Capturing the Moment

     Usually I put up photos to go along with my adventures, but for this one words will have to suffice. A small north swell pushed its way against Oahu's north shore this weekend. Wanting to get in on the surfing action I packed my board inside Heidi's new Toyota Echo. I was pretty surprised that the board fit inside the tiny car as well as both of us thanks to the rear seats folding forward. We sped off towards our friends' place over in Waialua, just west of the famous surfing mecca of Haleiwa.      After a neighborhood get together some of the guys broached the subject of moonlight surfing. The moon was full a few days ago, but still big and bright. Five of us grabbed boards and walked to the beach around 11pm. As we strained our eyes to see the far off breakers we noticed a couple of things. First, the waves were big enough to occasionally close off the channel we use to paddle out. Second, the moon had tucked behind some clouds, that were ...

At the surface read to dive Today I had the rare opportunity to make a dive in a submarine here in Oahu. Atlantis submarines offer a chance to join the exclusive 100foot club without being trained in scuba diving. I was invited to go for a ride along to check out the operation. I have seen this kind of submarine in action over in Maui. While I was scuba diving on the wreck of the Carthaginian this company's sub came and check out the same wreck. I could see the tourists inside snapping photos. Now I had the opportunity to see how the other side feels. It is pretty amazing. Plane wreck seen from the sub YO-257 wreck  The pilot, sitting up in front, does all the maneuvering by sight. He has a giant bubble windshield, and a co-pilot at the rear giving him distances. The narrator for the trip sits up front spouting off information about the underwater area and the fish. The sub deftly moves between quite a few wrecks strewn about the bottom. Old shells of airplanes, a Kore...

Hanauma Bay, Oahu   Oahu's southeast shore is very rugged and has some real gems if you look hard enough. A very popular one is Hanauma Bay. Over a million visitors come to this idyllic bay every year to sunbath and go snorkeling. But just around the corner you can find almost deserted beaches, hikes out to lighthouses, and some amazing shades of blue water.    Hanauma bay is so popular because of the easy, protected inner reef. It is a great place for people learning how to snorkel or who just want to sunbath and take a quick dip to cool off. This spot use to be notorious for people walking on the reef and the effects of this can still be seen today. Old, dead reef, which should have new coral growing on top of it still remains dead close to shore. Luckily conservation efforts were slowly put into place, and in 2002 visitors were required to pay a small fee and watch an educational movie about how to not harm the reef ecosystem. It will take a while for the inner re...

Pete fighting the current The pancake cliffs     The winds were starting to kick up, throwing waves and spray onto our sturdy dive boat. I was out with Island Divers here on Oahu checking out a couple of offshore dive sites. After a successful exploration dive of a wreck called Big Barge (not even the instructor had been there before), we decided to fight the wind and head closer to the coast to dive a site called Sea Cave.     The water was again nice and clear, however the current was very strong. But we were planning a drift dive where we could go with the current and get picked up by the boat down the coast. Luckily the group was all advanced divers so we hit the water and immediately descended with no problems. We could see the opening to the sea cave above water but under water it was totally different. Pancaked rocks form a 60 foot deep cliff. At the very bottom of the cliff there was a wide opening which led into the sea cave. 75 feet into ...

  Today I headed out to the offshore waters of Oahu for my first boat dives since moving to this island. I was invited out to ride along with Island Divers to check out their operation. Our first dive was just under 100' at a site called 'Big Barge'. This huge barge had sunk onto the sandy bottom and became a magnet for marine life. Blue dragon nudibranchs crawled over the top while fish of every color swam through the cracked structure.   At the very back of the barge a huge superstructure, possible a wheelhouse, had toppled over. Inside grew a forest of black coral which lit up bright orange under the strobe light. I looked hard to see if there were any long nose hawkfish hiding in the coral but I didn't see any. The wreck itself looked like great frogfish habitat but I also came up empty on those.   The visibilty was great. When we jumped in we could see the bottom about 90feet below us. Even with the great visibility you can't see the end of the wreck...

Tokyo/Blade Runner A Photo Journey Through Japan Living in Japan for two years gave me the chance to explore a lot of the nooks and crannies of the very spread out nation. At the end it made me realize how much more there still is to explore when I am lucky enough to return. From new age skyscrapers to temples built hundreds of years ago, Japan is a photographers paradise. In Tokyo you can weave your way through boutique shopping malls and spot ancient temples by the tall trees that surround them. Suddenly you are surrounded by nature and a calmness that only Japanese temples can bring. Zen rock gardens, meticulously manicured landscapes, temples built with wood as an extension of nature, and flowing rivers connecting it all are what you will find waiting for you. On the weekends I would find old walking paths through cities that would lead from temple to temple. Wherever you end up, it is easy to hop on a train and find your way back home. Tsukiji Fish Market, Tokyo Ther...

    Beaches of the North Shore   An Oahu friend told me the other day that no other island can compare to Oahu's beaches. "In fact it is like one big beautiful beach", he said. So I decided to put that to the test. I drove up to the North shore starting at sunset beach down to the beach town of Haleiwa. That was farther than I needed to go to start thinking my friend might be on to something. The softest, whitest sand stretches for miles. Surfers leap off the sand into the ocean to ride the swell which happened to coincide with my north shore visit. Not a coincidence. And think...this is only a fraction of one side of the island. Give me enough time and I'll have the full picture of this island we call Oahu.

   A thousand miles from the US/Mexico border at Tiajuana is the tip of the Baja peninsula. Along the way there are many surprises waiting for the adventurous traveler to find. Secret surf breaks, rusting ship wrecks, colorful vineyards, cactus filled deserts, and grey whale breeding lagoons are all packed into this amazingly diverse area. A few friends and I spent a month in early 2009 driving in the now infamous 'white stallion' to Cabo San Lucas and back, covering what would be the last 2,000 miles of that car's life. And while the car no longer lives on, the memories are everlasting. And there are some good ones.   Surfing was a big part of our agenda. Hitting waves like San Miguel in Ensenada, El Canoje, Tres Alejandros, and La Bufadora definitely pushed our skills to the limit. I tried windsurfing for the first time at my buddy's place in La Ventana. And the obligatory street vendor bacon wrapped hotdog search commenced over on the Sea of Cortez side of t...