Brooke and Jeremy came to the island

     Thursday morning Brooke, Nicole, and I left early to drop Nicole off at work then Brooke and I sat down for some breakfast. Nice to catch up and hang for awhile with the sis and enjoy breakfast before we searched for some rental cars! We searched around to a few rental car places and finally found one with a good deal, we got a Chevy crossover SUV from Thursday morning to Monday morning. I really wanted to get a rental car so Brooke, Jeremy, and I could cruise around the east side and I can show them as much as I could while there here. We got the car and headed around the east side over to Kailua, then headed up the Pali hwy to Maunawili Falls. It's an awesome hike that I did last Sunday and I knew they would enjoy to get into the forest with some fresh air and jump off the falls. We hiked back down and got some burgers at Teddy's, if your in Kailua I highly recommend it! We finished up and kept heading around the east side, it was abut an hour drive from the hike back to the north shore. There is so many calm nice clear water beaches on the east side, totally different than what they saw in town. We got to the north shore around 4 and i took them all the way down to Haleiwa and back to where were staying. We met up with my cuz and we all hoped on a board and grabbed some diving masks, and paddled out to small Kami's to get some ankle slappers and dive. Brooke and Jeremy got there first Turtle experience, Brooke acted she had just won a thousand bux, they were swimming all around and under us! After we headed to where we were staying and unpacked, and enjoyed a great home made meal! Brooke and Jeremy crashed early since for them there 3 hours ahead, I watched tv for a bit longer then crashed also.
     Friday my cousin had off, so we cooked up a great lil egg sandwich and fruit breakfast then checked out the sandbar, it was perfect lil waist high waves. We all messed around for a few hours while it was perfectly sunny, super clear warm lil waves. I brought the Go Pro out and got some pictures and videos of everyone having fun and getting a few lil barrels. We finished up the sesh and stopped by Foodland to grab food, made a great huge pasta salad and we all filled up! We chilled out on the balcony and watched the waves for a few hours, some friends from town came over and had some drinks with us. We all headed down to Rockies while we surfed they hung out on the beach and swam around on the inside. After a fun hour and half session we got some food for dinner, and started cooking up some pork tacos. Jeremy, Brooke, Salah, Chris, Nicole, Caylie, and I all munched a delicious meal and joked around to end the night, great day on the North Shore.
     We got up earlier Saturday morning, made some breakfast and went to spot check again. We ended up at small Sunset, it was about head high to lil over head, fun rights coming through but a lil crowded. Jeremy was stoked to surf Sunset which is a really sick right even when it is small, I had yet to surf it this small either. We were out for a few hours, Brooke sat on the shoulder and got a few, but it was a little big for her. We got out cleaned up and headed down to Haleiwa to eat at my cousin Chris' cafe he works at, it was a great meal and I hadn't eaten there yet on my trip. We left and ended up sitting in traffic for an hour from Haleiwa to Waimea, there ended up being a crash, but since it's only a one way highway you can't go around. Once we finally got toward the house we went to check the waves but there wasn't much happening, so I took them down the road to Turtle Bay Resort. I showed them the horse stables and we got a few pics, then around the corner to the private beach. We stopped by rockies on the way home and it looked fun so we got out there asap. There was about 40 people out but the waves were getting a lil bigger form the swell filling in. We were out for about 45 minutes then we started to hear thunder, then we saw lightning hitting the water way out to sea. A lot of people in the water started freaking out and headed in so now there was Jeremy, myself and 6 other guys and the waves were still fun. It was so sick to be out with thunder and lightning cracking all around us at such a sick wave, the lightning stopped after about 15 minutes and we got our shortly after. That night Salah was having a big bbq with friends at the house, we got back cleaned up, took showers and got ready for the night. It was fun meeting new people, listen to some great music, and enjoying a great feast in an awesome environment! We all were tired from another long day and passed out around 10, but had a funny situation happen during the night. Brooke and I both wake up around 2 in the morning from something landing on us and making a loud noise. Apparently Jeremy saw the whole thing, I guess we locked the cat inside the room and it freaked out and tried to get out. It jumped up onto the bed and tried to go out the window but the screen was on, so it feel back onto my face then jumped across onto my sister and bolted for the door., pretty interesting night to say the least!
     Sunday morning we were up early checking the surf, we ended up at Kami's which looked fun with nobody out. We got out there and after about 20 minutes a squall came through and the weather turned real crappy fast, super windy and choppy. We got out and went to check V-Land, wasn't very good either and pretty crowded, me and my sister jumped in the water for about a half hour and dove around to see some reef and fish. The rest of the day was looking pretty overcast and rainy, so we packed up and said our goodbyes and started heading to town a little after noon. It rained the whole way to town, we grabbed some food upon arriving and took i to our friends to munch on, the rest of the evening we just relaxed with friends while it poured.
     Monday was my sisters last day, her flight was leaving at 2pm. We dropped off the rental car early in the morning and grabbed some breakfast with our friend Casey at a place near the house we have been staying at in town called Koa Pancakes. Awesome little pancake and breakfast place that's pretty cheap and great service. After we headed over to Walmart so Jeremy and I could get a few last medical things for our trip, and Brooke wanted to get a few souvenirs and we heard they had a big selection. We cruised around inside for about an hour getting everything we needed before I took Brooke to the airport. It had been an awesome weekend having her out her experiencing where I have been for the last month and a half, she could see how people just leave and move out here. It was also really nice to see some family before I headed out to the next part of my journey which is a pretty big adventure in itself. The rest of the day I hung out with Nicole, we got an acai bowl and did a few errands, then got some food to cook for dinner. Nicole, Jeremy, and I cooked up a nice home meal of chicken alfredo, and enjoyed it together for the last night in Hawaii.
     Well this is the last post here in Hawaii, it's now Tuesday morning and our flight leaves in exactly 3 hours. We have an 11.5 hour flight to Shanghai, a 8 hour layover in Shanghai, then we depart at midnight local time to Bali, we arrive in Bali at 6am. Were both not looking forward to the flight of course haha, but it's all part of the experience and adventure of getting to an awesome place. Thanks to everybody here in Hawaii that made my stay so fun and exciting to to visit, I will definitely be back again to hang out and catch some of the best waves of my life, Mahalo!

