Kauai 2011 day 5: Lumaha'i beach

Before I launch into today's smorgasbord of wave pictures, a shot I took of the beach just a little ways down from where we were staying; I intentionally framed it so the curve of the line of rocks helped highlight the curve of the shore:



One of Kauai's largest beaches, Lumaha'i beach, is also one of its most famous, as it played host to Mitzi Gaynor while she washed that man right out of her hair in the movie South Pacific. In fact, the last three ocean shots I posted yesterday were taken at one end of Lumaha'i beach, something I'd honestly forgotten until I was talking about it with my mom this evening. Today's photos are from the other end of Lumaha'i, a stretch most readily accessed via a short walk down from the a highway pulloff. On this occasion, I also took a few photos on the way down, including this look at some of the greenery to either side of the trail:



A look at the many warning signs that greet you upon arriving at the end of the trail:



One of my favorite things to photograph in this spot is the plumes of water created when the waves hit the large rocks along the shore:



The surf was particularly strong during this visit, creating lots of chances for interesting wave pics. This particular sequence was one of my favorites:









When the wave line finally made impact with the sand, the resulting plume was quite impressive:



A look at a rock outcropping on the shoreline:



Another epic plume off a pair of rocks:



A look at one of the rocks post-wave; I really love the contrast of the white foam and the black volcanic rock:



A double hit:





A couple of wave shots that caught my eye because of their interesting shapes:





This large wave coming in caught both these ladies and myself by surprise; as you can see by the other tracks in the sand, there hadn't been any water that far up the shore for a few minutes at least:



My other favorite wave sequence of the day. Although I didn't catch the water breaking, I did capture one of the largest water plumes I'd ever seen that was a result of impact with sand alone:











Finally, I liked this one both for the wave shapes and the streaks of sand you can see across the length of the crest:

Kauai 2011 days 3 and 4: more waves

Just a couple of shots from day three of our trip; both were taken at what we call Shell Beach. In this first one, you can see from the shoreline why we chose that particular name:



And a look down the other way, back towards where we were staying:



Another day, another sunrise. But, seriously, how was I supposed to resist the photo op of the rising sun, the crescent moon, and that solitary star?





A lucky, lucky capture of some sun beams:



I intentionally framed this one so the sun was positioned right behind the palm tree, just to switch things up a bit:



I should have yelled down and thanked this couple for unwittingly posing for such a classic shot:



My first Egret sighting; as you can see, I was peering through a plant for this shot, and I like the way it ended up framing the bird:



A couple of photos of the Egret after it moved off a ways, undoubtedly hunting for geckos:





Another day, another beach, another try at wave photography. In this one, I was trying to capture both the variety of water colors and how you can see the sand being pulled up into the wave as it reached the shore:



I caught this wave as it was in the process of rolling over:



Finally, I'm pretty sure I crouched down a bit to take this shot, getting a slightly different angle on these waves as they came into shore:

Kauai 2011 day 2: whale watch

Sunrise the second morning:



This was the same day we made our first trip to the Kilauea Lighthouse, and it was a fruitful day photography-wise. In addition to these whale photos and my shots of an albatross in flight, I captured several other sequences involving a whale leaping from the water. While the ones I posted last year were my favorites, I thought these two jumps also came out fairly well. First, a whale flopping onto its back:














And then there's this sequence, which I thought was interesting because the whale's head was pointed toward the shore, providing a slightly different perspective:











I just liked how this shot of an albatross against the ocean came out:



Some sharp-eyed visitors to the lighthouse managed to spot a seal lying on the wet rocks; it took me a little while to pick it out with the binoculars, after which I spent another minute or two finding it again through my viewfinder in order to take a photo:



If you place your mouse pointer in the center of the photo, it should be right on the seal. And just in case you don't believe it's there, a cropped-in look at the same pic:



At lunchtime, I spotted a pair of Common Mynas on the wires across the street. It's a bird I've never seen anywhere else, but on Kauai they're as common as sparrows:





This was probably my favorite of the bunch:



And a closer look at a Myna as it hunted for dropped morsels of food:



A sparrow I caught as it took flight off a branch:



This Red-crested Cardinal was kind enough to pose prettily amidst the pink blossoms of the tree we sat under:





One of the more daring Cardinals came pretty close to me; I really didn't mind:



Finally, a pair of shots of a Red-crested Cardinal atop a nearby building. I loved the contrast of the red head against the deep blue of the sky, and how the shape of the feathers is echoed in the material used to make the roof. However, if I were to ever make a print of this, I'd probably Photoshop out the dark blurry wire that crosses above the bird's head:

New year, old pictures

Okay, one of my new year's resolutions is to get back to posting pics more regularly. I figure there's no better way to do so than by listening to my mom, who told me I really needed to get my pictures from my last Hawaiian vacation posted before going on this year's trip in a few weeks. So, a few shots taken on my first morning there last year, January 27.

Looking out from our deck at sunrise:



The first of my many, many attempts at wave photography. I also liked the golden glow imparted by the rising sun to the mist both over the water and coming off the waves:







A little later on in the morning; the golden effect was mostly gone, but the sunlight was still very pretty coming through the mist over the water:



And a few more wave pics; these shots were also my best examples featuring the fine mist coming off the waves as they crested and broke: