Capturing the Moment

Well, I thought I would put this up here to keep for the blog. Pretty nice footage of what I do out in Hawaii for work.

  Almost every night, manta rays come into a few select bays on the west coast of the Big Island, to feed in the shallows on plankton. Snorkeling with the manta rays has become one of the 'must-do' adventures here in Hawaii. However, it is not for the feint of heart. You have to wait for darkness, and be willing to jump into the ocean at night, and share it with creatures that are bigger than you. Luckily, these manta rays are gentle giants. They don't have teeth or stingers, which is nice, because as you will see, they can swim very close to you! Tonight was extra special, as it was the total lunar eclipse as well as our manta snorkel night. We took our boat to a little bay in front of the fancy, Mauna Kea resort. We anchored in about 17ft of water, put out surfboards with special underwater lights in them, and waited. The lights soon got crowded with plankton, and different fish coming in to feast on the plankton. But after thirty minutes, that is still all we saw. Everyo...

Alright, I've put together the best of the best underwater GoPro footage from last week's Galapagos trip with UnCruise on La Pinta. This is from six different snorkel spots on three different islands. Magnificent! Best to watch in 1080, high definition resolution. If you have trouble with the above you can follow the link below: https://youtu.be/M3sUJ1KYpEY?si=rDKZ1_a6zkRb_Kv3

Check out some of the best views from this leaf peeping season here in Stowe. I tried to get off the beaten path to avoid the crowds and I think the end result is pretty fun. I am really enjoying the different perspective that I can get with the drone. It can look very cinematic when done right. 

  What a week. Here is a small taste of what we saw. Despite some major camera gear malfunctions (mostly my hard drive biting the dust, with all my photos on it), I was still able to save a lot of video footage. Here is a short look at some of the cool experiences I had this week in the Galapagos.  -Dai Mar

  Often when I tell people about the beautiful tropical coral reef off the coast of Kenya and Tanzania to people back in the States I get a lot of blank stares. I feel like it is one of East Africa's great secrets. People know about the incredible savannas filled with antelope, and big adventures like climbing Kilimanjaro, but scuba diving off the coast around the ancient Spice Islands can be right up there.   Here is a quick five minute video I put together to give you a feel of that beautiful underwater world that won't remain a secret forever.

This underwater adventure was one of the most magical underwater encounters I have had the opportunity to experience. In the past I have put up pictures from wild dolphins encounters around the Hawaiian Islands, but I've always wanted to capture the feeling on video. So this time I took my Canon 5d markII and drove out to a beach on the west coast called Electric Beach. I was pleased at the flat calm conditions of the ocean when I pulled up, and pleased even further when I saw the pod of dolphins! I had been skunked the last few times I had been here so I didn't waste any time in suiting up, grabbing my fins and mask, and practically running to the water.       As I started swimming I realized that the dolphins were much further out than normal, but I was on a mission so I kicked hard. It didn't pay off. As I swam up to the four other snorkelers I saw the dolphins slowly cruising away from the group. I hoped that the pod would turn around and come back but I was a...

 Just before picking up my mom from the airport I had the entire morning off so I grabbed my short board and headed down to one of my secret south shore surf spots here in Oahu. No wind and glassy waves greeted me as well as no crowd. For a while I was the only surfer out. I ended up catching a lot of waves until I was too worn out to continue. Here a just a few of the waves caught with my GoPro. I made sure to put a good out take in at the end. Here's looking forward to more mega surf sessions in the future.

Here is a link to a rough video edit of some of the maneuvers from the "Wings Over the Pacific" airshow from Sunday, Sept. 28, 2014 at Hickam Air Force Base. It shows a F-22 Raptor, C130 "Fat Albert", and the Blue Angels F-18 Hornets in action. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZnoNRxgqqw

  The first north swell of the season filled in over the past couple of days here on Oahu's fabled North Shore. These early swells are some of my favorite because of the lack of crowds. All the pros are in southern California for the Trestles ASP event, and other surfers are waiting for the peak season to fly to Hawaii. When I paddled out to this secret spot that I call "Big Lefts Oahu", there was only one other guy out. After a few waves he paddled in and I had the break all to myself for a couple hours. Glassy conditions and head high to overhead waves...can't ask for more than that.