I’m involved with the Waikoloa Villages YoungLife and Wildlife Committee with my friends Julie and Gary Simmons. Julie and Gary have headed up this group with many other Committee Volunteers and Leaders for many years making a huge difference in many youth and young adults for the rest of their lives. Younglife Hawaii Island holds a fund raising golf tournament every year and we invite you to participate on Friday, April 20, 2018 at the Waikoloa Beach Golf Resort Kings’ Course. The Sign in is at 6:30 a.m. - Shotgun start 7:30 a.m-2 Person Scramble format. $125 per person includes breakfast, green fees, cart, snacks, two mulligans, prizes and award lunch at finish. If you would like your proceeds to benefit the Waikoloa Village Young Life Kids please note this on your application. Click here to download the flyer and many thanks for your support! From the YoungLife website: Young Life doesn't start with a program. It starts with adults who are concerned enough about kids to go to them, on their turf and in their culture,...

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Breaching whales, big waves, plenty of rain and rainbows have characterized this winter!  Last year’s season was highlighted by fewer whale sightings but this year is completely different.  There are few mornings where Lissette and I on our morning runs do not see whales everywhere on the near and far away, ocean horizon.  Check out the photo of a whale breach with the Winona catamaran in the background on their nightly sunset cruise.  My friend Taylor took this great photo, I surfed that night with Taylor’s three sons and remember the whales in close just behind us as we surfed till past dark-magical!  My friend Dillan took the double rainbow photo at our beach club after a hard rain on the same morning. The sights and sounds around our island never cease to amaze us….especially in the winter and spring!!  Let us find your piece of paradise so that you can share the same memories anytime!!

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The Jan. 31 full moon was special for three reasons: it’s the third in a series of “supermoons,” when the Moon is closer to Earth in its orbit -- known as perigee -- and about 14 percent brighter than usual. It’s also the second full moon of the month, commonly known as a “blue moon.” The super blue moon passed through Earth’s shadow to give viewers in the Hawaii a total lunar eclipse. While the Moon was in the Earth’s shadow it took on a reddish tint, known as a “blood moon”.  Since we are lucky to live in the Hawaiian islands, a lot of us set our alarms to early morning, Wednesday, Jan. 31 for a lunar trifecta: a pre-dawn “super blue blood moon”.  The weather was perfect for Hawaii island providing a clear and spectacular view of totality from start to finish.  Check out the photo above from my assistant Stacy’s iPhone-pretty cool! Here is a link to other photos at Hawaii New Now. Here is a video published by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory:

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We live in an oasis surrounded by thousands of acres of lava so when new activities become available to this somewhat isolated location….it’s big news :) Check out the photo of a zoning sign that appeared in the Waikoloa Beach Resort near the King’s Shop’s gas station. These are the signs mandated by the County whenever a use permit is being requested by a land owner and in this case a 18 hole putting course.  The Tax Map Key listed is on or near the King’s Shops. I called the County Planning Department and they mentioned the hearing is in Kona at the County Facility on February 15th if you are interested in contributing to public comment or learning more about this project. I see it as a “good thing” as low impact, children friendly activities for those windy days or early evenings under the stars are rare here.  Let’s hope they are approved and they actually follow through and build it sooner than later!

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Lissette and I give each other for Christmas a 4 day pass to the Waimea Ocean Film Festival which for us is the best gift of all-incredible sights and sounds of our ocean. The films are shown in multi venues including the Fairmont Orchid in the Mauna Lani Resort, very close to our home. Most films, but not all, are related to the ocean and are video masterpieces. The films vary in length from 5 minutes to full length documentaries that are often only published for promotional purposes by their sponsors like Red Bull, Ford or Tag Heuer. As an example we saw a Ford sponsored movie that highlighted surfers searching for the next XXL wave site featuring big wave surfer Andrew Cotton. We saw a full length feature called The Big Wave Project with 90 minutes of some of the largest big waves ever surfed in locations like Peahi, Maui (Jaws), Nazare, Portugal and Waimea Bay, Oahu. Often these documentaries include a question and answer session with either the films featured surfer or other person involved like the film's producer, camera...

