Kokua for Japan

Today was one month since the Japan Tsunami happened and it was all about "Kokua for Japan". The Hilton Hawaiian was jam packed with over 4,000+ people here to support the event. I was there as a paparrazi with my minature dive camera/video trying to get da shot!

Merlinda Garma was in the house representing our Hawaii Skin Divers answering calls. She said people were donating left and right as the phones were going off the hook.

Got to see all the newscasters like Jody Leong (left), Paul Drews (middle), and Brooks Baehr (right) there answering calls. Great to see our local media out there.

Cat got a photo with Stephanie Lum and hopefully we will get her on a future episode of HSDTV. Congrats to you and Ryan!

Even Jack Johnson was there to kokua for Japan. 1.6 million dollars was raised today which exceeded their goal of $1 per person in Hawaii. Lets keep praying and supporting Japan!

Kirby wen go!

As the world watches Japan's disaster from afar Kirby decides to go! Kirby has been traveling with me all over and everytime we surf or dive together we end up talking about travel. We share the vision of making peoples dreams come true and went the tsunami hit while we were filming in Palau, it hit him hard. So hard he decided to go and do something.

We are planning another trip to go help the people in Japan later this year but it was on his heart to go now! So with his chief designer Naoka they came up with this tshirt design, raised money and went! Now he is in Sendai and we are all praying for him and wishing their team Gods speed as they go share the aloha and let them know we are "ONE". I know this is one of the most scariest trips ever for him ever and we look forward to a successful mission.

Check out his story: http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=14369293

Marlin Action on OC16

Computer went down again so sorry no posts recently. After our recent trip there has been so much surf so haven't got to dive till yesterday. Went out with my friends Kris, Kekoa, and Brent and found a little uku for dinner. Thanks Brent for the photo!

This month we are featuring last years Mexican Shootout so tune in to OC16 or watch it online via www.oc16.tv for some fun times in La Paz Mexico. We got some pelagics and got to see giant humboldt squid caught which was interesting.

Rest of the week looks like dropping swell on the north with moderate south swells so wax up and see you out there!

Got Fish?

Weather has been terrible lately with all this strong winds. March is typical for this windy no wave pattern so if you need fish check the United Fishing Agency (UFA) on Pier 38. This week there are loads of fish of all sorts, shapes, sizes. Wahoo, Ahi, Big Eye, Mahi, Opah you name it they got it all. I was debating to go out this weekend but instead indoors and paid a visit to UFA.

As a diver, I had to browse the tuna section to dream a little of what fish I would like to try and catch next. There were some big boys in the 200 lb range.

So I took my dive knife out and shoyu/wasabi and sampled one...nah! They do this so buyers know the quality of the fish. You can see the color, texture, and firmness and decide what fish you want to buy. So I watched the bidders in action, put my bid in, and bought one for this week.

Now I got fish for the whole week, breakfast, lunch, and dinner! Winds should be backing down later next week and we expect another good size northwest swell so time to wax up and get barreled!

HSD EXPO PAU

The 2011 HSD Expo is all pau! What a event and thank you for coming down to visit us and talk story! The vendors included: Hawaii Skin Diver, Riffe International, Omer/Sporasub, Westside Dive and Tackle, and much more. This is a photo of our Red Sea booth and we had all kinds of stuff to choose from like destinations, apparel, caps, gyotaku and more...

Our HSDTV host Merlinda Garma was in the house signing autographs and as usual drawing a big crowd. I'm amazed how many people told me what a great ambassador and role model she has been for Hawaii Skin Diver TV. Can you believe we have been on air for 8 seasons already!

Another role model, Kimi Werner had her crew out in full force presenting her latest fish caps which was a hot seller.

I stopped by the seminar room to listen to Cameron Kirkconnel share his stories about his recent world record dogtooth capture and how he managed to land it.

Terry Maas was also there promoting his safety vest which is pretty high tech and demonstrated how it works. It was so neat to see our diving community come out and support the event and I want to thank my family for their hard work and all our friends for coming out!

Pray for Japan

The more I watch the news the more depressed I get seeing the devastation of Japan. There color of the cherry blossoms will not be the same. The footage of the earthquake, tsunami and stories has left people with a dreadful images that will never be erased. Click here for video.

My favorite store, "Lawson" now with empty shelves in Sendai area, with people waiting for a hot bowl of ramen. I'm still amazed how calm and collected the country has kept itself despite the devastation. I bet if this was anywhere else in the world, looting and chaos would be in the forefront of the news.

I'm sure all of you have friends in Japan. I just remember meeting up with Mao, Yumi, and Rikya recently for a surf trip and think of their friends and family. Japanese are the most humble people in our world and to all my friends in Japan we are praying for you and your loved ones!

Palau Ohana

Alii Everyone (Hello)! Well our Palau group just returned from an amazing Red Sea Ocean Adventure with many stories to tell. But first our hearts and prayers go out to all those in Japan who were devastated by the earthquake and tsunami. We were actually diving when the tsunami hit and made it back to shore safely just before it was supposed to arrive in Palau. Thank you for all of you who prayed for us and sent emails of your concern.

We met up for a week of fun in the sun as Pleasure Island Palau hosted our group from Hawaii and Guam. KB Sakuma and his wife Lalii opened their hearts in true pacific island style by sharing their spots and putting us on a variety of fish from groupers, ono, dogtooth, uluas and more. We got to surf uncrowded waves, dive deep drop offs, chew beetle nut and experience the rich Paluan culture.

We had excellent boat men like Jr. who watched out for us while we dove as well as while we were on land. This guy is huge! Even the sharks in the water kept their distance from us because we had him on board.

Every day our pattern was to wake up at 5:00 am and dive all day till 5:00 pm till our legs couldn't handle. Our group was very selective and shot only what we needed. We got so many good photos to share in a future story in HSD Mag and TV so stay tuned. I got to also swim and video the biggest hammerhead shark I've ever seen, 15 ft plus probably weighing over 1 ton. I was watching its movement first then decided to take a drop on it as it headed my way...then it saw me and came in...then I heard the jaws music playing! More to come...

We even dove the remarkable "Jellyfish Lake" where our group swam with thousands of jellyfish and toured the rock islands. These Jellyfish are so fragile and here Jennifer and Nicolai were seen playing with a few. There is so much to see and do there but we ran out of time. We will definitely be going back to Palau so email me if you want to join us on our next trip out here. A big mahalo for KB and his Crew for hosting us and our group for joining us.