Swimming with a Honu
I went on a sailing trip up the Na Pali coast yesterday. The morning was clear and we had a great trip with visits from a couple of separate pods of dolphins and a few humpback whales. After turning around at the Kalalau Valley, the captain found us a calm cove and we had an hour to snorkel. Halfway through the swim, I found a Green sea turtle fishing down in the coral.
–
I was about 30′ above it and just floated along watching it swim and explore. After a few minutes, it surfaced and when it turned to me, I had a second to photograph it swimming. Soon after with lungs full of fresh air, it descended again and soon disappeared into the blue.
Sharing this post is welcomed - but please do not use individual images without permission from Christopher Martin in advance.
Palm tree sunset in Wailua
We had a lovely sunset a couple of nights ago. The western of Wailua, where I am staying, has a few mountain ridges and valleys blocking the view to the ocean directly but the on this night the sky was beautiful. A stand of palm trees in the courtyard made a great silhouette to anchor the pastel lines.
Sharing this post is welcomed - but please do not use individual images without permission from Christopher Martin in advance.
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.
(please click on the image to open a page with a higher resolution version)
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.
Sharing this post is welcomed - but please do not use individual images without permission from Christopher Martin in advance.
Feasting on rainbows
This Manini (Acanthurus triostegus) was one of many swimming in the sheltered cove at the Lydgate Beach Park when I was snorkelling there yesterday. The fish has a great nickname, the Convict Tang, owing to the stripes resembling those of a prisoner’s uniform of old. When this one moved into an area of the rocks and coral where rainbows were shimmering, I swung my camera that way.
A good friend loaned me a waterproof casing for one of my cameras and it has been fun to play around with during time on the water. It’s a different game shooting underwater and I am really having fun learning a bit of the how tos required to get a good image. A very (very) long ways to go to approach the likes of Brian Skerry though!
Sharing this post is welcomed - but please do not use individual images without permission from Christopher Martin in advance.
Sunrise across Kalihiwai Bay
I went further up island to the north shore for sunrise this morning. I went to Kalihiwai Bay which lies between Kilauea and Hanalei and opens its arms to the Pacific due North. I went along the western side towards Anini Beach so that I would see the colors in the sky and the sun rising out of the east across the bay. It proved to be a very nice location to photograph daybreak from.
Sharing this post is welcomed - but please do not use individual images without permission from Christopher Martin in advance.
On the rocks
The sunrise was beautiful this morning. Ahead of the sun coming over the horizon, I got out into the water and used the silhouetted rocks to anchor the foreground. In this photograph, I made these rocks the main subject as I waited for the sun.
Sharing this post is welcomed - but please do not use individual images without permission from Christopher Martin in advance.
Pele’s Visit to Hanalei
Pele is one of the Hawaiian deities and is often associated with the volcanic activities on the islands. She also holds dominion over lightning, wind and fire. One evening, I watched her play with lightning, throwing it over the ridges that rise up from the Hanalei Valley on Kaua’i’s north shore. For almost three hours, beginning at dusk, the clouds lit up with strikes that branched across the sky.
I watched the storm from the Hanalei outlook in Princeville. That put me at almost the same elevation as the strikes which hammered the far side of the valley. With each flash, the taro field ponds lit up as well. The deep blue sky early in the evening tempered the color in the sky. When the valley was totally dark, each flash illuminated the scene in wild shades of purple. It was incredible to see the changes in the color, the clouds and the storm through the night.
–
–
Pele became more ferocious as the night deepened. Gradual at first, with the wind picking up slowly but steadily and the lightning coming every couple of minutes. Then increasing quickly along with drops of rain that turned into a downpour after just a few minutes. I retreated to shelter with the rain drenching me and the lightning tracing arcs directly above me. It was raw power and I enjoyed watching the goddess at work – by the end there was a determined nature to the storm that made it feel like play had been joined by purpose.
