The packing starts again....

     Friends, family, and followers I am off on another adventure in a few days. Back to Indonesia with a couple friends to surf over a dozen islands and many spots we have been researching and searching for over the past few months. My one friend that has planned the trip that I'm jumping onto is David that has started an awesome new brand out of San Diego, Sovrn Republic. The companies motto is In search of distant shores, and their main product is travel backpack's made to hold the essentials of traveling in comfortable and accessible way. I am specifically excited for this trip because we are heading to many waves I have been dreaming of for years and bringing a full time photographer/filmer to get every moment/wave of the trip!
     That is the sum of the trip so far, everything changes once the plan hits the Indonesian tarmac. Basically all that is planned is our flights taking off September 3rd then flying home December 17, all the spots and waves on our list will be last minute missions if we know there will be waves to get them at there best.
     The packing has started, just getting everything laid out making sure nothing is left out. After my last few trips I have started to narrow down to to things, what I NEED and what I can GET. So what I usually need to bring is obviously clothes, but not to much because you can always buy more wherever you are. But it is hard to get rid of to many clothes you bring wherever you are. Other items I NEED that are harder to find where I'm going are obviously my surfboards, GoPro camera/accessories, and some medical supplies. The items I don't bring or worry about as much since I know I can buy them when I arrive are soaps, shampoos, toothpaste, etc. Dumb things that always cause problems at airports and can explode in your bag anyways.
     So here is a few pictures and a list of what I have for this trip, I thought it would be cool since I haven't done it before and if some traveler/surfers are wondering what to pack on a similar adventure.

The quiver for this trip is looking pretty good!

1. 6'3" x 18.5" x 2.2"
This is a board I bought specifically for this trip, when I was in Indo a few months ago the swell got huge a few days and I didn't have a board big enough to ride. Now I do this trip and it will help for a few waves were going to that you need to get into early!
2. 6'0" x 18.12" x 2.25"
One of my dad's older boards but a nice step up for waves that you need that lil extra foam to hold your line and get your rail to catch.
3. 5'8' x 19" x 2.5"
My baby, first board I've ever had a 5 five setup on and I love it, got her before my trip to Australia at the beginning of the year. Riding a quad is a love hate relationship for me sometimes I have so much fun on  them and other times I can't stand it.
4. 5'7' x 19" x 2.5"
The freshy from my mate Forrest Michinton had been getting into shaping last few years with his dad being legendary shaper Mike Michinton shaping for Robert August for decades! He has his own label Sistem Surfboards I am so stoked on this board because it's different from any board I have had before. Lil shorter than usual but with a 5 fin setup and lil more foam to float, paddle, and hold in bigger waves well!

1. Mint Condition Brand hats and apparel.
2. Polar Pro Filters for Go Pro camera, color correction lenses to get the best shot possible in any weather condition. There array of lenses for under water range from macro, magenta, and red for diving. And above water they offer polarized, neutral density, and macro. There newest product is the Pro Mic to get better sound out of your Go Pro video!
3. Leashes, 3 different ones for different conditions and size. I have been awfully lucky not breaking to many on my recent trips but its crucial to not lose your board especially over reef or rocks.
4. A bag full of all kinds of Go Pro accessories ranging from mounts, 4 extra batteries, extra housing, time lapse, window mount, wall charger, extra SD card, and more.
5. FCS car straps are a must on any surf trip, they come in handy at the worst times Ive learned. Especially when your traveling with a  few surfers where your board bags can't fit in the car, they must go on top!
6. Sovrn Republic backpack "The Drifter", the best gear I have come across my mate has started a great company made by surfers/travelers for travelers. The motto "In pursuit of distant shores" says it all, get out there and find the adventure that excites you!
7. Medical pack, I set this up a few trips ago my first time to Indo, it is essential. I have never had to dig to deep into it but I hvae the essentials in case sometimes crazy happens. Inside I have a lil of everything, gauze, tape, vitamin c, tums, bandages, stitches, anti infection pills, numbing shots, asprin, asthma inhalers, and a few more things.
8. Diving mask, it doesn't take up much room and I rarely use it but it is always nice to have if you wanna go out for a dive. Check out the reef when it's flat, get a work out, or check out some sea life and get some Go Pro shots!
9. The surfboard bag accessory pouch, In here I have all my fins two sets of quads and a pair of FCS for my 6'3". Also in here is some solar res/sand paper for quick ding repairs, Vaseline for rashes from surfing for hours, extra fins screws, like 5 fin keys because they always get lost and misplaced, and couple randoms zip ties because fuck you never know but they come in handy.
10. First time bringing this and I don't know how it will work but giving it a shot. It is a Dolphin hand pump for a 5 gallon water jug, in Indo there liter of water is roughly a dollar, a 5 gallon jug is roughly 1.75. It will hopefully save money, time, plastic bottles, and just be much more convenient!

