heard about all the murders in Cancun, Mexico lately? pretty scary to think i went there 2x. once on the way to Cuba, and once on the way back. it actually seemed more safe than Chinatown in Honolulu. and the food was so cheap and delicious!!!

went to this local restaurant with my Amigos. fun like always…

the tacos were amazing! wouldn’t mind going back there again!

now fast forward to Cuba. local everyday life. i just walked along the back roads and observed the normal living style. i wasn’t at all interested in the Havana tourist stuff. this is what i love to experience.

took a long bus ride to the middle of Cuba where a long white sandy beach with emerald color water was endless… this is my kind of selfie! haha!

so it was time for me to leave Cuba because i wasn’t actually supposed to be in Cuba. i get to the airport and tried looking for my flight. guess what? it didn’t exist! my flight back to Cancun didn’t even show up. i asked around and nobody knew about it???

there were a handful of backpackers that were supposed to get on that same flight. a couple of them started getting mad and were yelling at the airport staff. even the airport staff didn’t hear about our flight. haha. i just sat back and thought “wow, i might get stuck here for a while.”

sat around for 5 hours and talked story to other backpackers from other countries. very interesting travel stories from all. i was actually ready to sleep at the airport when something strange happened.

all of a sudden, our flight popped up on the screen. then this unmarked airplane pulls up. just plain white and no company logos anywhere. it was either get stuck in Cuba for who knows how long? or jump on a very suspicious airplane that looked like it was pulled out from a storage garage. i jumped on, closed my eyes, and thought to myself “wow, this would be weird if my airplane crashed. nobody would ever know where i am? the US government won’t search for me because i’m not supposed to be in Cuba.” so i sat by the emergency exit just in case i had to open the door and swim. that’s how i think at times like this. and maybe this is why i appreciate Hawaii so much when i make it back home safely…

Ice art…

Good morning 6:20am.
Ala Moana waist high and clean.
Diamond Head chest high and fun.
Trade winds at 20mph.
Sunny and warm.
Going foiling.
Have a wonderful day!

wanted to drain all the rain water out of Mayuki so the only way is to take her out to sea and let her fly! the water was pretty dirty at Bowls. yuck…

found some clean water near Kaisers so dropped anchor and jumped in to play!

took out my foil first, took off on some chest high lefts that felt like double overhead on the foil. it was my first time foiling out there so i was super excited! had the time of my life and will go back there again for sure… surfed this evening with Abe-san and photos coming later. i decided to upload photos every other day instead of everyday. that will prevent me from staring at my computer for too long, and will also prolong the date for my eye surgery. sorry about that.

back to Molokai fishing tales. 8 Moniz’s on Mayuki and we made it back in the most dangerous conditions. but the day before, we had some exciting fishing going down.

Uncle Dino caught a live tako right outside of his house, she he brought it with us. then put a big hook to see what will bite.

then bang!!! the pole bends and the line screams out. it was something huge!

pulled it up closer and it turned out to be a big shark. it’s pretty funny that Joshua and i were just free diving at this exact same spot a few minutes before. good thing the shark didn’t come and eat our fish…

Hawaiians never kill sharks because it’s our “Aumakua” or “Family God.” so Joshua just cut the line and let him go. then he threw the tako back in the bucket and we went back in.

later that night, Uncle Dino made squid luau for us. we all tried it and it was the best we’ve ever tasted. after we’re done, we find out that Uncle Dino used the same tako the shark took a bite out of. haha. that’s so cool because nothing goes to waste on Molokai. life off the land and love the land. thanks Uncle Dino for sharing that amazing fishing story…