good evening. i checked everywhere in town today but the waves looked onshore and junky so i went to work out at the 24 hour fitness in waikiki. figure, can check the waves while working out. right when i walked in, i seen the inside of queen’s going off. there were long double up rights with not too many people out. i figure i’d surf after i train. so between weight sets, i was calling everybody telling them queens looked good. after 30min of working out, i almost tweaked my neck because i was watching the waves out the window while lifting. then i thought to myself that 24 means 24 hours. yeah, the gym is open 24 hours a day so i can always work out later. i grabbed my board from my car and surfed queen’s. gosh, the waves were sooooo gooood…. perfect double ups in the inside with only a few guys out. it was like a wave machine. 100 waves per hour. surfed 2 hours but felt like 4. so much paddling, so much surfing, and so much fun… that was the spot today for sure…. great workout in the water. no need gym…. dirty water everywhere else. save gas, surf town…. haha…..
**and get this, snow in hawaii. moana kea and moana loa. get your snowboards ready….

so many divers go around the world in search for the sunfish or “mola mola”. these huge fish average 1000kg and are the heaviest bone fish in the world. they are usually found it depths of 360m but sometimes come to the shallows. i was one lucky ass to be able to see one of these amazing fish in bali last month. it was my first dive off the boat in nusa penedia. i jumped in and it was right there lying on the bottom around 30′ deep. it was freaking huge!!! i almost speared the dam thing. good thing i came up and asked the boat man if i could spear it. he told me no and said we were lucky to even see one. i see the moonfish or “opah” in fishmarkets in hawaii and it looks so good to eat. so when you dive in other countries, watch what you spear because it might be a rare fish like the “mola mola”. and get this one, i was diving in north sumatra a while ago with a local indonesian when we saw a turtle. i was swimming around with it and the guy told me to spear it. there was no way… and if he speared it, i would have freaked out. see, indonesians love to eat turtles. you can find them on sticks being barbecued on the streets of indo. and it taste pretty dam good. oh, i shouldn’t have said that. sorry. well, just wanted to share a couple indo diving stories….

it’s autumn in japan. this is chuzenji lake in okunikko prefecture, japan. how beautiful is this? sick…. i found a website on msnbc that has the pictures of the week. gosh, this is a picture of the year. really makes me want to go there….

and who the heck said that laybacks are out? don’t tell this to carlos burle. this is tahiti a few days ago. really makes me not want to go there….
and check out this video my friend derek sent me. he’s been racing around the streets of honolulu with his baby blue VW dune buggy. it’s the sixth dune buggy pulling the wheelie…. Whooooopp… i like sample….

good morning. once again, false alarm. no big swell on the south shore. it looks head high and junky. bad wind and weak swell. what happened? don’t know…. north shore came down too. 4′ out there with clean conditions. too small for the last day of the x-cel pro. try again mid-week when the next swell supposed to hit. anyway, the weather is clearing up. have a nice day….
**on my last day in the philippines, i woke up early and was walking the beach looking for shells. then this kid i met 4 years ago asked me what i was doing. i told him i was looking for shells. he disappeared and i just continued looking. as i was eating breakfast later that day, he came to the restaurant and took this huge perfect shell out of a plastic bag. he said “here kirby, this is for you”. traveling through different asian countries, i understand that nothing is for free. so i asked him “how much do you want”. his answer was “nothing, it’s a present for you”. then he walked away. gosh, i felt so stupid asking him how much he wanted for it. i wanted to tell him sorry but he left right after. i felt pretty shitty but at the same time, so happy that he gave me something so valuable from his heart. later that day, i saw him at a restaurant near my room, i asked him to come over because i wanted to get a photo with him. i will never forget this kid…..

this kids name is “mitchbergh”. i met him 4 years ago at cloud 9 and he remembered me the first day i got there. these are the kind of experiences that make traveling worth it. so mitchbergh, if your reading my blog, thanks so much buddy. i’m glad i met you and i will keep this shell in my house for the rest of my life. salamat…

then get this. on my way out of cebu airport, they scanned my suitcase and the customs guy saw the shell. he told me to open my suitcase and told me that the shell was illegal to take out of the philippines. he told me to give it to him. i looked him in the eye and said “no”. and i meant it. i explained to him that this isn’t no ordinary shell, this shell was given to me from a friend and there was no way i was giving it up. we had a stare down for 20 seconds or so and i wasn’t going to give in. then the custom agent looked at me and said “ok, close your suitcase”. i told him thank you and was on my way. now the shell is in japan at matsuo’s house. i was too scared to bring it back to hawaii this time because i didn’t want to take the chance. i’ll bring it back next time for sure. i have a shelf of shells in my house from around the world and there is a space for this special shell. a shell that reminds me how lucky i am to have met such a special person on the other side of the world….
***WARNING: 2 million gallon sewage spill in pearl harbor…. STAY AWAY!!!

good evening. heavy rain, lightning, thunder, flooding, big waves here today in hawaii. it all started last night. we needed rain here on the islands and boy did we get it. it’s been a while so the run off water is all in the ocean now. and it looks pretty dirty. yuck. and i was kind of bummed today because i woke up at 5am to go diving. but when i checked the buoys, winds, and weather, i knew no way. now i have to wait until the water cleans up again….

this is 1pm at diamond head. the waves came up but the wind was straight onshore. i saw a few nice ones coming in but you had to be patient. the south swell should be peaking tomorrow. stay tuned. oh, they ran the x-cel pro today at epic 6-8′ sunset beach. i watched some heats and the surfing level was pretty high. as for the japanese, none passed the 4th round. bummer…. the contest should finish up tomorrow with a dropping swell but epic conditions again….

there was a north shore beach cleanup yesterday. i was stoked to see coach rainos hayes and my nephews putting in their part. sorry guys, i wish i could have helped but i was working yesterday…

and this is rocky point at 1pm yesterday. i wasn’t joking when i said the conditions were epic. epic…..

and you want to eat a pretty good salad bar? go to chucky cheeses in aina hina. for $2.50, you can pile it on your plate….

mick fanning just signed with wade tokoro. so expect mick to be on all of wade’s boards this winter. what a good combo… and if your wondering, mick is the leader in the world now with 2 contests left. the only guys that can catch him is kelly slater and taj burrow. the three of them are in the 3rd round in brazil with only pipeline left. here is the senerio…..
??$B!q(B If Mick Fanning wins in Brazil he clinches the World Title.
??$B!q(B If Fanning gets 2nd, Taj Burrow needs to win the event and Kelly Slater is out of the race.
??$B!q(B If Fanning gets 3rd, Burrow needs a 2nd and Slater is out of the race.
??$B!q(B If Fanning gets 5th, Burrow needs a 3rd and Slater needs a 1st.
??$B!q(B If Fanning gets 9th, Burrow needs a 5th and Slater needs a 2nd.
??$B!q(B If Fanning gets 17th, Burrow needs a 9th and Slater needs a 3rd.
??$B!q(B If Fanning gets 33rd, Burrow needs a 9th and Slater needs a 3rd.
watch the drama unfold BY CLICKING HERE…..
**anyway, high surf warning for south shores of hawaii. big waves in town coming tomorrow, and more rain on the way…. i love rainy days here in hawaii. you know why? because i go ice skating… haha….