1. Airplane pillow, so great for any traveling, literally anywhere. On a boat, in plane, sleeping in an airport, in the board bag for more padding.

2. Swiss army knife, pretty sure this explains itself, swiss know whats up!

3. IDP (International Driving Permit) a treaty between over 140 countries honor this as a driver license. Comes in handy because police can spot a tourist a mile away, you will get pulled over a lot anywhere. Basically helps to not spend money on pay off police when you don't need to. 

4. Headlamp

5. Converter and mini power strip, So much easier to have one converter and a strip instead of multiple converters.

So that is a sum up of what I am bringing and where our thoughts for surfing are when we arrive. Once again I am very excited to get out of America and explore another culture on the other side of the world. I don't leave America and my family in Southern California because we don't get a long or that I don't like where I live. But it is the complete opposite, I love my family and friends and leaving for a period of time just make them all that more special. Whenever I come home from a trip I am more grateful to have them in my life and appreciative of where I live even more! As of now in my life all I think about is the next adventure or next year where I want to go or how I want to see it. There are so many thoughts going through my head from road tripping in my truck from California to panama or sailing the Mediterranean or maybe cycle through Europe.
     Through the last 6 months I have seen a huge change in the age range I grew up in, some are just graduated from college and looking for there life long careers. Some are either on the road to getting married or already have tied the knot and are now just thinking money money money. Then there's the few friends who have babies and believe me I think that is wonderful, I can't wait to have a kid that is a mini me. But something 90% of the people I just listed will more then likely not do in there life is travel..... and I am not talking about going to Yosemite, New Orleans, Florida, or New York for a week. I am talking about going to somewhere unknown, a different continent, Australia, South Africa, Dubai, Vietnam, Portugal, Scotland, Turkey, literally anywhere in the whole fucking world.

     I feel like when people look at a map of the whole world they make it sound like somewhere other than America might as well be another planet. But realistically you can flight anywhere on this planet in a day and some driving. The planet is only becoming more and more accessible to travelers, and there are so many places to go for a budget. This map on the right shows the size of America to the rest of the world, America only takes up 2.5% of the land on this planet. There is so much to see and so many awesome people to meet, I can't stay in one place for to long until I feel like I have seen all I can!

Thank you to all my family, friends, and followers. Let the adventure start again.