–
Sharing this post is welcomed - but please do not use individual images without permission from Christopher Martin in advance.
Contemplation
Sharing this post is welcomed - but please do not use individual images without permission from Christopher Martin in advance.
Ilio-holo-i-ka-uaua
(please click on any picture to open a higher resolution version)
Ilio-holo-i-ka-uaua – that’s what the Hawaiian Monk Seal (Monachus schauinslandi) is called in the Hawaiian language. Literally, it means dog that runs in rough water. We were watching a sea turtle that had pulled up on a beach in Po’ipu when a friendly fellow who was chatting with Bobbi, told her about a Monk seal he had just seen on a nearby, although fairly remote, beach a little while earlier. So, we packed up, drove down an old dirt road, hiked over forested sand dune and about half an hour later, we were watching a seal that had hauled itself well up onto the beach.
The kids had fallen asleep between beaches, so Bobbi and I alternated a couple of visits to the seal. The ropes had been set up so passersby did not stray (or walk intently) too close to these critically endangered animals. Most people respected the boundaries. When the seal slid out of the area that had been cordoned off to provide some space, it rubbed up against one of the poles which was curious – maybe just an opportunity for a scratch or it was checking out the scent left behind by the person who placed it.
A few minutes afterwards, the seal had settled a couple of yards above the water line. It remained there for almost an hour. People continued to stay back even without an updated perimeter with only two exceptions – nothing that seemed to impact the seal but a local fellow nearby set the clueless observers straight. The image below was not one of the too close encounters.
I had the benefit of my long lenses and was able to keep well away from the seal and its path back to the ocean. It dozed for most of the time we were there and not much interrupted its rest. When it was back down at the surf, even waves that reached up and covered its face, most only a little, rarely even opened an eye.
Kian and Kezia woke up after an hour and made the trek down to the beach with us. It was great to watch the seal together and they were really interested in this beautiful animal, how big it was (7′ long I would guess) and why it was sleeping so much!
Nearing sunset and following one good wave in the face, the eyes opened and the seal made short work of the rest of the beach between it and the open water. It undulated forward, sliding across the sand and slipped into the water.
–
–
–
–
–
There it was transformed from the ungainly land mammal to a graceful sea creature. It was great to watch it swim for the first hundred yards or so before it went underwater.
This was the last glimpse I had as it headed out to sea. We lingered for another hour as there was some family sand castle building required. One of the best days we’ve had in Hawai’i.
Sharing this post is welcomed - but please do not use individual images without permission from Christopher Martin in advance.
Sand crabs on Nukoli’i
Along with offering a beautiful shoreline for framing the sunrise, Nukoli’i Beach has many other appealing features and details. The latest one I discovered was the small sand crabs that own the beachfront just above the tide mark. They are only a couple of inches across and dig down into little holes.
They ball the sand up downhole, bring it out and then fling it across the beach. When a rogue wave washes over their entrance, they dig out and start the excavation all over again. Sitting still near a few of these holes, it only took a couple of minutes until the crabs came out and resumed their activities.
–
–
Sharing this post is welcomed - but please do not use individual images without permission from Christopher Martin in advance.
Spirits on the beach
Ahead of a stormy sunrise, people were moving along the beach, talking with others and taking photographs. I used a 20 second exposure (with f/16 at ISO 200) with the intent to blur the water and the clouds. When I saw how the people took on an ethereal quality in varying amounts, dependent on how long they stayed in place during the exposure, I played with that idea for a while.
Sharing this post is welcomed - but please do not use individual images without permission from Christopher Martin in advance.
Running with the Kolea
I photographed a pair of Pacific Golden Plover, called Kolea in Hawaiian, in the grasses near our hotel this morning. They scuttled about the grass in the same fashion as I had observed them skip over rocks along the shoreline last year on a beach further north here in Kaua’i. In the photograph above, I panned the camera while one of the birds ran nearby.
