According to internet blogs, the Gold Dust Day Gecko originated from Madagascar, and was introduced to Hawaii in 1974 by a university student. Bright green in color, it gets its name from the gold specs across its back. We saw this one at the airport sunny itself on a rock among passengers.
Thinking this is my favorite photo from trip to Hawaii. It was our last night; we walked the lagoons behind the hotel and along Anaeho’omalu Beach watching the sun bring end to the day. As the saying goes… picture perfect!
The Rainbow Eucalyptus trees of Maui are found on the drive to Hana. Like good tourists, we read up on them before heading out, and yes they are there ready to be touched and photographed 🙂 Everything about the color is natural. Annually patches of outer bark are shed, leaving the inner bark exposed. This then darkens to a mix of blue, purple, orange and maroon. It really looks like someone painted the trunks!
Akaka Falls, at 442 feet, is the tallest on the Big Island of Hawaii and very impressive – powerful even – when up close. We were told of the ʻoʻopu ʻalamoʻo, an endemic Hawaiian species of goby fish, that spawns in stream above the waterfall, but matures in the sea. Checking with Wikipedia, it says these fish have a suction disk on their bellies that allows them to cling to the wet rocks behind and adjacent to the waterfall. Using this disk, they climb back up to the stream when it is time to spawn. Now that’s impressive!
Credit my daughter for being able to pick out this chameleon. True to it’s name, its multi-shades of green made it hard to see at first. It was in a mid-size dense tree out front of a breakfast place we were eating at in Maui, Hawaii. This is my first chameleon to see and photograph in the wild, and can say I’m amazed at the horns, the ability for the eyes to look forward and backward at same time, and how the hands can grip a small branch so tightly. And yes, they do rock back and forth as they walk!
Sweet! We awoke at 2:30am and were in the car by 3am on our way to the peak of Haleakala Crater in Maui. A steep switch back road with no street lights or guardrails, you climb for hours, breaking through the ceiling of clouds, and reaching the main lookout shortly after 5am. Patiently waiting until dawn breaks, we were rewarded with almost an hours’ worth of changing light until finally the sun broke the horizon. This picture, about half hour before sunrise, has the moon and stars still visible, while the early glow of the sun spreads across the clouds (sitting below the horizon).
This is the Kamokuna ocean entry photographed from the helicopter at 7:45am during our recent trip to the Big Island of Hawaii. It is completely surreal to watch lava flow into the ocean! We flew up the lava flows and were able to watch active lava tubes along the way and then one of the craters itself.
Every wonder what a bee looks like on a Blackeyed Susan? Probably not! I didn’t either, but hey, it does look kind of cool doing its thing. Really neat how you can see the pollen on its feet and antenna. Photo taken with the new Lensbaby 56 – this is one super lens that is sharp and requires no post adjustments.
What you can’t see here is the group of 30+ people behind me, watching Tommy and Mary lose themselves in their music on the streets of London, England (look at window of the bus to see a few of those people reflected). Pure emotion, amazing chemistry, incredible drumming, and loud… very loud.
We grow a mix of small and large white and pink roses in our home garden. This particular pink rose is the last for summer and fall this year, and was still on its stem in full bloom when photographed at 7am a couple weeks ago.
life art images 