whopper

I'm not sure when Carl's going to have the time to write a blog, so in the mean time, here's a photo of the 350 pounder he caught a few weeks ago.

We're Back!!!!!

Hello everyone! After almost 2 months of waiting our computer is finally fixed and we're back in business. Yay!!! Not real sure where to start with catching everyone up, but here goes.

Carl's been fishing a ton, and he couldn't be happier. I've never known anyone more passionate about fishing (or anything at all for that matter), and it makes me so happy to see him in a constant state of excitement. He brings his poles along on every day trip he works on the snorkel boat, and recently he's been working a few days here and there on a fishing charter boat. Its definitely not easy finding a job on a charter boat these days, and I'm so proud of him for making it happen. He no doubt was given the opportunities he's had due to his incredible humility and eagerness to learn. He's so amazing, and I can't imagine a better place for him to be. I'm sure he'll want to put up all the fishing photos himself, so I'll leave the rest of the catching up to him. But just as a sneak peek- he caught his first ever Blue Marlin in a fishing tournament recently, and it was 350 pounds!!!

I've been pretty busy with school lately. Next week I have finals, and then I have 3 weeks off!! I absolutely cannot wait.

Three of our friends have a birthday in November, so a few weeks ago we booked the "Booze Cruise" for the evening. There is a big snorkel boat here called the Body Glove, and in the evenings they go out for a sunset cruise with an open bar, food, and live music. It was a lot of fun!

You can't really tell from this picture, but everyone in it is rocking a mustache for Movember, prostate awareness month. This was a few weeks ago, so the staches aren't even half as bad as they are now.

The sunset was AMAZING!!!!

Those of you on the more observant side will notice that I cut my hair. I took off about 8 inches!!! It was pretty scary, but I'm liking it.

Cookin'- Studio Style

Thanks to Carl's incredible hunting and gathering skills, we eat like royalty pretty much all the time. A few nights ago we had zucchini, rice, ahi, and lobster with garlic butter. It was AWESOME!!!! Its hard to believe that we pull off the dinners that we do in our tiny studio apartment, but somehow we make it work.

But one things for sure- no matter what you're cooking River will be right next to your feet every step of the way. She doesn't get our leftovers anymore, but her tenacity has not let up one bit.

Watermelon!

Carl and I spent the day after our wedding at our favorite beach with a few of our friends and River. We had an amazing time, and we had the entire beach all to ourselves. But somehow in our blissful daze we neglected to take adequate care of our dog, and she unfortunately suffered from a heat stroke and was rushed to the emergency vet. It was very traumatizing for all parties involved. We vowed to never let it happen again, yet one week later we almost went through the same experience. I was able to catch it earlier though, and River was fine.

Now we go to the beach prepared. We bring gatorade every time we take her out, and this time we brought one more thing- watermelon. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, which is what I study, watermelon is used as a preventative for heat stroke, so today I decided to try it out. I cut up a seedless watermelon before we left, and we brought a few gallon sized bags full in the cooler. I was curious to see how River would like it, and it turns out she loves watermelon. I would hold a slice for her so it wouldn't get all sandy, and she would gnaw away. Needless to say, we didn't have any heat stroke incidences today.

Bug Report

The boss gave us full reigns on borrowing the boat for lobster hunting. The season opened on the first, and we finally got the opportunity to go last nite. After the manta ray trip we dropped off the customers and headed straight back out. Six of us paired into groups of two and headed off in separate directions. The water was super clear, and the moon was full so visability was good. We each had a flashlight of some kind, and Chris and I had a 3-prong hawaiian sling and a speargun between us. The current was rediculous, and it really made it tough to navigate the walls, arches, and ledges that the lobster hang out around. Next time we will be more prepared.

Chris and I both ended up swimming around with two lobster each in our hands. They try to get away from you when you least expect it, so you have to keep a tight grip on them. This makes it very interesting to do things like check your air pressure gauges, adjust your mask, equalize, etc.. Needless to say we should have a more productive trip next time with proper gloves and bags for the bugs.

At the end of the dive we noticed a large Uhu (parrotfish). We decided to add him to the list of soon-to-be-barbequed sea creatures. These guys are beautiful and taste great too! More to come....

creepy crawlies

Kona has a ton of insects crawling around all day and night. It is something that a person must make peace with if they intend to live in this tropical environment. We leave our doors and windows open 24/7. Luckily the local gecko and cat populations keep most of them in check.

