They were actually talking about that during the England game yesterday, when a couple fans ran on the field. They just casually said "And, there are two people attempting to climb the Empire State Building right now, I suppose it's easier to run on the pitch than to climb that building" but they just kept moving on and didn't give it any kind of context. I saw a photo of it this morning, but there was no info about who it was or what the repercussions are for a stunt like that. Just that a couple got married and flew a banner. Wild. 

Haha.  My sister sent me that.  Mike's Weather Page had a pic up where he changed the flag to MWP and shit.  It's not there today.  Fun in NYC.

They definitely "Flew a Banner."  Hope emass is doin well.  

They were just changin the light bulb...

So, Hilton Head Island has typically been known as an "exclusive", expensive places to vacation. Over the past couple of years, there have been some questionable incidents that have happened. 2 years ago, there was a fight on the beach near Coligny and some teen shot another teen.

A couple of months ago, some older guy, maybe 60, went to a house on the beach, shot his ex-wife and her new lover, then drove to the mainland and killed himself.

Then during spring break, there were gunshots on that same beach, but no one was arrested. 

A couple of days later there was a report of multiple shots fired "towards a group" on the beach, but no one was hit.

Two weeks ago, some teen went out on the beach at 3am and shot off a nine millimeter, not at anyone, but discharged a firearm, which is illegal on the island. When arrested, he just said "Well, just wanted to shoot the gun".... 

So on Saturday, my neighborhood does a pretty good fireworks show, so me the wife and kids are out in the drive way chilling. My phone starts buzzing. Multiple people shot on Coligny Beach. This is 8:30, so about an hour before the fireworks. 

Anyway, two groups got into an altercation on the beach, and someone shot SEVEN fucking people. No one died, but they shot 7 fucking people. They got caught. They were down from about an hour North from St. Helena Island.... They all look like career criminal/gang members....

Anyway, a few weeks ago, they installed all these facial recognition cams by that beach....

But this is fucked man. 7 people shot at this family beach, with 1,000 kids around, right here on Hilton Head. On the 4th of July. 

I don't know what the fuck is happening around here, but it's going downhill fast. 

https://www.wtoc.com/2026/07/05/7-victims-4-suspects-charged-shooting-coligny-beach-saturday/

Dang, that's super sketch, glad nobody died, hopefully everybody recovers. 

they're closing in....

Whale Strike Sinks New Jersey Fireboat

Whales sinking ships may sound like the stuff of sailors’ legends, but the phenomena can be all too real. This weekend, a Fire Department vessel in New Jersey waters ran afoul of one such sea creature, to catastrophic results.

The incident occurred around 4:30 p.m. on July 4. While conducting a regional special operation marine security detail for the NYNJ port area, a Carteret Fire Department marine vessel was struck by a breaching whale.

“CFD Marine 2 was violently and suddenly struck under the stern by a surfacing whale breaching the water south of the Arthur Kill at the mouth of Raritan Bay, causing catastrophic damage to the vessel,” wrote the Carteret Fire Department in a Facebook post. “The boat immediately took on water, and all firefighters aboard had to immediately abandon the boat within seconds of the strike.”

Though authorities are still reviewing what exactly happened, witnesses reported seeing a pod of whales breaching nearby both before, and after, the incident.

“Fortunately, no one was injured and all are resting up with their families,” concluded Carteret FD “All Personnel had their required life jackets on, which helped to aid them prior to the arrival of assistance. A reminder to all boaters, Jet Ski operators, and kayakers about the importance of wearing your life jacket.”

The run-in calls to mind incidents of orcas sinking ships in the Strait of Gibraltar, where killer whales were spotted stalking boats and deliberately disabling them, sometimes even removing their rudders, However, this seems like more of a chance encounter than a deliberate attack.

https://www.theinertia.com/surf/whale-strike-sinks-new-jersey-fireboat/

Not sure where to put this, so I will leave it here for now. As I mentioned before, there was a shooting at the main public beach here on the 4th of July at like 8:15pm. 8 people shot. 5 arrested. One of the 9mm's had a "swtich" on it, which made it automatic, the official charge was "machine gun".... Kids running everywhere. No one died. But it was nuts. All 5 of the suspects were thugs from Lady's Island which is about an hour North of hear between Hilton Head Island and Charleston... So in reality, these were kind of "locals" not some dudes from Atlanta or Kentucky that were here on vacation...

So, a couple of things to note. This island is in Beaufort County. Hilton Head Island disbanded their own police force like 15 years ago, and we also don't have a court house. So basically, we, as tax payers, pay the county for support from their sherrifs and the use of their court houses. It's a mess. They can't even enforce parking here. So really, there is a very low police presence here, which I don't mind, because it's usually quiet as shit.

