Hemana in panama

Another great day in panama. Check out one of our new sponsor, Hemana apparel. Divers and boatmen wore it proud.

Sunrise was gorgeous but half way to our destination the rain came.

Keaka braved the rain while everyone huddled in the bow of the boat like sardines. 

We chased dolphins, did some reef diving, saw Ono in 40 ft of water, and came home before dark today. Tomorrow is a long day and boys feeling good!

Team Hawaii

Woke up 530 am to take all our gear to the beach. Look how many floats there are.

We had breakfast on board and a few hours later we reached our destination. Our group of Hawaii divers had a plan and worked as a team and it paid off.

Our catch of the day! Diver Demetrius Xenos with his first tuna! 3 shafts put into this beast in order to land it. And we got it all on film. Everyone is so happy!

We are here!

We made it to our panama resort! Beautiful location and everyone is excited

Meet Stan, 78 years old day and on a mission to get his first tuna. He has been diving for 55 years. 

Pupu hour starts now! Tomorrow day 1 of diving panama.

Let's do this

630 am breakfast, what a spread!

Picked up Kirby and we are off!

Last of the Musubi

While everyone was relaxing I figure I take a few photos of our entry into panama. I walk out the VIP lounge and head to the area with only my camera. I see a panama police then think about the show locked up abroad, where ordinary people go to jail for no good reason. 

I'm getting hungry so scarf down another Nakamoto Musubi and it satisfies my appetite. 

We make it to our transit hotel and it's 11 pm now.

Time to sleep...zzzzz 

Long day of travel

After a day and a half of travel, we made it to panama!

We bypassed the 1hr immigration line and went straight to the VIP lounge.

Ready to go to our hotel.

Worth it

Give a man a fish and he has food for the day.

Teach a man to fish and he has to buy poles, reels, lures, hooks, line, boat, trailer, truck, fish finder, gps, epirb, outriggers, coolers, fish bags, gaffs, bait, ice...but it's all worth it!

Custom folders

Back in the day it was "cool" to have custom folders. So I taught my nephews how it's done. Find your favorite pics, get plastic, electrical tape and you are good to go.

Today they have their first custom folder with surf and dive pics. They may be  starting the trend? Next they will be wearing corderoi pants, famalare shoes, aloha shirts with gel in their hair... Ha ha!

LOL...

Need a little smile to brighten your day?

Click Here!

Tuna candy

The latest "tuna candy" gaji lures has arrived!  5 inch fbs lures. Mahalos to Allan Sato for always hooking us up!

Board Mtg

Board meeting today for board test

Surfboard Modify

Been wondering how my 6'2 board would work as a shorter board.  I've been thinking of doing this for a while now.   I pull out the jig saw and cut off 8 inches off the nose.  Shape, laminate fiberglass, sand, glass, sand again and finish coat for my next surf session. One more quick sand and good to go! I'm kind of excited to see how this 5'6 x 17 7/8" x 2 1/8" rides! 

Happy Easter!

My friend sent me this funny pic! Have a Happy Easter and watch out for thise tricky rabbits:)

Surfing World Champions on Board

Today Junior world champion surfers Josh and Seth Moniz wanted to catch fish so I got my cameras ready and headed down to Kirby's boat.  Both these boys are fortunate to have an uncle who pushes them to become the best in and out of the water. The seas were rough so boys started tying their lines before we left the dock otherwise we will be having some seasick boys.

James Oshiro aka McGuyver was our boat man so Seth took lessons from the master.  James showed Seth how to tie 10 different knots in 10 minutes. We did a few drift dives but no action except two sharks.  It started getting real windy and boys were not feeling so good so we opted to try some fishing in calmer waters.  You can tell when someone is not feeling to good as things get quiet on board.

Seth is one of Hawaii's top junior surfers recently winning the junior pipe pro.  Here he is hooking up to this kahala.

Josh Moniz another junior world champion hooked this cute uku.

On our way in this boat pulls up and we find out they drove this little sail boat from France to Hawaii.  More amazing was there were two little kids probably around 3 and 4 years old on board the boat.  These little kids must have some unreal sea legs.  Josh and Seth looked at each other and laughed as they were feeling a little wheezy from today imagining what kind of seas this family endured.  Thanks again Kirby for taking us out, James for driving and Seth and Josh for great day!

Tuna Fever

Ok tuna fever has officially started:)  The countdown has begun as we are in search of some big tuna and doing some more filming for Hawaii Skin Diver TV.  Our group is so excited, spending hundreds of dollars fine tuning their equipment in hopes of landing their personal best fish.  If you plan to surf big pipe or waimea you gotta have the right surfboard.  If you plan to catch a big tuna you better have the right dive gear.  Stay tuned!

Suit up

Some wear 3 piece suits to the office, some aloha wear, some wear shorts to work. Today's dress code was a 2 piece suit.  Water temperature at 75 degrees felt nice.

Windy sunny weather prevails so we did more tests with blue water gear.  Still trying to get things dialed in before we leave for our trip.  

Kirby jumped in for a reef dive while I took a break.  Didn't feel like swimming in sewage spill water today. Heard 4800 gallons of raw sewage spilled in the water yesterday afternoon.   Since I still had a cut on my leg getting an infection would be last on my list. 

Kirby got some kole and a Tako for dinner. I wonder what these fish had for dimner yesterday? Guess? Recycle! Ha ha! Thanks Kirby for another fun day. 

Gaji-man

Dropped by POP Hawaii today and saw the crew working hard. From left to right danford, Kevin and Allan Sato (gaji lures) maker was in the house. 

Check out this awesome gaji lure on display. We are so fortunate to have gaji lures as our sponsor and looking forward to landing some big boys this year.  This is the chinese year of the horse and year of the cow for fisherman and divers:)

Float Test

Gotta make sure my floats all good to go!

Sharing Your Catch

My friend Travis Masutani had an awesome day in the water catching some nice fish.  He saved me a couple slabs for our dinner tonight. I'm blessed to have great friends who are so generous and thoughtful.

Trust me, It doesn't get fresher than this! Mahalo Trav for the Ono and mahi! 

Lesson on Patience

Today Kirby wanted a few Fish for dinner so headed out to test spearguns and bottom fish. He brought his nephew Isaiah moniz along to teach him how to fish.  Isaiah recently came in 2nd at the junior pipe pro and really good surfer.  Here they were tying fishing lines before they left so it would be less chance of getting sea sick.

Also onboard was Kekoa Mau and me so off we went.  You need to be patient when bottom fishing so this is all new for us impatient people.  

After 20 drops of hooking small moana and hagi, Kirby finally hooked up to this nice kagami.  It was a keeper and went straight into the cooler!

Isaiah also picked up some Nabeta and moana for his dinner while we did some gun testing.  He is now officially broken in his new pair of sea legs and is hooked on fishing so when the waves are down you will see him out catching fish with his friends and family. Thanks Kirby, Kekoa and Isaiah for today's lesson on patience. 

Gun test

Wow spring is here and our trips are just around the corner.  

I need to test out my blue water gun so headed out with Kekoa and Brent to fire the gun.  Gotta get dialed in before we go.

My friend Wayne Jarret sent me a photo of his last trip to panama so hope we get lucky!

Tsunami coming?

8.0 earthquake in chili. Tsunami alert NOW! No joke.

Swell Early?

Wow anybody score the new swell that arrived early today?  First hour was just me and 2 other guys out.  Sets were little slow but when it came it was all time.  Just take off and pull into the deepest pits! After 4 hours, I had to call it a day as my arms were so tired from paddling.  Not sure if the weatherman on the news knew about this one. 

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APRIL FOOLS!