Rainy weekend and Go Pro pics

     Friday was a rest day, we checked the waves in the am, but I wasn't feeling to good when i woke up. I believe it was from the vog (volcano fog), the volcano on the big island blows smoke over here during the winds and everyone says that it messes with your system once in awhile. So basically chilled inside all day, it was also overcast and rainy all weekend also.
     Saturday was another sluggish day since it was raining again. But I got some things done in the am looking up rental cars and places to stay when my sister and friend Jeremy come to town. I got an alright surf in at Rockies which is not even a mile down Kam Hwy, probably the most crowded spot usually on the North Shore. The wave is pretty consist, not to powerful when under 6 foot, just gotta watch out on the inside for the shallow rocks. Saturday night Salah had a fun lil BBQ with some great cooking, as usual!
     Sunday was also rainy but got a few sessions in still. Just trying to stay busy here even when its raining, hate being cooped up inside. Also trying to take advantage of the rain since usually keeps majority of the people out of the water, which is always nice. I went to bed earlier since I was going to hep out with a surf lesson in the morning.
     Monday morning I went with Salah to a surf lesson, over by the east side where he sets up for his lessons. It was cool to teach a young girl to surf, I haven't done a lesson in quite some time but it's not to hard and I'm a pretty good teacher and explainer. The girl I was working with picked it up really fast and was not scared at all, so it made the lesson a lot easier and fun. After the lesson I grabbed some Taco Bell nearby, I have not had Mexican food in over 3 weeks to that point, which is hard for me, I usually eat it at least 4 times a week! I helped out friend Salah move some things around and do a few errands, I watched the waves after for awhile since the winds had changed and sun finally came out. All the waves and scenery here is so awesome to just sit and look at, makes a day lil more relaxed to sit down for a bit.
     Tuesday I was supposed to go help out with another lesson but didn't work out, I wasn't to bummed since the waves and weather was supposed to be perfect. I hoped on the scooter and went straight to V-Land which looked super fun. The setup at this spot is really cool, breaks into a big bay, comes in at angle then just reels off the shallow reef. One of my more favorite waves I've surfed this trip because every wave is going to be a little different, wedgy, open face, or barrel. Had a great warm, sunny, two hour session, little crowded but got some super fun ones! Got a cheeseburger a Ted's bakery that is just down the street, chilled out for a bit then went out again. This time to Sunset right out front, wasn't to crowded and there were some solid 10-16 footers coming through. I set up the Go Pro on my new 6'6" Pang that I put a board mount on, I've never surfed with a Go Pro on my board other than on my big Stand Up Paddle. I was hoping to get some cool shots of some good size waves, below are a few of the better ones, hopefully more to come!
     Wednesday was another rainy day inside for the most part, but got a little session in at a sandbar past Rockies. Been hanging out with a cool guy that just got here a few days ago, he's on a surf trip also. His name is Gabriel and he is from Israel, he started his trip in New York, then went to Santa Cruz for a month, Mexico for two months, now he is finishing his trip in here till the beginning of May. Nice to have someone around my age that I can hang with for a bit and also go surf with. All in all it kinda sucks when it rains here sometimes can still surf if it's not to blow out, but can't go explore unless you want to get wet and lil cold.
     Thursday I got up checked the waves and they sucked so I hoped on the bus to town for my flight to Maui at 4. It ended up being a crappy day on the bus, got stuck on the bus for 4 hours getting to town. I barely made it to town in time for my buddy to give me a ride to the airport to make my flight. We ended up going to the wrong terminal twice and finally I just hoped out and started running to were the parking attendant told me the airline was. I got to the check in desk and the lady said I was more than likely not making the flight, but she helped me out and got me through! When I got to the gate it was a mess, all flights were delayed, I ended up getting onto a flight though and got to Maui around 5:30. I got to my friend Nate's that I'm staying with here on Maui, and we just chilled and cooked up some food while talking story since we saw each other last. More to come about my weekend on Maui!


OTHER TRAVEL UPDATE
Still on the calendar to come, my sister Brooke and good friend Jeremy are heading over here on in the beginning of April. My parents got my sister a ticket over here for her birthday to visit me and have a fun spring break vacation. Jeremy is coming over to hang for a bit before we start our trip over to Indo! We booked our tickets that depart from Honolulu on the 16th, couldn't be more excited to finally go to Bali and to have a good friend to travel with!

Chickens on the beach at Sunset, still always excites me that my love of animals and the ocean come together here.

Finally some okay Mexican food after 3 weeks!

Surf lesson

Go Pro sequence at Sunset

Here's a photograph from my buddy Nate I'm staying with in Maui. He is a super talented snowboard photographer from Minesota, now living on Maui and getting some great surf and water shots. Click the picture to check out his blog!

Slow week, but waves to come!

