Capturing the Moment

  Long exposure of the dense rainforest and stream of Iao Valley. Wow! What an amazing few weeks in Maui. There are many adventures, both on and off the beaten path, that are so worth it. It may seem like after a long flight you might want to just sit at your resort pool with a mai tai in hand, but if you are the go-getter type, then the island adventures are just waiting for you, as they were for us. Most of the resorts, and our condo are on the dry side of the island. This means maximum sunshine and calm waters for snorkeling and whale watching. Which we did a lot of! You can whale watch from your balcony even, if you are there November thru April. But I would suggest getting over to the wet side of the island at some point. This is where you find lush valleys, beautiful exotic flowers, rocky rivers, and beautiful waterfalls. Iao Valley is the easiest valley to go explore, only minutes away from the airport. I often send people here on their last day, especially if they have a la...

Another fun snorkel here on Maui as we eagerly await the arrival of our first guests onboard the Safari Explorer. Check out this beautiful spot known as Coral Gardens.

 My friend Moser got us the hookup with a Molokini Wild Side trip on my old boat, the Ocean Explorer. Aaron was the captain, Matt and Daniel were the naturalist. We caught some nice weather as the kona winds shifted to North, giving us a chance for a four snorkel day. We went to reefs end, backwall, Secrets at the southernmost tip of the island, and then to Coral Gardens. Not a bad day. Even learned a few new spots myself.     This is some of the GoPro footage I took set to some relaxing music. Enjoy!

   Taking full advantage of living on Maui in the winters we spent the morning at a new snorkel spot and beautiful beach with our good friend Moser. Heidi and I were quite excited to check out a new place, especially since Catalina seemed perfectly content playing with Moser on the beach. That girl loves her giant sand boxes.    As I waded out in the crystal clear water I saw our first turtle before I even started to swim. It was cruising over the sandy bottom. The mid day light was shining through the water lighting up the turtles shell, making for some great photographs.   That first turtle led me straight into the second, and that is how this entire snorkel felt. Once I had enough pictures of those turtles over the sand I swam to find Heidi snorkeling over the reef. I was pretty shocked at how beautiful the topography of the reef was. There were lots of nooks and crannies for animals to hide, and the coral looked very healthy and colorful. ...

Just me and this turtle on our own Big Island beach   With another month of trips onboard the Safari Explorer with UnCruise Hawaii in store I managed to find a quick adventure in my remaining few hours before going onboard. After landing at the Kailua Kona airport on the Big Island where I will meet the ship, I grabbed a rental car and cruised a few minutes north on the highway to a turnoff for the lava rock coast. A long bumpy road ensued over the lava fields. Off in the distance and slowly coming closer into sight was a beautiful oasis of palm trees surrounded by the jet black lava rock.   The road to Kekaha Kai Beach park is not one for the faint of heart or cars with low clearance. However after seeing the secret beaches and beautiful coves from the plane as we descended made me have no doubt this adventure would be worth it. The close the park at 7pm, and the sun was already low on the horizon so I knew I had to act fast. Luckily I'm pretty adept at jumping from...