The next day we all woke to a perfect Cocos trade wind of 20 knots and sunshine. It was kitesurfing from 6am to 6pm. Our 14 advanced kiters brushed the cobwebs off while we taught 3 beginners. It was a pretty hard core day as the crew pushed themselves to the limit, inspired by Tom's kiting.

With the forecast looking sweet for the days ahead we decided to explore the Atoll as much as possible. Voted the best, we did a down winder from kite beach to the inner lagoon, way down wind. What was so sweet about this day? The high tide meant that we got to kite in and behind some bushes in the inner - inner lagoon down by the runway. Kiting behind the low lying shrubs meant the water was super flat; butter smooth. It was so good that the only reason we had to stop kiting was because the tide went out and fins started scraping.

Breakfast of Champions
Thanks to John, the crew woke to find not only great winds, but a fully cooked breaky at the beach - with coffee. After kiting for almost 3 hours, breakfast was served at 9, everyone was refreshed and full and was able to kite right though the morning.

The next day was the Lagoon crossing. Having to tack pretty hard upwind was a chore but well worth it once we got to the other side and kited around the smooth water on Home island's Kampong Attas.

From here we ventured down past home island, landing on Prison Island. Tom and the crew spent some time getting to know the black tip reef sharks, managed to scoff down some lollies and drinks then jump back on the kites to make their way down to Direction Island. Once there it was chill out time. Andy and Leon caught some Z's in the shade of their canopies while the others snorkeled the rip.

During some down time on day 4, Tom sat us down to teach us the fundamentals of stylish kite tricks. Tom's ability to break a trick down and explain the motions is exactly why he is world class and having him impart some of his knowledge and techniques to us was an absolute honour.

Party time
Throughout the tour, many social events were planned, there was never a dull moment. JCR cooked us one of his amazing Hangi's, no need for plates or cutlery, just use your hands. The Malay meal on Home island with the crew was delicious as always. Nek Neng's sun day fish BBQ ended up being delayed by the World cup Rugby, but we got to teach Nek a thing or two about the wallaby's, but was well received once we got stuck into it.

No Wind
After the pumping 5 solid days of kiting, exploring the lagoon and teaching the beginners, nature turned on us and stopped the wind. Lucky for us though, we were stuck on a beautiful tropical island with plenty of sunshine, lots of booze and some stand up paddle boards.

Our new SUPs got a work out at kite beach, Direction island and at the G-Spot. A small reef wave that is perfect for SUP on high tide.

Last night send off
So the plan was to kite all tour and then on the last night, kite all night. But unfortunately we got no wind on the last night, no problem, we still partied. Throughout the week a floating bonfire was made. Woven out of drift wood, old ropes, buoys and palm fronds, we set the raft off kite beach, intending to kite over it whilst lit up under the full moon. In the end, we just had a 2 bonfire party.

We sadly said goodbye to Tom and Mark -our professional photographer, Will, Kel & Al & Jen - the amazing Zephyr staff who worked solidly for 4 months pumping out lessons and showing us all a good time, the Pro Tour kite crew - Stijn, Narelle, Andy, Aaron, Andy & jaquie H, Ben G, Ben L, Leon, Dan, Henrick, Adam & Jen.

Special thanks goes to the Cocos Islands Tourism association, North Kiteboarding International for sponsoring the event, Tom Hebert & and Mark Glendinning for kiting and documenting this amazing tour.

We have big plans to do it all again next year, so stay tuned.... register your interest here if you are keen for 2012