Art is what you can get away with.. Mr. Warhol

Well since I have been back from Fiji this art has been keeping me busy. Hopefully I will be able to get back on the road by January to go over to OZ, Fiji and Indo then maybe Europe.

Live Art show this Saturday at Barfly

Come watch me paint while you enjoy a cocktail and some good music at Barfly in La Jolla CA

Tyranny in Paradise//

When stepping off a plane on your once a year holiday to "paradise" we have a predisposition on what to expect for this week long adventure. Stepping off the plane into the Fijian Islands I have experience this bliss of paradise found, but behind the curtain of some beautiful things there is a darker force at work that would plunder all notions of paradise. The projection of Fiji instilled in every tourist's mind is of a sandy atoll with a palm fringed beach and beautifully dark melanesians with afros servicing you. I soon discovered after my time spent in Fiji what was behind this curtain... political injustice. Military Dictatorship... a military power running a country by force. This military dictatorship has recently stepped on some serious toes with their new "surfing decree" that has abolished all surfing rights to certain breaks. The obvious publicized issue at stake was the destruction of the exclusive rights Tavarua Resort had to surf Cloudbreak and Restaurants, but the problem that is overseen by the media is the economical factor that is now taken from those villages with the rights. Surf Resorts with these "exclusive rights" would pay and annual percentage of their income to the village that had the wave within their fishing territory, which is hundreds of years old. Now the villages after many years of relying on the economic source lost it all in one day that was never previously discussed because democracy has left this country. It is sad to see this happen to such beautiful people, but hopefully in the democratic elections of 2014 something will change....//

The Sun//

Monday morning the 2nd of August I woke up with the warm sun beaming through my windows. I took one guest surfing out at pipe which was really fun for about 4 hours. With this new found appreciation for the sun I went on my mountain hike barefoot with two new honeymoon guest at the resort. When I arrived at the peak of the mountain where my bench was I soon discovered my memory card had gone missing for my camera. I took the guest back to the resort, then darted back up to the mountain to capture some new images. Enjoy//

Rain Rain Go Away//

This past week in paradise we were brought back to reality with torrential rains and 30 knot winds. The sea resembled that of a dishwasher with white caps from the shoreline to the horizon. I was landlocked in the resort with no waves to surf, no fish to hunt and no mountain to explore. This lasted for 6 days, the sun would creep out from the dark clouds for 10 minutes each day, but that was it. It was almost as if it was teasing us with its beauty hidden in darkness. I resulted to taking pictures of the local fauna in between the showers of rain. Enjoy//

Eco Tourism//

After my last journey into the jungle where I discovered one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen I decided it would be a great place to take guest from the resort to experience as I first did. I was given permission to do so by Sivi who is the rightful owner to the land where I found my look out. He originally used the land to grow Kasava, but because of the wild pigs was forced to abandon it and rent land closer to the village away from the wild beasts.

Sivi, Miti, Brian (owner of Matanivusi) and I went up there this morning with cane knives so I could show them the trail we were going to clear to reach the top of the mountain to take guest on nature hikes. We cleared away the brush and trees to make a single track trail all the way to the top of the mountain. The good thing about making a trail is it creates a designated area for tourist to walk without trampling over all the environment. After a few hours of clearing the trail we retreated back down to the resort, where I was going to find materials to build my bench. I grabbed two big logs about two feet long and a foot wide along with a piece of thick timber to use as the seat. Then my friend Lesse and I went back up the mountain to build the bench for ultimate meditation. The only thing to be done now is install a rope ladder along with steps up the steep mountain at the beginning of the trail so it will be accessible for everyone.

Lesi also showed me this second lookout over the resort that we will go back up tomorrow to build a second bench.

