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Joy Ni

@reef.bae

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🌊 Surfer • Diver•Oceanlover
Solo adventurer | SoCal 🐟
Vanlife + Ducati🏄🏻‍♀️🤿💨 🛻🏍 @joy.wasabi
Founder of @aquajoylab
❤️Food|Animal|God❤️

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What’s your favorite position?

Everyone wants to be
on top of the mountain.

I just like being
Top of the 10ft pole.
Top of a 8ft wave.
Top of a 80ft dive.
Top of a 10,410ft Peak
Top of a van park somewhere alone.
Top of a snowboard line after fresh snow.

Different sports.
Different places.
Same feeling.

Being Alive.

Sometimes that’s strength.
Sometimes it’s balance.
Sometimes it’s fear.
Sometimes it’s peace.

I don’t chase one lifestyle.
I collect moments that make me feel present.

So,
what’s your favorite position?

#explorestronger #womenwhoexplore #surfgirl #freediving #poledancer taken in Los Angeles, California by @reef.bae

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8 months ago

Catalina Spearfishing backcountry Trip 🐟🌴⛵️@reef.bae
Still can’t believe I hiked over 16 miles just to test if backcountry spearfishing gear works on Catalina Island…
Conclusion: it works, but I’m never doing it this way again 😭

Next time = only spearfishing, no insane hikes.

My 5-day madness:
Day 1
• Land → shore dive (4 fish)
• Change, bus to airport, hike 6.5 miles to Little Harbor campground
• Set up tent → dive again (0 fish)

Day 2
• Morning dive (0 fish)
• Hike to Two Harbors → boat to Avalon

Day 3
• Offshore dive, 2 locations (16 fish)

Day 4
• Shore dive (3 fish)

Day 5
• Shore dive (2 fish)

How many fish in total? 🤔
I honestly don’t know, don’t care—my left ankle doesn’t bend past 90° anymore 🤦‍♀️🦶😂😭

Amazing adventure 🌱 Wouldn’t trade the memories…
But yeah… I’m never doing that again.

Hashtags:
#spearfishing #freediving #diving #underwater #apnea #speargun #spearo #freedive #ocean #fish #spearfishingadventures #spearfishingworld #spearfishinglife #spearfishinginternational #spearfishing_reviews #adventure #travel #onebreath #underwaterphotography #gopro

Do you want me to also total up the fish count for you? taken in Catalina Island by @reef.bae

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a year ago

Back to La Jolla, but my skill… not good anymore

Good part, my breath hold gets way longer #spearfishing #fishing by @reef.bae

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7 days ago

I would never pay to drive 5.5 hours to Mammoth in the summer. At least… that’s what I thought. 🫣

In my head, Mammoth has always been a snow-season place. Snowboards, frozen fingers, three layers inside three layers, chairlifts, powder days, and that dramatic feeling of “why is my face hurting but I’m still having fun?”

But summer Mammoth?

I honestly didn’t know she had this side.

The whole reason I came was because of my local Mammoth friend, Teeko — who I met last snow season on a chairlift.

Yes, you’re not crazy. We met on the lift.

And yes, the first question he asked me was, “Are you single?”
Hahaha. Very Mammoth behavior.

Now he’s one of my favorite snowboarding buddies, even though he is way better than me. For six weeks, he kept telling me, “You need to come back in summer. I’ll show you around.”

And for six weeks, I delayed. And delayed. And delayed.

Because let’s be honest… I’m an ocean girl. I chase fish, waves, salt water, sunshine, and anything that smells like the sea. Driving all the way up to 9,000 feet for a mountain summer trip was not exactly on my life plan.

But finally, I grabbed another mermaid and said, “Fine. Let’s go see what this mountain does without snow.”

And Mammoth completely changed my mind.

Teeko planned the whole adventure like he was trying to prove a point. Bike rental, mountain views, little lakes, hikes, food, hot springs, waterfalls, cliffs, forest trails, rivers, and way too many “wait, we’re doing one more thing?” moments.

I normally have a lot of energy, but this guy might be more ADHD than me.

Three days felt like a whole week:

Wake up.
Have fun.
Eat.
Have more fun.
Eat again.
Laugh.
Get tired.
Do one more thing anyway.
Sleep like a rock

We ended the days tired, dusty, happy, and very thankful to come back to @outboundmammoth for a real shower and a real bed.
Big Thanks for @mammoth203rentals MTB rental
And the best restaurant @harmonybraziliansteakhouse with my favorite Old fashion and 🥩

I came here thinking summer Mammoth was not my thing.

I left thinking… I might need to come back before the snow does.

#mammoth #mms #summer #vacation #mammot by @reef.bae

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17 days ago

ADHD Daily report: It’s not just a freedive video 🙈🫪😮‍💨😜🥰

#spearfishing #freedive #fish #ocean #underwater by @reef.bae

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a month ago

🍕 Your pizza is delivered!

But wait till the end to see what I actually delivered. 😂

After 10 hours of boat diving the day before, I was exhausted for two days straight—in the best way.

Perfect timing—my friend brought pizza all the way to shore right when we got out.

And that pizza box suddenly became my little catch display. 🐟😂

Yeah, the fish is small.

As a marine biologist, I’d rather take a legal eater than kill a big breeder just to feed my ego.

Because showing your catch isn’t always about showing how big it is.

