We now interrupt your regularly scheduled programming...

I had a big post I was working on to wrap up the Maui trip...  And then I hear about this lunar eclipse...  Well I could not pass something like that by.  So I just spent 4 hours looking through my telescope at the lunar eclipse.  It was supposed to pour rain tonight.  It was CLEAR!  I mean CRYSTAL clear.  The recent heavy rain cleaned up the air and the clouds were no where in sight.  Just as the moon was coming back into the sunlight the clouds came back.  WOW!   Our luck could not have been better!

This is right out of the camera except for some burning in of the stars behind the moon!!!  The time was 12:05 PST which was about 10min prior to full eclipse.

Thanks to my friend Steggy, his sons Jake and Justin, and Lorrie for helping me set up the scope.  I hope you enjoyed looking through the scope as much as I did.

I will get back to Maui tomorrow and then back to these shots later in the week.

I need some sleep...    :-D

Light Cipher

Trilogy -- The Original Discover Lanai Tour

Still getting caught up.  Not that I am complaining that I now have tons of photos to process and post!  :-D

Monday morning we went down to Lahaina harbor and boarded Trilogy I.

This was our second Trilogy tour of the trip and once again they were spectacular.  These guys really know how to entertain.

We got under way about 10am.  The boat ride over was pretty uneventful.

My parents relaxing on the stern.

We did see huge schools of flying fish.  I did not get any photos of the fish but they were pretty cool.

First up, was a tour of the island.  Our tour guide, Joe, grew up on Lanai and worked on the pineapple plantations when they were still there.  ("Joe" was short for her full name and I apologize for not remembering it.)  It was a very interesting tour.  I don't know if it was her intention but she really made you want to move to the island.  Of course they have the same problem other parts of the country are having.  Rich folks are moving in and paying outrageous sums of money for small parcels and houses.  This drives up the cost of housing.  But I guess if you are a local and you just got paid $300K for your house you would be ecstatic!  It is all in how you look at it.

I was very fortunate to get the front seat for the tour and got these shots out the front of the window.

I really liked the island and I think I would like to come back and stay some time.  When we stopped at the general store I tried to get some artsy shots...

Coral out to dry on a rock.

From there it was out to the beach...  My Dad and I signed up for Snuba.  I can sum this trip up with 3 words; Snuba is awesome.  If you don't Scuba dive this is a really cool way to get down further and closer to the fish.

Heading out (again no comments about the pale slug like figure!  ;-)

"Hey, what's that over there?"

Being able to stay down really allowed me to get closer to some of the smaller and more fleeting fish.

This little blue and yellow guy is a cleaner fish.  He was pretty cool.

I also liked the angle I was able to get.

This Snuba trip convinced me I need to get certified for scuba diving.  Being underwater like this was just too cool.  Diving in California is really cold so I don't know how easy it will be to convince Lorrie to go but I think I can do it.
Jeremy, our Snuba instructor, said a double Shaka was the indication that we were really enjoying ourselves.

Jeremy's double shaka.

I think he was having as much fun as we were!  :-D  Jeremy was a great instructor and I really appreciate his help for this experience.  He said that the best feedback he could hear from one of us was that we were going to go out and get scuba certified.  I have to say that this convinced me I need to do this.

Thanks again Jeremy!

After some time at the beach we moved on for a wonderful dinner; fresh green salad, grilled BBQ chicken, Asian stir-fried noodles, and geko eggs (peas).  Unfortunately I was so busy enjoying the meal I did not take photos...  :-(  Thanks so much for cooking guys!

We got back aboard and started our trip back.  Captain Chuck posted a watch for whales.

Jeremy looking out for whales...

He managed to find one!!! 

These guys love their jobs!

Our trip back included musical entertainment!!!  After setting sail Oren played the ukulele.

Sails and serenades

The Lanai trip is a sunset cruise too.  In this it did not disappoint!!!

However, my favorite shot was after the cruise from the dock.

Sunset, moonrise

Once again I would like to thank our crew, Captain Chuck and Dominick, John, and Jeremy.  Trilogy is a great company and we really enjoyed both of our trips.  Thanks again guys!