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Many of us locals have had time to trade stories and log in our "book of life" where we were and what we were doing regarding the "false alarm" we all received on our cell phones on a recent Saturday morning regarding the "missile launch". Yes-it was probably painful and or stressful for a lot of people so I do not mean to be too light hearted with my experience but instead hope to illustrate what happens when you have no clue as to what was happening. As most of you know-I like to surf-maybe too much but that's the way it is… :) Saturday morning early was no exception. Surfline was reporting massive swell (40'-60') into Northwest shores and for those of you reading this and not familiar with our location-we live on the NORTHWEST shore. I checked the buoy report for buoy #51101 which gives us some indication of what's coming in at a NW direction and all results pointed to-get in the water! :) I paddled out before 7:00 am and much to my surprise no one was out-strange. My friends are usually there at the same time or before and...

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(Hawaii Department of Health/Courtesy graphic) County and State team up to tackle effluent issues on Big Island including Puako Road area near Mauna Lani Resort Many of my friends make a living in the dive industry and most of the great dive sites are located adjacent and just off shore of Puako Road. When they reported the beaches along Puako Road were closed by the Hawaii County Health department due to high levels of waste water bacteria, I was not surprised. Having spent time as development director at the Big Island Country Club site, where aerobic pre treatment was mandated due to the developable lots and golf course comfort stations being located in close proximity to the potable water wells, I knew the Puako area was in need of similar, advanced, waste water treatment being so close to the ocean. Many of the homes along this scenic road were built as far back as the 1930’s and modern waste water treatment was not facilitated or known. Since then the area has been regentrified where these basic homes have been replaced...

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Yesterday was the first day of winter and a large, winter storm blessed us with rain in our lava desert home and snow on the volcanoes including Mauna Kea. I took a few photos from the Nohea community gates and also from the Mauna Lani resort entrance. Mauna Kea is covered all the way from it’s top at 13,800 ft to the 9000’ level in 2-3’ of snow-quite an accumulation. I’ve begun to see snow men at sea level where people have loaded snow into trucks and brought it down to build them in contrast to our typically tropical flora and millions of acres of lava rocks. We hope everyone is having a glorious holiday season wherever you are come see us where 9 out of the world’s 11 climate zone exist-including snow capped volcanoes :)

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I love to swim as part of my fitness regime and appreciate the health benefits and friendships that I have developed over the years. Our group not only trains and competes together but we also participate in open water swims, surf and scuba dive adventures. A great combination of friends and water activities! I can not be in a better location on the Big Island for access to a true lap pool. Like many of you, I swam on my neighborhood and high school swim teams as a youth. As an adult I have participated in several masters swim groups or swam on my own with friends for the past 30 years. Lap pools with lanes and gutters to absorb the wave splash are rare and are spread quite a distance apart on the Big island with one lap pool in Kona, 30 miles away and the other in Waimea 16 miles away at Hawaii Preparatory Academy. Coached masters swim groups are equally rare with the Waimea group meeting at 5:30 AM which makes for an early morning, cold workout with low temperatures at 2500’ of elevation. The Mauna Lani Racquet Club i...

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Hilo, HI to Hapuna Bay, HI November 4-5, 2017 Lissette and I knew another extreme athletic event was on island when we were returning from dinner in the mountain town of Waimea at 8:00 pm on Saturday night. As we descended the narrow and winding, Kawaihae road toward the coast, we spotted someone running against traffic and up hill toward us-dangerous. As we approached we could see the runner had “Christmas” lights on their vest and a light mounted on their head. We knew they were definitely not “local” because know one that drove this road, night or day, would run on it at night. We continued to pass numerous other runners on the Queen “K” highway all the way home to Mauna Lani. Their support vehicles were stacked along the side of the road-all decorated with bright banners, inflated animal figures and glow in the dark paint. The “night” runners peaked our interest and we decided to do a web search to figure out who had invaded our island this time. Low and behold we found the group-RAGNAR. Ragnar’s websi...

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