Sometimes it’s simply:
I caught my food.
I’m happy.
And I want to share that happiness.

I eat what I catch.
Leave the big breeders in the ocean. 🌊

Happy fish, happy life. 🐟

#california #spearfishing #fishing #underwater #ocean by @reef.bae

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2 months ago

Who says you need a boat to find yellowtail?

Some people confidently claim, “You have to go offshore to hunt yellowtail.”

Meanwhile, I found hundreds of juvenile yellowtail schooling in just 20 feet of water—on a shore dive.

Was I just lucky?

Fuck no.

I know what kinds of locations hold active fish—not only because of my marine biology background, but because of hundreds of shore dives spent observing, memorizing, and learning how different reefs behave.

You might not believe it, but I carry underwater maps in my head.

I remember which reef structures, depths, currents, and sections are most likely to hold certain species.

That is what happens when you are trained in ichthyology—and forced to memorize the names of more than 100 fish bones. 😂

The ocean is not random.

You just have to learn how to read it.

Think finding fish is just luck?

Comment the species you want to hunt, and I’ll make a video showing how I read the reef, structure, depth, and current to find the right location.

#spearfishing #freedive #pelagic #yellowtail #fishing by @reef.bae

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2 months ago

NO NO NO—THIS IS NOT FOR YOU!!! 😭

I was looking for yellowtail.

My new flasher color brought hundreds of whitefish up from the deep, so I thought the yellowtail might be next.

I definitely wasn’t expecting a sea monster to come out of the shadows.

You never know what the ocean will bring you.
Honestly, I never know what I’ll be doing tomorrow either

#blackseabass #freedive #spearfishing #throwflasher #seamonster taken in Los Angeles, California by @reef.bae

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2 months ago

The kind of happiness only an ADHD girl understands.

After finishing an entire business trip in Hawaii, I finally gave myself one day off.

Most people would sleep in, order good food, and do absolutely nothing.

Me?

I rented a surfboard, carried it down to the beach by myself, and surfed for two hours.

Then I got back to the car, changed straight into my dive gear, and jumped right back into the same ocean.

Within minutes, I found a sea turtle, schools of fish, beautiful coral, and an entire underwater world we somehow never noticed before.

No schedule.

No waiting for anyone.

No explaining where I wanted to go next.

Just me, the ocean, and the freedom to follow every random idea in my head.

This is what rest looks like to me.

Surf until my arms give out.

Dive until the sun starts going down.

Forget to eat.

Go home completely exhausted and fall asleep instantly.

ADHD can make me feel completely stuck sometimes.

But when I finally feel free, my brain wants to explore everything.

You call it doing too much.

I call it a perfect day.

Peace looks different on me.

#ADHD #surf #hawaii #lifestyle by @reef.bae

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2 months ago

I found an old video of myself before fear became part of the process.

Last week, I started therapy for the first time in my life.

Watching this video reminded me of the version of myself who created simply because it made me happy.

September 26, 2025.

I drove to San Diego with a bag full of prototypes, jumped into the ocean, caught lobster, went spearfishing, and laughed underwater as I watched something I had designed move exactly the way I had imagined—actually, even better.

AquaJoy was only a fun project then.

I wasn’t thinking about money or building a business. I originally wanted to make these products and give them away because creating something useful for the ocean made me happy.

Every test gave me confidence.

Every kind message made the world feel a little brighter.

Then the noise slowly became louder than the joy.

People who had never met me began deciding who I was. I spent months trying to defend my name, going out less, doubting myself more, and slowly forgetting why I started all of this.

Then I found this old video.

And I remembered something.

The ocean has never cared what anyone says about me.

Fish don‘t read rumors.

Waves don’t ask me to explain myself.

Since returning from Hawaii, I‘ve received new orders, met people who chose to trust me after hearing my story, and watched new opportunities continue to appear.

Maybe I spent too much time trying to prove who I was.

My work has been doing that for me all along.

I still believe my life will contribute something meaningful to the ocean.

And I know I’m already on that path.

So I‘m going back to my little world.

Creating.

Testing.

Laughing.

Building things that make me happy.

Maybe some people can finally disappear from my story.

Not because what they did was okay,

but because they no longer deserve this much space in it.

#spearfishing #growth #dive #life by @reef.bae

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2 months ago

A bird’s nightmare

at the end of the dive, I tried to run the last time of the Flasher Test
Then I saw this little tiny thing
Then I came out with a very silly thought
“Can I catch it by hand?”

😂😂😂
Sorry bird

#dive #freedive by @reef.bae

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2 months ago

My buddies were seriously hunting fish.

I was seriously doing… whatever this is. 😂

All three of us were wearing AquaJoy holders the entire dive—swimming, diving, hunting, and apparently getting bored underwater.

No tangled movement. No stopping to adjust anything.

The product stayed out of the way.

The founder… maybe not. 😂

I may look like I’m just messing around, but watching, learning, and noticing little details is usually where my ideas begin.

Sometimes I’m probably just a large object floating between them and the fish—but it’s okay. I’m younger, so they have to forgive me. 🥹🌸🙏🏼
@jakecmadsen @bms_strengthtraining
Please forgive me to squeeze between you two all the time

#adhd #freedive #spearfishing #hawaii taken in Kona Hawaii by @reef.bae

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2 months ago