KKs Vacay Day 2: Hawaii Has More Than Just Surf 111515

Surf Report: Flat everywhere
Winds: Windy everywhere

"You wanna jump in the water real quick?" B-sauce asks me.

"Yea, I need to," I reply. "I still feel tired from the flight, and last night was late too." I had woken up at 500 AM and couldn't go back to sleep. I watched the sun rise over the horizon, and did my yoga routine.

The Pioneer Wall

We decide on where to go to eat and jump in the car. We head down to Town and find a parking spot. We walk down to the sand, set our stuff down, and jump in the water. Instantaneously, my body feels rejuvenated and tired. We swim around for a few minutes, and go back to the car to head to Pioneer.

Pioneer is a new restaurant right down the street from the Dojo. I would describe it as Japanese style plate lunches. Justin and I order Miso Butterfish, Ginger Pork a la carte, and garlic salmon. The restaurant itself is set up like mess-hall style. Grab a table and sit with some strangers. There is wonderful decor of vintage tid bits in book cases, all for sale. There are old books from libraries, still sticky on the top and bottom of the spine, where the sorting stickers used to be. They sell postcards and stickers at the front near the register. The overall vibe is very calming and homely.

The Miso Butterfish, which costs $13, is a fucking steal. You get three pieces of delicious buttery Butterfish, hot off the grill. Their macaroni salad is off the hook. I'm not a big fan of mac salad, but this one is no joke: I eat the whole thing and wish there was more. The Ginger Pork is super juicy, and the garlic salmon is delicious. What a great, quality find!

After we eat, we serve it up with ping pong again. And once again, I fucking lose straight games. I can't get B-sauce to lose. He starts talking shit, and I fire back that I will get him back next time.

Alex is back home from dropping off his dad, and he wants to take me out to a quick hike. We go on a hike that is straight up hill, with some areas still a bit slippery from the rain. The trail itself is sheltered from the winds, but once we get into the opening, we are faced with gale force winds pushing us against the cliff.

"Glad this wind is blowing us against the cliff and not away, huh??" yells Alex. The wind is so gnarly.

Topple Off the Cliff to Become Ali'i

"The King used to bring up peasants as sacrifices, and toss them over that cliff," he points to a cliff we are facing. "If you survive the fall, you automatically become Ali'i. So when winds are blowing like this, there is a chance for the sacrificial peasant to live. Wanna find out if you're Ali'i?"

"Um, no, I'm ok not being royalty. I'll be a peasant," I reply with a smile.

Windy but great view!!

We continue all the way up to the top of the trail, and we rest for a bit. Francis wants us to come through to his house for a BBQ tonight, so I suggest we head back.

The way down, as I had feared, is extremely steep. I spend time on my ass at some points in order to stay low to the ground and not lose balance. One tumble and I tumble down for a while, I thought to myself. Alex is more used to this hike, so he is cartwheeling off the trails.

The path is still slippery from the previous rain, and I slip on the last part of the trail. My ass is brown with dirt.

"It looks like you shit your pants," Alex laughs.

We get back to the Dojo, and Alex jumps into the shower. We head over to Francis's house, stopping by Tamura's to pick up some poke.

"He never invites me to his house for a BBQ!" Alex complains on the drive over. "He moved up outta the hood man."

I didn't know that he moved up out of the hood. His house is half way to the North Shore. We park in front of his house. Francis and Nicole's house is HUGE! It looks gorgeous. The garage has all their surfboards, a washer and dryer, the rooms are filled with light and warmth, and the backyard has been redone with well organized plants. The dining room has pictures of shorebreak waves.

We eat, talk story, drink beers, and laugh our heads off. Nicole is taking an online test so she couldn't kick it. We stay until 1000 PM, and head home.

KKs Vacay Day 1: Gettin Served 111415

I'm back... Finally. Back on the islands of Hawaii. In light of the Paris attacks, the security was a bit higher. Everyone had to go through the X-ray machine. I got padded down, and my hands were checked for bomb residue, or whatever the fuck they check for with those wipes and machine.

The flight landed 30 minutes early, and we had tons of wind messing with the plane. The other passengers were a bit frazzled by the shaky landing, but to me, it was smooth. The pilots did a great job maneuvering through the turbulence. I started the round of applause on the flight, and the passengers seemed relieved and happy to finally be in Hawaii.

