MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! it’s a beautiful day here in hawaii. small waves around the island but still looking fun on the north shore. it could be worst right? right.. i’m taking the day off from fun in the sun. no swells on the way so got to wait till next year to surf good waves. wanted to thank everybody for the merry christmas emails and cards. thanks so much!!! hope your having a great day and hope santa brought you what you wanted. as for me, i got the best present in the world. my good health. thanks santa….
** last night i was looking back in my photo library to see what i was doing the past years christmas eve’s….

2007 christmas eve. went diving for christmas parties and new years day….

2006 christmas eve. taking kalua to my sisters house for some tender loving care….

2005 christmas eve. finding a nice rock in town that had an army of monster opihi’s. 2005 was a great christmas for a lot of my friends. can’t beat opihi’s for christmas can you….
**and last, something you wouldn’t want happening to you on christmas day. check out these crazy stunt men…

good evening. been trying to fight off a cold. from yesterday, i felt shitty and today i felt shittier. and i know if i stayed home all day, i’d feel miserable and just be lying in bed all day. so i put on my positive thinking hat and planned to go on with my day as usual. surf? nah, been surfing too much. dive? yeah. haven’t did that in a while. so i give mike a call and we drove down the hill to check out diamond head. 30mph winds, strong current, white water, small craft advisory, and just not a day to dive. but you know what? we didn’t care. parked the car, walked down to the ocean, and went diving….

and this is what we caught. not bad yeah? we have this menpachi hole about 300 yards out in 40′ deep water we always hit. we usually take my boat out there but were too lazy today so we just swam out. big mistake.. the current was so strong that we had to come in way down the beach and walk a mile back to my car. and with the current as strong as it was today, 40′ felt like 80′. then fighting off a 7′ moray eel in the hole wasn’t too much fun. he actually took 3 fish off my spear. and the current pushing us into the hole, having to turn around to come back out, then almost blacking out a couple of times from pure exhaustion, and then swimming all the way back to the beach. it was pretty hard work. next time i’m taking my boat….

anyway, 2 hours of hard work pays off. it’s going to be a merry karage nitsuke christmas for me…

this is called a “kala”. before i went to tahiti, i never ate this fish. but now, i love this fish. boil it in a pan for 20 minutes, peel the skin back, take the white meat out with a chopstick, dip it in butter, and you got yourself “poor man’s” lobster…. you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. i went looking for this fish today and am glad i got one. stoked!!!

then get some fresh shirasu from japan, and you got yourself a healthy tasty dinner…
**as for my cold. i felt like shit in the morning. once i hit the water, i felt like a champ. now i feel like shit again!! but it’s still better than lying in bed all day. right? tomorrow is christmas for me so i’m going to relax. anyway, better get to bed because santa is coming soon. got the milk and cookies out already… have a merry merry christmas eve and hope all your dreams come true….

went diving. got fish.
diving itekimashita. sakana ippai desu!!! yatta!!!