Feature: Meet Carmen Kershaw

Barrels, Beatings and Broken Bones

SaltyLips Womens Indo Carmen Surf Girls Salty Lips

Quick Pit Stop

Intrepid explorer and surf seeking nomad, Carmen has dedicated her life to the search for waves and isn’t afraid of “roughing it in return for a few barrels”. Originally from Canada, Carmen has been on the road for 10 years and this open-ended ticket to ride is nowhere close to being traded in. Currently living in Margaret River with her husband and best friend, Rick Kershaw, their life consists of saving-up and travelling together to different surf destinations all over the world. Continue reading

Return to West El Salvador

Home Away from Home

Fun waves!

Fun waves!

Two 13 hour bus journeys, two border crossings and a fading hangover later, Nathan and I arrived at our destination, a fishing village in West El Salvador. Back to my concrete cell above a shop, with a balcony overlooking my favourite wave, pupusas stuffed with various lava hot fillings and the best fruit salads of my trip. With pretty consistent waves, and cool locals, this was the perfect spot to settle down for a while for some cheap living. Continue reading

Mexico Sessions Quatro

Fickle Paradise

Heading out

Heading out

With Rosary bee-lining it to the next super heavy Mexican beachie, I headed off on my own to another spot that was less likely to break my boards or my back. After 3 weeks in a tent I decided to treat myself to an actual bed…my own room on stilts with a concrete platform to do yoga and a view of the wave, with stray dogs & a parrot for company…heaven! Meeting some cool people, including a likeminded surf chica from Switzerland, Prisca, living cheap and getting fun waves, this was a spot I wanted to put some time in. Continue reading

Mexico Sessions Tres

Magic Sessions and Chasing Sandbanks

Rosary dawny!

Rosary dawny!

With me still out of the water, on injury time, we packed up our tents and got back on the road. Rosary had convinced me to reluctantly purchase a tent, saying it was the only way to travel Mexico. She was right of course but  I did miss the comforts of a fan! Picking up two mad Irish lads Garret and Fionan that we knew from Indonesia, we scored some super fun waves,  experienced a yearly local fiesta and met some interesting characters. Continue reading

Mexico Sessions Uno

Good waves, rank food and befriending strays

El Gringo Liam.

El Gringo Liam.

Whilst I was digging sea urchin spines out of my foot in El Salvador, Rosary was scoring super fun waves in Mexico.

Straight off a 26 hour bus journey from El Salvador she had bumped into an Irish friend Liam, purchased a second hand tent and began her exploration of the Mexican coastline with him and a couple of Norwegians.  Continue reading

West El Salvador

Pancakes, Pupusas and Point Perfection

Rosary: point perfection!

Point perfection!

A failed attempt at hitchhiking, a flat tyre and two chicken buses later we arrived in the fishing town of La Libertad, home to El Salvador’s most famous right hand point. This was top of my hit list for the trip due to an amazing two weeks in October…and day one didn’t disappoint! Arriving at the peak of the swell, our session quickly beat those of East El Salvador to the top spot of best waves of the trip. Continue reading

Forest Dwelling

East El Salvador

Fun!

Point fun!

Everything was perfect…we were the only guests, we had our own cabina with two hammocks out front and the friendliest couple looking after us (we were in the middle of nowhere so they were our only source of food)…then THEY arrived. A car load of 8, beer-drinking, snakey surfers with Swedish chicks in tow. Of all the places to come to party, a forest by a perfect right hand point on a decent swell! Continue reading