here is a touchy topic about dolphins tours. it’s been going on for a while in hawaii and it’s a million dollar business. some people call it cool, but some people also call it greed. i’m stuck in the middle. why? well, i love dolphins and when i see them, it makes me happy. and when i swim with them, it makes me even happier. i think it’s cool. ON THE OTHER HAND, when i see 4 dolphin tours boats loaded with a hundreds of tourists rushing toward the dolphin pod, then everybody jumping off the boat yelling and screaming, i get bummed. yes, it’s a money making business but where is the line? or is there even a line? i know these business create so many jobs and some of my friends even work for these tours. so i’m kind of stuck in the middle when it comes to this. just wanted to know what you thought about it.

the other day i seen 4 boats chasing down dolphins. speeding up in front of them and cutting the pod off. the tourist jumping off the boat, then when the dolphins run a way, they get back on the boat and do the same thing. i was watching this for 2 hours thinking to myself, “is this right?” no, i don’t work for green peace or am not an activist, but i’m just wondering where the line is.

then the whales are back! been seeing so many of them recently. jumping all over the place. and been seeing the boats out at diamond head rushing toward them with high speeds. i use to dive out at diamond head a lot on my little boat and see these whale watching boats speed over when they see the whales. then in one incident, a whale actually jumped and hit one of the boats, killing a young little boy because he fell and hit his head. when i saw the news back then, i remembered seeing that boat on multiple occasions chasing down whales. it was pretty sad that a little boy and to die because of “MONEY?”
anyway, i’m not trying to make trouble, i’m just expressing my feelings. feelings that come out when i see the things i see everyday. so please don’t send me any hate mail. thank you.

i want to thank Matsu for sending me these photos from germany. he’s in munich now on photo assignment. gosh, i have to go here some day to try this.

the water looks freezing cold!

maybe i’ll go to germany to just catch one wave?

speaking of one wave, i was at rocky point shooting the other morning. the waves were coming up right in front of my eyes so i jumped in my car and headed to backdoor. i was shooting and seen some amazing riding like this wave of gavin beschen. yes, i was jealous but i had work to do. i only had 1 hour before i had to go back to town to work. should i go out and get a few?

then i see Nishizeko-san get ready to paddle out. i wanted to get a photo of him because he’s an official go-naminori blogger. so i wait patiently and was hoping he caught a wave soon. then 5 minutes later, he gets a good barrel.

i take the sequence and knew i got a good photo. the waves weren’t good all morning but i knew it was going to get better so i run to my car and grab my 6’0. wax it up and run down to the beach and paddle my fastest out. i paddle out, see my friend dan malloy out and start talking story about our west australia trip a while ago. he was out for 2 hours and i told him “these are the kind of days you can get a good barrel with nobody around.” then out of the horizon, i see a big set coming, i paddle, i take off, i bottom turn, and i get a stand up barrel! i come in, i run to my car, and i drive back to town with a big smile on my face. from leaving my car to surf to coming back, it took me 18 minutes. 18 minutes door to door and i get a backdoor barrel. it was my first barrel of this year and i needed it really bad. i’ve been working too hard and just to get a good barrel on the north shore resets my mind and makes me want to work harder and get barreled deeper. what a great day!

so thank you Go-Naminori Official Blogger Fumihiko Nishizeko for catching a wave really fast so i could get my job done and get a wave too. and thank you for posting this photo of my 1 wave! keep on surfing and see you in the water or on Go-Naminori! Surf Your Dream!

To Mr. and Mrs. Fujita, I hope you enjoy these photos! Remember our rainbow session? I will never forget it. Keep on surfing and see you again in Hawaii. Aloha!