Yesterday the office girl Jasmine set off a bug bomb in the shop at work. Amongst a ton of dead roaches, there were these two guys crawling around just hours after deployment. They are quite creepy, and they get to be twice this size. These were about 5 inches long. I have spoken with several people that woke up to find these in their beds at nite. Those that have been stung say it hurts pretty bad, a bit like a scorpion I believe. We harrased these guys for awhile and then left them for the office girl to find in the morning ;). Dont worry, she has a good sense of humor!

Bikin' It

We did so many fun things with our families while they were here. Not in any particular order, I'll start going through a few of our adventures. We'll start with the bike ride of a life time.

A few weeks ago I joined 14 of my family members, including my sweet Mema, for a bike tour of one of the few presently erupting volcanoes in the world, Kilauea. The ride was 16 miles long, and it was breathtaking. We rode by craters, lava tubes, fern forrests, and lava fields. Our tour guide Eric was extremely knowledgeable, with degrees in geology and hawaiian studies. I can't imagine there could have been a better person for the job.

This picture was taken at the entrance of the Thurston lava tube. Some lava tubes on the Big Island are as long and wide as a New York City subway. I'm not sure how big the Thurston Lava Tube is, but its definitely the biggest one I've ever seen. It was very dark and cool inside, and water was dripping from the ceilings. Eric told us that ancient Hawaiians used to cut the tops off of gourds and set them in the lava tubes to collect water. It is supposedly some of the purest in the world.

And here's Mr. Muscle man Alex....

p.s. that rock weighs like 2 pounds. it only looks heavy.

The tour ended with a picnic lunch and a van ride to a winery, which we all agreed was terrible and could definitely be nixed. I believe its the only winery on the Big Island, and it left much to be desired. The wines were all extremely fruity, and needless to say, we did not care for them. But it was my Mema's first wine tasting, so that made it more fun.

We're Hitched!

Last Sunday concluded the most wonderful and beautiful week of my life. We had all of our family in town for a celebration of our lives together, and it was beyond any words I can find to describe it. I cannot begin to make you understand how incredibly blessed and touched we were to have so many of our closest friends and relatives all gathered for three straight days of love and laughter. The weeks prior were very stressful, to say the least, but I would do it all again a thousand times over to experience the gift we were given. Thank you so much to all of you that were here in person and in spirit. We cannot thank you enough for sharing this time with us. We are blessed beyond words.

sushi time!!

With all the family in town and all of the wedding preparations going on, we haven't had much time to blog. I thought I would put up some pics of the fishing trip Brian and I had last week. We have being making a serious effort to learn this style of fishing, and it is starting to pay off. We landed the first fish at around 10pm, and shortly after putting the fish on ice and congratulating ourselves, we get another strike. The second fish was a bit smaller, but still a solid fish. We also had several run ins with a large oceanic whitetip shark, which we caught twice. We also caught a much larger blue shark (12ft) twice. These sharks would come into the chum line and take our baits. We would fight them to the boat and cut them off, only to have them return 30 minutes later and take another bait. It was very exciting.

The next morning we trolled around after the sun came up and caught a small mahimahi (15lbs)and a small bigeye tuna (25lbs) which tasted great. Sashimi from bigeye tuna is even better than yellowfin!

The largest ahi went 137lb on the scale, with the smaller one right at 80lbs. We cut up the small one to divy up amongst friends and family, but the big one went straight to the market and fetched us a nice check of $360! Cant beat getting paid to fish. More to come soon.

The Harbor

River's new favorite spot is a beach right next to Honokahau Harbor. It is one of the only beaches that allows dogs, and everyone is super tolerant of her stealing toys, shaking off on them, scratching them in the water, etc.. We have been trying to take her as often as possible.

This litte guy is called a Red Pencil Urchin. The fish next to it is a Saddle Wrasse, and in the background you can see a Collector Urchin. Collector Urchins are cool because they stick pieces of shell and coral on the outside of their bodies to help them blend in with the reef.

River retrieving a ball, and Stacey snorkeling in the background. The snorkeling at this spot is really great as well.

I got some video with our underwater camera. Hope you like it!