Don't just be alive....Be living

Pantai Lakey week 2

     So the last week has been a bit of the same from the first, unlike most of the other blog posts I'm going to some a few days up at a time. Tuesday we paddled out to a right reef point down the beach, I was still feeling tired and sore from my long day before, got a few waves. But ended up heading in after 45 minutes, I had no energy and Jeremy felt like he was having a stomach ache coming up. I just chilled the rest of the day and watched a movie trying to get rested for some energy. Wednesday I had a slow morning and skyped with my parents for 2 hours, hadn't seen them in a few weeks and they were really excited and had lots to tell me! After I went with some new aussie friends and headed down to the right point that was looking really fun down the beach aways. Only surfed for a bit since my ear had been starting to feel an infection coming, on our way back were walking down the trail and outta of the corner of my eye I saw a very large animal. I had seen them before coming down this trail but not up this close, the it I'm referring to is a 5 ft tall easily over 1000lb Bull with horns 6 feet wide across. We all stood there for at least 10 seconds just in awe with this animal about 20 feet away just staring at us, he didn't look mad just stood there chewing on some grass. Here on Sumbawa there are goats, chickens, ducks, cows, and of course bulls just cruising around everywhere, it's very weird but I have got used to it since Bali is similar but much more tamed.
     Thursday I wasn't feeling to good since my ear ache had got worse, I shoved some surf wax in my ear and got out to the left at pipe. But I just couldn't take it to long, the wax wasn't working to well, and my ear/head was killing me, got out after 40 minutes or so. I just cruised the rest of the day and layed down after putting some ear drops in that I had brought from home. That night I could barely sleep from my ear aching so bad, woke up the next morning on Friday and could barely concentrate. All day I just cruised around got some food and rested watching a few movies and switching off putting ear drops in and letting it dry out for few hours. Ear infections are the most annoying thing to me, they feel like something so dumb yet it just ruins your day and of course part of this trip since I can't surf. Saturday was basically the same, not much going on, watching everyone surf, trying to take it easy and put ear drops in to get the ear better.
     On Sunday I finally found some ear drops at a store while I was cruising the scooter around and exploring getting some Go Pro footage. I got some fun footage of going down to one of our surf spots down the beach, after I hopped in the low tide pools that made my last three days feel so much better just getting out of the room and dipping in the water! On my way back I stopped by a hotel down the way and got a salad and cola to cool down and also just get something decent in my stomach. I got back and put some of the new ear drops in my ear and watched a movie wishing that they will make this infection better! Jeremy and I cruised down to a hotel down the beach for dinner since we are trying to eat different foods, we have both been having stomach aches and getting sick from eating at our place. I finished the night by popping some more ear drops in and watching the movie Django, which if anybody reading hasn't seen is an awesome movie, few nasty parts, long movie, but a great watch with a good story line and interesting ending!
     Monday I woke up with my ear feeling 50% better, it wasn't a sore and throbbing as it had been the past two days, after eating some breakfast and seeing so many small but fun rippable waves coming through out front, we all decided to get out there. I got some poster sticky paste, like what you use to stick a post to a wall looks and feels like silly puddy, he said he uses it all the time and works great. I took his word for it rolled some into a ball shoved it in my ear and hoped for the best, it ended up working pretty decent and I had the best session ever. The waves were so fun, and it wasn't to crowded, every wave I had was fun, and I was landing some turns I had been trying all trip. I was so stoked and relaxed from being out of the water, our aussie friends and even our indo friend Jamaica got out there to join us for a bit, we all sat out the back and shared waves for a few hours. The rest of the day we just cruised and watched a movie inside to get out of the heat for a bit, the weather has been getting much hotter in the last week. We have been eating at a hotel down the way since we have had just about all the food here, and got over it fast, we headed down there for dinner before calling it a night.
     Tuesday was a fun day since we went and explored some spots the opposite way that we hadn't really gone towards. Jamaica our guide friend showed us 3 different awesome surf spots, we ended up at one that wasn't a good wave but fun surfing a different setup. Super clear water with live reef underneath our feet, only downer was we had to walk over about 100 yards of reef to get out there haha, never a fun thing. After getting back to tour place, got some food and relaxed for a bit, Jamaica rallied a few other guests and we had a whole group of us depart on the scooters. We were heading to a waterfall I had heard about and asked Jamaica to go see it, as we arrived and parked the scooters, headed out on what ended up being a 2 mile ish hike! After finally arriving at the waterfall is was awesome, check out the picture below but it was like a steep staircase with water pouring down. It was amazing fresh cool water, everyone sat under the falls, let it pour down onus to relax ad feel refreshed! After finishing the 30 minute hike down we were bombarded by a group of little kids so stoked giving us high fives and laughing and intrigued by my Go Pro and a few other cameras. As you could see from the picture below I was trying to get a picture and they all started jumping on me, we were all cracking up. After getting back to our place, finished the day relaxing at the restaurant, getting some dinner, and of course playing few games of pool accompanied with a beer.
     Wednesday woke up to yet another beautiful day here in Sumbawa and also our last unfortunately, after enjoying some breakfast watching the waves I decided to head out. I had about 30 waves in 2 hours, not to crowded out there, just sat a little inside everyone and got what ever wave I wanted, the wave is such a perfect peak 90% of the time it's unbelievable! I am now sitting typing this post after enjoying lunch and looking over all of my Go Pro footage from yesterday, we are leaving tomorrow morning for the airport to fly back to Bali. We will be hanging in Bali next week, where I will fly out Tuesday morning early, and Jeremy fly's out technically Wednesday morning but 3am haha.
     But it has been awesome typing up these blog posts and sharing my experiences with every who reads and follows! I will definitely keep blogging keeping you updated on the rest of our Bali stay and also my few weeks I'll be spending in Hawaii on the way home! I plan on doing many more trips in the next few years of my life and will share all the experiences, photos, videos, and information right here as much as I can.

