good evening. today is one of those days i appreciate living in hawaii and appreciate the aloha spirit of hawaii. i was swimming at ala moana park this afternoon. then i seen this guy with an underwater metal finder looking for rings and jewelry. so i swam out to him and asked him where he bought the metal detector. why? because i still miss my olympus camera and haven’t been sleeping well since i lost it in waikiki. i was looking all over for a metal detector rental but couldn’t find one. i told him my story and he told me, “let’s go find it”. what? yeah, he said he’ll go with me to waikiki and let me borrow his metal detector while he waits for me on the beach? what? he told me that he just wanted to do something good today. gosh, i was so happy…. so we jumped in my car and headed to waikiki….

i grabbed my fins, mask, metal detector and headed outside by canoes. i swam for a couple of hours looking my hardest. i was getting frustrated because there were so many waves and so many beginner surfers. it was pretty dangerous but i was trying so hard to find my precious camera. after getting run over about 5 times by longboarders, stand up paddlers, and the canoe, i decided it was time to go in. i didn’t find my camera today but i found something more meaningful. the ALOHA SPIRIT is still alive in hawaii. and it’s all because of hawaiians like this…

this is Trip. trip and i have a lot in common. we both like to watch “soko ga shiritai”, we both like japanese food, we both like japanese people, and we both speak japanese. trip was talking fluent japanese to me and i thought that was pretty cool. the only thing trip and i don’t have in common is that big puka shell necklace. i don’t have one like that. gosh, that’s the biggest and nicest puka shell necklace i’ve ever seen. and it’s not for sale…
although i didn’t find my camera today, i’m pretty much over it. i learned that there are other more important things in life. things like giving, sharing, and helping others. that’s the “ALOHA SPIRIT”. trip let me, a total stranger, borrow his $1200 metal detector. i offered him some money for helping me but he refused to take it. he did it from the heart. there aren’t too many people like that out there these days. there was a reason why i met trip today. i think it’s a sign telling me to be a better person and to help others. something i will do for the rest of my life to keep the “ALOHA SPIRIT ALIVE’…..
i gave trip a go-naminori sticker. so if your reading this trip, mahalo for today. your one good hawaiian. and next time i catch fish, i’ll give you a call….

good morning. FLAT WAVES!!! YEAH!! after one month of back to back to back swells, the surf finally went flat. the water everywhere looks like a lake. now i can finally get some work done. like responding to hundreds of emails. sorry so late but i’m a surfer and that’s the way it goes. surfing is number 1 and everything else comes after. today is sunday and looks like it’s going to be a beautiful day. maybe i’ll go get a massage, have my nails done, and have my eyelashes curled while drinking a blue hawaii on some beach in waikiki. remember, this is paradise… got a call from kyle last night to do some blue water hunting today but i couldn’t make it. i really wanted to go but sometimes you got to make sacrifices i guess. i hope they catch a lot of big fish and i know they will score because today is probably the #1 best diving day of the year…. another perfect 6-8′ swell hitting the north shores tomorrow. if i wake up and the waves are still small, i’m going diving. if i wake up and the waves are big, i’m going surfing. pretty simple decision… anyway, hope you all have a beautiful sunday. like one of my favorite SPICE tshirts reads, “SLOW LIFE”. today, that’s me…. aloha…
**u-ske is not just a photographer, u-ske is an artist. every single photo he takes has some different angle to it. i hardly see him swimming around when i’m surfing but he always seems to get the shot. one example was a few years at a river mouth in japan. i was surfing all morning and didn’t see u-ske in the water. then a few months later when i opened the magazine, he had the most insane angle shot of one of my waves. i was super stoked…. yesterday at off the wall was just u-ske and i in the water so i was watching the man in action…

not only watching, i was documenting how he does it. this is freaking nuts. while i was swimming for my life going under a freak 8′ set at off the wall, i looked to the side and saw u-ske shooting from behind the wave. i think that’s pretty nuts….

i took an empty wave photo and when i saw it on my computer, u-ske was back deep in the barrel. somewhere you don’t want to be without a surfboard….

then i was checking out his helmet and asked if he drew that on the back. u-ske told me that one day after shooting big pipe, he went home and got out a pen and just drew this picture. that’s pretty artistic. what do i do after i go home after shooting big pipe. freaking sleep….

and last, i just wanted to show you the underwater world. a place i love. if you haven’t been there, you don’t know what your missing. and too all of my friends in japan that went home before the waves got good, get your ass back here. it’s not too late to get the barrel of you life. and now is the time….

good evening. gosh, the days are just getting better and better. sunnier, calmer, better waves, cleaner water, and just everything is getting better. i went to the north shore again early morning and oh my gosh!! pure beauty… but first, let me introduce you to my new toys i got yesterday..

the newest canon 40d camera with all the goodie lenses, including a new fisheye…

and the newest SPL housing and ports for the goodies.. just to let you know, updating camera, computer, and digital equipment costs bucks. so when the next guy that’s not my good friend asks me for a free photo. i will get his address and send him the $5,000 bill. how’s that? and in the meantime, i want to take this time to thank ALL the photographers these past 20 years that gave me free photos. you guys are great and i will never forget it…. but please don’t send me the invoice… ouch….

so here it is. same as yesterday. pulled up to backdoor and seen a perfect aframe barrel. the weather was still dark so i wanted to get in the water before the boys got there. as i was paddling out, i was thinking that i’m going to wait for a big perfect one and if i make it, that would be enough for today. i got a few waves and there it was. a 6′ aframe set coming right at me. i heard ross williams yelling “go” and so i went. took off, bottom turned, seen it running so i pulled in high and just drove all way through the barrel. made it out but the spit blew so hard at my back that it blew me off my board. shit, i was stoked. maybe the best barrel of the year for me…. actually probably…. so that was it for me. more epic days coming so don’t want to be too greedy…

so what do kids do when they get new toys? right, play with them… this is the first shot i took with my new equipment. when i seen this on the view finder, i tripped out and couldn’t wait to get into the water….

i got insane shots of all the boys. sunny garcia, jamie obrien, tory barron, and shuji kasuya. too good to waste on a blog. already emailed them to surfing magazine and i don’t see why they wouldn’t run it. it’s that good…. i don’t know who this guy is but i’d be stoked if that was me….

all this time, i was wondering how guys like scott aichner and u-ske get such beautiful photos. i think i figured it out today. besides being expert swimmers and photographers, they had something that i didn’t. a fisheye lens. you can’t get shots like this without it… this is tory barron pulling in at off the wall….. this is how beautiful today was….

and last, besides traveling, surfing, diving, photography, fishing, and drinking. i have other hobbies. one being ice skating… i skated for 2 hours last night and i’m getting better and better. so if there is anybody that wants to challenge me in speed skating, meet you at ice palace next friday 7pm sharp…. haha… just joking…