Capturing the Moment

  The coral reefs and plentiful diving of Maui might be hard to find here on Oahu, at least from the shore, but our first dive since moving here provided lots of thrills. Moray eels, spinner dolphins, turtles, eagle rays, an octopus, three leaf scorpionfish, and five kind of nudibranchs. Not a bad haul as far as marine life is concerned. Check out some of the pictures from the two hour dive at Electric Beach.   Electric beach is one of the most popular shore dives on Oahu's west coast. I had never been past Pearl Harbor before in that direction so this was breaking new ground. The west coast is very dry with a ridge of mountains coming right down to the water. Very beautiful, especially when you pull into the parking lot and immediately see spinner dolphins playing just offshore. 1 of 2 Spotted Eagle Rays Green Sea Turtle, "Honu" Yawning Scorpionfish   One unique feature of this spot, is a large factory on the inland side of the road which has two under...

Who needs Waikiki when you have Ala Moana beach Hawaii Kai   Sometimes a regular sized photo just isn't enough to capture the scene. Luckily my super wide angle lens can be useful for more than just underwater photography, it takes great panoramic shots. Here are a few of my favorite from my first week on Oahu. From cityscapes, to tranquil towns, lonesome islands, and contemplative ocean lovers....Oahu has it all. Lonely Mokoli'i Island. I really want to kayak out and explore it. It took a composite of three pictures to get this view of Diamond Head and Waikiki One ocean lover is testing the boundaries of Oahu's waves Dai Mar's Photos Oahu on Dwellable

   A smooth transition always makes a move feel a little bit easier. Everything came together for our island hop move from Maui to Oahu. We shipped our car packed full of our stuff. We bumped up to first class on the plane to get more bags checked. Our rental car was super cheap thanks to the low season. I did notice a few new scratches in the car when picking it up from the shipping dock but they just blend in with the others so no worries there.Then we drove to Manoa to get all settled in at Heidi's family friend's place. I felt like that was a pretty good setup for day one in a new place.  So we set of in our rental to explore the island and hopefully meet up with old friends.  Manoa itself is a green oasis sitting up the slope from the hustle and bustle of Waikiki. There is a beautiful view of the cityscape from our temporary backyard.   Heading over the mountains we checked out the cool town of Kailua. Lots of boutiques, health food stores, and...

   Let's say you only have one more day on Maui... where would you go? I know my answer, Haleakala Volcano. At just over 10,000ft it is a view unlike any other on the island. It can be fierce winds and sub freezing temperatures. There can even be snow and ice. But the view is worth it. And now being the middle of summer it can be downright pleasant finding a comfortable spot and enjoying how the view changes through the different colors of dawn.   We found a spot right along the crater rim to usher in the sun. When we first arrived the stars were out with the constellation Orion visible above the horizon. You can even make it out in the picture above. Look for three bright stars in a line, that's his belt, and three more in a line jutting off diagonally from the belt, that's his sword. Science city where our Maui observatories and astronomers peer into the night sky was lit up with a pink sky at one point. There were so many changing colors it was hard to figure out ...

Dwarf Moray Eel White Mouth Moray Eel    Moray Heaven!   Back on Maui for a quick visit we had to fit in a dive at one of our favorite shore dive locations, five graves. This is the same location that all the tour operators have dubbed to be "Turtle Town", but we weren't going diving for turtles. Instead we look for nudibranchs, frogfish, and other hard to find creatures that may escape the usual glimpse from the snorkel masses.   Our dive quickly turned into a moray eel bonanza. We had several dwarf morays, cute little 6-8 inch fully grown, and some huge white mouth moray eels about 3 ft long. An undulated moray showed off its razor sharp teeth and a zebra moray contrasted with its toothless grin. As I tried to get a picture right down the mouth of the undulated a large fish swam in between my camera lens and the eel. This happens sometimes as I concentrate on getting the picture, but this time the fish stayed there, which is a little abnormal. So I glanc...

Sundowner Hour Stand Up Paddling before dinner       My Last Night in Vermont Classic Outhouse   What a trip. I got to explore a bit more of Vermont, enjoy some great weather, add a new country to my all time list, and spend some quality time with some great people. All of these pictures are from the last night in Vermont, which was spent on Stave Island out in the middle of Lake Champlain. The pictures speak for themselves as to how picturesque this little slice of heaven can be. But this is just an added bonus. The real draw is the good vibes, the sundowners, bathing in the lake, time on the water, walks with Finn, and Heidi's family.    I wouldn't have wanted to spend my last night here any other way. After watching an incredible sunset I was blown away by an equally amazing full moon rising. A slight breeze keeping the cool Vermont air lapped up against us through dinner. Protect against the endemic Stave Island Flies...