
Moon Tubes
No doubt we aren’t the only ones to have entertained a dream or two of surfing by moonlight.
During the heart of a long Alaskan winter it’s only natural to consider this…with only eight hours of daylight and a 10-20ft tide fluctuation you’d think the chances of the surf peaking at night are relatively high.
Well, after about 10 years of watching the surf in Homer I have to say, it’s a special night that the swell, wind, tide, and cloud cover will cooperate with the moon cycle.
Once upon a time in a little cosmic hamlet by the sea all the magic ingredients came together. A swell was rolling into Kachemak Bay, the winds were calm, the tide was right, the sky was clear, and it was a full moon.
These weren’t just some mushy little good enough waves, this was chest to head high barreling surf lit by the light of the moon.
I couldn’t pass the opportunity to attempt photographing this once in a decade event, so here is the humble results of my attempts. Let me just make it clear- the photos don’t do the experience justice. There was a buzz in the air, we talked about moon tubes for weeks after this, and we are eagerly awaiting the next chance we get.

Jake and Jake giggling into their wave robber suits.

10ºF, 2:30am, and Maria Calhoun is heading out for her first Alaskan surf session.

My view from the beach littered with ice, Orion's belt floating over the Kenai Mountains.

A ghostly image of Jake Bell standing on the beloved super sandbar (RIP).

Study this for a minute and you can make out a white streak and black blur of a surfer.

They surf at night by the light of the moon. Look close.
Surreal!
Great stuff Scott…. keep up the great work!
Thanks Brad
so cool scott. great work. love orion’s belt on the one pic.
neil
wow! we thought we were core alaskans “urban” kiting at Kincaid the 2 nites past . we started at 11pm and kited till 2 pm. Y’all”s llllooottttts more core! The pictures capture enough of the sheen and glimmer… I can totally feel it. awesome session!
I thought that was a dream?
i thought sano was cold at 58 degrees…….lucky my wife works for RIP CURL inc.
5 mil suit heated…..
any bears siteing…along the way……
what about some riders on the wave shots….
great ……
allwaves
big K
air temp 10F ? fark, that’s cold!
what was the water temp?
beautiful shots, btw.
Wow is this for real? Whoa! those shots were truly amazing. You captured them perfectly. Good job scott! I so love it 🙂
Pretty sweet. Great pictures. Looks like some good waves to ride.
Stop it Scott. No really I mean it dude, you’re making me cry!
Seriously though, those are without a doubt some of the most beautiful surfing images I’ve ever seen, either in AK or anywhere else.
Kris
[…] aerial photo shoot of surfing in Alaska. I’ve been dreaming about this for a while. Like surfing at night by the light of the moon, there were a lot of things that came together for this – not the least of which was learning […]
I agree with Dr. Moontubes, no way this happened. The photoshopping is sooooo obvious. Plus, those surfers would have been killed by such sick shredding.
Wow, this is sick. These photos tell a great story.
Your moon-surf photos are beautiful. I have had one opportunity to do that at an unknown break ESE of Yakutat, but I am a chicken-shit. I just can’t do it at night. It comes from my experience long-line fishing.
Cheers.
Thanks for the view of home, I’m in Wisconsin for the winter and maybe summer too. I lived on the spit in Homer for 13 years and homer for 17 years. Boy I’m homesick. I never left Homer since I moved there, until I got kicked off the spit by the city. Mike McCune is a friend, I was always interested in surfing, and now I have all my gear. Mike was the person I credit with inspiring me to do so. I financed it by quitting smoking, which has both physical and financial rewards. Lake Michigan, which is several hundred miles long and eighty miles across where I live now, is 36 degrees F now. I live two miles west of the lake and I’ve seen 15-20 footers on it. When we were kids, we body surfed in the storm surf, and went tubing out so far you had to guess which way shore was.
Well, I’ll be getting wet soon as my wet suit should arrive by Tuesday. If and when I make it back home to Homer, I’ll see you all on the beach. Thank-you. Gary aka Wolf.
[…] “Once upon a time in a little cosmic hamlet by the sea all the magic ingredients came together. A swell was rolling into Kachemak Bay, the winds were calm, the tide was right, the sky was clear, and it was a full moon.” (Moon Tubes at 2:30am) […]