Category Archives: Travel

Underwater Shooting

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Something I have never done before is snorkeling.  Having grown up by the sea, I am not sure why this would be but perhaps it is down to the lack of reefs with plenty to see.  Snorkeling is very popular on Kauai and I figured I should really try it out.  I grabbed a mask and snorkel at a store in Hanalei and headed out to the reef at Tunnels.  Having never used a snorkel in anger, I was a little unsure of how I would get on.  After a bit of practice breathing while having my face underwater, I started drifting around the reef.

At first there was nothing special to see but suddenly I found myself surrounded by tropical fish.  They were everywhere and seemed not terribly perplexed by my presence.  It was like being in a documentary except it was right in front of me.  Time went by very quickly without me realizing it.

I decided to take along the GoPro with me while I was swimming about.  With so much activity in front of you, it is something that you really want to be able to share.  The GoPro is a great little device but it is not the perfect solution for underwater filming.  Basically, filming underwater is not straightforward and requires good planning and the right equipment.  The light is flat and the colors muted.  I was chatting with a a pro underwater photographer and we compared notes about what we need for our respective areas.

Having said all of that, I did get some footage so here you go with a sample of what I saw.

Hanalei

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The place we stay on Kauai is a short journey from the lovely town of Hanalei.  You drop down the side of the hill and cross the river to get to the town which is beside a lovely bay.  It certainly isn’t a large town – this is Kauai after all – but it has a few nice shops and some good places to eat.  However, the best feature is the bay.  (No sign of Puff the Magic Dragon though!)

As the sun goes down, the light on the beach is really attractive.  Not only is it a beautifully curved beach but the mountains in the background make the whole place feel even more special.  I really could stay there for a very long time.  It is an attractive spot to others as well.  If you have seen the Descendents, this is the beach they walked along and the house that the other family were renting.  Here it is below for those movie buffs amongst you.

National Tropical Botanic Garden

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The climate on Kauai varies depending on which part of the island you are on.  It can be tropical or almost desert like.  Some places are drenched with rain almost continuously.  The tropical area makes a great place for a tropical botanic garden so that is exactly what is there.  The garden is located inland from the entrance so you need to take a shuttle to get into it.  Once there, you are free to wander around.

There are some really interesting plant types and the landscaping of the place is very attractive.  There were a few other visitors when we were there but it certainly wasn’t busy and we could be pretty much alone as we wandered around.  It did rain a little while we were there.  This is supposed to be the drier side of the island but I guess we brought the rain with us from the north side of the island.  However, the showers were only occasional and we had borrowed umbrellas from the office so we were fine.

Not only were there great trees and plants to check out but we also got to feel what it was like to be surrounded by a plant.  Check out this battle between nature and the road!

Kilauea Lighthouse

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We repeated another part of the trip from last year when we went out to Kilauea lighthouse.  This is a peninsula which not only provides a good navigation reference but is also a great spot for watching some bird activities.  The birds roost on the rock faces and head out to sea to fish.  However, some are less inclined to do the hard work.

The frigate birds prefer to wait for the boobies to return from fishing and then harass them into dropping their catch and scooping it up themselves.  Out by the lighthouse is a great place to watch this happening.  The lighthouse itself is undergoing restoration at the moment and is covered in protective material.  It doesn’t make a good photography target for the time being.  Glad I saw it last year!  however, the fencing around it apparently was popular with a young booby.  Not sure why he would choose that when there is so much human free space around but there you go!

There were also some dolphins swimming around in the bay below us.  They were a long way off and hard to spot but it was still exciting to spot them.  I could really spend ages out on the headland.  The wind blows you about but the birds are so close and the view is so good, it is hard to find a good reason to leave!

Na’Pali Coast

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One of the beautiful features of Kauai is the northwestern coastline.  Last year we took a look at it from the air and you can find the previous piece here if you want to look back at it.  This year, we went the opposite way and went for the boat trip to see the coast from below!  We were on a catamaran with a group of about a dozen other people.  We cruised up the coast looking at the various features as we went.  We could pull in to inlets, look at the caves, check out the water falling from above and see the mountains above.

The weather was a bit mixed with some cloud rolling in but it was still pretty good.  The area is gorgeous and seeing it from this perspective was a really great thing.  Bobbing about on the waves was very relaxing and we were at the end of the day so the whole trip had a very calming feeling to it.

