My Way Is The Highway

A Week On The Big Island, Hawaii

For the photographer in me, the grand finale of our week in Hawai’I was at Punalu’u.

The town known for the black sand beach is tucked on the south west corner of the Big Island. Amidst white surf pounding moss covered rocks, a green sea turtle stretched lazily. It hugged the warm stone achieving a posture of complete surrender or total disdain or both. That’s when I closed my little black notebook have checked every photo I wanted to take in Hawai’i. Mission accomplished.

You have to genuflect to the Brand Hawaii marketing engine.  The sound of word Hawai’I triggers automatically a mental slideshow: miles of sun-drenched beaches lapped by the pristine turquoise water. Coconut trees swaying to the warm tropical breeze. Oiled, suntanned, well toned  bodies on surf boards. Glorious sunsets witnessed over the rim of Mai Tai laced with slice of pineapple and little colorful umbrellas.

But I am not a beach resort vacation guy. If I were to visit Hawai’i, I want to see all of Hawai’i. The island that can be circum-driven in a total of six hours, after all, boasts 11 of 13 climate zones in the world! So I to split my week between the warm, humid beaches of the leeward Kona region and the wet tropical jungles of the windward Hilo after having set aside two days for the unique Volcano National Park.

Hawaii’s proximity to the equator guarantees astounding year round weather. “There is no bad time to visit Hawai’i.” the smiling girl selling lavender flowers at the farmer’s market said, “Though the best time to be here is is August.” It made sense. It is the month in which most of the mainland US is soaking in warm summer in that month and tourists stay put at home. Obviously the best time for incredible deals on the island.

In Kona, I stayed at a condominium resort, Aston Kona by the Sea, situated in the heart of the commercial center with a room that had a lanai (balcony) with a million dollar view of the Pacific ocean.  Every night I would leave the french doors of the balcony open and succumb to sleep within minutes listening to massive waves crashing against the rocks below.

We spent a morning at the farmer’s market handpicking sugar sweet Papayas and Chickoos, chatting with local artisans and appreciating their artwork.

Another afternoon, we booked a snorkeling trip with Fair Wind who took us aboard a catamaran to protected Kealakekua Bay, where Captain Cook landed in 1779. The beautiful cove with it lukewarm, emerald green water has some of the best coral and tropical fish on the big island. Rhea took to snorkeling easily and we had a blast.

 We made a day trip to the northwest part of the big island to the beautiful Hapuna beach on the Kohala coast. But not before we stopped at  Puako Archeological Preserve and hiked through a jungle singed by the volcano to see hundreds of petroglyphs etched in the lava rock by Native Hawaiians.  Through our stay, we favored the breakfast at Banjo Ben’s. For Mai Tai’s, there is no better place than Don’s Mai Tai Bar that is situated on the water and is a glorious spot for a sunset dinner. While you are there, make sure you ask for the Tiki Chips.

On the third day, as we switched from the west coast to the east driving around the scenic highway that hooks the horn of the big island. The climate zone change is perceptible. The terrain becomes rugged, drier, desolate. Long stretches of golden beaches are visible over the precipitous cliffs. On the way, we paid homage to the ancient Hawaiian settlement at Lapakahi that nestles the shoreline. The fishing tribe of Hawaiians lived  here 800 years ago and not much is known about them. Rubble that faintly borders habitats provide very little clue into the lives and times of the ancient ones. The view of the sea is to die for.

We stopped briefly at the statue of King Hamehameha, (the trick while pronouncing the Hawaiian names is to know when to stop ) spent and exhilarating hour at the Pololu look out and touched down at Hilo.

 

We had booked ourselves in the beautiful Dolphin Bay hotel, though Hilo was a disappointment. Some pretty water falls, the beautiful Richardson beach (which is also a good green turtle site – though I found none) and that pretty much it. Not much of nightlife, not many restaurants and it rained. Akaka falls was the saving grace of the stay.

