Capturing the Moment

  Leaping dolphins, eager to come bowride in our wake, greet us. They don't see many boats on this side of the Big Island. This is why I work on an expedition ship, to take people and show them things that people normally don't see. The towering cliffs of the Kohala coastline of the Big Island. Even though I have lived and worked in the islands for years, I have never seen these from the water. Usually the trade winds roar on this coastline, and the big winter swells slam against the cliffs here. Today the weather had shifted, and was storming out of the south. Boats on all the islands were scrambled to find safe harbors. Instead, we took the opportunity to go to a place where we had never gone before! We usually have pretty predictable weather out here in the Hawaiian islands. Trade winds blow from the northeast so reliably that the tall ship traders would count on these winds to help them cross oceans and deliver their goods. Fast forward to modern times, and I count on these...

  One of the coolest things we were able to do on this recent trip to the Big Island was to get permission to hike way up through private Parker Ranch lands to the very back top of Waipio Valley. We started off in the hills overlooking Waimea. Then on foot we followed a water irrigation road for a few miles. The dense forest up here was filled with the sounds of birds and the snow covered peaks of Mauna Kea and Mauna Load dominated the horizon.   We passed by one bigger stream on our way to the top but everywhere else looked like a high elevation bog. Then, all of a sudden, the view opened up into a breathtaking scene of Waipio Valley like I had never seen it before. There was a sheer drop to the bottom of the crater where waterfalls cascaded down and collected in one big stream meandering thru the valley floor. Heidi, Susie, and Becky I'o, the Hawaiian Hawk!   As we stood taking in the view a lone bird of prey flew not too high above us. It could only ...