I became a surfer years ago because I had such passion for the ocean. I love how free it makes me feel. It became my home. If I wasn’t underneath it, diving in Indonesia as a PADI scuba Instructor, exploring that magical underwater world, I was living out the rush and thrill of experimenting with my early surf years in Indo’s challenging wave scene. Surfing became my therapy. A place to conquer fears and have the adrenalin, excitement, and joy that come with riding waves. It was also a form of creative expression as I found my style, and it bonded me to new surf friends wherever I traveled to chase the swell.

Falling in love with El Salvador was almost instantaneous. Surfing with the locals they welcomed me in from the start. And as I integrated into the community and was given my surf name of Pixie I woke up excited every day to share the stoke with these people who cheered each other into waves.

For many years I didn’t care too much that people thought El Salvador was dangerous so they didn’t come, because selfishly we had waves to ourselves and it was our little secret.

As word spread about the quality of the surf here, surf tourism along with the world surf league and the surfing Olympics finally put us on the map. We knew this was the next stage to El Salvador’s increasing tourism. I can honestly say that in over 10 years of living here I never saw any violence. I never felt threatened or afraid. And in all my years of World travel I find the Salvadorian people to be some of the kindest and most welcoming people in general that I’ve ever met.

And to be fair to all the local people who had become my second family, it was and is a chance for them to come out of poverty. So I was happy for them.

This is why I want to keep my retreats local in many ways. I want to give money directly back into the community. So I use local but stunning accommodations with a million-dollar view, restaurants, drivers, surf guide friends to help me with the retreats and guides, and photographers. Just like surfing, it’s more fun when you share the stoke.

I realized through being a Diving Instructor I had a natural knack for making students feel comfortable yet pushing them just enough so they could improve and get the most out of the sport. It was an easy transition for me into surf coaching. And now my biggest thrill is empowering new surfers to feel as confident and excited about surfing as I am. You have to have passion for this sport to progress. And that’s why retreats is perfect to find these women who are really committed to learning because they will commit their time and money to follow their passion as I do. With only 4 guests I won’t be bringing crowds to waves. And this way I get to work personally with each student to maximize their wave count and learning curve. It’s not a big money earner for me to do it this way, but money has never been my drive in life. Feeding my soul and other people is what it’s all about.

Surfing is my therapy. It’s not just a sport, it’s a way of life. It’s kept me sane through my hardest moments in life, and for that, I am so grateful. I wrote a blog article on why I think surfing is therapy, you can check it out here. So now you know what I do, and why I do it. I hope I can give you the best experience of your surfing life so far, and give you all the knowledge you need to go back out into the world to enjoy your waves wherever ever you travel.