Capturing the Moment

  3 MIN READ 546 WORDS Rainbows and basking sea turtles, what more could kids ask for. We just returned from three and a half weeks in Maui with the family. Knowing that our time there was so short, we really packed in a lot of activities. We took the kids to Iao Valley, surfing, the aquarium, a snorkel trip to Molokini Crater, to crazy pools, the Lavender farm, and countless times to the beach. As the kids get older they can enjoy the beach in new, fun ways. We tried out many different beach around Maui. We didn't venture to the West side, as we wanted to give Lahaina a little more time to breathe and recover after the destruction from the fires. We went to a lot of favorite spots in Kihei and Wailea, as well as venturing to a new spot on the North Shore. Some beaches we couldn't help but go back to over and over because they were just so nice. It turns out that you would need a lot more time if you wanted to explore all the beaches on Maui. Maybe a lifetime. On the southside ...

  Exploring new beaches for shells and sea glass led Heidi and me to some beautiful sights. The long stretch of sandy beach on the north shore where you will find the Bonzai Pipeline and Sunset surf breaks starts just after the ancient lava flow of Pupukea. In this corner of the beach where sand meets rock I have seen lots of shells and sea glass in the past. But the size of the waves aren't the only thing that changes along our north shore during the winter. An extra foot of sand now covered the shells and sea glass. I knew the sandbars off shore shift during the seasons but I was amazed to see the amount of change along this beach. While it didn't turn out to be good for sea shells, the new angle of the beach cause waves to rise up steeply before crashing onto the shore. I took a few pictures to try and capture the moment right before the waves toppled over. Whenever I caught it just right it was like an aquamarine window to the ocean beneath the wave. Heidi still ended...

    Beaches of the North Shore   An Oahu friend told me the other day that no other island can compare to Oahu's beaches. "In fact it is like one big beautiful beach", he said. So I decided to put that to the test. I drove up to the North shore starting at sunset beach down to the beach town of Haleiwa. That was farther than I needed to go to start thinking my friend might be on to something. The softest, whitest sand stretches for miles. Surfers leap off the sand into the ocean to ride the swell which happened to coincide with my north shore visit. Not a coincidence. And think...this is only a fraction of one side of the island. Give me enough time and I'll have the full picture of this island we call Oahu.