Refreshing, relaxing, cooling, greatness.

Waterfall stairs to the top!

This lil kids are always stoked when a camera is around.

Surf check Sumbawa

Village kids following me to the beach!

Bull on the beach, haha

Canggu Part 2

     Sunday we got up early and scooted up to the secret beach we had been surfing at, we had it all to ourselves, waves were decent size but pretty walled. We found a corner that was letting up and went out there to get some Go Pro footage for a bit, we were only out for about hour n half, then we made our way back through the villages and rice patties back to town! We stopped at our favorite place again, warung Bu Mi and got our normal big plate of rice, veggies, and meat for about $1.50, got back to the hostel and I skyped the family and friends for a few hours. We decided to head down to the beach out front and try to get an evening sesh before it got dark, it was super choppy as it usually is in the evenings around here since it's so open to wind. We both caught a few and were going to catch another one in, I went to duck dive one of the bigger sets and came back up and the nose of my board was snapped off! I was just surprised that it had just happened but of course mad, since that was the board I had been riding the most. We got back to the house and cleaned up, as we were both super hungry for dinner, we went to a place called Bj's that was known for there burgers. We both got a burger and it was definitely the best we have had on the island, most places have lil thin patties and small buns. But this place was much better with bigger patties and buns, and some pretty tasty fries! We chatted with the owner for a bit while finishing the meal and admiring the cool design of the restaurant, we payed for the meal and scooted back home in the dark to watch a movie before crashing out.
     Monday we slept in a bit and headed down to Echo beach which is a 5 minute scoot out front, we got in the water and Jeremy surfed the main peak out front and I paddled down the beach a bit to the river mouth. I went down there since it was a bit bigger and I was riding my 6'2" back up board, there were some fun ones but a lil crowded, so it was hard to get the bigger sets. I got out and walked up the beach and Jeremy was already at the scooter, apparently he was only out for 15 minutes when someone paddled in front of him as he was taking off and he ran over the guys board and ended up cracking his own board bad enough to where he had to get out. I said everything must happened in two's like how I got my phone stolen then the same day he cut his head, now I broke my board and his got dinged up! We got lunch at our fav place again, relaxed for awhile then went to a local surf shop to check out boards but I couldn't find any decent ones. Jeremy had fixed his ding with some repair stuff he brought, and wanted to get a evening sesh in, I cruised out there with a fin and the Go Pro to try and get some water footage. We weren't out to long, since the wind picked up and it was a bit crowded, we went out to dinner at a 3 course meal warung we had the first night in Canggu, good food, cheap, and close to the house. Finished the night off with a few beers hanging with friends at the hostel,
     Tuesday we decided to head into Kuta to look into renewing our Visa's and look at more surf shops for my new board. On the way to the airport we stopped at KFC, it was a trip, nothing like home, the biggest KFC I've ever seen with barely anything on the menu! We munched up some good chicken and fries then kept on through the busy Kuta streets to the airport. As we parked in a sea of scooters, literally a parking lot with easily 2,000 scooters, we made our way to the information area and immediately got pointed in different directions by everybody! We finally found out we had to go to a building away from the airport, we arrived and of course with our luck they had close the Visa extension section 15 minutes before we arrived. So we hopped on the scooter and headed towards downtown Kuta where we had been directed towards some good surf shops, we ended up at a cool lil shop and one of the boards immediately struck my eye. It was a perfect shape, similar to what I usually surf, I talked the guy into making a deal for the board, including a leash, kick pad and fins! I was so stoked that when we got back we went out for a quick evening sesh so I could try it out, unfortunately it wasn't very good again since it was windy, but we ran into some friends down there after surfing and decided to meet back down for dinner. The dinner we had with friends was awesome, right on the beach was a bbq setup where you could go pick from fresh fish and meat that would get bbq'd right away. While you were waiting for them to grill up your meat of choice there was a great salad bar to fill your self up with, we chatted about our travels and what were planning to do the rest of the time in Bali. Always nice meeting new people while traveling with such a different background from yourself, we said our goodbyes and headed home for bed!
     Wednesday we had planned on going to a new area called Sanur, we got a late start and went to a great place called the Canteen for breakfast. We got back to the house and relaxed while watching a movie, and looking into transport vans and places to stay in Sanur, we picked out a place gave em a call and they saved us a room. We decided to stop by a Visa renewal office that Bryce had recommended to us, the guy was a bit hard to understand but we finally figured it out and gave him our passports so he could renew them and get them back within a week. We could now pack up and call a transport to take us down to Sanur, we hired a guy for $20 to take us about 15 miles but in traffic, so it took almost an hour. We arrived at the hotel which was a lil hidden down an alley way, but had a sweet lil bar food area downstairs, we took our boards and bags up to our room on the 3rd floor and got settled in. We were both starving so after unpacking and hanging in the ac for a bit we went down to grab dinner, I got a burger with fries that was actually really good. It had a decently thick patty (which is hard to find in Bali) and lots of toppings, we both mowed down our food and went back to relax before crashing out. Our room has a tv with 8 or so american channels, we haven't watched tv the whole time in Bali, so it was nice watching discovery channel and catching up on some cool shows.

