When I was a kid, my family lived in Kihei on the island of Maui. During the 1990s when I was growing up, Kihei was one of the fastest growing towns in the nation. Unfortunately, it grew so fast that some of the city planning came in after the fact. These rapid developments led to a fairly chaotic urban sprawl across South Maui. When I was in high school there was much talk about a “Greenway” that would cut through the entire town of Kihei. This space was supposed to...… (more info)
We showed up at the Outfitters Kauai office in Poipu at just before 6AM to check in for their downhill bike trip. The ride goes down the road along the rim of the Waimea Canyon. A couple weeks ago I went on a hike along the opposite rim of the canyon, so I knew what kinds of incredible landscapes we would encounter on today’s bike ride. It was a rather grey morning at the headquarters in Poipu so I was a little worried that rain could become a factor during the ride. My worries dissolved as we traveled...… (more info)
I had just done a trip along the Napali Coast about two weeks prior and there were whales everywhere then, so I was pretty confident that we were about to have at least one encounter with a playful group of whales today. If I had only known how many whales we were about to see I would’ve strapped my GoPro cameras down all over the boat because we were literally surrounded by a group of whales for almost ten minutes. … (more info)
Today we went out with Aloha Kauai Tours on their Kauai Backroads 4x4 Tour. We met the group at the Kilohana Plantation where we parked my truck and jumped in their customized 4x4 van. We became acquainted with the other members of the tour as our soft spoken driver eased the van back onto the highway. Our driver explained that he was born and raised on Kauai and that he was over seventy years old. He told stories of his youth, and the many changes that the island has gone through since that time. As he turned the van off of the highway and onto a dirt road, he gestured towards the dense jungle and told the group… (more info)
I had an idea of what we were getting into when I showed up at the headquarters of the Wailua River Guides in Kapaa, but I had no idea how much I was going to really enjoy the kayak and the hike up the river that we did today with Wailua River Guides. The story actually starts before I got to the headquarters when I was getting ready to leave my house. I was having one of those mornings where it was just taking me forever to get everything ready. Then, because I was already behind, I started feeling pressured for time and lost my rhythm. This resulted in a feeling that I needed to be constantly double checking to make sure that I had all my photo equipment (which there is a lot of in my bag). Lets just say, when I got there I was still feeling little bit of lingering anxiety from earlier in the morning. Once I got on the boat and got wet, then paddled for a few minutes and got my blood pumping it felt like the rocky start to the day had never even happened.… (more info)
I remember passing by the sign for Kauai Photo Tours in Kapaa when I first came over to Kauai in January and thinking to myself how much I was looking forward to going on that trip. I noticed on the sign it said they had a photo shop in addition to the tour. That was great information to know because the very next day I realized that I had left my lens cleaner on Maui. I went strait to their store to get more. Being an amateur photographer myself, I was impressed by there selection and ended up walking out with lens cleaner, as well as a UV Filter, and a Circular Polarizing Filter. After visiting the shop and meeting the staff I became even more interested in the photo tour. When I woke up this morning, I was very excited got to finally have the opportunity to go on this tour, hopefully learn some new techniques, and to get some good photography opportunities along the way as well.… (more info)
I love the sunset sails on Kauai. I really appreciate that with these sails, there is an actual destination to the whole adventure. You get to sail all the way to the Napali coast while you watch the sun go down. The enjoyed this much more then some of the other sunset sails that just sort of aimlessly travel around in circles watching the sun go down. We saw dolphins and whales along the way were pretty amazing, but the sight of the 3000+ foot tall cliffs is what I've always considered to be the highlight of these trips.… (more info)
Today we had something happen that was slightly out of the ordinary. We were on an air tour around Kauai with Airventures Air Tours, when out of the depths of the ocean underneath us appeared a pod of massive Humpback Whales. The pilot saw them and made a massive figure eight around them so people on both sides of the plane could see them.
I remember the first time I stood up on a wave. It was a sunny day at a break near Oluwalu on Maui. It was in the middle of one of the summertime adventures with my uncle Dennis that were commonplace during my childhood. I was about 5 years old and the surf was a little over waist high on me at the time. I was on an old short board that was probably about 3 inches thick so Dennis had no problem pushing me into the wave. I remember standing up and putting my arms above my head, screaming and feeling so proud of myself as I proceeded to ride the wave strait in all the way onto the shallow reef where I crashed, cutting my arm and ending my session. Too bad I did not have a nice sandy place like Hanalei Bay to learn, or I probably would’ve been able to catch more then one wave and enjoyed a much better first surfing experience (regardless of the cut, that first wave I stood up on was still amazing!).… (more info)
This morning I woke up to very wet and rainy weather at my house in Lihue. My girlfriend had to work and I really wanted to do something more exciting then messing around inside on my computer all day. I got out my checklist of activities and immediately Kipu Ranch ATV stood out on the list. As I picked up the phone to make a reservation I thought to myself how perfect an ATV ride was going to be on a muddy day like today. … (more info)
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