Capturing the Moment

 The last four days were spent surfing some of the best waves in the world, all right here at home on the North shore of Oahu. Ben flew over from Maui and joined on the surf mini vacation. We explored a lot from the northeast all the way to the secluded west coast beaches to find the best conditions for surf. Ben and Jonathan surfed Makaha for the first time ever, then we found a new wave at Maili Point. It was pretty amazing to find such a nice, fast left amongst all the rights on Oahu's west shore.    But the real sparks were from the famous North shore waves. We stopped to look at pipeline and it was pretty flawless. The crowd was pretty intense as was the current on the inside. Jamie O'Brien and others were making the wave look much easier than it actually is. After watching a couple of surfers going over the falls into that shallow inside section we decided to move further down the beach to massive triple overhead waves at Sunset. At the end of the four da...

Surfer in a barrel at Pipeline  It was a rainy, misty morning but I knew the swell was coming in. Big north swells are becoming rare this far out of the winter swell window. Knowing it might be one of the last, Heidi and I woke up early and drove out to the famous North Shore of Oahu.   The rain was still coming down when we pulled into the parking lot at Ehukai Beach Park. I grabbed my rain jacket and ran for a quick surf check. Pipeline was pumping! Until now Heidi had been skunked every time we came to see barrels at Pipe. She would not be skunked today. We stuck around for a while watching surfers and boogie boarders dropping into some beautiful waves. I didn't have my board since we had plans to surf longboards on the South shore later in the day, but I would have been tempted to paddle out. I paddled out here at Pipe for the first time a few days ago and scored my own perfect barrel. It has been a solid winter.

Volcom Pipe Pro Champion Kelly Slater fan club   What a final day at the Volcom Pipe Pro. The rain stayed away, the sun came out, and the swell came in. Competitors from the North Shore like Mason Ho competed against surfers from as far afield as Brazil, France, and Puerto Rico. But the standout of the competition was 11 time world champion Kelly Slater. I lost count of how many times Kelly would disappear behind a wall of water only to emerge unscathed 6 or 7 seconds later. It was no surprise seeing him win the entire competition. Pipeline claims another board Mason Ho   The surfer nipping at Kelly's heels was young Mason Ho. He comes from a very famous line of North Shore surfers. His father is Michael Ho and his uncle is Derek Ho. Mason's goal is to be bigger than both combined. Pipeline claims another bone Slater paddling out to victory   The waves were the best I have ever seen at Pipeline. A south wind was blowing offshore causing the bar...

Going left at Pipeline   Big waves, but not big enough. That was the word today from Volcom and the other planners of the Volcom Pipe Pro. It was decided to not run the contest but since I was headed that way anyway I took my camera out for a spin. Getting spit out of the barrel   Even though the swell was diminishing there were still some monster sets rolling through. And for the first time I got to see some true barrels here. There was a large contingency of surfers sitting at the peak of pipe, but quite a few off the peak scoring rights and lefts off of different sandbars. High flying at pipe Backdoor Barrel    A few pro photographers were camped out under umbrellas enjoying the show. The rain held to a drizzle long enough for me to work my way down the beach taking photos. It was tough to capture much color because of the stormy conditions but luckily the massive waves would break and aerate themselves with tiny bubbles creating a pale blu...

See the tiny surfer? Cleanup Set at Waimea   Right now there is a size where if the waves exceed it I feel very comfortable taking pictures from the shore. Being winter time in Oahu the waves on the North shore exceed my limit quite often. When people ask what my limit is I often respond with 'double overhead'. So if the wave is more than twice my height I wouldn't paddle out. We'll see how long that holds. But for now I have been enjoying taking pictures of these crazy big wave chargers at places like Waimea Bay, Pipeline, and Sunset Beach. Party Wave at Waimea Bay Beauty in every wave These pictures are from the swell a few days ago which was dwarfed by the swell we are having now. Unfortunately, high winds have made most breaks unsurfable. I can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring. Monarch butterfly caterpillars near Waimea A lone surfer high on the wave at Bonzai Pipeline

Draggin' the hand Fiji Wave Rider   We made it to Fiji! The last stop on our Oceana tour is the island of Viti Levu, the main island in Fiji. We are looking for uncrowded waves, shark diving, and clear water. So far we are off to a good start.   Our adventure here in Fiji started off a little rocky. After flying a bit backwards from Christchurch to Sydney to Nadi we arrived, but our surf boards didn't! So after dealing with a bit of paperwork we were the last ones out of baggage claim, but luckily our driver from the resort was still there waiting. Since we were running pretty late our driver told us the resort is over two hours away and we wouldn't make it in time for dinner so we might want to stop somewhere in town. We said sure and he proceeded to drive down some back alley to a turn around lot with some trash on fire and a dark door with a scribbled "hotel/restaurant" sign on it. We thought it was a bit too dank to be real but we went in. I was almos...