See the photo gracing today's Wave of the Day? That line of tropical symmetry busting out of a grey monotone background? Well, this is the backstory to how that shot was taken. It's also a little reminder of what's possible with a bit of lifestyle engineering. Joel Coleman picks up the story:

"I had just returned home from a two and a half week exploratory charter to Bougainville aboard the PNG Explorer. The region visited was incredible, however the swell direction and winds were not really playing the game and I came home still craving more. I had been home just over a week, the surf in Sydney was terrible and the Australian Open of Surfing was doing its best to hype up one foot onshore slop at my local beach."

"I was awake well before dark on a Thursday morning, the surf was bad and the onshore had been blowing all night. With nothing to do until the sun came up, I was scratching around on Facebook when I received a message from the captain of the PNG Explorer saying the swell of the season was on its way and could I get back to PNG within 24 hours to make the next charter...?"

"I dropped everything, canceled everything else and booked a flight. A wave like this is worth infinitely more than anything else that was in my calendar."

It turned out to be Joel's best trip to PNG, and he's made a few. For three days an immaculately clean, long-range groundswell hammered the coast, the winds stayed light the whole time. "I took thousands of photos," said Joel.

And the Wave of the Day photo? "This was the first evening of the swell, late in the day and getting dark. What an amazing evening session this turned out to be!"

Check the Saltmotion site and sign up to his blog. Go on, live vicariously a while.