the golden opportunity! Watanabe-san has never ever seen a professional contest before. luckily he came to hawaii at the perfect time! took him to the Haleiwa Pro this morning so see the best of the worlds surfers all in one arena. a surfing photographers dream!

it’s amazing how surfing has grown. i’ve been watching this contest for the past 30 years and it’s getting bigger and better.

the only difference is most people are watching it online so the beach isn’t packed like it use to be. in fact, it’s pretty empty.

i’m so proud of my nephews surfing in this prestigious event. Go-Josh!

a boring day for some. but exciting for others.

Seth is the youngest of the Moniz kids. i was so stoked to see him go out and surf a great heat.

coming from Hokkaido, this must be a big event for Watanabe-san. this is the mecca of surfing.

waves were small so high performance surfing advanced.

bummer Hiroto Ohara didn’t advance today. but good to see him representing japan in a solid way.

ever since a little baby, Seth Moniz would never back down to his older brothers and sister. so there’s no way he’s backing down to the worlds best. it’s in his blood.

Seth advanced to round 3 which is a huge accomplishment for a young surfer. he surfs tomorrow against 2015 world champion contender Filipe Toledo. i told Seth today, “hey, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. just go out and do your best.” if the waves were 15′ hawaiian scale, i would put all my money on Seth. but because it’s going to be knee high and weak, it’s anyones game. i’ll surely be watching that heat. Go-Seth!

@Haleiwa

i was out surfing the other day with a super good surfer. just following behind watching the action unfold. as soon as i seen him get low and bend his knees, i knew he was preparing for something big!

then i see him go off the top. knees still bent the way it’s supposed to. so i knew he was going to make it.

then bam!!! smack the lip and perfect landing. so stoked to see progressive surfing right in front of my eyes!

last year, i read the book “The Old Man and the Sea” by Ernest Hemingway. it was an epic story of a Cuban fisherman’s tale. that very book inspired me to go to Cuba to see what the American Nobel Prize winner experienced living and writing in Cuba. so as i sit on the caribbean on an empty beach, i see an old Cuban fisherman walk right on by. i snap this photo and thought to myself, “wow, the old man and the sea!”

and of course i will never sit back and let the moment pass by. i’m a fisherman and every fisherman has a story. so i get up and start talking to this fisherman. he spoke spanish, i spoke english. two different languages but understood each other clearly.

he told me he was catching his daily dinner. just enough for his family waiting at home.

and he would use these ugly looking worms as bait. different country, different style. i just love watching ocean culture at its deepest.

he casts his pole again. i sit back down and enjoy the most beautiful caribbean day dreaming about writing a book someday.
“Why do old men wake so early? Is it to have one longer day?”
― Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea