The Coronado Cays seems to attract water lovers. It is home to professional surfer Sean Fowler, who was kind enough to share about his life as a professional surfer, a Coronado resident and a voice for a clean ocean, as well as the birthplace of the new kids’ biology based club, Sharks and Mermaids, which I wrote about recently, led by real-life mermaid Roberta Lenert.
Sean grew up in Bonita, in the South Bay area of San Diego. It was real country living back then in Bonita with dirt roads, horses and lots of fun as he remembers. Much different than it is now.
Imperial Beach was just a short 15 minutes away, which is where at age 12 Sean rode his first wave. He told me the feeling he got that day was unmatched to anything he had experienced and he was hooked for life. He remembers when he started surfing a friend and he would get dropped off at the beach at 8 am by one of their parents and picked up by the other parent at sundown. Sean and his surfing buddies grew up in the ocean.
Sean loves traveling, and professional surfing contests have taken him around the world to Australia, Fiji, Indonesia, Hawaii, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, Mexico, Jamaica and Puerto Rico. If he is surfing locally you can find him at Imperial Beach, La Jolla, Sunset Cliffs, Baja, and a North County Trestles run here and there. His favorite surf spot though is IB, a stone’s throw from his home in the Cays. He sometimes still competes in local contests but always make sure to compete in the Baja Surf Club event and the Bajabound Series.
Sean and his wife Kina met at Bonita Vista High School, they married in 2004 at the Cays Bahama Beach Club and quickly added to their family with their daughter, Keanna. 
They were living in Imperial Beach. Kina’s parents had purchased a home in the Cays back in 1980. Shortly after their daughter was born and Kina’s father passed away they moved to the Cays.
Sean loves that living in the Cays he is surrounded by water so when he is not surfing he can stand up paddleboard or jet ski. Kina leases condominiums with the Coronado Shores Company and Keanna is a busy middle schooler with H2A Dance, APA and Surfing class.
I asked Sean about Stan Searfus and he said, “I knew Stan for a long time. He was Keanna’s surf coach at CMS and I knew him through the surfing community. He was a great spirit and soul who was great with the kids. He was a great surfer with one of the most positive attitudes. RIP. Live like Stan.”
Sean has taught people from ages 4 to 80 with Coronado Surf Academy. He has also worked with Urban Surf 4 Kids teaching the less fortunate inner street kids how to surf and about the ocean. He speaks of how the ocean gives him peace, healing, exercise, clarity, and fun. Surfing he says has taught him a lot of things in life including its therapeutic power. It has taken him around the world meeting great people.
I asked him if he could change anything about this area, what would it be, and he said “the sewage problem that devastates this region.” As someone who has been surfing IB for decades, it’s something he has been dealing with for what seems like forever. He supports the efforts of teams like Wildcoast, Citizens Against Sewage, Surfrider Foundation and any other clean water organizations that bring attention to the problem no one cared about when he was surfing as a kid except the surfers. He is glad that it’s more than just the surfers who are now taking action to get the exposure needed for the right people to begin paying attention, and who can make change happen and help make our beaches and local ocean safe for everyone to enjoy.
When not with his family or enjoying water activities, you can find and chat with Sean at the Del 1500 Ocean Sunset Bar where he bartends, something he has done for the past 20 years.
