could you ever imagine a group of japanese friends enjoying one of the best left hand point breaks in the world? all to themselves? somebody slap my head and wake me up. wait, don’t slap my head. i ain’t dreaming. it was for real. we surfed there all day yesterday taking turns on every wave. then we went to another spot this morning and it was totally empty. well, there was another boat approaching us so the captain said that we should all go surf so it looks crowded. then they might turn around and go surf somewhere else. so we all jumped in and it worked. the boat turned around and went somewhere else. we had that secret spot to ourselves all morning and the waves were going off. we got 3 photographers on this boat shooting every moment and the story that will come off this trip will be freaking amazing….
it’s 1pm and we’re off to yet another secret right that’s 2 hours away. as soon as i get a chance to go online again, i will send this blog. i sent the other 2 blogs yesterday from a surf camp at macaroni’s. a surf camp that is infested with malaria carrying mosquitos. you get bit by the wrong mosquito, good bye. i wore my long sleeve shirt with hood, and long pants. it was freakin hot but i didn’t want to take any chances… gosh, the things i do to post a blog…. haha…

i took this photo from the first morning. waking up early and watching the sun rise over the horizon is amazing. and to do this everyday is a dream….

this is zuccho. zuccho is one of the coolest guys around. and one of the most loyalist guys around. he’s been with the same sponsors ever since i met him 17 years ago. 23 years with OP, 20 years with CHP, and 20 years with BEWET wetsuits. talk about loyalty, that’s 3x JPSA champ zuccho….

this is travelly #5, and fish #15 or so for me. we’re having a floating sashimi party every night. these are the kind of moments i want to share with all my close friends in hawaii and japan. you guys don’t know what your missing out. next year i’m doing this again and your all invited…. but it’s first come first serve so get your deposits in…
**by the way, don’t be fooled by the low quality of all the photos i’m posting from here. the internet service is so dam slow that i have to post photos in the lowest quality for it to upload. every single photo taken on this trip is full magazine quality and when it comes out, you will be blown away…. well, i got to get going because we need sashimi. hayato and i are going diving for tonight’s fresh catch… aloha from indonesia…

***OK, BEWARE…. THIS IS PRETTY SICK…. I ALMOST THREW UP WHEN I SAW THIS PHOTO BUT THIS IS THE HAZARDS OF SURFING. MAKE A MISTAKE AT PIPELINE AND PAY THE PRICE. MY FRIEND DONALD SENT ME THIS PHOTO OF ONE OF HIS FRIENDS. I’M GLAD IT WASN’T ME….

HOLY SHIT!! THAT HURTS!!!

NICE STITCH JOB!! PIPELINE SCARED FOR LIFE….

salamat pagi. we pulled in to macaroni’s yesterday afternoon. the waves were fun and there were 2 other boats here. woke up this morning and one boat left. there were 5 guys out and all of them were from our boat. yup, a full morning session with only japanese surfers out. and being that macaroni’s is one of the best waves in the world, and one of the most packed, i guess you can say, we’re lucky. everybody got good waves and this session will go down in the history books. yup, only a few japanese surfers in the water at macaroni’s. that’s unheard of….
it’s 10am and our plan today it to check out this great blue water diving spot in the middle of the ocean. there are so many fish around and after everybody watched the video footage last night, everybody wants to go back and see nature at it’s best…..
check out some of the photos i took yesterday…

this is lances left. like i said, we pulled up, looked at it, and drove away. i guess you can say we’re getting spoiled. this is what you call a perfect wave…

tokura-san at bintangs. if it wasn’t for this man, none of us would be on this boat. almost every single person i’ve met since 1992 has a link to tokura-san. like i said over and over, “i’m living the dream life i live and it’s all because of this man, tokura-san”…..

day 1 sashimi. day 2 sashimi. and tonight will be sashimi too. haru-san prepared poke and nitsuke style fish for our dinner. it’s like having a japanese 5 star restaurant in the middle of the indian ocean. you won’t find anything like it in the world. and being with such good people just makes it even better. these aren’t fake smiles, these are all real smiles that’s been on our face since we boarded this boat. this is the life!!! and this was our big boat party last night…

hayato, genki-san, and i jumped in the middle of the ocean yesterday looking for big fish. i took a fish i speared the day before and started chopping it up in the water. there were so many fish around but i was waiting for something good to come along. i took a drop with the falling chum around me and there i seen him. a big ono, or sawara in japanese. he was coming in but started to turn away. i swam deeper after him to get a good shot. he started swimming farther away and i was down pretty deep and long already so i just shot him in the ass. it wasn’t a great shot so he was pulling me around like a rag doll. i yelled for hayato to get a back up shot. he hit the fish but somehow his shaft came out. next thing you know, i see genki-san swim down and grab it by the tail and wrestled it up. i put my knife in the fishes head and it was over. it took 3 guys to bring up this fish and it was all about team work. can’t wait to do it all over again… maybe today?? we’ll just have to wait and see… hope all of you are enjoying your life as much as we are… teremakasih…. and thanks matsuo for taking this photo….