Capturing the Moment

  It was a beautiful day to check out Lake Champlain. It was tough for me, walking on the uneven and slippery snow with my hurt leg, but it was worth it to get some of these beautiful views. Its not every year that Lake Champlain freezes, because it is a massive lake. But this has been a cold winter, and the news broke recently that it was frozen all the way across. That means you could walk from Vermont across to New York. My friend, Ed, from Savannah, was here visiting so I thought this would be a good opportunity to go check out the lake. There is a big causeway, or dike, that creates an inner Mallets Bay from the outer lake. It takes about a half mile from the parking lot to make it out for views of the lake. The trail was covered in snow, as was the lake.

  Deep in the woods without another soul in sight. I returned from Hawaii to find my little town of Stowe, Vermont, deep in a powdery blanket of snow. It was a 100 degree shift, which was tough, but the snowboarding potential kept my attitude positive. After a couple of bluebird sunny days, a thick new blanket of snow covered the town. I had to do a walk about to snag some photos and try to capture the feel of being in this quaint New England town in the middle of winter.

  A school of goatfish glide next to the sunken hull of the shipwreck off the coast of Lana'i. Today was a blustery day in the Hawaiian Islands. All of the snorkel and whale watching boats canceled for the day, but not us. We are an expedition ship, so we can operate in conditions that others deem undoable. We spent the morning cruising under 3,000ft sea cliffs on the North side of Molokai. These cliffs are some of the tallest in the world, and there are numerous waterfalls tumbling off of them into the ocean. Snorkeling at a shipwreck off the coast of Lana'i. This is a rare adventure, as this coastline is usually pounded by surf and high winds. The wildlife was out in abundance. It is the time of year when humpback whales migrate here, so we had plenty of encounters throughout the day. We had several brown footed boobies flying by, as well as a mom and baby bottlenose dolphin swim over for a visit. But the big adventure of the day, was snorkeling at a huge shipwreck off the No...

  The humpback whales are here in force right now. Maui is the epicenter of the humpback migration. It where many of the North Pacific humpback population comes to mate and have their babies. My kayak team got an amazing look at this surfacing whale. I've had some pretty amazing weeks aboard the Safari Explorer, here in the Hawaiian Islands, but this past week may have taken the cake. We had manta rays show up during our night snorkel on the Big Island, we had sunrise humpback whales swimming under our small boats at Maui, we discovered rare nudibranchs while snorkeling in Lana'i, and hiked to secret waterfall pools through the rainforest of Molokai. Our guests were able to meet interesting and passionate locals on the different islands, helping to immerse into these amazing locations. We are only expedition ship that sails between the Hawaiian Islands, so we are able to provide a very unique adventure. Most people stay in Waikiki, and don't make it far from the hotel pool....

  Enjoying beautiful views, 6000ft up the side of Hualalai Volcano. This is a high ridgeline next to a massive volcanic fissure. In 1800 the land split apart and lava came fountaining out, creating this ridge we are on. Hawaii is filled with amazing hikes. There are hikes to waterfalls and up steep hills to WWII bunker relics. But some of my favorite hikes are well off the beaten path. That definitely describes the hike we went on today. Way up the side of the Big Island's Hualalai Volcano, behind closed gates, is a wonderful hike that passes interesting volcanic geology, through pristine native Hawaiian forest, all while being serenaded by endemic honeycreeper birds. All of these things are seldom seen by locals, and almost never seen by tourist visiting the islands. You need special permission to access these ancient royal lands, but that is why I wanted to take you with me through photos and stories into this wonderful, wild, place. Known as the 'Hidden Craters' hike, on...

  The Safari Explorer loads up guests for a week long adventure through the islands at the Kona Pier in downtown Kona. Before I meet my expedition cruise ship, the Safari Explorer, and sail out between the Hawaiian Islands, I wanted to take in our cute starting town of Kona, on Hawaii's southernmost island, the Big Island. Being on the most isolated island chain on earth, it does mean that it takes a long flight to get here...from pretty much anywhere. The closest large landmass is 2,400miles away. But as I walked out of the Kailua-Kona airport, I was greeted with a beautiful rainbow, swaying palm trees, and that fresh salty air. I felt invigorated to walk the town and really take it all in. So come along with me and check it out! The town of Kona used to be the capitol of the Hawaiian Kingdom back in the early 1800's. After Kamehameha, a chief from this island, conquered all the islands, he returned here to live out the rest of his life. His personal temple can still be seen h...