There is no surf on the islands right now. So, naturally I keep myself busy at the Dojo. Justin, aka B-sauce, is waiting for me at the Dojo. I had brought over three Chevapchichi (Serbian sausage) sandwiches, and one portobello mushroom sandwich from the Metro Cafe. We all devour them. Francis stopped by after his twelve hour shift, and we catch up. I hand some of the gifts I brought from LA, which included Stance socks for the boys at the Dojo.

B-sauce and I immediately get down on some ping pong games, and he serves me up donuts. I can't get a fucking win on him. I get close to beating him, but he gets game point, and he still beats me!

I check on my surfboards... and my biggest board, a Nezzy, has been damaged. I'm kinda pissed, but at the same time not. I'm in Hawaii. How bad could it be? I'll do a report tomorrow... 

The evening goes on and Kev, along with Ivan, and D-Roy, drive us up to the North Shore to Clara's house. There, we have a few drinks and great conversations. The girls, about four or five of them, want to go to the Surfer Bar to have more drinks. I am down, but most of the boys have work tomorrow morning. We all agree to go to the Surfer Bar, and get into the car. Ivan, who is driving the car, is hesitating to go to the bar. We see Clara's car veer left, and Ivan doesn't follow. We all give a long "Ohhhhhhhhhh," and laugh it off.

We should have gone, but hey I ain't drivin'.

The night ends with me knocking out at midnight.

Back At It 110715

Surf Report: 1-2 feet
Water: Cold
Wind: Off shore
Atmosphere: Sunny

I have been fighting a cold since Monday. Monday was the worst of it, but I wasn't able to shake off the cough and the body aches, so I haven't been surfing since Sunday. I get up feeling relatively well, with minimal soreness in my throat. I go to the garage and look for 3/2 wetsuit.

"Is it this? No... it must be this...?" I pick one out and feel the thickness around the wrist. "It's probably this one," I tell myself.

Matt and I are sending messages through the morning. He has a job interview today. I wish him good luck and that he will nail that interview.

I pull into the parking lot late. Chad, his daughter Maddie, and her friend Sunny are changing into their wetsuits. I pull out my wetsuit, flip it back from inside out to outside out, and pull my legs through. Something feels tight. It's my 4/3. Not my 3/2.

Oh well.

I throw on some sunscreen, and the metermaid, Kurt, is ticketing people. He goes up to one car and Bruce yells, "Stop! That's Mark's car!" Kurt stops.

"Is he one of your friends?"

"Yea, lemme feed the meter," Bruce replies, running over with a handful of change. "It's Mark, he's fishing right now. He should know better! He comes here all the time."

"Well, let me leave an empty envelope so he freaks out when he gets back," Kurt smirked, leaving an empty envelope on the windshield.

"Yea! That will get him, that will be good!" Bruce laughed.

"You gotta have some fun when you work!" Kurt beamed, looking at me. We both laughed.

I fed my meter, and headed down to the lower parking lot. There, Stocky Jon, Orlando, Jose, Robert, Ted, and Kim were gathered around. Orlando hugs me and tells me the news that his friend, Doug, has passed away.

"I'm trying to do a paddle out for him," Orlando said, in his thick accent. "Will you be here on Saturday? We doin a paddle out for him man."

"Aw, yea, I heard from Matt. I'm sorry to hear that dude. I won't be here though, since I'm going to Hawaii," I told him.

"Oh okay then that's ok. Bring me back one of those license plates yea?" he replied with a bright smile.

"I'll look for one," I told him.

The surf is small as fuck. But it's my first day back since Sunday, and I am happy to be here, burning up in my 4/3 under the hot South Bay sun. I am sweating beads in my warm ups, and jump in to icy water. It hasn't been this cold all summer, or fall. It went from summer to winter. El Nino indeed.

Chad and his girls are all riding foamies and longboards. They are further south of the tower. I stay a little north of the tower.

There weren't too many notable waves. I caught some one shotters and small waves that were fun, but the thing that stuck out to me most was the vibe. Everyone was chill, sharing waves. We were all cheering on Maddie and Sunny, and even the kids learning to surf from the Austrailian guy who has been teaching all year. Bruce was giving pointers to Maddie on how to go switch stance, and she attempted three times on her backside to switch stance. She got it twice! And her friend Sunny was going for waves that she usually wouldn't go for. The Aussie guy was on a left, but pulled out half way through his ride so that Sunny could have the rest of the wave. What a perfect day to have people of all abilities and ages to surf together and enjoy these little, fun waves.

Mahalo Mother Ocean!!!