Broken stick

Living room and Kitchen of the hostel.

Improvise Go Pro stand, coconut and bamboo!

New board, yewww!

Love the scenery on the beach everytime you go for a surf in indo.

Riding on the beach

Flat surf and Canggu

     Tuesday we decided to head down towards Uluwatu for a morning sesh again, we got in the water around 10. It seemed quite a bit less crowded today for some reason, but of course we were not complaining. We both caught lots of fun smaller waves down towards racetracks, also a few up toward the middle, ended up surfing for almost 2 hours. We got out and checked some pictures that the photo guys got, we each got a few sequences, and Jeremy had some sick backside snap shots. After running into our older lady friend Jodie, that we have been kidding joking around with the last week we had been surfing there. Shes funny speaks good English and is always saying something to make us laugh, we trucked it up the hundred or so stairs back to the top and scooted back to our place for lunch. We enjoyed another great lunch of pasta carbonara that we both have been obsessed with the  last few weeks, I also got my usual coca cola and french fry fix, that Jeremy always rags on me about. After lunch we both chilled on the balcony and tapped away at our computers looking up where we should travel to next. We decided to stay on Bali for the next two weeks but move to a few different spots like Canggu, Seminyak, and Sanur (near Kerama's) until we need to renew our Visa's again. Then we are going to try and make a big trip to either west Java home to Ombak and Turtle's or to Sumbawa where the infamous Lakey Peak is. We researched transportation, airfare, prices, roads, food, accomodation, surf forecasts, and spots, it really takes a lot sometimes to find a smart plan that will work out. After we had finished we decided to stop by the Flame Balls surf shop to pick up a surf movie I had been seeing displayed the whole time we have been here, it's called Indo (link to trailer), starring the islands best surfers. We looked through a few books he had on the shelves to check out the spots we had been researching, after getting some more info we headed back to Sunset Grill to get a pizza that sounded good to both of us! When we got back I started editing my second webisode that you can watch here , I have always been interested in making movies and this is the perfect opportunity to start my hand at it.
     Wednesday the waves were awful small so we didn't surf, I was on the computer for quite a bit trying to upload my second webisode. I had finished editing it the night before, the internet has it's times where it doesn't work at all so it took almost 4 hours to upload it. As I waited Jeremy and I went down to the water snorkeled, swam, and got some Go Pro footage, it was actually nice and relaxing to just float around and enjoy the ocean. We made the walk up the 150 or so stairs back to our place we were staying, enjoyed a great lunch once again, we started packing up and getting ready to leave in the morning for Canggu. We went back to Uluwatu to grab some photos we had saved on the photo guys computers from the last week and a half of surfing. Me and Jeremy both got some cool pictures from each and haggled them down to a fair price, then we went to our favorite lil warung Salin for our last meal there for awhile. The waves were small, it was super low tide, but the sunset and setting was beautiful, while leaving we ran into a taxi guy and negotiated a price to get to the hostel in Canggu, he agreed to be at our place at 7:30am the next morning. We got back and popped in the movie Indo that we had bought the night before, it is an awesome surf flick that any surfer would enjoy. It was especially cool to us since we have now surfed some of the spots in the movie and also have seen a few of the surfers in the movie out surfing since we have been here!