Relaxing on Friday on the balcony. Caylie, Jeremy, Nicole, Myself, Chris, Brooke

Brooke at the Sandbar on Friday morning, she had a blast.

Taking Jeremy and Brooke on a hike to Maunawili Falls.

Jeremy and I at the sandbar messing with the Go Pro.

More Pictures to come on the post!

Birthday and lots of surfing

     Hello everyone I am trying to get on here more often to inform everybody about my trip and post some cool photos! The last 4 days have been just a lot of surfing since the weather has been so nice!
     Monday I woke up in town so I hung out for a bit then went to get some food before hoping on the bus, I ate at this super cool little crepe spot. The crepe was delicious and they also gave me a complimentary dessert crepe, which was also amazing since I haven't had crepes in a long time! I caught the bus back to the shore and hung out for a bit until dinner since the waves weren't very good. My cousin got a bunch of meat from his work so for the past few nights we cook up a new one every night, everything from marlin to game hen. We have been eating really great home cooked dinners every night since I have been here!
     Tuesday was a super nice day out but pretty windy, which made the waves like 8-10ft and just choppy and all over the place. I still try to surf a few times a day just to get out and be in the water. I rode my bike down to a spot called the sandbar which is a little down the beach from Pipeline, its fun lil spot that breaks only on sand, so its not to dangerous. I met a cool new friend named Gabriel that got here a few weeks ago and is staying at the property I'm at. He is from Israel and is on a similar surf trip as well, from Israel he flew to New York for a few weeks, then to Santa Cruz/San Francisco area for a month and a half. After he made his way down to Mexico where he stayed near Puerto Escondido and some areas around there for 2 months, now he's at his last stop on the North Shore! Super cool guy, we've been hanging out the last few weeks surfing together, grabbing some lunch, and just talking story about where each other is from.
     I've always enjoyed talking to people that grew up somewhere else and have had a whole different and totally separate life than myself. Ever since me and my mother did our cycling tour across the US ( link to our blog ) I have had the traveling bug and love to get out and see something new even if its a lil weekend adventure! Since the trip we have hosted dozens of traveling cyclists through the website warmshowers.org and now have friends around the world! Whenever we have a new guest staying for a night or two at our house we enjoy dinner and chat for the whole evening. I call it "traveling without traveling" because your able to learn about an area or a culture that you have never been to without really going there, to me it is very interesting and exciting!
     Haha well back to my trip, so Wednesday was my birthday and for once didn't have much planned, I turned 22. I had some breakfast then Gabriel and I rode our bikes down to the sandbar, there were some fun lil chest high waves and a few barrels coming through. After we went over to Ted's, which is this awesome little bakery like a half mile down the the road, they have a little of everything and it's all delicious! I relaxed for a bit after and then hoped into the water for a quick surf at Kami's right out front with nobody out. I bought a beach cruiser last week and took it apart to paint it, so I got some paint and went over to my friend's to throw a paint job on it. It ended up turning out pretty cool and definitely my color and style now. I got out in the water again at Kami's before it got dark, was pretty crowded but definitely a few fun ones coming in! I headed back to our friend's to cook some dinner, we had a great mix of rice, veggies, and grilled marlin. Along with the dinner they baked me a little pie with a side shot of tequila, haha. Nice to celebrate my birthday with my cousin Chris, we hadn't hung out much when we were teenagers because we were always doing something different then he came out to Hawaii and never came back from paradise! After dinner a friend came form town to pick me up and we went out to Dave and Busters, played some games and had quite a few drinks to end a fun day!
     Thursday morning I made my friend's some pancakes as we relaxed on the couch and figured out the day. My friend Caylie that lives in town and her roomate Nicole wanted to come out to the North Shore for the day to beach it. We cruised back out here and went to a few beaches and I surfed while they tanned and relaxed at Sunset Beach. After I took them to a cool spot down on the east side that is nice chilled out beach that you can hope in the water with no waves and swim around. They really enjoyed getting into the water with out all the waves, rocks, and reef on the bottom to worry about! We ended the day stopping at a grill on the side of the road on our way back and mowed down some food since we were all hungry from a long day in the sun! Tomorrow the waves are supposed to be pretty big, 15' - 20' the charts are reading, so wish me luck :) !

Crepe at Aloha crepes in Honolulu.

Birthday dinner with Chris, Pie and a shot of tequila, haha.

I like to make lil beachwood camps

Sandbar

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.

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