New Zealand Part2

During our New Zealand Adventure we were very selective of the fish we caught and with the abundance of Kingfish/Yellowtail/Hamachi we targeted fish above the 40 lb mark. Ken Oakes landed a few nice Kingies for his cooler. We seen a few big boys in the 80 lb+ range that looked like submarines scouring the ocean floor. Typically the bigger ones would swim alone which is probably why they are so big.

Travis Masutani aka "JD" was on fire. He has the keen insight of spotting a giant tako, grabbing enormous lobsters like these and spearing whatever he wanted to.

Kris Tyler showed us how to catch the top 3 fish in New Zealand in a single dive. The Kingfish, Snapper, and John Dory in one hour. Any spearo would be stoked on a catch like this. In Hawaii it would be equivalent to spearing a Ono, Mu, and Uku. I can't wait to go back next year! We took lots of video for a future episode of Hawaii Skin Diver where you can see all the action in High Definition. Until next time....Malama I ke kai!

Three Kings Part1

Just flew in from New Zealand and had a minute to download a few pictures. Weather was nice and with sunsets like these up north our boys were anxious to go diving.

Our destination was the Three Kings and we were fortunate to have the opportunity to visit these majestic rock formations 50 miles north of Cape Reinga. The weather can get ugly out here as the Tasman and Pacific collide forming radical currents with no where to hide.

Our Crew, Captain Mark (right) and his deck hand Paul (left), and Chef Craig (middle) made our ride as comfortable as it could have been. These guys are hard core waterman and don't get sea sick.

For me one nice Kingfish/Yellow Tail/Hamachi is what I wanted and on the last day of the trip I put down my camera and was able to get one with my speargun. Stay tuned for more pictures to come!

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.