     Thursday morning we got up early and made sure we had everything, and the taxi was there shortly, loaded the bags inside and hit the road. It took about an hour and half to get to Canggu, which is about 20 miles away, but the traffic and scooters everywhere makes it hard for a car to go anywhere fast in the more populated areas of Bali. We got into town and the driver couldn't find the place with the address we had given him, It happens quite often when you ask for a ride somewhere they just say yes so they can get the ride and money. But more often than not they don't even exactly know where that place is, we drove around aimlessly for over a half hour, we were heading down the bumpy gang (alley) half asleep from not getting much sleep the night before, I saw out of the corner of my eye a hammock in the front porch of a yard. I had seen that hammock and small lounge area in the picture on the website, I yelled stop here it is, we finally arrived! The owner of the hostel Bryce popped out and greeted us, we moved our stuff into our lil two bed room, we hopped on the scooter he had gotten for us for $3 a day and followed him to go check the waves. It was small and crowded out front where were staying, he said he new of a chilled out secret spot a good ways up the road, we headed back to the house, packed on the boards and hit the road. I can usually keep up with the roads were going down and know how to get back, but I couldn't keep up after 10 minutes, this spot was so hard to get to, I can see how there was nobody there. It was beautiful scenery and much different than the bukit where we were staying, the roads wind in and out of small rolling hills through the colorful villages with terraced rice paddies filling any open land you can see in sight! Every person we scooted by gave a us a smile and the lil kids playing and riding there bikes wave and yell Hiiiiiiiii, it's truly amazing to be in a place where people are just happy to see somebody they have never seen before. We ended up at the surf spot and took the scooters on the beach and drove a mile or so down for a surf check, took me back to a trip deep into Mex when we drove the trucks down on to the black sand beach, always love mixing my love of motorcycles and the beach! We parked the scooters and paddled out to some fun 3-4ft, beach break waves coming in with nobody out, surfed for a few hours till the wind picked up. Grabbed a liter water from the lil warung on the beach for $8,000rp (approx 80 cents) , chugged it and back onto the scooter for the adventurous ride back. We stopped at a awesome lil food joint Bryce frequents and each made our own hand picked bowl of rice, veggies, and meat for about a buck and half, we all woofed it down hen finally got back to the house. We sifted through the hundred something movies he has accumulated over the years he has been here, there all in a think plastic sleeve, you can buy each movie for about a buck and there was everything from endless summer 2 up to Taken 2. We all layed down and watched a few movies, later Bryce to us to a sweet dinner, 3 course meal for lil over 5 bux, we all got our own plate that sounded good and talked story and munched for the next hour. It was an awesome first day here in Canggu and can't wait for what were going to find to do tomorrow!
     Friday we went down towards the same area we went the first day but tried a new spot lil farther past, explored a bit to find a new spot. We went out and caught a few lil nuggets, it was small like waist high but you could find a few here and there that wouldn't wall up. We made the 45 minute mission back to the house, stopped by the mart to get some ice cream and snacks, literally just sat down n watch movie for 3 hours! It gets tiring waking up early, scootering for a few hours round trip and then surfing, all in the sun and humidity, so we need a lil relax time midday. One of our friend's we have met here had a volleyball, so we all decided to play some pepper down at the beach before Sunset. It was actually really fun since I haven't played volleyball in a long time, a few locals on the beach ended up playing with us the whole time! We took a dip in the water before heading back to the house, we met up with some friend's down at the beach for dinner at a great lil local spot. We finished the night with the movie Blow which is a personal favorite of mine and our hostel owner Bryce's
