After a fantastic two and a half weeks in San Diego, I had to pluck up the energy to pack up and move up the coast. I could have literally stayed in San Diego for a lifetime, but I figured if I'm to get my car to San Francisco at the end of November, I'm going to have to move on sooner rather than later.

I haven't moved too far, an hour up the Coast to Laguna Niguel. You may be forgiven for never having heard of this place. I simply came here as I was invited to do so by Steve (My Friend's uncle) and had never heard of the place beforehand. It's halfway between San Diego and Los Angeles, which makes a nice little pit stop.

Before I begin to write about Laguna Niguel, I need to describe an experience from my time in San Diego. Those who are Facebook users will have heard this before. On Tuesday, while surfing, I saw a fin pop out of the water literally 3 meters away from my surfboard. As I'm sure anyone else would do, I feared a shark attack was imminent! Fortunately a wave came over, and paddling like mad, I managed to catch it. I literally rode the wave of my life. For approximately 20 seconds I surfed my way onto the shore. I asked some locals on the beach if they had seen the shark. They advised me that it was dolphins. That's where my heart beat dropped and I was then amazed that I was surfing 3 meters away from a dolphin. A wonderful sight!

Back to Laguna Niguel; I arrived here on Wednesday and received a nice warm welcome. In no time we were sampling the local delights and throwing back a few pints of Sam Adams.

The place itself is very quiet in comparison with San Diego. It is however very much a 'Cougartown' (single rich older women for those that don't know what a 'Cougar' is).

Steve and his wife Corrie have a fantastic apartment in a great location. The place has two balconies which bodes well for topping up the tan.

Yesterday I went out surfing to Salt Creek (pictured) which is about 5 miles away from the apartment. I had a great time, however competition for the waves was pretty fierce as there were approximately 50 surfers out there.

The weather has been much warmer than the previous two days. The morning haze burns off by noon which makes great weather for Surfing, Sunbathing or both!

After eating some great homemade Spaghetti Bolognaise (courtesy of Corrie), we went out to a few bars including a visit to Dana Point harbor. Corrie explained how she was there when the tsunami hit Japan recently and the harbor was put on tsunami alert. The water was so shallow and boats were frantically hitting the ocean to avoid damage. Fortunately the Tsunami didn't come, however I'd imagine it was a chaotic time not knowing one way or the other.

We ended up at their local which is an Italian restaurant/bar owned by a British man called Tony. He was there last night and it was great to hear his story. He was travelling around the world in a Camper Van and hasn't quite managed to finish it. 18 years he has lived here and his aim is to finish his trip one day!

Today my aim is to find a less crowded surf spot somewhere on Laguna Beach. This will be my 5th consecutive day surfing and my 11th Surf in 15 days! I'm really clocking up the experience that's for sure, however surf champion of the world in 2 months? Unlikely!