6:25am @ Laniakea. This is the best spot today.
North swell @ 2-3′. Really clean conditions.
Laniakea or Rocky Rights best.
South shore tiny. Knee at Ala Moana, chest at Diamond Head. Very clean conditions.
Light wind in the morning.
Sunny sky. Paradise!
I’m going surfing.
Have a wonderful day!

there’s a saying “there’s no place like home.” now i know exactly the true meaning of that because yes, there’s no place like home. i’m so excited to surf, dive, work, and enjoy my comfortable hawaiian lifestyle. slow pace and endless things to do. eat healthy, live healthy, and keep on smiling. it felt so good to be back in the water today. good waves and only a few surfers. welcome back to the island of aloha!!!!

right when i got off the airplane, i rushed home and ate some hot rice and miso soup. that’s all i wanted to eat and it felt like the best meal i’ve had in a long time. next time i travel to south america, i’m taking rice and miso soup for sure! i don’t want to see bread and potatoes for a long time. haha.

i finally had time to go through all my emails. good to hear from matsu traveling to india. that’s my next destination for sure. hey matsu, see you on M7 very soon.

and thank you toda-san and takami-san for always sending me photos of my favorite mountain in the world, mt. fuji!

surf industry news: nike is pulling out of surfing. yeah, so their top riders like julian wilson and carissa moore will have to transfer to nike’s owned hurley team. that’s pretty big disappointing news for a huge corporation like nike to pull out of the surfing industry. i hope others don’t follow.

and got an email from tahiti’s keoni yan. hey keoni, cool video! stoked you’re coming to hawaii to charge the north shore. give me a call when you get here. maruru!
**CLICK HERE FOR KEONI YAN VIDEO!

check out this $10 sandwich i bought at buenos aires airport. i really didn’t want to eat it but it was either this or mcdonalds. i bought this, ate half, and ended up throwing the other half away because it tasted awful! it was so dry that i had hard time swallowing. i’m just not a bread eater.

flying standby on the busiest time of the year isn’t a smart thing to do. i couldn’t board so many flights and got stuck at airport after airport. then when i tried to come home from argentina the other night, i got turned away right at the door of the airplane. it was full so i had to go backwards through customs and re-enter the country. it was 11pm, i was tired, and i had 2 choices. take a $45 one hour taxi ride back to the city and stay in a $15 room with 7 other people on a saturday night? or check in to a $170 room right near the airport and get a good night sleep.

this is what i chose. and let me tell you, sometimes you can’t look at the price for things. no way in the world i would have spent this kind of money on a hotel room, but under the circumstances, this was the right choice. and when i walked into the room, i had a big smile on my face.

then when i seen the bathroom, i was thinking “OMG! i can finally take a good shower.”

and finally i can shampoo my hair and wash my body with soap.

and finally i can do my laundry.
i have some traveling tips coming up. things of what to do and what not to do on south america. i surely learned a lot and on my next trip there, i’ll be much better prepared. many photos and many stories coming soon. for now, all i want to do is surf!!!