North swell arrived

Mokuleia dawn surf check little wild and wooly so I opted to surf laniakea with 50 other guys! Fun 5-7 ft. but crowded. I think I'm spoiled...from indo!

Surf dive board

With this great weather I think I may have the solution to what to do, surf or dive? Why not do both? So I rigged this longboard up and ready to rock and roll. I can pull up to any beach and draw a straight line to my secret spot and not worry about anything except having fun in the sun.  Catch waves then catch fish.

Flasher test

The winds are looking light and variable so you know what that means!  I wanted to test out my new flashers I made so jumped on my friends friends boat and off we went for a quick dive today.  These flashers are for pelagic fish and costs anywhere from $60-100 in stores so I made my own and save some money for my next trip.

Brent, John, Kekoa and I went out for ono check but no luck!  Water was super nice and it was so refreshing to get in. Flashers worked great and guarantee will catch next time we got more time to spend diving.

My friend Travis been getting lucky and sent me this nice pic of a ono he landed weighing in 47 lbs. in rough seas.  Congrats Trav on another nice fish!

And mahalos for the slab of sashimi too!  Dat buggah was winnahs!  Winds should be light all week and some nice waves coming too.  What to do? 

Hot Off of Press & Stove

HSD Mag issue 51 just out on Newstands!  Check out last years trip to Punta Mita where Jonathan Muratsuka spears his biggest fish of his life!  

And those little black fish with orange eye was fried perfectly for our dinner!  My friend likes these so much that he even makes Kole sandwich.  Yup he put them between 2 slices of bread and grinds um.  The fish on the right is the Aweoweo which is also hard to find nowdays.

Final main dish is steamed Kumu, fit for a king!  These were so delicious!  Also known as white saddle goat fish, they vary from 2-4 lbs and sometimes even bigger.

Kumu Kole Hunt

Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving holiday!  We had so much food that I probably gained 5 lbs.  Weather was nice and water was flat today so diving was the call.  We had the onos for Kumu and Kole so reef diving was the plan for today.  Kekoa Mau and Keith Yamane boarded the Red Sea boat and we were off bright and early to see the sunrise.

Kekoa got a nice Kumu and his smile said it all!  This prized reef fish goes for $14/lb here in Hawaii and anybody who gets one is super happy.

Keith Yamane also got this nice Kumu at one of my secret spots and was also a happy camper.

Our final catch was a mixed bag of red kumus and black kole and some tako for the next Red Sea Party!  Looks like fried fish tomorrow and steam fish for Sunday! Thanks guys for a great day on the water, I'll be sleeping good tonight:)

Shrimp shack

Giovanni's shrimp $13 plate. Pupu hour starts now!

V-Land Calls

Finally got out of the house with hopes of timing the arrival of the next north swell and help with my jet lag. Decided to surf a short paddle wave that was hollow and fast like Ht's. V-land was the call.  This spot is heavy localized spot and this is where you park your car and walk about 10 minutes before you paddle out.  Today only had 15 guys out so I was able to get my share of waves.  Then the groms came out and I went in.  Waves should hold tomorrow and drop on Friday so gotta get the dive gear ready!

"lady killer" shrimp

After returning from Indonesia, there was one dish that everyone remembers.  Kekoa "Paduan" Mau entitled this "Lady Killer" shrimp dish that our cook made 2x for us.  This may just be the dish to make for the upcoming thanksgiving party.  Only problem is only Kekoa knows the secret recipe.

Good Times!

During this trip I really wanted to get good shots of our guests so spent alot of time shooting at filming.  I would try and surf early before everyone woke up and in between times when no one was out.  Fortunately our Indo guide Yanto also had his camera and grabbed a few shots for me to remember.  By far HT's has to be one of my favorite waves to ride on this planet.  I was up till 3 am sorting photos this morning and still haven't put a dent in my photo album.  I think the jetlag process has begun...

Alone in Indo!

Mentawai 2012 Trip will go down in history as the most uncrowded Mentawai trip ever!  We scored every spot with great waves and only a few boats to be seen all throughout the Mentawai islands.  Every time we pulled up to a spot we were all so happy to surf our dream waves all alone.

Lena Ching above was carving her way to the top on every wave!  

Cecile Kim also took her surfing to another level, charging waves way overhead and giving her 110%.

Al Ah Nee loved every minute and got shacked.

Kekoa Mau also loved his lefts and seen here dropping in on a bomb at lances left.

David Patterson got his barrel of the trip at HT's and will remember this wave for the rest of his life!

