Capturing the Moment

  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...

  Whenever I am in Maui I have to check and see if my favorite wave is breaking. Way up on the Northwest side of the island, about twenty minutes past Lahaina, an idyllic bay sits in the perfect position to wrap big northwest swells around its point, creating a perfect peeling right known as Honolua Bay. Always better with friends     A 'right' as surfers know it means that because of the direction the waves breaks over the reef, when you pop up on your board you travel to your right down the wave. I prefer 'lefts' since I surf goofy-footed, or right foot forward, and going left leaves me facing the wave. But I can't pass up a right as perfect as Honolua. I will often pig dog the wave, which means to reach down and grab the rail of the surfboard like I'm doing in the picture above.    It can be a mission just getting up to Honolua, so it's always better to do it with friends. This time my good friend Ben was also surfing. He is a goofy-foot as wel...

Your Best Source of Local Info No Swimming Allowed   I just returned from one of the most dangerous surfing spots in the world. Reunion Island has crystal clear tropical water with ultra-consistent waves, however the world class waves like St. Leu are going unridden. There are the typical dangers of powerful waves breaking over a razor sharp shallow reef (I am still  nursing a few scrapes and cuts), but this is not why thy lineups are empty. There have been 19 shark attacks since 2013 along the west coast of Reunion Island, and surfers seem to be the main target. Residents, surfers, and concerned politicians have tried everything from shark nets to enforcing an all-out ban on surfing. Lifeguards now act more as beach monitors, making sure no one goes into the water. Surfers however, are surfers through and through and will still find ways to go out. After a short respite from the attacks the surf community was rattled again a month ago as a surfer lost an arm a...

Map of Reunion Island and the Indian Ocean The Best Ways to Explore and Photograph Reunion Island   It is good to have a plan when you end up on the other side of the world. No matter where you are coming from, Reunion probably falls into that category of 'other side of the world.' In fact for me coming from Alaska, my flight went straight over the North Pole and back down on the other side instead of heading across North America, the Atlantic, and then Africa. Reunion lies at around 20° South latitude and has a wonderful tropical climate.      I'm used to volcanic, tropical islands, about 20° away from the equator because that is exactly where Hawaii lies, just in a different ocean and north of the equator instead of south. It turns out that there are many similarities between the two: both are geologic hotspots with massive shield volcanoes, both have similar climates and ecosystems, some of the same birds can be seen, and the underwater life i...

  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.

A day off and light offshore winds means its surf time here in Oahu. A little swell coming into the nearby south shore was enough to motivate me not to make the drive to the north side to fight the rip currents and crowds. Instead I managed to grab a bunch of fun, long, left handers with a few screaming right thrown in for good measure. Heidi was on the shore taking some pictures in between phone calls and managed to get some good one. I figured with a bright yellow hat and board I would be easy to spot...turns out for the most part I was the only surfer out. Can't beat that.