The return leg was less calming though.  The weather decided it wasn’t going to be calm any more.  The wind got up a bit and the rain started.  We bounced about on the way back.  There was an area on the boat under cover which was welcome but, with the boat pitching about a bit, you needed to keep an eye on the horizon to avoid feeling rough.  This worked fine and we got back without any problems (or loss of lunch).  The rain did have some advantages with it providing a great rainbow at one point.

I would not say that there is a best way to see Na’Pali.  If you can, the combination of air and sea is great.  It certainly isn’t cheap but the two methods really do give you a great perspective on a beautiful area.

Kauai Sunrise

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One of the great opportunities on Kauai is to see the sunset.  Sure, you can get great sunsets in a whole bunch of places but somehow it seems better when you are in a tropical paradise!  This year we didn’t make the trip to the beach at Ke’e which is a popular sunset spot.  Of course, sunset isn’t the only opportunity.

The sun comes up in some pretty ways to and where we stayed provides a good view of proceeding.  We did get a few opportunities to see the sun come up (the time change makes for early rising) and light up the sky.  However, the weather wasn’t always cooperative on this trip so it was the luck of the draw some times.  However, I think we did okay!

Hawaii Time

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We recently got to take another great trip.  Like last year, we were back in Hawaii and most of the time was spent on Kauai with a bit of time on Maui at the end.  There is no disguising it – Hawaii is a great place to go.  Whether it is the beautiful scenery, the activities to be done or the chance to just relax away from everything for a while, it is a great spot.

We did a bunch of stuff while we were there and this is going to drip feed into the blog in the coming weeks.  So much to see and report you will be sick of it before too long.  However, I will try and intersperse a few other bits into the stream so you don’t feel it is too one-sided.  Besides, where are the planes?

Bay Area Birds

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A while back I was in in the Bay Area and was near SFO.  While the area is a good one for getting shots of the airliner traffic heading into the airport there, it is also a great spot for seeing some birds.  The tidal flats are a popular spot for a bunch of shoreline birds.  There are also some large birds like egrets that hang out there.

Pelicans are another type that show up pretty frequently.  Coyote Point is a good spot for the pelicans since they like to soar along the ridge formed by the point and come right past you.  I wasn’t there to specifically take pictures but I did manage to grab some of them as they came by.  Hummingbirds also hang out on the point but I didn’t get any shots of them this time.  However, there is always another chance!

Dreamliner Storage

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A recent trip to the Pacific Northwest recently included a free afternoon in which I had a chance to do some exploring.  When I first new I was going to be in the area for a couple of hours, I wondered what to do.  I was thinking about shooting at Boeing Field or Everett.  Everett can have some interesting moves but can also have absolutely nothing happening.  Boeing Field can be the same of course.  I was still pondering this when on the flight across and then it occurred to me that Everett had some other things I had been meaning to do for a while other than hope for wide-body moves from the Boeing plant.

Paine Field (to give it its proper name) is home to a number of vintage aircraft collections.  I shall describe more exploration of them in upcoming posts.  However, as an appetizer, I shall mention something that does involve Boeing wide-bodies.  The 787 parking lot!  I knew that Boeing had produced a bunch of 787 airframes while they were still dealing with the design and production issues and that these were stored awaiting rework for delivery.  I had even seem some pictures.  However, I guess I had not really thought about it until I got there.

Paine Field is covered in Dreamliners!  They are everywhere.  Every time you go to a different part of the field, you come across 787s parked up.  Some are in areas being worked on prior to delivery.  Others are sitting on spare ramp space awaiting their turn in the rework process.  Some can be identified either because they are fully painted or parts of them are that allow you to work out where they will go.  Others are just white and who knows what awaits them.  They have large weights attached to the engine pylons to keep them balanced without forking out huge amounts of cash for the engines.  If you are of an accounting bent, you will still marvel at the amount of cash tied up in these airframes that will not be cleared out for at least 18 months.  No engines reduces this a bit but they are still expensive things to have lying around.  Boeing ran out of their own space so they are renting space from the airport for all of this parking.  I guess the airport is happy to have a bunch of cash coming in without having to suffer too much inconvenience!

If you are anywhere near Everett in the coming months, do at least pass by to see just how much is there.  Of course there are plenty of new jets being readied for delivery too but that just makes it look even more amazing!