Photo: WSL/Heff
gosh, the waves this year on the north shore has been the biggest in many many years. and now the past swell made the best quality waves for the past few years. pipeline totally going off! the guys surfing the volcom contest scored big time. pipeline doesn’t get any better than this.

Photo: WSL/Beilmann
and the most craziest rides of years! the whole world was in awe watching this contest. so was i.

watching Seth Moniz growing up is exciting. to see this little boy living out his dreams makes me so happy. at the age of 8, he was on the right path to a successful career. when ever i asked him to go surfing, he would never say no.
i took Seth to japan for the first time when he was 10 years old. we pulled up to a freezing cold river mouth in shikoku this one afternoon. i told him “go jump in and catch a few.” he said “uncle, it’s too cold.” i told him “hey, you came all the way here from hawaii, go catch a few.” he zipped up his 1mm wetsuit full of holes and jumped into the freezing river. luckily i got to shoot this video laughing the whole time. it was the cutest thing ever.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-2joSIVzp0[/youtube]
then i heard about this video that just came out on surfer magazine dot com. i watched it and couldn’t believe how good this kid got! watch Seth Moniz killing the beautiful waves on the island of oahu. awesome!
[vimeo]https://vimeo.com/154004890[/vimeo]

5am Wind check: Everywhere Offshore!!!
Good morning 5am.
North shore 4-6′ and perfect.
South shore waist high and perfect.
Everywhere offshore winds.
Sunny, clouds, and very warm day.
Surfing 2 or 3 rounds. Going North!
Have a wonderful day!

been having a clogged nose ever since i came back from my trip. i think it was the warm to cold to warm to cold to warm weather. maybe my nose was confused? so this morning i woke up early and thought about surfing the north shore or taking care of my nose. health is more important than fun right? anyway, the best way to fix a broken nose is to free dive. the pressure under water for some reason releases everything and everything out of the nose. it’s worked hundreds of times so i decided to head out to the ocean.

on the way out, i seen whales everywhere!!! omg, finally they are all coming close to shore and just hanging out. some were in 10 meters or 30′ deep water. it was amazing! i parked the boat and started watching 2 huge whales and their baby swimming around. then they turned and started to swim towards the boat. omg! chance!

i get my mask and fins out and get ready for the trill of my life. i jump in, i dive down, then i see the biggest whales of my life! they just swam right on by. i didn’t see the baby so i guess the mother whale was blocking and protecting her. it was freaking amazing! and guess what? i forgot my camera!!!! haha. it’s always times like this i see the most amazing things. but it’s ok because that will be etched in my mind forever. can’t wait to do it again.

i anchor Mayuki and start scrubbing the bottom. just enjoying the time underwater. scrubbing for 10 minutes, then taking a break and free diving for 10 minutes. did that for over an hour and had both a great exercise and nose clearing at the same time. yes, my nose is fixed! nature as my medicine! and yes, Mayuki is clean. nice day.

the water was so clean. i jumped in a totally new spot today and couldn’t believe how many fish i seen. i dove down and waited for them to come check me out. 3-5 huge uhu’s swam right up to my mask. i didn’t have my gun so it was their lucky day. but next time i go there, they might not be so lucky. i know exactly where to go!

heard about that airplane in somalia that exploded and blew out a hole in the side? and a guy even got sucked out! omg!

when i see things like this, i appreciate my life much more. especially when i get back from third world traveling. i always think it could have been me so that’s why i treat every day as it’s my last. it might sound crazy, but it’s actually reality. you just never know.

and this is where i spent my morning today. tomorrow might be here, or might be in a barrel on the north shore. it all depends on how i feel but either way, i’m in heaven. good night.