Japanese Loves Hawaii

One of the best parts of traveling is meeting people...and even if we don't speak the same language or understand each other sometimes the ocean seems to make us one in the same. I had lunch with Toda-san, Takami-san, Maki-san, and Kirby-san and after that...

We went to Maui Sporting Goods (MSG) to try on some new dive gear! MSG has everything you need from masks, fins, guns, wetsuits, floats, and then some...Now all we need is some fish for our BBQ tonight!

Kurt Taguma (yellow shirt) and Wendell Ko (tan shirt) are the guys to see if you have any questions on spearfishing gear. So next time you are on Kapahulu Avenue drop by and say hello and pick up some new equipment for your next dive!

I See Red

Today I woke up early excited to go diving! Got my gear ready, packed up the boat and as Erick and Travis came over we smelled something burning. My bildge pump was smoking and I must have left it on for days. 24 gallons of gas was right there and if we didn't dive I'm sure my boat would be on fire after blowing up. So we installed another pump and off we went to the ocean supermarket. Conditions were a little bumpy but good enough to catch a few fish for the week.

We were targeting anything red in color and managed to get some goat fish, jacks, Mu, Uhu and prized aweoweo "Big Eye". I believe things happen for a reason and could only imagine what would have happened if we didn't dive today.

Divers Wanted Alive

DIVERS WANTED (Preferably ALIVE!)

Ready to target some other types of fish than parrotfish and uluas? We will be filming for a future episode of Hawaii Skin Diver Television so contact us if you are interested in joining us.

Opelu Kala

Wow June is here! Hope everyone had a nice memorial day holiday! Did some diving with the boys but pelagics was slow this year:( but always nice to be on the water or should I say in the water.

This is one of my favorite fishes to eat, called Opelu Kala or Sleek Unicorn fish. It's really oily and doesn't have a fishy taste, but clean white meat. We got a few for dinner and...

My dad made some killer poke and a platter of sashimi for dinner and it was so good! All I needed was 4 bowls of rice and miso soup and I was done.

2010 Gene Higa Memorial

Just back from filming at the Gene Higa Memorial Spearfishing Tournament held at Puiki Pavillion in Wailua. Lots of good times and lots of people showed up this year. Clif Cheng aka "Voice" on the left is the man who does all the layouts for HSD Magazine and is a very talented guy. Thanks Clif for all your hard work!

All the bruddah's was out representing their ohana from the Big Island to Kauai to the Westside of Oahu they came. Conditions were rough this year but all the divers managed to return safely.

Calvin Lai and Hanalei Adric took home 1st place with this 19 lb. kahala and 66 lb. Ulua. They both were sick with a cold and managed to win the whole event.

After the dive competition Chef Nico and reigning Iron Chef, Kimi Werner went to town for 1 hour and created 3 dishes each using the secret ingredients of "Omilu, Nenue, and Ta'ape".

After our judges deliberated the score differed in 2 points, with a new Iron Chef, Nico Chaize! Congratulations Nico and to all the divers for their support!

Blessing from Above

Today was one of those magical days. I had a few hours to spare so headed out with my friends for a quick jump in the ocean to catch a couple fish. As soon as we arrived at our spot we jumped in and were blessed with this double rainbow. Was it a sign from above?

James aka "McGuyver" was on board and his eagle eye spotted the fish from above. For those of you who know James, he is Da Man! He put on the mark and within a few minutes we saw fish:)

Dr. Erick Itoman went down deep on a dive to investigate some movement and found this nice Uku cruising below. He came up and I saw his shot was solid and the fish wasn't going anywhere but in the boat. We were targeting pelagics and hoping to see a ono (wahoo) come by and one did. These fish are like ghosts, they appear from nowhere and just show up out of the blue. When I saw it I must have been real happy and smiled as my mask started filling up with water. I angled my head so I could see above the waterline in my mask and dove down and took my best shot.

Luckily it stuck in the mid section as my float took off. I didn't know how good my shot was since my mask was flooding so I resurfaced, went for ride, and gingerly brought the fish in as my dive partner Erick gave him the second shot.

Came home and weighed in at 40 lbs. We were blessed from above!

A day at the bowl

Today was so hot, I had to cool off. Met up with Kirby, Tokura-san, Mahina, and Maeda-san for a dip in the "bowl", Ala Moana bowls that is. It was good to see Tokura-san again. He was on our trip to Indo and he was ripping it up!

Surf was crowded at first with over 30 guys out then for some reason half of them went in. I couldn't believe it! So I caught a few more, a few more, until I couldn't catch any more, then went in. Surf should hold in the small shoulder high range for a few more days so get out there if you can.