Capturing the Moment

 My friend Moser got us the hookup with a Molokini Wild Side trip on my old boat, the Ocean Explorer. Aaron was the captain, Matt and Daniel were the naturalist. We caught some nice weather as the kona winds shifted to North, giving us a chance for a four snorkel day. We went to reefs end, backwall, Secrets at the southernmost tip of the island, and then to Coral Gardens. Not a bad day. Even learned a few new spots myself.     This is some of the GoPro footage I took set to some relaxing music. Enjoy!

  Whenever there is a big swell at Honolua I get a bit nervous. There can be some very big waves there, and some very good surfers. This time was no different. The surf forecast was calling for 5-7ft waves, which could be well overhead at a place like Honolua Bay. The nerves usually give way to excitement, or stoke, as us surfers like to say. This is especially true after I catch my first wave.   It has been a while since I have had the chance to surf 'the bay'. I wrote about one of my last surf sessions here on this blog which you can check out thru this link: Surfing Honolua with Ben . This time the waves were bigger, but it was still early swell and long periods...which meant long waits. Add about a hundred or so people there to surf and I wasn't sure if I would get any waves. Luckily I snagged a few fun ones before having to leave. Honolua perfection   I wasn't sure how the crowd would be since there are almost no tourist on the island now thanks to a mand...

The Big Three Must-do Adventures on the Big Island of Hawaii Hiking on Lava   When on the Big Island of Hawaii there are three unique adventures that comprise the 'Big 3'. Hiking out to see the ocean entry where lava from Kilauea Volcano is dumping into the sea, Watching the sunset and then star gazing from the summit of the tallest mountain in the world Mauna Kea, and finally to go swimming on the famous manta ray night dive off the Kona coast. You will need 3 different nights and a pretty good rental car to complete all of these amazing and unique feats so good luck. Lava Pictures for Sale    1: Hiking to the Lava Ocean Entry : This can be the deal breaker because even though Kilauea Volcano has been actively erupting since Jan 3rd, 1983 it does not always flow into the ocean. Sometimes the escaping lava can flow back underground through cracks and tunnels, or towards towns like it did two years ago in Pahoa, or just bubble at the lava filled crater lake. ...

  A rare day off matched up with glassy conditions on the north shore so I grabbed my boards and blasted off across the island. I wanted to check out a secret spot that only a few buddies of mine usually use. I saw a few people out catching some fun waves so I strapped on my leash and paddled out.   I was surprised to see that the  eight surfers out were all unkown to me. Guess the spot is catching on. Luckily there were plenty of waves to go around. It also seemed like the other surfers had been out for a while because pretty soon the crowd was down to three.    I wanted to play around with my new GoPro4 as well and the glassy conditions came out beautiful in the pictures. Add to the fact that it was extremely low tide and in some of the pics like the one on the left you can actually see the colorful coral reef lurking just below the window-like wave. I wonder how many more of these day's I have left here on Oahu's north shore...

North shore is rocking and rolling here in the midst of Oahu's winter surf season. The winds have been kinda shifty on my days off and that was the forecast for today as well but I thought I would make the drive and see if I could catch it early before the onshore winds arrived. I was in luck! The first place I stopped was Chun's beach. I saw a crowd out at Jocko's so I figured it must be good. I snapped on the GoPro and paddled out through a pretty hectic channel. There was a lot of water moving around but I snuck out to the lineup.   Before I could even catch my breath an overhead wave came right to me so I spun, turned, and burned right into the sweet spot. The face of the wave was super fast and smooth as glass. I ended up getting some of my best waves of the winter with a pretty good beat down in between. A little nasal dripage later was a small price to pay for the stoke of a great session.

 Just before picking up my mom from the airport I had the entire morning off so I grabbed my short board and headed down to one of my secret south shore surf spots here in Oahu. No wind and glassy waves greeted me as well as no crowd. For a while I was the only surfer out. I ended up catching a lot of waves until I was too worn out to continue. Here a just a few of the waves caught with my GoPro. I made sure to put a good out take in at the end. Here's looking forward to more mega surf sessions in the future.

  We are used to big waves and swell here in Hawaii but this is a bit different. Hurricane Ana has been hanging out just over a hundred miles away from the islands over the past few days. The rain has been constant as we are seeing the effects of this massive storm. We luckily have avoided a direct hit on the islands but unruly surf started to arrive early yesterday. The coast guard has been telling people to stay out of the water but a few of us surfers were unfazed and felt comfortable enough to check it out. I went down to one of my favorite spots to check it out.   The wind was pretty consistent but not overly powerful so I decided to head out. There were waves ranging from crumbly 2 footers to massive overhead bombs. It was hard to choose which waves to go for but I managed to snag a few. The real enemy during this session was the ever present current trying to drag me farther down the shoreline. I fought the current and snagged some big waves but after an hour I figur...