Now, after the shootings, they are pushing for Hilton Head to create their own police force again, which will cost $30 million, just for the first year. And they are voting and trying to enact a "teen/juvenile" curfew.... They are basically saying people under 18 won't be allowed to go shopping, our to the beach or out in public at all without adult supervision....

And yes, there are some crazy cities and shit that do this... And the vote would take months to enact....

So, problem number 1: We are going to have a teen curfew that starts in the fall/winter, when there are no tourists here. And traffic is almost non-existent. 

Problem #2: All of us locals are going to pay more taxes to get this police force, all because of one crazy incident...

Problem #3: Which I told my wife. I kind of like not having cops with speed traps everywhere. People getting pulled over and harassed all the time. It's kind of nice living in a community where you aren't getting pulled over and having police interaction all the time... It's pretty quiet here and aside from like 2 neighborhoods on the island, there isn't shit that ever goes on....

So, my current opinion is: Be careful what you wish for.... I grew up in a small suburban town, where the cops would pull over EVERY kid that looked under 18. Always searching their cars. Busting balls. It was a really unhealthy relationship between police and young people specifically. And shit, if you were young and black in that town, you were getting followed, pulled over. Every time....

So, there are enough people in this area bitching and moaning about ICE, and that our county sherriff's assist ICE. I mean, okay, you guys want your own police force? Okay... You think that isn't going to increase traffic stops by like 10,000% and you think that isn't going to result in ICE arrests/deportations etc. increasing 10 fold....

Everyone is like: We can't turn into Mrytle Beach.... Okay yall, be careful what you wish for. I respect police for the most part and I appreciate their support, but I don't want to have to interact with them any more than we already do... We are good. Teach your kids not to tote guns to the beach, and almost equally as important: If a bunch of gang bangers start talking shit to your white teenagers on a beach and start a fight. DON'T FIGHT. Don't engage. Walk away. Time are different. If a group of thugs is out harassing people, just walk away and call the cops or something... These teens got into a scrap with these guys and they all ended up getting shot over it... Yes, we live in a small town, but in 2026, I don't care where you live. DON'T ROAD RAGE. Don't talk shit to strangers in Walmart. Don't get into physical or verbal altercations with people you don't know. Especially in the south and in SC where EVERYONE can carry a gun. Not worth it.... The days of fist fighting ended in the last millennium. It's not like when we grew up. You never know. You pop off at the mouth and you can end up dead...

So, people need to be better parents and teach their kids some manners and some real world lessons. 

Yeah that's pretty wild, sucks that one incident could have such sweeping changes, going from one extreme to the other, seems like an overcorrection. Perhaps there is a middle ground they can settle on with this. 

Yeah, I am not sure. I mean, it sucks, because my daughter turned 15 yesterday, and her and her friends, ALL THE TIME, go down to Coligny Beach, which is where this happened. We drop them off for hours and pick them up. This incident certainly made me pause on those notions, but just in the past month, my daughter and her friends have hung out there 10 different times. The curfew thing is being proposed at 8:00pm, and typically, they have never been there that late. We will drop them off at 3pm and pick them up at 7 or whatever. We have location apps and tracking on my daughters phone.... 

So, even the fact that I have to rethink that kind of thing, sucks... But getting our own local police force and courthouse and all that just seems unrealistic. There is a reason why we got rid of it in the first place. 

It's funny because every now and again, I will see someone pulled over for speeding and what not, and occasionally, on the cross island bridge which cuts the island in half, you will see an officer in the median... But typically what the county does, is in the summer, they will leave two empty police cruisers, one facing each direction. With no one in it. It's enough of a deterrent, that EVERYONE hits the breaks and slows down. I always get a chuckle out of that. 

But the only typical petty crime around here is nonsense. I just see local kids getting pulled over on e-bikes, and teen agers getting arrested for simple MJ possession and stuff. People get arrested for stealing cookies from Walmart and dumb shit like that... But there is NO need for increase police presence. 

And the culprits in this mess are somewhat local and came here LOOKING for trouble. You don't all go to the public beach, strapped with 9mms and some of them with automatic switches on them if you are worried about personal protection. 

So, while i am no suggesting racial profiling or anything like that, what I will say is, if you see the mugshots of these guys, all 16-19 years old, all it takes is one quick look and if I was a cop, I would FOR SURE have followed these guys around and just waited for them to do something... If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it's not a horse...

It's like in Baltimore, people would always complain about "racial profiling"... Well, almost 80% of the city is black, so you can't really profile people when everyone looks the same. But when there is a guy, loitering under a street light at 1am, in the snow, in the projects, it's a pretty valid assumption that he is selling crack. I mean, it is what it is. 

