I love epic cars and this is one of them – a Porsche 356 Speedster from the late 1950s. It appears to have been re-imagined a little as the rims, paint, some body work and Porsche hood badge all look recent… but really who cares! This is in Wailea, Hawaii at the Marriott on a stunning morning with just the right sunlight washing over the Porsche. You know how well kept the car is when you can see my reflection in the perfectly polished paint of the rear quarter panel. Would you like to join me for a drive?
Let’s start with the first answer… no, this is not me! I tried surfing once many years ago in Costa Rica and can accurately say its not my sport. For some reason I can hurdle myself down black diamond runs on skis or across the most gnarly mountain bike terrain, however ask me to stand on a surfboard and its instant face plant.
We are here at Ho’okipa Beach Park on the North side of Maui where the good surfers come out for some fun. I say good, as there is another area on the way to Lahaina where the beginners get going, and at the other extreme there is ‘Jaws’ at Peahi further up the road to Hana from Ho’okipa where the world’s most experienced surfers compete. This dude is one of 30 or so surfers out on this day.
Maui’s Pu’u Kukui volcanic mountain summit is your dinner ocean view at sunset
Who wouldn’t love a dinner setting like this right about now? Most of us are craving a nice meal out with friends and no masks. Happy to have this photo to remind us of what is not too far off once again. Wish I could say this was our dinner spot back in 2018, but alas, we walked past this wonderful table for 6 as we made our way to another location. No complaining allowed… it was warm, the food good, and we were having fun as a family.
This is Kilauea’s burning crater from January 2017. It was a beautiful night with some activity in the crater as seen by the light flash in the image… this is lava bubbling up. One year later and Kilauea is erupting again with new lava flows.
This was over the top for a northern canuck not used to life at the beach. Cars, people, surfboards, bikes everywhere. And while this picture has everything frozen in time, you need to imagine it all moving in slow motion. Hanalei Beach and Pier are almost at the end of the road in Northern Kauai, and a favorite stop for tourists (like us!). Beautiful beach worth the visit, particularly if you love people watching 🙂
Flying over Kauai’s Lihue-Koloa Forest Reserve in a helicopter an hour or so after sunrise, fortunate to capture these wonderful yellow and purple streaks of light and shadows across the mountain range.
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 Ê»oÊ»opu Ê»alamoÊ»o, 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!
life art images 