the christmas spirit is here! the smell of the christmas trees makes me feel happy. and with all the lights at night, i can tell santa will be coming to hawaii soon! i’m going to buy my christmas tree this week!

i woke up at 4:30am. read 2 chapters of 1Q84 in bed, got up and checked the waves and weather. drank kombucha, worked out for 30min, pipe contest on! should i watch the contest on the north shore? or should i watch it on the web? nope, today was my day to get out and go free diving! Kyle, Cathy and James made up our crew today. felt so good spending such a relaxing time underwater. Kyle caught a big omilu, i caught some kumu’s and kole’s. then we went to check out the blue water. i haven’t dove deep since mexico so i did an easy free fall into the deep blue. gosh, it felt like i could have kept on going down forever. it was so relaxing. i got down to 65′ with a lot of breath remaining. it’s amazing how you can trick your mind into doing deep dives. i love it!

whenever i bring a big cooler, we don’t catch big fish. whenever i bring a small cooler, we catch big fish. so the rule on my boat is always to bring a small cooler. it worked again! i kept 2 kumu’s for me and drove around delivering fish to friends. ended up giving the omilu and kole’s to some surfer friends who live down at the beach. that’s what christmas is all about!

i’m getting better at cleaning and preparing fish. it’s super fun and super relaxing to do. this is a menpachi prepared for the grill. oishi yo!

and i’m preparing this fat kumu for dinner now. steam it with green onions, ginger, black bean sauce, then top it off with chinese parsley, and pour over the pipping hot peanut oil. omg, my mouth is watering!
tomorrow will be another perfect day with sun and no wind. i’m going to spend it either on the water, in the water, or under the water. or better yet, all three! have a wonderful evening!

Photos by ASP/Cestari

Right now! Good job Kyle!