On a side note, I was looking in the local mugshots pages for someone that I know to try and see what these charges were. And around here, there are a few Gullah family names that are all over the island. Neighborhoods and roads named after them. Their ancestors built this island. So one of the big names is "Mitchell" so when I got to the mugshots in alphabetical order, there were like 20 mitchell's that had been arrested in the last 30 days. I started clicking through them. Almost all the same charges. Driving under suspended license. Over and over. Some had the added "failure to stop for blue lights" with a couple of open containers in there. 20 straight. All the same shit. They all live in the same neighborhood. So as a cop, they know these people and when they see a "Mitchell", they are going to follow them and pull them over, and they get them every time.... So point is, sometimes it's not really profiling when you are in an area and you know that most of these people are driving illegally....

And in the case of the shootings, when you see a group of 7 guys that look like they are bloods or crips, you may just want to ask them a few questions. Fuck the profiling. Let's start with: What the fuck are you all doing here? 

Haha.  The empty car.  There was a spot near my Postal Service job in Atlanta where a cop car was permanently parked that way.  Some little local village dept, not Atlanta city cops.

As i pondered my second life on the shitter, today i think i found a nice niche as a potential stripper name. I believe the board game got popular doing covid, but this game is hoarding chicks. Not sure if it's a dice game or checkers - that i can find out later - but my gigolo name would MahDong

HAHA 🤣 

Did you guys read about that American from Ohio, Tyler Wilkin that was murdered on a beach in Puerto Rico. He lives down there, but he was camping, and was waiting for his friends it sounds like and someone executed him with a shot to the head on the beach... Not too many details about it. I saw it on SM, so I googled it. It was "American killed on beach in Puerto Rico" and that search brought up a hand full of the same kind of story over recent years.

I know a lot of you buoys do the Puerto Rico thing, but after spending a decade running all over Mexico, I have my trepidation about bringing my family into the third world-ish places like PR. When my daughter was born, not only did I never take her to Mexico, we stopped going all together. We got out of too many tight situations down there. And over the years, many-a-surfer has "dissapeared" of in the case just a few years ago, got executed for their offroad tires.

Just speculating, but maybe the guy from Ohio was into something bad with the wrong people, or, some poor person from PR tried to steal his wallet or whatever and the guy ends up dead. Who knows. 

But if anyone else has heard more details about this, I would be interested in hearing it. 

I didn't hear about that one, but it can happen anywhere I reckon. Do you know which beach, spot, or city / town he was in when this happened? I have stayed in Rincon many many times, and Aguada too, and have surfed all over that zone, and also at Wilderness in Augadilla, and Jobos in Isabella, and have spot checked Middles, and a bunch of other places, but have never once felt unsafe or threatened. There was only one time, when my wife was there with me, and we heard about someone that was stealing out of cars and people's stuff on the beach at Domes, but I think he got caught. I think if you take precautions and don't make yourself a target, and treat others with respect and don't make a scene, you are going to be fine down there. I have made a lot of "friends" down in PR, many recognize me and remember me by name sometimes, although I'm terrible with names, I never forget a face either, and if I share a good session or interaction with someone in the lineup, we usually see each other again and it's always love and happiness.

The only bad vibe session I recall was one morning at Maria's, there was a local out barking at the tourists and kooks getting in the way and he was being a little over the top with the regulation, but if you saw the scene, you may understand from a locals POV. That said,I still had a great session, I just avoided getting  mixed up with that guy, but I got a tons of waves. Forcing the issue in situations like that will almost always spiral out of control, so it's best to just lay low and focus on having fun in those rare situations.

As far as CR goes, I have only been once, and I took my wife and daughter, we stayed in a nice place in a gated community called Hermosa Palms, Hermosa Beach, and is also connected to Yoyo's bar / grill (google it), which has the best food / drink, pool, with oceanview. You can surf right out front or one of the many spots in the area or you can travel to other worldclass breaks. Jaco is nearby and has some good surf too, and lots of stuff to do, just stay out of there at night with the fam. It's cool in the morning / afternoon / dinner time though. We never felt unsafe or threatened there either, and we did do some driving and seeing some other shit too. If anybody ever wants to go, I can connect you with the owner of the place we stayed at. It isn't cheap, but it's great for the fam or large groups.

I would recommend both PR and CR in the areas I visited, I'd go with the fam for sure, based on my experiences at least. 

