4 Years of Island Livin' Vlog #4

A little late, but I finally have finished and uploaded my fourth video log. This time a slide show and a song celebrating my fourth year of living on the Garden Isle. If you like, please poke that like button and/or subscribe

Nature. You can't stop it

Some plants getting their revenge on an earthmover

Gone Fishin'

Lately I have been on this fishin' and crabbin' kick and feeling the urge to learn how to fish. So I have been boning up by watchin videos and readin up on the web. Well it turns out my 'ol friend Tony, who I went to High School with, is on island for a visit. He is one of the few friends I know who enjoys fishin and has been doing it for quite a while.
We hooked up after I got done with work then took a trip over to the store where we bought a rod and reel, a knife, a bucket, some hooks and bait. After we equipped ourselves we set out to the end of the jetty where we cast our line. We did alright, although we didn't catch anything really worth keeping. But it was still fun to actually get out there and do some fishin and get fish smell on your hands.m Here is what we caught:

A small kine eel with a ferocious set of chompers.


A little male Samoan crab


And a beautiful sunset!

Tonight we are going to Hanapepe Bridge with a crab ring and gonna try to pull in some big kine crabs for a weekend crab feast!

The End of Dirtbag Summer

Salt Pond Beach on the west side of Kauai

This Chongolian update comes to you from California. Yes I am back on the mainland for a couple weeks for my cousin Leah's wedding in Northern California and an art show at Forbidden Island in Alameda tomorrow. It has been another interesting few months over on the Garden Isle for me, with more housing changes, adventures with old friends and plenty of new experiences. I am still working at the silkscreen shop but now only part time for the most part and taking on more side projects as an illustrator and graphic designer. All the while still creating my own t-shirt designs, paintings and drawings. I printed the first batch of my "Moa Kane Coffee" t-shirts the day I left for California and have a box stuffed with t-shirts and artwork that I will be selling this Sunday. If interested you can read more at The Forbidden Island website.

In the middle of July I decided to move out of the house in Kapahi and have been living out of my office at the silkscreen shop over most the summer. It got to the point where I was going to have to find two new roommates in a house that I was already less than thrilled about staying in any longer. So I packed up all my stuff and set out to find a studio where I didn't have to deal with roommates any longer. It didn't take long to find a sweet ohana studio that I will be moving into once I return back to Kauai in a few weeks. My new place is located in an area called Omao, which is on the south side of Kauai near Poipu. I will have my own studio on a very private piece of property and I will be renting from a very cool and nice lady who lives in the main house. The studio has a kitchenette, but I will also have access too the full kitchen in the main house. I am really stoked, the property is tropical, quiet, private and in a really neat part of the island. Also, I already know several of my new neighbors from surfing at Kalapaki.

This summer was really memorable and I was treated to several visits from some of my best friends from different eras of my life; all the way from high school to college to the tiki scene. Each visit was a blast and I was able to share and enjoy the company of good friends while experiencing a few things on Kauai that I had not yet seen or done. I spent fourth of July and surfed with my ol buddy Rudy Drat who came out wih his wife Tika and their charmin' little girl Audrey. Our friend Lulu and her daughter Julia who live on Kauai, but had yet to connect with since I moved here, also joined us in the festivities. I also got to hang out with my buddy Dana a.k.a Feedback Black who became one of my best friends when I lived in Santa Barbara in the late eighties. We road tripped around the island, surfed the longest left break in the Hawaiian island chain called Pakalas, paddled Hanalei river on stand up paddle boards, took a cruise around the Hanalei bay in his friend's boat and I was introduced to a bunch of great folks who Dana knew from his home town of Newport Beach. It was really cool to surf with my bro's who I haven't seen in many years. Another friend of mine Crazy Al was out here too. Al is an insane artist I know form the tiki scene who was out here working on a tiki carving commission at an amazing house in Kiluea on the north shore. When he wasn't busy working on the tiki we were able to do some snorkeling at Tunnels beach, catch a killer jazz band in Princeville and knock back a few drinks and listen to more live music at the Tahiti Nui in Hanalei. Here is a link to a video on Youtube that I had put together of him carvin' away. I also had a wonderful dinner at Duke's in Lihue with The Mai Kai Gents's Iuka Grogg, The Mysterious Mrs. Mauna Loa and there beautiful baby daughter Talula. Later that night I was able to meet up with Mano from The Conga Lounge and have a beer by the poolside and meet his wife Carolyn and their boys.

Other awesome news... Thanks to the unbelievable generosity of my Grandma Nina, who I owe much of my creativity and inspiration too, I was able to purchase a new Macbook Pro Lap top and get back up to speed with my internet shenanigans. A lot of really cool stuff has emerged in the short time that I have been technologically challenged so I been wasting time (or keeping busy if you will) with checking out all the cool new social networking and just plain old fun web sites. Some of my recent favorites include:

Tumbler

Deviantart

Twitter

12seconds

flickaday

blip.fm

So if you have a penchant for maniacal monkeyism check me out on the intertubes.

