South

SOUTH

South BY

MIKE CHLALA

A photographic experience by Michael Chlala

October 2015 I recently returned from a month long experience in the South Pacific along with a good friend and two surfboards. It’s an amazing part of the world full of incredible beauty, intrepid adventures, true relaxation, and thriving culture.

As a surfer and a photographer I’d be lying if I said that this trip was on my bucket list. A place full of perfect waves, great weather, and culture is a jackpot for someone like me. But the reason this trip wasn’t on that list of things to do before I die is because I never thought in 100 lifetimes I would ever be going to these places. How could I put a place I’ve never even heard of on a bucket list? Then one day my good friend asked me to come along on this trip and in doing so mentioned to me the words “uncrowded foreign tropical reef passes”. Right then I knew what I had to do. I had to drop everything for this once in a lifetime experience. I left my secure job, I opened a brand new credit card and I downsized my life from a studio to a loft. When I returned, I was poor financially but rich with life.

It had previously never even dawned on me that one day I’d have the confidence or enough faith in the present moment to just let go of everything and charge this epically beautiful, incredibly challenging, inherently scary, and eye widening part of the world.

Not to mention the food and the incredible hospitality of the locals.

The pages that follow are just a fraction of what I was able to experience. Many people, places, and things went unphotographed.

Many situations where a camera just wouldn’t fit and times where just simply soaking it all in was the right thing to do.

I hope these pages help you to feel inspired to get out there and travel and experience things outside our peripherals.

Life is for living and we only get one. But you already knew that.

All The Best.

- Mike Chlala

PA R T O N E : T H E B I L L A B O N G P R O TA H I T I 2 0 1 5

How else can you begin the journey South without first paying a visit to The End of the Road?

Teahupo’o is a special place. We happened to coincide with the final two days of the event and we hung out in the channel for finals day. In reality they have the channel pretty secured and if you are just sitting on your surfboard the view is pretty restricted.

The wave breaks in front of you out of sight, but the energy and the view of the lineup from the channel is second to none. Plus the quality of the people are as world class as their waves. You come for the waves, but you stay for the people. Thanks to all the boys who taught me where to sit in the lineup and how to make sashimi sauce.

THE FREESURF

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After the contest had finshed and Jeremy Flores had won, everyone went to the marina and celebrated his couragoes victory against defending world champion Gabriel Medina. The lineup at Teahupo’o became virtually empty and the sideshore conditions the contest was held in had now switched offshore. Everyone had left the point and another jet ski ride out to the wave wasn’t going to happen. I decided to paddle out on my surfboard with my leash strung in between my swim fins and my camera situated between my legs and the board trying hard not to get wax on the lens. Once out there I tie the board to a buoy in the once packed channel and start swimming.

PA R T T W O : O N WA R D

After a short stay at Teahupo’o we ventured onward.

Onward to different line-ups.

Onward to macking swells closing out reef passes.

Onward to lengthy kayaks, funky wind, crazy currents, glass offs, barrels, hikes, fresh fruit, lots of rain, dry reef, less people, novelty waves, whales, and hues of blue.

The Right: Andy Would Go

There once was an uncrowded foreign tropical reef pass. On one side was the righthander deemed unridable due to it’s incredibly shallow sections and relentless current sucking out to sea. The bigger the swell got, the more ridable the wave would look and the more dangerous it became. You’d have to remind yourself it was just a mirage. However, Andy Would Go. On the other side laid the lefthander. We saw every type of condition from small and perfect to huge and closed out. It got so big and loud at one point that the hollow ones would get so loud it would thunder and POP!, we could hear it from inside.

There is another wave and as it broke would follow along a dry ledge. Only locals and world class traveling pros dare test it. Four attempts to swim out for porper photos and was unsuccessful navigating the whitewash from relentless sets over the jagged and dry ledge.

Defeated as I was blown away, I will return.

PA R T T H R E E : LAND OF THE MOTU

It’s all about the Motu.

The Motu is beautiful, it’s comfort, it’s relief, it’s shade.

It’s fresh coco, bon timing, and drinking water.

It’s a land mark, a watermark, a reef mark.

The Motu pushes you, it wears you out, makes you work for it.

It fools the wind, it feeds sharks, it grounds sailboats with it’s massive coral heads.

It has perfect entry for kayaks and those willing to step foot and go the distance will reap the benefits, both seen and unseen.

It’s all about the Motu.

THE PIER

PA R T F O U R :

B AC K T O T H E E N D O F T H E R OA D. T H I S T I M E I T ’ S A L L A B O U T T H E B E AC H B R E A K A N D T H E G R O M S W H O S U R F I T. T H E Y ’ R E T H E F U T U R E O F S U R F I N G AT T E A H U P O ’ O.

vv THE RETURN

Five weeks had now gone by and the trip was over. We organized and packed our belongings, we surfed one last time and said a few goodbyes before heading North. The fresh green coco never tasted so good as it did on that final afternoon. Our time South had ended and in no way was that depressing.

At the end of our journey I started to realize that even though we were leaving, the trip wasn’t over. I realized that my own life IS the actual trip and that the adventures and good times along with person growth will continue. Travel is about experiencing new things and jumping out of your comfort zone and when we carry that same attitude in everyday life the trip doesn’t have to end with a return ticket and life can become a lot more interesting.

THE END