Mentawai continues to be one of the best spots for surf travel.  You can find perfect waves and if you time it right you may be able to surf it all alone like this group did.  Thanks to all awesome group of surfers/divers for joining us on this amazing adventure!

BIG HTS

How Big did HT's get?  Check out this wave James Oshiro caught outside peak at HT's!  Nobody wanted it more than James so when the sets rolled in, James would go!  Who would have thought we would have been so lucky on this trip in November to get waves like this with no crowds in sight?  More to come!

Mentawai Diary Day 9/10 HT's

Day 9/10 HT's was going off the hook!  Solid waves let us pull out the big guns and it was as good as it gets!  Here Al (bottom right) is dipping through these huge waves and just making it through.  He plowed through 3 of these waves just making it to safety.

Amy Chiang also had paddled into some bomb sets that probably was her biggest waves of her life!  She would just go when the boys were saying no no! Just making it down and getting the shot made her trip complete!

Others out in the line up from the surf camp paid their dues!  This guy wasn't so lucky!

These local guys come out to our boat and try and sell carvings each day.  Everyone got some nice things to take home. Stay tuned! I got so many good photos of everyone, I'm excited to go home and put them up on my blog!  Time to pack up and make our way home!  Another excited Red Sea Ocean Adventure in the Mentawai islands!

Epic HT's

HT's going off!

Happy kids

Mentawai diary day 9

Sharing the Aloha!  More school supplies to give out with the village at HT's.

Mahi on the menu

Put out the lines and Hanapaa!

A time to give

We finished diving and had a few more go-naminori boxes of school supplies to hand out so we found a village and shared the aloha!

Mentawai diary day 8

Kekoa and I went out for a dive and came across a nice mu pile.  Got a few for dinner!

Maccas doc on call

Macaronies is fun but dangerous!  This guy from the camp got rolled on the reef and cut up his hand.  He asked us for help and our "medic" Al came to the rescue!  I didn't want to take a closer shot or you would throw up.  Amy is the attorney turned nurse and I'm sitting on the table on the side writing this blog with all the action going on.  There are lots of risks for getting that perfect wave and this is one of them.  

More maccas

Lena Ching has been ripping at every spot.  Here she is pulling a carve on perfect Maccas!  Tomorrow is coming up so everyone is getting more excited!

Mentawai diary day 7

Day 7 we are scoring perfect Macaronies!  Cecile Kim is taking off into this perfect left and loving every minute of it!  There are no crowds whatsoever so our group is very happy!  Sorry I didn't have time to download all my photos yet so had to take a snap of my camera.  Waves are going off!

Mentawai diary day 6

We made down to Sikakap village to fill water on day 6 and it was a cultural experience for our group. These children follow you all over and ask you what's your name?  Where you from?  How many surfboards you have?  Then once they get to know you they ask, "Can you give me one board?" Or can you give me money?  Here Lena was trying to be polite by saying no more money.

Massage

Kekoa Mau and Lena Ching were first in line and ready to unwind their tweaked bodies.  $20/hour massage can't go wrong! Internet use is $12/hour so gotta make use of the opportunity to update my blog and check the waves. So far we have been scoring big time with no other boats in sight.

Mentawai diary day 5

After 5 days of surfing hard our group was ready for a land tour.  So we headed in to Maccaronies resort and got some R & R.

Mentawai Diary day 1-4

Well we finally got internet connection!  We made it out to the Mentawai Islands on time and it was such a smooth ride out on board the Naga Laut we couldn’t believe it!  Light winds and calm seas made for a calm crossing that put us all to sleep. 

We eat 3-4 meals a day and talk story around this table and everyone is happy!

As far as the surf it doesn’t get any better than this…Absolutely no crowds and perfect waves like this!  What can we say?  Score!  Lances Rights got some nice waves and surfing with the local villagers instead of team riders from around the world is such a treat.  We surf this spot by ourselves a few times already so moved on to Lances Left and got this! Brad dropping in on a bomb set and after 6 hours of surfing he is going to move here I think?  Every day he is telling me that this is the “Best day ever!”

Imagine solid double overhead and nobody but us!  Wake me up I’m dreaming:)

 James Oshiro also showing us how to do it. All those days at the office is paying off big time.

Did some diving also and shot a nice dogtooth tuna all on film!

Fishing is awesome!  Put on my Gaji lure and Bam!  Al reeled in this huge sailfish that has been providing us pupus for days.  Its only day 4 and everyone is surfed out!  Tomorrow we surf Macaronies and can’t wait to surf the most rippable wave on this planetJ Good Night!

Jakarta airport

We made it to Jakarta and waiting for next flight to Padang. Not much to do but hurry up and wait.