There are so many times I watch canoes try to take a short cut back to the harbor.  I’m sitting in the lineup at Bowls watching this on a daily basis.  Most times they are lucky, and sometimes they aren’t so lucky.  In Saturday’s case, the steersman of the canoe thought it would be faster to go through the waves.  I was watching his eyes as he passed by and he never once looked towards the horizon.  I was in disbelief as the cut very close to the surfers.  There is absolutely no reason to do so.  

This is way to close!  You have the entire open ocean and you need to come this close to us surfers?  Absolutely no excuse for that!  

I’m sitting on the left side of this photo watching everything that’s about to happen.  I see the canoe way too close, I see the set building from the outside, and I see what’s about to happen.  

Once the swell hits the reef, it will suddenly break.  And when you’re trying to cut across sideways like this, you have zero chance of success.  

This is about when the steersman finally sees the wave, but it’s way too late.   Look at the 5 surfers paddling out and trying to get out of the way.  

The wave breaks, the canoe flips over, and all the passengers fly out.  That’s when the panic starts.  The steersman is telling his crew to hold on to the canoe.  They were basically holding on for their lives.  But it’s the most dangerous place to be because if the canoe hits someone, they will get hurt.  So I’m yelling to his crew to get away from the canoe because more waves were coming.  I could tell that some of the crew couldn’t even swim.  Nobody in life vests, nobody knew what to do, not even the steersman.  It was chaos.  People don’t realize how bad that situation could have turned out.  Thankfully nobody got hurt but I’m sure a few will be traumatized for the rest of their lives.

Sharkbite…

Good morning 4:10am.
Ala Moana waist to chest high and good.
Diamond Head shoulder high and good.
Light winds so perfect morning conditions.
Sun, clouds, and rain.
Going to the sea.
Have a wonderful day!

Joshua is the free dive planner.  When I have a day off, I leave everything up to him.  The plan was to start at 5:30am this morning and go very far away from Oahu.  Deep blue water diving all day long.  I was so excited!

Leaving Oahu while watching the sun rise on this beautiful Sunday morning.

Joshua Moniz, Kimo Gasper, and myself love to free dive.  We’re always watching out for each other, supporting each other, and learning off each other.  No matter how old or young you are, every single ocean experience is a learning one.

The water was so blue!  The visibility was around 200′ so you could see a lot of wildlife.  Imagine a shark coming out from the deep blue straight towards you?  It’s freaky, but yet so beautiful.

After shooting a fish, you have to bring it up fast.  If you don’t, the sharks will get it.  In this case, Joshua pulled this one up as fast as he could but the shark still got a bite out of it.

The shark goes home happy, and Joshua goes home happy.  Everybody happy!  After diving out in the deep blue for many years, I can say that the sharks are getting a lot more aggressive.  You even have to watch behind you.  Today was a lesson learned for me.  I was so preoccupied with securing my fish that I didn’t see the huge tiger shark coming in over my shoulder with his jaw wide open ready to take a big bite out of me.  It was freaky, but yet one of most beautiful things I’ve ever experienced.  Another humbling day in the sea.

Thank you Kimo and Joshua for the amazing day.  Thank you Joshua for setting up our dive plan, bringing the bait, and for being a wonderful nephew.  And thank you Kimo for watching over me, being a cool friend, and blocking the aggressive tiger shark from attacking me.  I always feel so happy and safe with you boys!  Another day to remember forever…