I have also been giving a lot of thought to starting up my Coconut Wired episodes in a new format that utilizes some of the new technology that has emerged. If anybody is interested in sponsoring, contributing content or ideas let me know.

Well... it's gonna be a whole new trip for me once I return to the islands, I will be in a new home, aggressively pursuing my art and graphic design projects, surfing new breaks and continuing the exploration of my island home, so stay tuned for more pictures and updates as I get situated and dialed in on the south side.

Crazy Al carves on Kauai

It was a blast hangin' with Crazy Al and watchin' him do his thing both carvin' and on the dance floor. A real treat for sure too have a snorkel buddy at Tunnels beach and drinkin' partner at the Tahiti Nui in Hanalei. This is a video that we put together of him carvin' the days and nights away in Kilauea. Go to Al's Site to see more pics and read more about his trip too the Garden Isle.

Summer Time Chongolian Update

Well last month on May 15 the one anniversary of my move to an island in the South Pacific quietly came and went without much fanfare or hoopla. I did reflect quite a bit on the last year and where the adventure has led and I am still very thankful for getting this chance to experience life on Kauai. There has been plenty of ups and downs as days move forward. I have had lots of graphic design work come my way and have been putting in long hours working at the silkscreen shop. But I am grateful to have work doing something I enjoy (most of the time) and also allows me to meet some interesting people from time to time. I have also been working on getting my art and t-shirt designs together which I hope to start selling in shops and fairs around the island.

There have been times of loneliness and sadness like when I received the news that my friend Geno had passed away and I did not get the chance to say goodbye and I will never see him or play our ukuleles together again. There was also a very scary incident with a friend of mine who I surf with at Kalapaki beach. He was knocked unconscious in the water and nearly drowned right in front of a group of us who surf together frequently. Fortunately we were all there to help in some way or another to save his life. He will be alright but it will be sometime before he is well enough to return to the water because of the amount of water he took into his lungs. He is a great guy and one of the first people I had met when I got here. All his friends and family are very thankful that he is still with us, but nobody really knows exactly what had happen because no one saw it happen and he has no memory of it either.

Some of the holidays can also make me feel very far away from the people I love and can be a little rough too, but I know this is where I choose to be because I really appreciate the beauty and lifestyle that the folks who live here get to enjoy every day. I still try to start my day early on my surfboard or the stand up paddle board before I go into the shop which will always is a fantastic way to begin a workday. Also, I recently bought a new army green 3 speed beach cruiser and have been riding the bike paths and getting into the nooks and crannies of Kapa'a on the weekends and after work. I have been telling myself to try to eating at a new restaurant on each payday but have yet to do it. I actually have been cooking a lot more for myself and have been reading and trying new asian recipes from cookbooks I have been checking out with my new library card.

My housing situation is still on shaky ground because of unsteady roommates. I now have a kid from Missouri living with us until he completes an internship in September. A nice kid but soaking wet behind the ears and I don't think has spent much time away from home. My other roommate,a 23 year old girl who I originally moved in with at the start of the year, continues to keeps going back and forth about moving back to the mainland for one reason or another. At this point I am tired of dealing with the constant search for stable people to live with and the unstability. So I will continue my search for another place to call home where I don't have to deal with two other people, an always present landlord and all their associated poop.

So thats about it for now, For the most part all is good and I am very happy. I am just trying to stay positive when the going get a bit difficult and feel grattitude for all the awesome things that life has given to me. I hope everybody is enjoying and loving their lives as much as I am mine.

One year of Island livin'

Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of my move to the island of Kauai. It's been an adventure and I have had a few ups and downs but never any regrets about my relocation. I do miss my family and friends but have been feeling more and more at home with each passing day in paradise. I happily await for new adventures, friends and experiences as year number two begins.

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'.

Kipu Falls

Well for the past week the surf has been flatter than squashed pancakes, so I decided to catch up on some bloggin'. A while back during a similar lull in surf, I went over and explored Kipu falls which for the most part is in my backyard being only a few miles away from Lihue in Puhi. I packed up some berries, snacks, my sketch book and my uke and set out for a quiet day chillin' with nature.I got an early start on a Sunday morning, but not early enough. There was already several groups of locals and tourists already on the scene hoggin' my quiet time. I watched some folks jumpin' off the edge of the falls and swingin' like monkeys from a rope swing into the pool. The rope swing looked like a blast but too way too many people standin' around waitin' for their turn. So I made my way to the edge of the falls waited for the last jumper to get out of my way and then made the 20' jump. The water was cooler than the ocean but still felt awesome and refreshin' The real magic and solitude came when I hiked back up the Hule'ia Stream about half a mile. There was nobody upstream at all and lots of neat tricklin micro falls and lil pools to check out.

I found a nice shady spot to eat some lunch draw for a bit and play my uke. By about noon my shade wasgone and it was getting quite pretty hot so I headed back to the Safari and decided to come back another time during the week when less crowd were more likely. It was still a pretty fun way to spend a Sunday morning.