     Saturday we had all decided the night before to wake up early to try and get to the spot we surfed the day before early enough so the wind didn't come up! We got down there by 8am and it looked fun like the day before but still small, it's just nice to go on a drive like that deep into some villages with lil kids smiling and waving as you fly by on the scooter. On the way back we stopped at our local favorite already, Warung Bu Mi, where you can pick between 20 dinner sorts of meat, veggies, rice, sauce, and sides. You basically make what you want on a big plate, usually costs around 15,000 Rupiah ($1.50USD), the food is so flavorful and fresh. We did the usual chills sesh for a few hours at the house, one of Bryce's friend's from Australia (where he is from also) came to visit the night before from Singapore where he works. It's a quick 3 hour plan flight, and he says it's nice to get away from there come here for the weekend to surf and kick it with his mate. We packed up the scooters again to head back to the secret beach to hopefully grab an evening sesh, we got there to a blown out 2 ft wind chop, so we headed back to our local break. On the way back Jeremy and I got separated from Bryce and his mate Cameron, we got stuck behind a tourist charter bus, which basically takes up the whole road since the roads are small enough as it is. As I went for a sketchy pass on the bus around the corner, I had to slow down to dodge a scooter coming head on and then a stopped car behind him. At the speed we were going, which wasn't very fast but fast enough to not be able to stop in time to avoid hitting the stopped car, I had to make the quick decision of dodging the car and threading the needle between the now 3 ft gap next to the bus still turning the corner about to pinch us. Within 2 seconds we went from going head on with a scooter, dodging a van, then slipping in between the bus and van, and finally straightening out to not fly off the side of the road into the rice paddies, I forgot to also mention with surfboards strapped on the side of our scooter. Lets just say after Jeremy opened his eyes thinking we were dead or on the hood of a van, he was a bit mad, since it probably wasn't the smartest decision but we were still alive. Finally arriving at the sandbar surf spot just out front we got a quick evening surf in some okay choppy shoulder high peaks. We decided on hitting a pizza joint we had passed many times on our way to surf, and pizza is something we can both agree on and enjoy, must say it was pretty good but my standards. We got back to the house and some new guys had showed up, they were from Germany and had been staying here before we left, but just got back from Nusa Lembongan (an island a quick ferry away). Super cool guys that rip at BMX back home, they are also just traveling around Asia seeing as much as they can, we had a few beers with them, I passed out early and Jeremy stayed up a bit later just chatting.

Just another dinner watching an unbelievable sunset in Bali!

Offerings they make a few times a week and are put out every morning to wish a good day of business.

Impossibles on low tide.

Stuffed in the back of a taxi for the ride to Canggu

Beach to ourselves..

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

7 days until the departure....

     First off thanks everybody for checking out my blog that i will be updating as much as i can as i am traveling. I know lots of friends and family want to hear, see, and read about this awesome adventure I'm starting to take.
     The last few weeks have been awful busy with both life, working, getting ready, and still trying to have some fun in between. I have managed to get a lot of things done and ready to go in the last few days. Been trying to think of everything i might need on this trip has been crazy, definitely preparing my self for everything and anything in all of the places i want to travel to.

Thanks for checking out my first blog post!

 Here's all i got packed so far, throwing everything in the board bag and one carry on.