Written by and partially illustrated by: Laurie Trotman

Beaches are not where you would normally find ants. You certainly wouldn’t expect to find surfing ants, but Timmy is not an ordinary ant. Timmy is a brave ant who explores and tries almost anything. He’s been learning how to surf recently.

Since his last adventure at sea and after going to Frog Island Waterpark, Timmy thought he was ready to try surfing. He knew that his friend Fenix knew how to surf, so he took some lessons from Fenix.

Today was Saturday, so he didn’t have to do many chores. He got up early and called his friend Commander Dragon and asked him for a ride to the beach. Fenix was going to meet him there.

Commander Dragon was happy to fly him there, but only as far as the boardwalk. Commander Dragon explained that there were sea birds that like to eat dragonflies, so he was not going to get too close to the ocean.

Once he arrived at the boardwalk, Timmy jumped off, thanked his friend, and ran to meet Fenix at the surfboard rental area. Fenix was already there waiting for him.

He had already rented them both surfboards. Fenix’s was light brown with a couple of pink flowers on it.

Timmy’s was a blue with a pink stripe down it and it was just the right size for Timmy! “COWABUNGA!” Timmy cried in excitement.

Fenix tucked his board under his arm,

then lifted Timmy onto his board to carry them towards the beach. Timmy put his board under his arm too!

When they got close to the water, they set their boards down and watched the other surfers for a while. They learned that this was a good way to see how the waves were and make sure the other surfers were having a good time too.

Today was a surfing competition in Virginia Beach so they got to see a lot of good surfers.

After watching for a while, they practiced kneeling and jumping to their feet on their surfboards while they were still in the sand. This helped them to get ready for the real thing in the water.

Then they took their boards down the beach a little further, to get away from the competition, and ran into the water with their boards.

Fenix and Timmy laid on their tummies and paddled with their arms for a long time until they got past the waves and the water was calmer. It’s very tiring work to get out there so they sat on their boards for a while and rested while watching other surfers.

Once Timmy felt rested, he noticed that the waves were picking up, so he turned his board towards the shore so he’d be ready to catch a good wave. Then, he saw it! The perfect wave was coming, so he started paddling and then, JUMPED UP!

He held his arms out and the wave started pushing him to shore. “COWABUNGA!” he squealed with delight. Before he knew it, he was at the shore and his first ride was finished and it was amazing!

Timmy turned around and saw Fenix had caught a great wave and was surfing like a pro! He was smiling from ear to ear! When he came running out of the water, he yelled, “WOW, did you see that Timmy? Wasn’t that amazing, dude?”

“It was tubular!” Timmy laughed. They were so excited and happy that they ran back to the water, paddled out, and surfed some more. They had a lot of amazing rides that day, in addition to some wipeouts. By lunchtime, they were both tired and hungry. Fenix helped Timmy carry his board back to the rental area and turned them in.

Timmy saw that his friend, Commander Dragon had returned and had seen Timmy’s last ride in.

“Your surfing was the bomb dude!” Commander Dragon said to Timmy. “Fenix, you were carving those waves nicely too! Totally tubular!”

Timmy and Fenix appreciated Commander Dragon’s comments. They felt very proud of how they surfed today. Timmy hopped up on the dragonfly, turned, and said, “Bye Fenix! I can’t wait until next time! Thanks, surfer dude!”

“You betcha, dude,” Fenix smiled. “I’ll catch ya on the flipside, dude!” Timmy and Fenix both like to talk like surfer dudes.

On the way home, Timmy told Commander Dragon all about the waves, the competition they saw, and the waves they rode. By the time they arrived home, he was tired and hungry. Luckily, Aunt Pickles had lunch waiting for him, and she was excited to hear about his day of surfing.