 

Volcano National Park made it up for me. After all, where else can you park a car, walk 300 feet on solid tarmac and witness a century old volcano slowly brewing? Unfortunately, the rain followed us from Hilo the next day and put a hole in my plan to traverse the vast expanse of the crater on foot. But then hey, what a trip without a bummer? Plus how about leaving something for the next trip?

On our last day, with a plane to catch mid-morning, I could not resist the temptation to stop at the Pu’uhonua o Honaunau National Park to see the iconic statues. The park is today preserved as a place of historic importance. This is the very place a tribesman who broke a kapu could come to to avoid a capital punishment.

Strange land, strange rules.

Beautiful land, beautiful rules.

 

 

Pepeekeo on Dwellable

Kilauea Pit, Volcano National Park

It is no wonder Kilauea is called the world’s only active drive-in Volcano! You park your car, walk a 100 yards, take a seat by the stone retaining wall and lo – you see a sight like none other. Less than a mile away, on the hardened lava floor of the Halemaʻumaʻu crater , what looks like a gigantic blister that swallowed the sun, is a pit that has been burning since 1983. If ever one needs to a prototype for an “Entryway to Hell”, this is it.

It was past 10:00pm when I reached the lookout. The red glow can only be seen in the dark, during the days all you see is plumes of viscous smoke, There was a nip in the air and the caldera was cloaked in a shroud of silence. Big clumps of cumulus covered the full moon throwing an eerie shadow on the landscape.

I mounted my Nikon 300s on my tripod and took a few close up shots of the volcano using my Nikkor 18-200mm to zoom in. Since I wanted to capture a larger landscape, I mounted my Tokina 11-16mm, knowing well that the ultra wide 2.6 aperture will allow me to gather more light than my eyes could. With the lends wide open, I metered 8 seconds for shutter speed and recomposed my shots to gather more of the star studded sky and not to leave our the couple in the right bottom corner. A photographer standing next to me insisted on using his flash light, not aware that flash was futile at this distance, and I made sure I covered the eyepiece to prevent any additional, unwanted light tricking to the sensor.

The only post processing I did on this picture was to nudge the highlights slider in LightRoom to the right so that the sharp contours of the crater became apparent.

Technorati Tags: Kialuea,Volcano National Park,Hawaii,Hawai'i,Active Volcano,Halemaʻumaʻu crater,Nikon 300S,Tokina 11-16mm,LightRoom 3.0

Kilauea on Dwellable

Meeting Mr. Green Sea Turtle at Punalu’u Beach, Hawaii

He was splayed on the rock like a sinner at an altar, yet his face had the piety of a saint. His heavy shell heaved ever so gently to his belabored breath. Had he swam hundreds of miles to find terra firma? The surf pounding the green-brown rocks did not seem to bother him even a wee bit. He seemed content with his warm spot unmindful of the attention he was getting.

For me, this was a perfect end to a week in Hawai’i. I had been looking for green sea turtles all week long. I spent hours combing the Kahalu’u beach at Kona and Richardson beach at HIlo, both beaches known for Green Sea Turtle sighting, but to no avail.

Here at the picturesque black sand beach of Punalu’u, my quest was complete. My Hawai’i checklist was all ticked.

 

Photography Notes:
My Nikon 300S was mounted on a tripod. I had the  NIkkor 18-200 mm on to get real  close to the turtle without having to wade in the water. The sky was overcast. The surf was white as milk. There was very little contrast and color in the frame so I worked the  moss covered rocks into my picture. The diffused light allowed me to slow my shutter speed to 1/10th of a second to get the powder effect. I left the WB to auto as I was shooting RAW and I knew I could always adjust the WB in post-processing.

Post Processing Notes:
Most of my post-processing was focused on accentuating the turtle against the milky white surf. For this, I used the tone curve module in Lightroom and moved the Highlights and Lights slider to the left and nudged Darks and Shadows to the right. I also lowered the Exposure a notch and added a touch of Fill Light to lighten up the dark areas. I used the Blacks to define my absolute black point and the turtle popped out to my satisfaction. I saved the settings as a custom preset. I started the processing of every other turtle picture with this preset and made other minor adjustments.

Punaluu on Dwellable