     I left the blog last Thursday, since then I surfed a few cool secret spots on Friday and fixed up the scooter a bit. Saturday was a slow day, got a quick surf and helped Salah fix up a few bikes for his bike rental business. That evening I set out on a lil hike by myself up to a bunker on the hill, below are some sweet pictures! I got tried to find a separate way down than the one i took up and got stuck on an hour long loop, when it only took me about 15 minutes to hike up. But in trying something different I found an awesome alternate hiking trail to the bunker, the trail made me wish I had my mountain bike from back home! I got back and grabbed a quick shower before buddy Casey picked me up and we went into town where he lives, had a fun night having some drinks at a friend's party.
Sunday some friends that were staying at Casey's and I went down to the beach for a bit to lay out and get an Acai bowl, which was delicious. Sunday was St. Patty's day, so that night we went out for a few drinks at the beer garden where they have $4 pitchers! After we went to a few fun bars to cap off the night, it was a rough morning for all of us on Monday after drinking.
     Monday we had a plan to head to the North Shore, we finally arrived back on the North Shore around 2pm. We stopped at Log Cabins, where i got a pretty fun lil surf while getting cheered on from my buddies on the beach. After the whole group of us headed over to Waimea to hang on the beach and do a lil body surfing to end the day!
     Tuesday morning I went back to Log Cabins to have another fun surf on some over head semi barreling rights and lefts. It's a pretty sketchy spot because the bottom can be all sand in some places or all rock/reef, and its only about 4ft deep. On one wave I got a lil snap off the top and straightened out to miss the close out, right in front of me was a rock showing through the water. I luckily kicked my board out and jumped over it, but definitely kept my eyes open the rest of the session. It so awesome to surf these sick spots that I've heard of with not to many people out. Most people have gone home or to another place in the world to get waves because the season in Hawaii is slowing down. When Chris got off work we met up with a few friend's at Turtle Bay for a surf at a cool reef right out front. Just like most spots it breaks over a reef with a few bigger rocks on the inside that boil when the waves pass, but can't complain with nobody out. After a long day in the ocean both Chris and I were starving, so we treated ourselves to a great dinner at Haleiwa Joe's down by the harbor, then ended the night early just watching some TV.
     Wednesday morning I spent on the phone and computer for about 3 hours trying to figure out my flight to Bali, which was a lot more work than I thought it would be! After I got everything situated I finally got a surf out at Kami's, little crowded but the weather was perfect and water was crystal clear. Since it was such a nice day out I got a quick snack and jumped back in the water with my Go Pro and fins to do some snorkeling and get some pics. When Chris got off work we went to a sick secret spot that when you looked back from the ocean to land you would have thought you were in Oregon with all the pine trees on shore! The wave reminded me of Trestles with some rights that I got 4 good turns off before it went to dry reef. We cruised over to Salah's and I jumped on the scooter to grab somethings for dinner at Foodland, on my way I got a call from Haleiwa Joe's. I had lost my glasses the day before and luckily someone had returned them, I was super stoked!
     Today Thursday the waves called out to be 10-15' close to 20' faces, I was stoked to get some bigger waves finally. But unfortunately I checked it this am and everywhere was a mess and not really working, other than Pipe. I scooted over there and watched some crazy waves like you see in the magazines, the wave doesn't do it justice unless you watch it in person. Since there weren't many waves to surf i took the scooter on a put all day up towards the east side and back down to Haleiwa, where I tried some Shaved Ice! Thanks for checking in, please read the UPDATE below to see what's next on the schedule!



OTHER TRAVEL UPDATE
I am headed to Maui next Thursday to Sunday, super stoked to visit the island again and since I was 13, and to hang with an old friend! My sister Brooke and good friend Jeremy are heading over here on in the beginning of April. My parents got my sister a ticket over here for her birthday to visit me and have a fun spring break vacation. Jeremy is coming over to hang for a bit before we start our trip over to Indo! We booked our tickets that depart from Honolulu on the 16th, couldn't be more excited to finally go to Bali and to have a good friend to travel with!

Inside bunker overlooking upper half of the North Shore

Looking out to Pipe on the far left and Sunset on the far right.

St. Patty's day, beach in town, so quite!

Acai bowl in town, at Lankai Juice

Shaved Ice at Aoki's.

