Hamachi Kama

It's been a while since I ate "hamachi" or yellowtail and been craving some sashimi! Imagine these fish all around 5'-0" in length and weighing in at 50-100 lbs! There is no comparison to eating Hamachi. It's like butter and melts in your mouth. You can eat the collars as well and it's so ono!

New Zealand has so much fish! Schools of all kinds of blue fish, red fish, yellowfish, in all shapes and sizes. This school of blue mao mao suppose to be good eating. Whether you are targeting a 800 lb. bluefin tuna or 8 lb. snapper, you should take a trip to New Zealand one of these days.

Hurry up and Wait

Woke up at 5:00 am and flew over to Maui yesterday to do some filming for another big production company just for the day. Our boat man rented a U-haul truck to tow his boat to the harbor and we were stopped by the coast guard for not having enough life jackets on board so we waited and hour for them to go get some...

My dive partner Wayde Hayashi was kind enough to joine me on this one of a kind adventure to see how they do it in Hollywood. I am so used to a small crew that being efficient is of utmost importance. So we did some scouting and got back at 1:00 pm. to meet the rest of the production crew who ended up being late so we waited...and waited. 2:00 pm, 3:00 pm. came and went. We had nothing to do but take pictures of each other.

Then finally 4:00 pm came, the make-up artists finished up putting make up on their hosts, everyone was ready to dive and cameras were rolling. I tried to get a shot in the background while they were filming but instead got the foreground shot with the hosts in the back. It's so interested to see how other productions work but the theme here was "Hurry up and Wait"!

We made it back to the airport half hour before departure and our luggage didn't make the flight. Oh well...live and learn!

Fresh Sashimi

Last night I had a birthday dinner with my family at this place called "Sushi King". It opened at 5:30 pm so we were first in line by 5:00 pm. The line was crazy!

I felt like eating sushi so I had their sushi dish which was ok. But there is nothing better than fresh fish so I was inspired to go diving again. Winds were light only for today, so we headed out for a quick dive.

We did a little blue water first then onto the reef straight to the ulua house with this boy in the hole. I dropped down with my 110 cm. omer first but when I saw this guys swimming I opted to change my gun to my riffe island with a breakaway. As he circled the cave I waited for him to give me the shot then took it. Bam! It rolled over, line went slack, and fish lay sidewards. I resurface and next thing I see is the fish flying out the back entrance of the cave. My partner, Owen Adams went down and gave him the 2nd shot and he went more nuts. Unfortunately he bent my shaft and it was a costly day. But we had fun and got a 50# slab of sashimi for dinner!

Surf and Dive

Day 2 of the summer south swell in Hawaii. Winds were little more mushy but still fun surf. Notice how far to the right the crowd was situated here. Tomorrow looks like the waves are coming down a little, so maybe good day for a dive...hmmm what to do? I feel like eating fresh fish but wouldn't mind getting barreled too! Maybe surf then dive? Or dive then surf?

South Swell #1

Summer swell #1 has arrived! Should be here for a few days so wax up "Daniel-san" and get out there if you can. Trades should be here for a few more days before it becomes light winds again as a low pressure moves in. Going to be another busy day at the office.

Kamehameha School Dive Club

One of the most rewarding aspects of diving is sharing you knowledge. Today we had the opportunity to share with the Kamehameha School Diving Club. The club is headed by Melodee Ferraira and her passion led her to contact one of Hawaii's Top Spearfisherman, Wendell Ko to their health fair today.

Also freedive/spearfisherman Nathan Kaneshiro shared about DLNR regulations and I was able to talk about the dangers of diving including "Shallow Water Blackout" or SWB. It was so neat to see how many diving fans we have who watch "Hawaii Skin Diver TV" from young kids to senior citizens. One kid even knew what SWB was from watching the show!

We did some pool exercises, with strong emphasis on safety and everyone had a blast! I am convinced we need to share our knowledge with others and help others grow in their skill levels. Who knows...one of these kids one day will be able to pass on what they learned today. Thanks to Melodee for having us over and we were blessed to be a part of this great event.

Kauai Boys

Just in from a trip to Kauai, the "Garden Isle". This is one of my favorite islands to visit as it still has lots to do and see even when the wind is blowing 100 mph. This island is so green!

I was also able to be a part of a big TV production that will air this August. It was neat to see how they do it in "Hollywood". Over 20 crew members and all the safety people, security, lifeguards and props was amazing to see. That's me baking in the wetsuit looking the wrong way.

I had a photo op with legendary Titus Kinimaka who was one of the stars of the show. Titus is "da Man" in Kauai and still spreading the Aloha. I remember surfing with the Kauai boys at Kalihiwai and seeing them take the steepest drops and pulling in the barrel, like Tahiti's Teahoupoo going right.

My good friend Tom Kilroy and his dog Moo hooked me up and it was really fun hanging out with them again. Moo is the coolest dog and followed us everywhere we went. Tom is a great musician and if you need a recording studio on Kauai to do any kind of recording he can set you up.

Tsunami Divers

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip, that started from this tropic port, aboard this tiny ship...The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed, if not for courage of our fearless crew the minnow would be lost... the minnow would be lost! That tune was on my mind this weekend as we planned a interisland dive trip. I was watching the weather like a hawk this past week and checked on my sources for changing weather pattern. All our tickets were booked, I had a boat on standby and the game was on...Then 4:00 am. Sat. 2/27 we hear there is a tsunami warning for Hawaii! What? What should we do? Well the best place to be in a Tsunami is either up high on the mountain or in the middle of the ocean.

So we stood by our plan and went out into the deep blue of the shores of the Garden Island. Fisherman was at the pier taking their boats out of the water and here we were going diving! Trolling was slow but the seas were flat and skies were beautiful. We later heard gas stations and store shoppers were stocking up and it was crazy! Where were we at 11:19 am (the expected time of the Tsunami to hit)?

In the ocean spearing these! The fish were so tame and it felt like we were in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands as our divers Travis Masutani, Jon Barretto, and Erick Itoman were having their best dive session in their life! Want to see more? Wait for the video to come on a future episode of "TSUNAMI DIVERS" on Hawaii Skin Diver TV!