Cheers//

Fiji Pipe Tattoo after last sequence//

This has an interesting story, Fiji Pipe was pretty small only about 3-5ft and pretty closed out because of the swell direction. I took the guest out and was having a great sesh, I paddled back to the boat after a while to leave, but the boss wanted me to get the guest out of the water because the tide was dropping out and another wave was going to be better for them to surf. I turned around and paddled back out to the line up to round up the crew, but saw a good set wave pass the guys in the line up so I dropped in and got a little pigdog barrel. I paddled back out to tell them again to leave, but another good set wave came through so I did the same thing and dropped in and got shacked, but when I pulled out in front of the wave because it closed out, I jumped backwards off the board in the starfish position to land flat on the water. I soon came to discover the water was all gone and I went straight into the reef with my back and arm to gain a new fresh fiji tattoo that by the looks will be quite permanent. After this nice reef encounter I came back to the resort for the worst treatment of all... lime juice rubbed all over the back to kill the coral algae, then hydrogen peroxide, then betodine. ooo and glass of Bounty overproof rum to cure the pain because we had no pain meds.//

The barrel that gave me a tattoo

Frigates Pass 23rd of July //

Frigates was pretty good size yesterday, scored some good fishing and some waves on the boogie.

From the Beach to the Mountain//

Bush cutting with the cane knife to the top of the mountain

Subsistence Living //

The current and traditional way of life over here in Fiji is by subsistence living. Each family in the village has been given a plot of land they use to provide food for their family to live, the main crop is Kasava root, which is very similar to a potato in taste. These are some of the boys going to work their plantation with their cane knives. //

Cruising Resort Life

Restaurant/lounge deck, Bure deck, Jungle behind the Bures, Matanivusi Beach, Walkway in front of Bures

Shark Encounter//

Spearfishing in Fiji has been pretty mediocre considering I had expectation of massive fish everywhere when in reality it is like an aquarium full of fish up to about a foot and a half. You are surrounded by 20 different types of parrot fish, puffer fish, rainbow colored wrasses, goatfish, squid, clown fish, a wide variety of triggerfish and many others. So one afternoon on low tide I took out the Stand Up paddle and paddled a kilometer over to the channel and beached the board on a small sand island. I geared up with my snorkel mask, churchill fins, and 8 ft JBL metal pull spear with a single headed break away spear tip. Jumped in the water and ventured out to the channel where I would begin my hunt. After chasing a few snapper that would quickly lose me in the coral reef I came across a dark shadow off in the deep. I began to turn my focus on this shape to soon discover a 7ft white tip reef shark lurking in the distance observing my movements. I placed the reef shelf behind me as I slowly swam in the other direction with my sling ready to shoot in the case of a charge. Luckily I had not speared any fish yet for he would have taken a great deal of interest in me with the blood sparking the hunger in a shark. After I made it back to my little island I decided it best to leave the fish to the shark today. When I began my paddle back to the resort it was almost dead low so I had to paddle far enough in front of the board to keep the fins out of the water because they would hit the reef and jolt me into the water below. Stand up paddling around this part of Fiji is similar to looking into a aquarium from above because you are able to see all the life flourishing on the reef. I soon took notice to a unique pair of eyes looking at me from a hole in the reef below and right away knew what it was, an octopus. Since I still had my spear on my board I harpooned it directly into the creatures hiding spot. After being inked on multiple times and having this octopus crawling all over my board I managed to get him back to the resort to be used for an evening snack.

Bula from Fiji Pipe! July 16-17th

Woke up to the sweet sound of waves breaking along the shoreline meters from my Bure. Considering we are located on a coral fringed lagoon, the sounds of waves breaking on the shore is the indicator that the surf will be pumping. Went around and woke all the guest up to prepare them for some of the best surf they might ever experience. Before venturing out I made a quick smoothie from Papayas and Bananas grown right here in front of the rooms and local grown guava juice to prepare me for the day. We passed J’s (peeling right hand reef break that is unforgiving if you find yourself stuck on the inside for it is less than a meter deep with a sharp coral bottom) on the way out and because of its closing end section we decided to go check out Fiji Pipe. We arrive to 6-8 ft and occasional 10 ft perfect barreling lefts that would spit out into the channel. We surfed for about 6 hours before having to retire due to pure exhaustion and hunger. Luckily only 3 out of the 6 people got cut up on reef. I put just a small hole in my heel from trying to jump off the bottom after being pumped on a closeout. George who was using a go pro camera on the inside and was dragged on the bottom and sliced his leg open pretty deep. Paul landed some nice scratches all down his arm from brushing the coral heads. It was so good that I probably caught over 50 barrels in 6 hours and only got 2 closeouts. Overall it was a epic day in Fiji.

Island Life.