The Na Pali Coast

One of my favourite places on Earth is Ke’e Beach at the end of the road on Kaua’i’s north shore.  The road ends at the beach and from there the Na Pali coast begins.  The beach has been a great location for swims with my kids, snorkelling with my parents, a visit with a beautiful monk seal while the wild coastline has always provided a spectacular background to it all as well as wonderful times spent hiking and sailing with my wife.

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Last year, I photographed the coastline in the late evening with the waves crashing onto the first cliff face.  One of the images from that time on the rocks was one of my favourite landscapes in 2011 and was well-regarded in a National Geographic photo contest.  Whenever I’m at Ke’e, I keep an eye towards the sets of cliffs that stretch westward.  There is usually something good happening visually – and sometimes it is magnificent.

A couple of days ago, I was knee-deep in the water on the east side of the beach having a great time photographing two very different subjects. One was a large seal that lounged through the day and as the afternoon waned, there was a half hour where it bounded through the shallow water, playfully rolling, swimming and slowly making its way across the submerged rocks out to the reef and the open water.  The second was the Na Pali cliffs which were thrown into progressively darker silhouettes down the coastline with the sea spray hanging like textured mist in the air from the endless pounding of the waves into the rocks.  The greens and blues in the water reminded me of gemstones while the muted greens hazed by the mist seemed to suggest the breathing of the rain forest.  Really great individual details to pull together.

The sunset came and went without much excitement as a low cloud bank out at sea swallowed up the sun before any color came into the sky.  I was not disappointed though as the afternoon performance was pretty incredible.  Coupled with the seal made for another memorable visit to Ke’e.