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Muddy Reward Hankapai'ai Falls Kauai, HI Whenever I tell someone that I'm going to the beautiful island of Kauai they usually ask me "Are you hiking the Na Pali coast?!" On my first trip to Kauai I ran out of time and never got to do the hike along the Na Pali coast. Going back a second time, I made sure to do all the things I didn't have time for before, and hiking to Hanakapi'ai Falls was towards the top of the list! The Kalalau Trail starts at the end of the road at Ke'e Beach and goes up-hill and then down hill for 2 miles until you hit Hanakapi'ai Beach. This is the point at which if you want to keep hiking the Na Pali coast you need to get a permit and backpacking is recommended. From the beach it's 2 miles inland to the waterfalls. Once you hit the falls, you turn back and retrace your steps until you get back to Ke'e Beach. Originally we wanted to plan our hike along the Kalalau Trail so that it would coincide with a dry day before, giving enough time for the wet trail to dry out a bit. Unfortunately we packed to much in and had to do the hike on a specific day. We set out early and immediately began wondering what we were getting ourselves into: the very beginning of the hike was already slippery. About a mile into the hike it started to POUR on us. Luckily my ClikElite camera bag had a rain cover or my gear might have been completely soaked/ruined. For a couple minutes we thought about taking cover under some trees but realized quickly it was useless and we kept hiking in the rain. In typical Hawaii fashion the rain stopped about 15 minutes later and eventually we made our way across the river and down to Hanakapi'ai Beach. After a short break we started the 2 mile trek inland. We hadn't gone more than 200 feet when the trail turned from hard packed dirt to wet slushy mud. At one point we gave up trying to find dry land and just started trudging through the mud. The rest of the trail includes crossing a stream another half a dozen times and eventually my friends gave up completely on trying to keep their feet dry and just trudged through everything (I might add that my feet stayed completely dry on this hike!) Tired, wet, cold, and frustrated we finally made it to Hanakapi'ai Falls! And man is it a beauty! The waterfall drops 300 feet down, and bounced off numerous cliff rocks as it falls -- some of which you can see here. I took a few quick photos, took a group shot of us, and then scarfed down some lunch before we hit the trail to return home. Nikon D700 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S: 70mm, f/20, 0.4 sec, ISO 100 B+W Circular Polarizer
Fit for a Queen Queen's Bath Princeville, Kauai, HI During my first visit to Kauai I never found my way to Queen's Bath. Boy did I miss out! On my second trip to Kauai I wanted to make sure I visited all the things I missed the first time. Queen's Bath was high on my list. We arrived at Queen's Bath one afternoon and found the place pretty easily. The place has become so popular that the island has built a parking lot and a trail down to the lava rocks. Once you get down to the ocean you just turn left and head west until you hit Queen's Bath. Here, the a pool of water collects around lava rock to create a natural swimming pool. The lava rock is high enough in the front that it protects swimmers from the harsh waves of the Pacific Ocean. The back of the pool is open, which allows water and fish to swim in and keep Queen's Bath full. I had an amazing time swimming, snorkeling, checking out the fish, watching crabs crawl around on the bottom, and just enjoying Queen's Bath. After going back to the condo, showering, and getting a little snack, I returned for sunset, hopeful that I could find a decent composition and for a nice colorful sky. As I walked down to Queen's Bath I stopped at a number of waterfalls and took some photos. My friends kept going and were waiting for me at the bottom. They had spread themselves out so they could each get a "personal view" of the incoming sunset. I darted around to a number of different spots, trying to find something that provided an interesting foreground. Each time I would setup the tripod, take a couple photos and then decide this wasn't the spot and move on. I started rushing as I noticed the sky began to get some color. Finally, just as the clouds in the sky started turning pink I settled on this final composition. I noticed that the waves were crashing over some of the rocks on the right and then creating a little waterfall, and combined with the circular inlet shape of the cove, I knew I had my composition! A family enjoyed the sunset from the rocks above me. I thought that they made a nice extra touch to the photo. Early in the day a pair of sea turtles hung out in this little cove and offered some visual entertainment for us. Nikon D700 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S: 24mm, f/20, 2.5 sec, ISO 100 Lee Filter Holder + HiTech 0.9 Soft ND Grad
Waiting for my open door helicopter ride!
