do you know why this place is named cloud 9? it’s because when callahan, taylor knox, and evan slater discovered this place and showed it to the world back in 1991, cloud 9 was the only candy bar sold on this island. you still can find it and it tastes pretty good. i don’t like candy but i tried it. maybe i’ll take some melted ones back to japan. just 4 years ago, there was no such thing as internet access here. now, there’s a couple places with high speed internet and sagana has WiFi. gosh, how times change. oh, my phone is broken so it’s been such a long time since i talked to anybody. so just wanted to say everybody. “moshi moshi, genki desu ka. i’m fine. be back in japan in a couple of days. please don’t call me to drink. for surf, ok. but not to drink. i’m going to start training for my okinawa and indo free dive trips so i have to be ready. i just want to eat good food so i can put back on the weight i lost throwing up and pissing out of my ass. so if you call me for a drink, i’ll hang up. haha. have a nice day and see you all soon”….. sayonara…[:?????$B!x(B???:]
anyway, check out the results for the cloud 9 contest…..
Quarter Finals
1. Makua Rothman (Haw) 13.37 def Dustin Cuizon (Haw) 13.13
2. Nick Vasicek (Aus) 16.23 def Luke Dorrington (Aus) 13.77
3. Wade Goodall (Aus) 16.77 def Mikala Jones (Haw) 16.67
4. Dave Reardon-Smith (Aus) 15.26 def Clint Kimmins (Aus) 14.43
Semi Finals
1. Nick Vasicek (Aus) 17.97 def Makua Rothman (Aus) 16.64
2. Wade Goodall (Aus) 17.24 def Dave Reardon-Smith (Aus) 16.47
Final
1. Wade Goodall (Aus) 17.40 def Nick Vasicek (Aus) 14.93

good morning. 7am here in cloud 9. another cloudy dark day. it’s been so cloudy that i forgot what the sun looks like. the waves are flat but supposed to come up tomorrow. i hope so because it’s our last day here and i wouldn’t mind getting one more cloud 9 barrel before jumping on our flight.

last night, it was another barbecue for dinner. this place is called “lalay’s”. the food is so good there. the 3 of us ordered a lot of food, had some beers, and it was only $10 for everything. check out the katsuo or “aku” and chicken legs. tokura-san and hayato ate chicken neck but i passed…..

almost every restaurant here is outdoor. this one is on the beach so under us is all sand. pretty cool….

they had a huge event last night. there were live bands, a beer drinking contest, a fashion show, and even a bikini show. well, a wet bikini show. it started to rain so all the girls were wet. i estimate 10,000 showed up. it was packed like sardines. luckily we got to stay in the vip area where the governor had it stocked with free food and beer…. and get this, 5 minutes after i took this photo, this place was empty. it started to rain hard and the electricity went off. it was pitch dark and everybody was out of there. i’ve never seen a party end so fast….

the locals here are so cool. so friendly and kind. the farthest guy on the lefts name is pittsburgh. such a cool and friendly kid. if it wasn’t for him, shinpei and i would have had to walk home last night. it was raining and absolutely no transportation after the blackout. he told me to wait, ran into the darkness, and came back with a motorcycle. so instead of an hour walk home in the rain, we got home in 15 minutes. still soaking wet….

one of my friends from hawaii asked me how the chicks are up here. look for yourself….
**anyway, since the waves are flat, it’s a good chance for a dive. fish is scarce here but it’s worth a shot. have a nice day…

good evening. it was another dark and raining day today. we played tourist and went into town. it’s so weird how people look at us as if we’re from another planet. got some cool snapshots. stoked. we came back afternoon and jumped in cloud 9 for a quick session. it was raining but the boys were pulling in so they made my job easy. got a sick shot of hayato in the rain so i’m stoked. nobody would ever think about shooting on a day like this but i’m stoked how the photos came out.

we all got on bikes and headed for a barbecue. it’s our 3rd time there and i just can’t get enough. and guess what the name of the place is? “happiness”…. enough said…

we had to catch our ride home. this bike had shinpei, the driver, kazuya, uske, and masao. 5 guys on one bike. tokura-san, hayato, and me on the other bike. on the way home, it started raining. raining hard. we got all soaked….

finally got back to our room soaking wet. i was the farthest back on the bike so everybody in front of me got more wet. that was good because never need take shower after. anyway, going to eat some fruits and going to sleep. good night…