Thanks for reading this far; stay tuned.  I still have a wrap up post I am working on!  :-D

Light Cipher

Quick post from 2 days ago...

With my ear feeling better we have really stepped up our activities!!!  Yay!  It is amazing how the photos flow when you are not feeling like Shi...  (This is a family blog...  ;-)  On Sunday, we decided to head to Honolua bay which is north of our hotel.  The magazines say this spot is better in the summer but we wanted to try it after hearing so many great things about it.

The conditions were similar to Kapulua bay with one exception.  There was a cold curent mixing with the warm water of the bay on the left side.  This caused some interesting optical effects in the water.  Also when I got in those cold spots I felt cold!  The shot above and below are from that side of the bay.

I like the shot above.  It really shows some context to diving on these reefs.  These guys were a bit skittish but I was able to get close enough for the light to be decent.

On the other side of the bay the water was more consistent (and warm).  I really like the context of this shot.

And a few more shots to round out the day.


The final underwater shot of the day I really like.  This guy had just taken a bite out of this corral.  He looks kind of like a buck tooth nerd!  Kind of funny.  But he was nice enough to pose for me so I should not make fun of him too much!  ;-)

Over on the other side of the island we went to the Maui Winery.  They have some good wine.  But my favorites were their unique Pinapple wines.  I picked up a bottle of their Maui Splash sweet desert wine.  I have such a sweet tooth...

The winery is in "up country" at about 3000 feet.  From here you can seen Maui and Lana'i in the back ground...

On the way home in the evening the stars were spectacular.  I stopped by a lookout point on the way to Lahina to take some pictures of the Milky Way.  I wish I had my tracking telescope mount but this shot is still really cool.

Well I am behind.  We went with Trilogy tours again yesterday and I have a ton of photos to post from the trip...

Last Boat Trip

More water fun.

Yesterday we went to "turtle town" on the south side of the island.  By the time we got over there the conditions were pretty murky.  However we did see about 3-4 turtles!

My dad finally got a decent shot of the Humu Humu Nuku Nuku Apua'a (Rectangular triggerfish).

It's not the best shot in the world but these guys are so hard to get because they are so skittish.  Also, my dad and his point and shoot ended up getting the best shot of the day.

Today we found out that this was _not_ "turtle town"...  I guess we were close enough!!! ;-)

After being somewhat dissapointed with the murky conditions we headed up to the north end of the island to see what the windsurfers were doing with all the wind and surf which was kicking up the sand in the water...

They were making good use of those conditions...

A couple of them were getting some air.


But this was the best shot of the day...

So after having not so good conditions yesterday we decided to head out earlier today.  Also we went to a local spot, Kapulua Beach, which was easier to get to.  Kapulua Beach was nominated by Sunset Magazine for world's nicest beach.  I don't know if it won (probably not) but I can see why it would be nominated.  Unfortunately, we still had less than stellar conditions.

Murky conditions again.  :-(

But when we got close enough the shots were pretty good.

Rainbow Butterfly	Achilles Tangs
Unicornfish	Teardrop Butterfly (w/ Unicornfish in the back)

These 3 shots are of pretty small fish.  Kapalua is pretty shallow near the beach and there are a lot "juveniles" around.

And of course the Morish Idols were out.  This is a pretty good shot of this guy.

Morish Idol

We found a large puffer who was real friendly.  Once again my dad got the shot of the day on this guy.

But I got a pretty good shot of him as well.  I just wish he had been facing me for this shot.

The Saddle Wrasse seen here was following the puffer around.  Not sure what the relationship was...

Finally, heading out deeper we found a pretty good sized turtle.  And even deeper we saw a second one!!!  These guys are everywhere!

This final shot is not the best of a turtle per se but I like it.  It really shows some context of swimming with the turtles.  (That is my dad in the background.)

I think there was perhaps 4 other people out there with us.  Another couple we met at the showers said they had seen the turtle as well.  They are from New Jersey and come out to Maui every year.

I am really sorry Lorrie had to work and my ear was hurting at the beginning of this week.  I can only imagine how much more we could have seen.

Oh well all we can do is head back out in the morning...  Wish us luck,

More exploring.