It happened in Luquillo, which is on the opposite side from Rincon, on the NE side. On the beach. His body was facing the ocean with a bullet in the back of the head. 5 minute walk from his campsite. They apparently have his phone and are looking through it for evidence, so maybe he left his phone at the campsite or whatever, but it doesn't sound like much of a robery gone bad if they left valuables on the guy. Not sure. 

But like I said, I just googled "American killed in Puerto Rico" and the search brought up about a half dozen incidents in the past few years. Some of them were stray bullets at a Bad Bunny Concert. One was a bar fight with a local that ended up getting the guy killed. So it is what it is. 

I have a bunch of buddies that go there quite a bit, but it's usually guy's trip/surf trip kinda thing. 

Like I said, I spent a decade in a much worse part of the world, where about 100,000 people per year just "vanish" into Cartel acid baths and mass graves. I always kept my head on a swivel, but I think I am lucky that the only incidents I faced were pretty minor. And the worst of which was kind of our fault. Park in the wrong part of town. Car gets broken in to. Locals laughing at us when we get to the car. My buddy is drunk and starts running his mouth, then a bunch of 13-14 year old start coming at us with intent to harm. Cops show up, take a bag of human hair out, throw it on the ground and start pointing at me. I wasn't sure if they were trying to pin a murder on me or what, but luckily, some real policia showed up and I fast talked my way out of it...

But that kinda shit. We shouldn't have parked 2 blocks off the strip in TJ. Period. And when your window is busted out and they drilled your lock out, and they are all laughing at you, you just take your licks and leave. We were about 30 seconds away from being stabbed to death by a mob of children....

So anyway, I think PR is probably WAY safer than shit like that. But I would like to hear more about what happened to this young man. Sounds pretty fucked. Execution style while you are staring out into the ocean. 

Well, I take that back. The worst incident was with my best buddy from Baltimore. A black guy who was visiting. We go to TJ with some friends, one of which is from TJ. He claims that he is in with all the crews there. Takes us to this VIP club. We are in there doing whatever we want. My buddy is married mind you. Not with his wife. He is dancing with some white girl from Philly. They are vibing and go outside for a smoke. I go out and look for him. They are gone. I assume he went to her hotel or something. A couple hours go by and a friend from Maryland calls me and is like, yo, what the fuck? Jason just called me and he is all bloody and beating, laying at the US border. He said the cops beat his ass multiple times, stole all his money... Blah Blah.... 

So, I finally find him, get him in the car and take him home. So, the story goes: He takes this chick outside in the alley, and she is giving him a BJ. Some local taxi driver sees it and goes and gets a couple dirty cops, for a quick pay day. The cops scoop up my friend and the girl. They beat the shit out of Jason in the car. Badly. Take him to the closest ATM. Hold a gun to him. Make him empty his account. I guess the max was $500. So, they put him back in the car, let the girl go, then drive him to another ATM to take out $500 more. When they let him out of the car, he runs. He gets trapped in an alley with a dead end. They beat the fuck out of him again with a night stick. Gun butting him. Take another $500 out. Then they drive him close to the border and push him out of the moving vehicle.....

So, I am like, bro, didn't I tell you this is a third world country, and to not do anything stupid? Then he tells me how racist they were to him and calling him N bombs and telling him how black people need to stay out of Mexico. I was a little shocked by that...

So yeah, he had the worse one, but they could have easily killed him....

And for YEARS after that, I had to lie to his wife, his parents and all this shit. And take a bunch of flack for not "protecting him in Mexico" and all this shit. To this day I am still mad at him for hanging me out to dry. He is been divorced for years now, but I told him "Bro, you are in a Tijuana alley, getting head from some white chick out in the open, and you are telling everyone how you were just minding your business and that they abducted you and beat your ass because you're black... Dude, you are an asshole"....

Luquillo is one of the nicest areas on that side. They have a whole "stripmall" of bars and restaurants there that is popular and the beach area isn't bad. Good lil surf break there by Boardriders cafe i wanna say. Stayed there at the last World Cup, but we had a place across the street in a gated community. I remember hearing that there would be the occasional car break-in's, some kids would man the parking lot. Another break by there is La Selva, that's more of a dirt road, private feel so figured it'd be there. But yea that seems like a very rare occurence and with the amount of businesses and only a road or two leading into that popular area (surf school is there, popular to ppl staying in Old San Juan), I wouldn't be surprised if they found out who killed him

Wow, that's pretty wild man. Luquillo is East of San Juan, defintitely different from where I am use to going, I have heard of some shit happening over that way, pretty bad area in some parts, lots of murders. That's several hours away from Rincon. And wild about your friend in Mexico, that guy is lucky to be alive, and yeah, pretty shitty of him. You never know with people, you think you know them until they pull some shit.