Almost two months ago I arrived in San Diego. A place I had never visited before and I never would have had I not decided to extend my trip.

Fortunately I made that decision and instead of relaxing on Miami beach for three weeks, I decided to travel back to Southern California and extend my surfing experience.

San Diego is now a place I like to call my Californian home, and I would love to come out here to live visa permitting.

I continued my couch surfing experience by staying with Bob, a friend who I met through the San Diego couch surfing 'tipsy tuesday' event. In the same nature as my friend Demitrius, he was the perfect host.

Being a sea lion trainer at Sea World, Bob managed to provide me with some behind the scenes access which doesn't usually reach the public eye.

It was the most fantastic experience as I fed Dolphins, Beluga Whales, and Warus' to name but a few. I also had pictures taken with a Sea Lion pulling various funny faces.

I can't thank Bob enough for making my return to San Diego so special. He also arranged Zoo tickets for Demitrius and I, and took us to the December nights concert in Balboa Park which was also a must see event.

After spending a few nights with Bob, I spent the rest of the week with Demitrius with whom I'd previously stayed with. As mentioned in the past, he is probably one of the nicest guys I've ever met and makes you feel so welcome as a guest.

I also met up with another couch surfing buddy Ben, with whom I'd previously stayed. I met him at a heavy metal gig, and various times for some post surf coffee.

The remainder of my San Diego trip consisted of Surfing and having a good time. Two things I certainly can't do when I'm at work back in Britain. In fact each of the last 7 days involved me paddling out to either Pacific Beach, Ocean Beach or Mission Beach.

My skills have certainly improved since my first Surf on the Gold Coast in Brisbane back in August.

On the final evening my friend Paul from LA came down to visit. We went downtown for one last blow out. I also introduced him to Surfing of which he seems to have developed the bug. It was fitting that, as the sun set, I saw dolphins swimming in the distance. A very nice way to finish off my California trip.

As I flew out of San Diego, Pacific Beach caught my eye and brought back some very fond memories of all the times I had surfed there. Now just three nights in Miami then it's back to icy cold Britain.