Haleakala Crater

Haleakala National Park, Maui, Hawaii.

The Hawaiian islands are a geological "hotspot".  No seriously, that's what they call it.  The volcanos here aren't caused by tectonics like such volcanoes as Shasta and Saint Helens.  The islands formed by the hotspot spewing lava up.  Separate islands formed when the tectonic plate moved and eruptions would occur in different places.  Thus each of the peaks are formed.  Basically it's one volcano but it's opening in the earth's crust is moving.

Haleakala, on Maui, is a dormant volcano.  It stands at 10,023 feet above sea level.  It is also taller than Mt. Everest if you count the portion beneath the ocean's surface.  This is looking down into the crater, which is about a 3000 foot drop.  It was very cool to look down into the crater and pick out the most recent lava flows.  Not pictured is the Big Island just off to the right.

The popular thing to do is get up to the summit for sunrise to watch the sun rise just above the ceiling of the clouds.  This is about an hour after sunrise (I chickened out - due to a combination of 20-30 degree wind chilled weather when I packed for the tropics and the two hour drive it would have taken).  In the 10,000 feet we climbed there was a 40 degree temperature drop.

Santa's visit to Sangha Center

The Sangha Center for Spiritual Living asked me to shoot this event Saturday.  It was to bring Christmas to "low income single fathers" and their kids in the area.  Sangha does "Project Angel" every year and this year they chose to do families with single fathers.  The members of the Sangha Community had the opportunity over the past few weeks to look over each child's Christmas list and go out and buy gifts for the children (no matter how big). 

Sangha found the families through American Family Housing,which feeds and houses the homeless (please check out their site) while they save money and get education.

It was such a great experience.  Here's some of the highlights from that day...

Each of the children got a stocking from Santa while the fathers got to take home all their gifts to open on Christmas.

Diva Gray sang Christmas songs

The Rev. Dr. David Phears opens with a blessing

A single grandfather and one of the children

And lots of food...

 The elfs for the day...

And Namaste to you!

They played a little game passing around an envelope at teach table.  The winner got...

...lottery tickets

Then there was a Santa sighting.  And he got a little help with the ho ho hoing.

Trying on the gifts...

"No Santa, don't go..."

Rainbow to Hana

Rainbow to Hana

Haleakala National Park, Maui, Hawaii.

This part of the coast, along "the road to Hana", is home to the Seven Sacred Pools (which you may have heard of). The mouth to the Palikea Stream is just to the left of the white water.

After an all day drive on Maui's East coast my wife and I finally wound up here with some decent light. The only problem with this part of Maui is it's very wet. The rain would roll through for 5-10 minutes at a time where I had to take my shirt off and cover the camera with it. The good thing is that just before the rain hit I would get these vivid rainbows!

I figured this particular rainbow is pretty much pointing at Hana (a few miles back) - thus the title is born...

Ke'anae Peninsula

This is the Ke'anae Peninsula.  It can be found by a little spur road off of the famous "road to Hana".  The wife and I ventured out on this road not knowing what we would find and came across the amazing coastal scene where the rough surf was pounding away at the shore made by lava.  It was truly a testament to the sea's power.  In this shot I tried to capture the power of the surf.

Here's the latest from my Maui, Hawaii trip. 

This is the first shot in a series that I'll hopefully upload and there's a great story behind it.  If you know who Dr. Wayner Dyer is this might mean a little more to you.  Wayne Dyer is one of my spiritual mentors and he happens to live in Maui very near where me and my wife stayed this past week.  They day before we had to head back home we ran into him on the beach in front of our hotel and he invited us to a fund raiser and viewing of his new movie "The Shift" ( if you haven't seen it do yourself a favor and check it out! http://www.dyermovie.com/) the next night. 

We managed to squeeze it in just before our flight home.  So not being satisfied with the sunsets I've shot thus far I was frantically looking for a last good sunset spot to shoot on the way to the event.  We got to the private estate at the end of the road and didn't see anything worth wasting the time on so I decided to cut my losses and just go inside.  By no stroke of luck the best was saved for last.  On the coastal edge of the estate was this scene.  So I got to spend some time with Wayne Dyer and Ram Dass (who was attending also) and I got the shot I was looking for!

The island of Kaho‘olawe is in the background, which is a member of the four islands that make up Maui County.  Some facts about Kaho‘olawe: it is 11 miles long by 6 miles wide, with a total area of 44.6 square miles.  The highest point is the crater of Lua Makika at the summit of Puʻu Moaulanui, which is 1,477 feet above sea level.  One of the drier islands, the annual rainfall is about 26 inches. 

Beginning in World War II, the island was used as a training ground and bombing range by the United States military.  The Navy ended live-fire training on Kahoʻolawe in 1990, and the island was transferred to the State of Hawaii in 1994.  No one is allowed to go within two miles of the island today.  One of the fears is that live ammunition may have been left behind.

Wayne Dyer's movie "The Shift" can now be watched online!

 If you haven't seen Wayne Dyer's movie "The Shift" do yourself a favor and check it out!    This movie has the power to change your life.  You can now watch it online.

Here's the trailer...

Back from Maui, Hawaii

I'm back from an awesome trip to Maui with my wife and thought I'd share some images.

We ended up going on two whale/dolphin trips while out there.  It was interesting because the first boat ride we only saw one whale from a distance the whole three hours so they gave us a free boat ride the next day and that day ended up being quite the ride.  We saw a few different Humpback Whales and dolphins.

Here's a Humpback Whale fluke from our second whale watching trip.

More to come!