Eric Searcy is as embedded in the Old City lifestyle as anyone possibly could be. Whether it be by playing music or playing among the waves, Searcy finds solace in the finer and simpler things in life. A banjo and dobro player in the local well-known bluegrass band, The Driftwoods, as well as an avid surfer, it seems that the 69-year-old Searcy is always on the go. In terms of his lifelong passion for surfing, he claims, “From the first experience of feeling the wave carrying my board, I was hooked.” That first experience happened in 1961 when Searcy moved with his parents to Ponte Vedra Beach.
Searcy may be better known in the community by his friends of the four-legged kind, as he has been a beloved veterinarian at Antigua Veterinary Practice for more than forty years. “I began practicing in 1977 after I graduated from Auburn University,” says Searcy. “I’m mostly retired now which gives me more time to catch waves and do some of the other things I’ve always enjoyed.”
The good doctor’s love for the ocean goes far beyond the shoreline of the of the First Coast. “We don’t always have good surf here. I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to travel to some of the hotter surf destinations in the world. I’ve surfed all over Central America and Puerto Rico,” he says. When he’s not paddling out somewhere off our coast, he’s most likely at the most iconic surf destination of all: Hawaii. Before he went to school for veterinary medicine, Searcy had enrolled at The University of Hawaii to study oceanography and meteorology. “I must admit,” says Searcy, “I mostly did it for the surfing.” Now he and his wife, Debra Alexander Searcy, spend their time in the South Pacific solely for pleasure. “I go out there for a month or two at a time to get some of the really good surf,” he states. “Most of my trips now are usually with a group of guys my age that I’ve surfed with over the years. We enjoy the camaraderie as much as the waves.”
Searcy also reaps the physical and mental benefits of being active within the vast nature of the ocean. “I love it because it’s a great, physical and fun workout,” he says. “I’ve always loved being outside and I’ve always had an affinity for the ocean.”
Probably more so than most people in the same stage stage of life, Searcy and Debra have known loss and heartache of the highest degree, having lost both of their sons in tragic accidents eight years apart. The latest was this past December. “We surfed together a lot when my kids were growing up. There are a lot of great memories there,” says Searcy. With firsthand experience of the ocean’s healing power, Searcy utilizes his surfboard as a tool for personal wellbeing. “Surfing can be a meditative and quiet time,” says the soft-spoken, good-natured doctor. As for his motivation to remain active and doing the things that he loves into retirement, he says, “My goal is to wear out and not rust.”
Aside from the occasional surf sighting somewhere off the coast of, well….anywhere in Northeast Florida, the doctor is in when The Driftwoods are performing at Creekside Dinery on the first and third Sunday of each month from 5 to 9 p.m. For more venues and scheduled Driftwoods events, visit the Driftwoods Music website.