Year: 2020
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Colossus: The Monster 200 ft. Waves of Thalassa
Colossus. If you’re a surfer the name will terrify you. Although it is a fictional surf break on a fictional planet in my book Songs of Thalassa, it is the giant of all monster breaks. The largest wave in the galaxy. Cortes Bank and Nazaré all in one.
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What Lies Beneath: the mutant slab of Shipstern Bluff
For a long time is was a myth. Both a dream and a nightmare, A perfect mutant slab far off the trail. A slab of epic proportions. It’s Teahupoʻo, arguably the gnarliest wave in the world, on steroids. Welcome to Shippies.
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Armageddon
The orange-red sun glows in the crimson fog. Ash rains down, the smell of smoke on the air. The streets are sparse, only a few walking cautiously with black face masks, looking sinister. The setting for a futuristic dystopian scientific fiction novel? Unfortunately no, it’s now.The future of our nightmares is with us. Armageddon? Not…
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Do Plants Have Souls?
We perceive the world through five senses– sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch. That is our universe. But maybe it’s more than that. Snakes see heat, dogs smell fear, elephants hear clouds and manatees feel tides. Since perceptions create our world, perhaps there’s another universe we don’t see because we can’t. Enter the world of…
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Did Rey Skywalker ride a monster 260 foot wave on Kef Bir, the Ocean Moon of Endor?
When I first saw the giant waves in the latest Star Wars movie, Rise of Skywalker, it took my breath away. Massive, huge and slow-moving they appeared as menacing grey-green monsters creating a terrifying barrier to the ruins of the second Death Star and the key to Rey’s search for Emperor Palpatine. Real or fantasy?…
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The Akoni Four Challenge: How Surfing Can Teach Us How To Live
As we strive to survive during the first true global pandemic, we should reflect inward and rejoice in the many gifts we receive from mother Earth that we depend on, especially the sea. Here I focus on the lessons we learn from surfing and how it teaches us to live.
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What Lies Beneath: Conquering Fear at Banzai Pipeline
PIPELINE. Just the name shoots fear through my heart. Insanely hollow tubes breaking over a shallow coral reef. The steep drop, crazy speed, and all the while the fear of the dark reef gliding below, always reminding you of what happens if you fail. Conquering that fear is the ultimate challenge. And for many years…
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Launch of Songs of Thalassa
It’s finally here! After blogging for seven years about marine biology, surfing, and science I have pulled it all together in my new book, Songs of Thalassa. The book is based on extensive scientific research, including astronomy, marine biology, surfing, and ocean science, all set in the reaches of deep space. The plot follows the…
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Toffler on Science Fiction
“Science fiction…has immense value as a mind-stretching force for the creation of the habit of anticipation. Our children should be studying Arthur C. Clarke, William Tenn, Robert Heinlein, Ray Bradbury and Robert Sheckley, not because these writers can tell them about rocket ships and time machines but, more important, because they can lead young minds…
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Walking Whales and The Rise of the Cetaceans
Whales are the most marine of all creatures yet I never fully appreciated their terrestrial origins until I saw the walking whales.
