Capturing the Moment

When you live in Maui anything can happen.

I have been wanting to go on a big hike through the volcanic crater here on Maui for a long time. The last time I went up with Mark and Heidi we were so frozen after the sunrise that we canned the hike. So with another friend in town, Ryan, and our good friend Pat, I had new motivation to go hike this surreal landscape. We picked an absolutely gorgeous day. It was in the low 60's up at the 10,000ft summit for the start of our hike. We walked through so many landscapes and microclimates that it is no wonder so many endemic species of flora and fauna can be found here. The plant pictured here is a silversword and the bird is the Hawaii State bird called the Nene. Both can only be found here.

A visit from an old friend, Mark Chynoweth, inspired a very early morning mission to the top of Haleakala, our active volcano here on Maui. We rallied at 3am to make sure we wouldn't miss the sunrise from the 10,000ft summit. It is a windy road and we went through about every extreme weather condition to make it but make it we did. No rain, heavy fog, freezing temperatures, or 30+knot gust were going to keep us from watching the sunrise. It did just about frostbite our hands trying to take pictures. But our dedication paid off with one of the most beautiful sun rises I have ever seen. The two volcanoes on the Big Island looked like floating islands in a sea of clouds. Luckily we were above the cloud layer with the full moon setting behind us and the sun sending up blues and purples and pinks across the horizon.

Here are some pictures from above and below the water.

Aloha! Things are looking up here on Maui as I finally got up the courage to get a new underwater camera. I got a great deal on a Canon G12 with its housing and immediately took it out to test it out. It has amazing HD video so I am hoping to get some good stuff up soon. In the meantime enjoy a little green sea turtle action and a view from inside an underwater sea cave with a few inhabitants of its own.