Indecision Hideaways Beach Princeville, Kauai, HI Before I left for my week of vacation in Kauai I looked at the weather forecast and it said "Partially Cloudy" or "Rain" pretty much every day while we were there. Although I was bummed that it might ruin my plans for lying on the beach, I got excited because that meant I might be in luck for catching a killer sunset. Of course once we arrived at Kauai the weather changed completely and it was mostly beautiful days with hardly a cloud in the sky at sunset. There was one exception: sunset on the first full day we were on the island. After making our way down a steep trail we arrived at Hideaways beach and to my delight I noticed lava rock all over the beach. Do you ever have one of those days where there's so many composition possibilities that you become overloaded and don't even know where to begin? Even though we arrived super early, I kept going from spot to spot, back and forth, up and down the beach, unable to decide which lava rocks I wanted to shoot! "Oh, I liked that spot, but the clouds just moved. Ok, over here, the clouds are better here now." I spent so much time moving my tripod all around that I almost missed the sunset! I originally setup in this location because the waves were creating some beautiful water motion in this little channel and the clouds had been positioned perfectly for the sunset. Unfortunately, when the sun got low enough to begin the light show, the clouds picked up and started high-tailing it out of my composition (moving to the left). From this spot I was able to setup my tripod on a couple rocks and avoided getting sand in my tripod (sand is about the worst thing for a nice tripod), and the rocks were high enough to keep me mostly dry when the waves came in here! I waited until the wave started retreating from the little channel to open the shutter. To my delight, the exiting wave hit some rocks in the middle of the channel and splashed up, catching some of the beautiful setting sunlight. Nikon D700 w/Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 ED-IF AF-S 17mm, f/14, 1/6 sec, ISO 160 Lee Filter Holder + 0.9 HiTech Soft ND Grad
Queen's Falls Queen's Bath, Princeville Kauai, HI I recently spent a week on vacation with a couple of my friends on the beautiful island of Kauai, Hawaii. We fit a gazillion things into the week but also found time for some relaxing days as well. One of my favorite parts of the trip, if not *the* favorite, was our visit to Queen's Bath. On the north end of the island, near Princeville, is an area of coastline covered my lava rocks. In one particular place, called Queen's Bath, the lava rocks have made a little pool that is protected from the incoming waves. Water flows in from the back, filling the pool with water, fish, and other goodies, but keeping it safe to swim in. This place has become so popular that a parking lot and official trail have been made to get here. If you do go here, be careful to ensure that you find the *actual* Queen's Bath and don't instead swim in one of the similarly but much more deadly pools that aren't protected from the incoming waves. There's a sign at the bottom of the trail stating that 28 people have died here. On the hike down to the falls I passed 2 waterfalls that I knew I just *had* to photograph. The first one, which is a bit larger, I may post later. The second, and smaller set of falls is this one here, where the water cascades down from the stream and creates 2 waterfalls almost back to back. The wide angle lens used here makes the falls appear somewhat larger than they are, but in actuality they're fairly small. After swimming in Queen's Bath we went home and showered and waited for golden hour to start. We returned, hoping that the setting sun would reduce the glare on the rocks and then I planned on shooting sunset from the lava rocks as well. For this, I chose a composition that would show the two falls in a somewhat "S" shaped curve, and threw on the polarizer to reduce some of the glare. From where I am standing, Queen's Bath is behind me and to the right. Nikon D700 w/Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 ED-IF AF-S 29mm, f/11, 1.3 sec, ISO 100, Tripod B+W Circular Polarizer
4th of July Sparklers Taken on July 4, 2009 from a beach in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii
See photo in original gallery.
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