The Aloha Life

Believe it or not, Carl and I have collectively lost a little over 30 pounds since we moved here in February. Our eating habits have definitely improved, but the biggest factor in the loss has got to be our extreme increase in activity. We just go, go, go non-stop, and we're having the time of our lives. Just as an example, here is what I did today:

7:30 - 11:30 work at the coffee shop
11:30-1:00 volunteer at Kahalu'u Beach for Reef Teach
1:00-2:00 Carl's Surf Camp at Kahalu'u (I paddled into my first wave today, by the way)
2:00-3:00 Lunch with Carl
3:30-4:30 swimming in the swim channel at the pier with a friend
5:30 head to girlfriend's house to hang out/work on wedding stuff

and carl:
today was his day off-
surfed in the morning
paddled out with me again in the afternoon
left at 3 pm to go fishing. won't return home until 7 am.
he's going ika shibi fishing, and I'll let him tell you all about it on a future post.

And this is pretty much a typical day in our lives. We're so unbelievably happy here, and I give thanks to God multiple times each day.

Mauna Kea

A few weeks ago some friends and I took an afternoon trip up to Mauna Kea. Carl was working, so he wasn't able to go. Its about a 2 hour drive from home to the summit (14,000 feet), and its paved the whole way.

All 7 of us piled into Tracy's Sequoia and charged it up the mountain. Because of the huge change in pressure at that elevation, you have to take it slow on the way up and down. Its recommended that everyone stop at the Information Center, which is at about 9,000 ft, for at least 30 minutes to acclimate. They have a nice little shop there where we got cup noodles and hot chocolate.

We started off the day in shorts and slippers, but as you can see from the photos, we quickly had to throw on some layers. At 9000 feet the temp was in the low 50s. I thought that was about as cold as it would get, but boy was I wrong!

Here's a pic of the whole gang, minus Mike. From left to right, me, Cone (our dive instructor), Jill, Dic, Diane, Tracy.

After our acclimation period we headed up to 13000 feet. For most of the drive up the hill it feels like you're on the moon. Until you see snow....

Mike decided it would be a great time for a snow ball fight.

There are only 2 natural lakes on the island of Hawaii, and one of them is on Mauna Kea at roughly 13,000 feet. Its just a short hike in from the road, but it can feel like miles if you're not careful. Because of the elevation any kind of physical activity can be very exhausting. For me the hike in was a breeze, but the hike back was a different story. It was more uphill on the way back, and I couldn't go more than 15 feet without having to stop and rest.

Dic tried to see how many push-ups he could do. I don't really remember how many he pulled off, but I know it was in the single digits.

After the hike to the lake we went up to the summit for the sunset. It was incredible!!!! And man was it cold! I couldn't believe the difference just from 13 to 14,000 feet. It was in the low 30s, but it felt like the teens because of the wind chill. Needless to say, we didn't last very long up there. As soon as the sun set we were out, which is unfortunate because the star gazing on Mauna Kea is, according to most astronomers, the 2nd best in the world. There is no light polution, and because of the layout of the island, there is never any cloud coverage. We didn't stick around to look through any of the telescopes, but even to the naked eye it was breathtaking.

The hill top you see in the background is Haleakala, a volcano on Maui. On a totally clear day you can see the entire island chain from the summit of Mauna Kea. That will definitely be a cool thing to see some day.

Hanapa'a

"Hanapa'a" is the term that Hawaiians use when shouting "fish on!"

We finally got the chance for a little "hanapa'a" now that our buddys Brian and Kodi bought a boat. We spent last saturday and sunday trolling for Ono (wahoo) without much luck. Sunday we found some fish around a FAD (fish aggregation device), which the state puts out in the water to attract fish. It is basically just a bouy anchored in deep water that attract all kinds of little fish, which in turn attract the big ones. We trolled around the bouy for an hour or two with only one bite.

Our baits were a little big for the fish that we found. A local Hawaiian was fishing near us and catching a ton of Aku, which is a small tuna that tastes a bit fishy. The locals love them. After watching us make pass after pass with no luck, he pulled up and tossed us a few small, homemade baits and said "try these, the shibis should start biting soon." A shibi is a small yellowfin tuna. Sure enough, we get a hookup and I land a small shibi. It was getting dark, so after we boated the fish we trolled around for a few more minutes and headed back to the harbor. It was the first fish for the boat, and we were stoked! We had a bit of sashimi, and saved the rest for the frying pan. Tasted great!

We sometimes troll baits on the boat that I work on during the morning trips down south. Earlier in the week the other crewmembers caught a nice Ono. We trolled today and had a good fish on for about 5 seconds and it came unhooked. It was an exciting five seconds! We will get em next time..