New boards and turtles

     Hello everyone blog update on my second week on the North Shore, very exciting and fun week I just had! After visiting a friend in town on Friday night I arrived back on the North Shore saturday evening. Sunday we cruised to the east side for a surf, with far less people out surfing, at a cool slabby wave. As we walked down to the water right in front of our surf spot was a dead turtle on the beach. It had been attacked by a tiger shark, definitely pretty heavy paddling out in front of that!
     Monday the waves weren't very good so i headed into town with Salah and a few friends as they did some errands. When we got back we just kicked it and BBQ up some good home made dinner.
     Tuesday I got an awesome surf at Sunset in the a.m. on my new 6'6" PANG. I bought it from Chris' friend for $280, brand new never ridden, this board at home brand new would go for at least $500. It was a sick session for my first time on the board, got 8 waves or so in 5-7ft (12-15ft faces). After the session I chilled for quite a bit then got another quick sesh at Kami's before heading into town. I hung out with a friend at the University of Monoa,we got a bite to eat and went to the schools baseball game!
     The reason I came into town was to go out on a scuba dive boat that I found on Craigslist. I found an ad that said "volunteers on scuba boat wanted", so i went to responded. It'a a sweet gig, yes it is volunteer but there are many perks. If I go on the boat twice a week I should be able to get my scuba certification before I leave Hawaii, usually costs about $300 to take the classes. Second I can get signed off on hours being on a boat for getting my captains license, which is what I want to do as a career, when i get home. Third I can dive and use the diving gear when ever I want for free, and last I will get a percentage of the tips from the customers during the charters.
     I got down to the boat Wednesday morning and we took a few divers out to 2 dive spots, it was cool being on a boat and seeing the coastline of Waikiki. The captain and other crew were fun and welcoming, I even got to snorkel for a half hour at the second spot. Swam with a school of tiger fish and some sea turtles! After the awesome day on the boat I caught a 2.5 hour bus ride back to the North Shore.
    Today Thursday, I got a nice morning surf at Sunset with some okay 5-6ft waves. After I got all packed up to head to Haleiwa and grab lunch at the cafe my cousin works at. Unfortunately as I left the house the scooter broke, so I had to push the scooter half mile or so down the street to our friends to work on it. The throttle cable snapped, so I called up our mechanic to otder a new one. Since it was going to be awhile Chris and I got a quick sesh at Kami's then fixed his truck a bit, we finished the night with a great home cooked stew meal.

OTHER TRAVEL UPDATE
I booked a flight over to Maui in a few weeks to visit my friend Nate who's a photographer, we met on a trip to Mexico in march 2011. His blog has some awesome water and land imagery. Check him out below and his new series of Honu (sea turtle) photographs.

Sunset this evening as I was typing this blog post up.

Turtles in about 20 ft of water off the shore of Alo Moana, Shot on my Go Pro 3 with Polar Pro Filter

I have been seeing turtles surface while surfing the past few days, but there only up for a minute or so. Getting to be below the surface and cruise next to them for a bit while they effortlessly swim through the day.

The board rack, 9 boards, definitely good to have a little of everything on the North Shore

First week of paradise!

     Hello everybody sorry for the delay on the blog post but it has been an awesome, relaxed at sometimes, and also busy first week! I am doing great here in Oahu on the North Shore, I have a great place to stay with my cousin Chris, literally a minute walk to the beach. Right in front of the house are two sick waves called Kami's and Sunset Point, I've been surfing both of them a few times and also some other sweet spots. Other than surfing I have been meeting some great people and making some awesome new friends.
     The first day I arrived we got a bite to eat and went straight to surf some fun head high warm waves down the road. It was so cool to go from surfing in HB on Saturday in a 4/3 on some fun beach break waves, then 24 hours later surfing in just trunks on a fun lil reef in Hawaii.
     The first few days of the week I got some fun sessions while my cousin Chris was at work. On Tuesday we paddled out to Sunset Point which is a heavy right hander. I was riding my Chris' 7'4" Al Merrick, my first time riding a gun. There were 10-12 ft sets (Hawaiin Size) coming in, so about 20' to 25' face waves. I have never seen waves this big, meaty, big barrels, and heavy in my life. I was definitely a little scared in the water for one of the first times in my life, but i thought to myself I'm on the North Shore, one of the best places in the world for waves. I had to at least catch a few, I snagged a few of the smaller ones on the inside, still about 15' faces. I paddled out a little farther as I saw some bigger ones coming in, as soon as I got out there a wave swung wide straight to me, I thought shit if I'm going to do this, this is the one! I paddled and caught a over 20' face wave, at one of the heaviest waves on the North Shore on my 3rd day here. It was definitely a highlight of my surfing life and will never forget that first legit big ass wave!
     On Wednesday and Thursday I hung out at our friend Mikey and Salah's house and worked on a broken scooter they had lying around the yard. I thought it would be sick to have a working scooter to cruise around on, and of course for cheap transportation. So after a little work and some help from a local scooter mechanic and I got it running and looking legit.
     Today, Friday Chris and I slept in a bit and went to check a few low key spots and ended up surfing a sick outer reef break all to ourselves. It was like a spot that any surfer would dream of, head high to a little over head peaks coming in all over the place. After catching as many waves as we could, we cruised into town (Honolulu) to get some food. Since we were going to town I got dropped off in town to hang with some old high school friends that go to school at the university. Going to hang with them for the night and celebrate a friends birthday!
     Thanks everyone for checking in and reading my first blog, keep checking back and please hit me up whenever, love to hear from friends and family!

Fun lil collage from the first few days.

Getting the scooter ready to roll!

Sunset from the treehouse.

Cousin Chris and I BBQing at a friends and overlooking firing Sunset!

Friends and family bbq

The day before i left we set up a great bbq to have all the friends and family over for some shenanigans. Had a great group of people come over, people stopped by for some corn hole and beers,  then got some burgers going in the evening. Family got me a sweet cake that i got to share with all my friends after a little speech to thank everyone that they made it. But once again thank you everyone and enjoy the pictures, if you want i can send you some of them, just let