Green Glass Vibration

Here is another one I had finished a while back but just now getting around to getting pics of and posting. Probably should of used a less busy background to shoot the pics but you can probably get the gist. No tiki this time just 100% surfin' stokage. "Green Glass Vibrations" Acrylic background sealed with krylon then hit with paint pens. The driftwood and hemp twine hanger are decorated with some wooden bead, Job's tears that I had gathered by my old house, some pieces of coral and raffia. All combined to help augment the isle vibration being sent out to the veiwer. Can you dig that? I knew that you could.

Strum in peace Brother Geno

Photo by Debi Parola.
Very sad news was delivered to me yesterday about the passing of my friend Geno Galle. He was great guy who was always willing to share a wave, a laugh and a song. I already miss the time we spent playing our ukuleles, summer sessions at Cappy and the freedom jams he hosted at his shop. My thoughts and prayers are going out to all his family and friends. We all love ya Geno!

My New Stand Up Paddle Board

Well I did it, I went down to Kalapaki and dropped some change on Uncle Sal who made the call to Bill Hamilton who showed up later with my new VEC stand up paddle board! 10' 10" x 28" of pure stokage! Now I just got to learn how to drive it. Here I am paddlin leashless around the T-shirt mines:

Mackin' Hanalei Bay

Reports started filterin' in of whompin' 12-15+ waves hitting the north shore starting friday. I had not had a chance to spend much time in Hanalei, so I loaded up the van with cameras and boards, grabbed a bag of sunflower seeds and and went on a surfin' seed spittin excursion to get wet and explore a little more of beautiful Kauai. After talkin' with a few friends down at the beach they mentioned a spot called Donkey Beach would be a little less intense. It seemed a better plan than trying to go from 2-3 Kalapaki Beach rollers to huge outer reef crushers. So I made my first destination which I later found out has a bit of a spicy past as nude beach but has since been cleaned up and policed.

I took the alternate route that goes around Kapa'a and ended up at where I had thought the walk to Donkey Beach began. The spot is called Kealia and I was at a bonfire there once before. I asked a lady who had just got out of the water and what looked to me like windy choppy conditions. She let me know that it was not this beach where the path started but actually the next turnout up the hill where the path begins. Back in the car and a few miles later. I had found the parking area which looked clean and freshly built. Some dude pickin' up litter pointed me in the direction of the path. He didn't know much about the surfin' there.

A ten minute walk down a paved path brought me down to a stretch of beach. With exception of two hikers (with clothes on) over on the far side of the trail there was nobody else there. Nobody was in the water which as I had feared was windy and blown out.


I cruised out to the end of the beach where I had spotted a flotsam structure that somebody had built out on the tip of a lava rock point on the far side of the beach. After I walked around for a bit and taking a few more pics I headed back up the hill and started for Hanalei.



Twenty minutes later and several miles of gorgeous tropical scenery I found myself in the town of Hanalei. I drove through town to the other side of the bay and could see the jumbo style waves breakin' way outside. I drove back into town to get a better look at the dudes surfin' I didn't really know where the breaks were so I just picked a road that went the direction of the beach. I followed the road past some really cool houses right on the beach until it ended in a very congested parking area. Yeah... the word was definitely out about the swell and the beach was buzzin' with surf rats, locals, tourist all makin' the scene. Although wind had died down , the surf was way more mellower on the inside and looked like a lot of fun it was way to crowded for me to get excited about getting into.



I walked out to the end of the pier where kids were jumpin' off and people were fishin' from and watched all the whole party take place.

I was able to see the waves better from the pier but I really could of used some binoculars to get a better veiw of the guys surfin' those bombers. I got a few pics but you can barely make out the surfers.


After watchin' the surf action for awhile and the guys on jet Skis pulling dudes out of the impact zone I headed back torward Kapa'a where I was house sittin' over the holidays. On my way out of Hanalei I pulled over and snapped a few shots of the Taro and the loi (taro patch).


Although I didn'tget wet it was a pretty nice way to spend the day. Next time I go up to Hanbalei I think I will be leaving much earlier in the morning and will plan do some campin'.

Tiki Magazine's Art Show at Bali Hai

After six days of non stop music, art, laughter and time spent with good friends and ohana I have finally gotten a chance to catch up with my blog. I left Kauai Thursday afternoon and flew over to Honolulu. Between island flights I had changed seats and left my ipod case along with my camera cables in the seat pocket in front of me. I remembered I had done so as we were taking off for Maui, but by the time I was able to get up out of my seat and go back to where I was sitting it was too late. Fortunately, a flight attendant had found it before anybody could nerp it. Unfortunately, he had given the case to the agent in Honolulu so I was without my tunes and worse yet my cables to get the pictures from my camera onto my laptop. I was hopin' this was not going to be the way my luck was going to go for the rest of my trip.

After what felt like a pretty quick flight, I landed in San Diego around 11:00 pm. My Friend Sean came out to pick me up and stay at his pad in Encinitas. The next day we got up early and caught some really fun (but kinda chilly) 3-4' surf out in front of his house at Cardiff reef.

Sean and his wife Erica lent me their van and hooked me up with a mattress inside so I wouldn't have to worry about driving buzzed back from the Tiki Magazine's Bali Hai Art Show which I was participating in later that night. I left early to get to the Bali Hai and give myself plenty of time to set up and chat before the show. However, I ended sitting in traffic for hours because some idiot was leaving pipe bombs along the highway thus shutting down huge sections of the freeways that lead into San Diego. Those damn Tiki Terrorist had struck again!


Eventually I made it to Shelter Island and was still early enough to get in some quality time with a few of the other artists and early birds as well as secure a nice spot to display my art thanks to Mean Gene at Falling Cocos. The quality of art was mind blowin' and my eyes were droolin'. Seeing so much fantastic art work in one place was making me dizzier than the Mai-Tai's I was slurpin' down. The Tiki Magazine and Bali Hai Staff did a fanatastic job of putting together a history making event that brought together an amazing amount of talent all under one roof. Adding to the ambiance was the smooth sounds of the Smokin' Menehunes and the swaying moves of gorgeous Hula dancers.


After the show a large gaggle of revelers found themselves partyin' with Ali'i in his room at Humphrey's By The Bay which is a hotel with a tropical theme and plenty of tikis near the Bali Hai. As usual, large crowds are hard to keep hushed so security was quickly there to say good night to us all. So we made our way to the club at Humphrey where we all got loose and shook our bones to a funky bunch of dudes singin' music I never thought I would ever ever listen to unless forced by gun point.

So after a few more drinks and the passing of time our troops began to thin. We all made our way to places to lie our heads and let the visions of tropical fantasy escort us into our dreams. Here is a slide show from the fun filled evening of art, music and friends:

Surfing the Amazon

A lil surfin' something from Fogonazo's blog about Pororoc and surfing the Amazon

Looks like fun except for the brown water and floating debris.