  The first north swell of the season filled in over the past couple of days here on Oahu's fabled North Shore. These early swells are some of my favorite because of the lack of crowds. All the pros are in southern California for the Trestles ASP event, and other surfers are waiting for the peak season to fly to Hawaii. When I paddled out to this secret spot that I call "Big Lefts Oahu", there was only one other guy out. After a few waves he paddled in and I had the break all to myself for a couple hours. Glassy conditions and head high to overhead waves...can't ask for more than that.

Fresh off some cold water wetsuit surfing in New Hampshire I was eager to get back in the waves here in Hawaii. The swell has been consistent every day since I've been back. I've hit up a few different spots and have had some pretty fantastic rides at each.   I snagged a few photos with a GoPro camera attached to the front of my board. Then Heidi stopped by and grabbed a few more with the big camera. It is amazing to be able to find a great wave out here without a big crowd. That is definitely one of the big perks of living here and being able to explore different breaks. Looks like more swell on the way!

The Great Oceana Trip Video      By Myles Gillespie Check out this three minute video encompassing Myles, Jack, and my four country surf/dive/adventure trip. In November and December of 2013 we set off to find the best waves, dive spots and experiences. This video gives a small sample of the incredible time had by all. All footage was shot with GoPro cameras.

Wave of the day at Dumps, Maui Left at Lahaina Breakwall Right at Freight Trains The waves keep coming! We finally got a big south swell here in Maui and surfers are loving it! It does make taking people snorkeling and driving boats difficult but I love the summer surfing here. You always hear about the north shore and winter surf but few people know that Hawaii's summer swells can bring in pretty big waves from the south. I have been surfing along the south and west shores which have been getting pounded by large surf over the last four days. In fact three boats moored near Mala pier broke free in a really large set and crashed up on the beach. The waves destroyed the boats quickly after. Luckily all of our boats have been doing fine and we have even been running trips. Molokini is still clear and we found a couple spots around Lanai that havn't been murked up too badly. I am so glad that we got a good early season south swell this year since last summer was so s...

  On a hunch I booked it down to Dumps yesterday after work just in case there were waves big enough to surf. Dumps is a beautiful wave with turquoise water that forms a steep left of shallow reef. It works on big south swells sent up from storms in the southern hemisphere so it is mainly a summer time wave. During the winter everyone flocks to the north shore to catch big waves sent down from big storms up near Japan and Alaska.   You can imagine my exuberance as I walked around the last corner of the path to Dumps just in time to see a set of three perfectly formed, head high lefts peeling into Dumps....and one guy out! I literally ran the rest of the way over the lava rocks to get to the entry before jumping in the water and furiously paddling out to the lineup. I couldn't believe my luck. The other surfer did say that was the biggest set he had seen yet, but luckily I was in for a lot of luck during this early south swell surf session!  Making friends in the lin...

 This was my welcome to Bali, Indonesia. I flew in to Bali's Denpasar airport around midnight and caught a cab to the nearby party town of Kuta. This is where young Australians and Europeans travel for cheap partying. As you can imagine it wasn't really my scene so after a day to get my bearings I headed south to the surfing mecca of Bali. From Uluwatu to Dreamland you have peeling waves as far as the eye can see. Waves with names like Padang Padang, Impossibles, Race Track, and Bingin can all be world class waves. I decided to stop and stay at a little place right across the street from Padang Padang and this is what I paddled out to. I was blown away. It was the best swell Padang had in a while. A super fast left that throws up a wild barrel was more than I could have asked for. I can't count the number of barrels I pulled into but I can count the number I came out of, 2. Unfortunately the GoPro had some quirks that made me miss alot of the big action but I still ma...

It has been a slow summer. So it has been until now that I have gotten out into some surf with my buddy's GoPro camera. It mounts on the front of the surfboard and has a super wide angle lens to capture a much larger area even at close range. Having the camera on the board also give you some idea of how big the wave is, although it can be misleading if I am the top of a wave vs at the bottom. The south swell was wrapping into the bay perfectly this morning. The wind was non-existent. And there were only a few other surfers out. A perfect combination.   The tide was low so I had to watch out for shallow coral when the waves would close out on me. I think I stayed in the waves a little longer than I normally would if I didn't have the camera attached. But if you don't have a pro photographer following you to each session the Go Pro can be a great addition. It also lets me critique my surfing style from an angle I have never seen before.