jungle pool

Sunday morning. Sam & I getting it going.

Sams new super pump.

I found this pool over a year ago, on a stormy Sunday morning. The rain was falling in cold, wet sheets & driving was horrendous. I saw the estate & palm trees over to my left, as I slowed to loop around & check another smaller house that was ‘For Sale’. The black wrought iron fence at the estate was spiked & rusting. The palm trees  that circled a walled- in area beside the house, were heavy with old fronds, and dried husks littered the yard. It looked terribly promising to my experienced eye. With a house & yard this large, it probably had a pool. I checked the driveway & saw a dirty, unused car. I walked slowly in the rain, looking for signs of dogs & habitation. No mail in the mailbox, trash cans without trash, 3 month old newspapers in the driveway…dried leaves & debris. So far, so good. I slid up onto a stucco retaining wall & lay flat on top. I raked my eyes over the yard, house & pool. It was aesthetically perfect. Dozens of huge palm trees encircled the left hand kidney that lay, ensconced within. The pool was 4 feet deep in black water & palm debris. It looked magical. My heart raced & I completed my recon in Salba mode. I kept it under wraps for over 9 months until I showed it to Salba. He told me that he recognized it as a pool he rode with John Nakama in 1990. Salba recalled, “It was gnarly on the right wall as it had palm trees growing flush with the coping. It made the wall belly out a bit.” He remembered it being ‘okay’, but nothing to get excited about. I liked the look of it, so I periodically checked on it for close to a year. Sam & I decided to go drain it recently.

fini

Sam- first BS grind.

Scott Ward- BS two....early.

The house was empty & abandoned. Personal furniture, clothing, dried plants & photographs were littered about the decks & yard. Vines crawled up the railings of the porches & everything was overgrown & rank with weeds. The pool stank from 15 feet away. Rotting palm debris & stagnant water made our job…indecent. It took us hours to remove the debris, drain it, rinse & clean it thoroughly. We went home, showered & changed clothing. We stank so badly, that we immediately washed our clothing. We drove back & served that pool some skateboard punishment. Ray Zimmerman, Josh Borden, Salba, Adam 12, Billy, Sam, Scott & I, all went & took as much fun as we could from her. It was worth every stinking second.

Me- wheeler in the palms.

Josh Borden- fs disaster

Adam 12 shallow stairs