Capturing the Moment

  I've always been fascinated with the giant shipwreck grounded on the shallow reef on the windward side of the island of Lana'i in Hawaii. The channel here is almost always windy and wavy, which means that you can't easily get to the wreck. You especially can't get close to it. But every once in a while the winds will shift... and today was one of those days. So I grabbed my crew and we headed out to explore the wreck with our small boats. The sun came out, really showing off the rusty red color of the hulking ship. It was a self propelled, Navy fuel barge, made out of ferro-cement. It is very strong, hence why it is still here. The ship was contracted out to a company that was supposed to scuttle it in the mid 1950's, but instead they lost control of it in the channel, and it washed up on the shallow reef of Lana'i, where it sits today. It looks like a ghost ship, and even more so when you get up close. The color of rust is everywhere on the ship. Steel rebar ...

  Once every couple of weeks we take the Safari Explorer far south on the west coast of the Big Island to explore some of the rugged lava rock coastline accessible only by boat. We take the guests out on skiffs and kayaks to get a closer look at the coastline which is pocked with caves, arches, and other interesting lava rock features.  This week brought much needed calm winds and small swells which opened up some new adventures. I had always eyed this one sea cave as a good potential for cliff jumping. The water was deep and clear in front of the cave opening and I had explored it inside and out by kayak in the past. I was leading the skiff tour this time so to spice things up I announced that I was going to give the folks a photo opportunity and dove off the front of the boat.    Getting up onto the rocks was trickier than I thought as the swells picked up just as I made it to the rocks. But after a few aborted attempts and a few scrapes I scrambled up the ro...

Le Conte Ice Gardens        A huge ice field forms in southeast Alaska’s coastal mountains due to an immense amount of precipitation coming in off the Pacific Ocean. This prolific snowfall produces the southernmost tidewater glaciers in North America. Le Conte Glacier is located near Petersburg, Alaska. Due to its high level of calving events the twelve and a half mile fjord heading back to the glacier’s face is often too choked with icebergs for vessels to reach it. However, reaching the glacier’s face was not our goal this trip.  For a look at my first visit to these ice gardens and more places where nature sculpts works of art in ice check out these other posts: * Le Conte Ice Garden * McBride Ice Garden * Mendenhall Ice Caves  What drew us to this area is an area I like to call Le Conte Ice Garden. The terminal moraine left behind when the glacier retreated creates a very shallow bar that often traps big pieces of ice inside the ba...