous and spooky. Picked off the second wave of the first set to come in. Perhaps a little over double overhead. Long first section and then it mushed out letting me work my way towards the sandy beach. Not a particularly memorable ride if not for what led up to it. Made an easy exit and then made the long walk back to where we were parked near the lighthouse. We drove like madmen to the airport.
Kids came the following year and a long break from surf travel followed. I've never seen Tres break again other than distant peaks barely big enough to crumble through.
