Tonga: Farewell Hunga Lagoon

A few weeks ago, my time was up at the fishing lodge on Hunga Island, it was 2 months in paradise. Had an amazing time there. A special thanks to Caroline and Steve for letting me into their world for a while. What a wonderful place!

And my departure couldn't have worked out better, it just so happened that Nola was anchored on the other side of the lagoon, I hopped on board and have been a permanent fixture on the boat ever since. Next stop: Hapai. The next island group South of Vava'u. We'll be sailing down there next week. The Kiwi boys on Nola are helping organize a large coastal clean-up through Sustainable Coastlines. Also, the conditiuons are shaping up nicely for some really fun surf during the next few days!

It's interesting to be in a foreign land long enough to experience the seasons change, it's starting to get hot and wind-less here. All the "boaties" are leaving back down to NZ to avoid the Hurricane season, things will be getting really quite here in Vava'u over the next few weeks.

Life is good.

Tonga: Swimming with Humpbacks

Well this was most definitely a highlight of my time here... getting to swim within a few feet of mom and calve Humpbacks. Pretty unreal! They are EVERYWHERE around here at the moment, you'd have a tough time getting on a boat at any given time and not seeing a whale... or a few of them. I would highly recommend getting here at some point in life and jumping in with them, it's one thing to see them from the surface and a completely different thing to see them in their world. Mindblowing.

My love affair with Nola

(Click on pic for bigger one)

I watched her come into our lagoon and there was just something about her. When I heard she was going to be in Tonga for a while and loved to surf, that pretty much sealed the deal... I had to get to know her.

A few days went by and we hadn't met each other yet. I woke up one morning and looked out my window, I just got a quick view of her as she left the lagoon. Why did she leave? Where was she going? Would I ever see her again?

Weeks went by... they seemed like months. I watched the lagoon entrance everyday hoping I would see her again. One day I decided to grab my board and paddle around all the moorings for the hell of it. When I came back there was a message, it was from Nola... she wanted to know if I was interested in spending some time with her to search for waves, explore the islands and just hang out in paradise for a while. I accepted.

I met her in town on the main island. We ate, we drank, and we ended up sleeping together in the old harbor in the rain. It was perfect. The next morning we woke up before sunrise and sailed to a small outer island to find a fun right breaking off one side and a hollow, dredgy left off the other... I really had trouble thinking of a better set up than this.

So we spent our days surfing over colorful coral reefs, spearing fish, rolling around on white sand beaches and drinking fresh coconuts in the sun. We spent our nights anchored in beautiful glassy coves cooking up the days catch and watching the sunsets turn to stars over frosty beers. Easy livin', Good livin'!

This might be beginning of a beautiful relationship... I'm already in love!

My interview with: Okoto

The good people at Okoto just put up a short but sweet little interview we did. Click >>HERE<< to read it and don't forget to snag something from their stellar apparel line. They're some of the coolest people you'll ever meet.

Tonga good.

Hammock good.

Fishing good. (120 kilo Blue Marlin on)
Food good.Life good.

Words of Wisdom:

"One of the gladdest moments of human life, methinks, is the departure upon a distant journey into unknown lands. Shaking off with one mighty effort the fetters of habit, the leaden weight of routine, the cloak of many cares and the slavery of home, man feels once more happy."
- Sir Richard Burton

My interview with: Club Of The Waves

When it comes to surf culture, surf artists, surf photographers, surfing forums, surfing debates or surfing anything, Club Of The Waves.com is the place to go. I've been a featured artist on COTW for a while now and have made some great contacts through the site as well as discovered A TON of really great artists and photographers. Take a gander... but don't blame me if you lose the next 2-3 hours to a computer screen!

I recently did a tasty little interview with COTW. Click >>HERE<< to check it out.

ERIK ABEL JOINS ARTSPROJEKT!!!

The time has come to officially launch my ARTSPROJEKT store/Art Laboratory! The brains of the operation, Andy Howell (Artist and former pro-skater) recently invited me to be a part of the AP family. Pretty stoked to be amongst some of my favorite artists! (Shepard Fairy/Obey, Mars-1, Erik Otto, DALEK, Jim Phillips, Ekundayo)

I've spent the last month putting together artwork and graphics for a basic product line of high quality prints/posters, shirts, hats, buttons, skateboard decks and other paraphernalia. And the line will constantly be expanding. The genius of ARTSPROJEKT is it's print-on-demand platform... a product is made only when it's ordered. Customers can customize most products too, ie- shirt style and color, print size, paper or canvas, framed or not. Artists don't have to worry about overhead, production, inventory or shipping... hallelujah! This means you can expect a constant flow of new products regardless of where I am in the world. Let's say it together now... AWESOME!

Be sure to join my newsletter so you'll be notified of special products I'll be offering only for a limited time.

So, check out what I've got in the store, get yourself a shirt and a few prints or a birthday present for the old lady(or old man) Currently I have 20 posters, a dozen shirts and loads of hats, buttons, mouse pads, mugs, skateboard decks and other various items to choose from.

GO TO MY ARTSPROJEKT STORE >>

There's also a little >>INTERVIEW<< I did for the AP blog.

For the complete low down on ARTSPROJEKT, Read the Press Release.