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Ah, and what a way to top off this jungle hike series! Stepped around the bench to capture this beautiful ray of love...
At times Chenjean gamely tolerates my requests for a shot or two like this one...
Though these were captured in broad daylight it was easy to make a silhouette within the darkness of the jungle surrounding us...
If you walk long enough in the same general direction on an island you will eventually reach the sea. This was captured looking over the water at the end of the trail...
Some of the trees were adorned with these hairy-looking strands. My brief research says it might be a banyan tree, but couldn't pin down what the strands are. Perhaps an aerial root system...(?)
Side shot of same below:
This being a jungle - albeit only a little sliver of one - it was dark, dank and muddy on the trail. Once in a while, though, there would be a break in the canopy, allowing for a shot like this...
Almost as soon as we entered the jungle we encountered an old man carrying an improvised bucket full of chicken feed. After introductions we asked him what he was up to. The man said he'd been doing this for upwards of 50 years, keeping the chickens alive in the area after the mongoose invasion. (Yes, there are loads of mongoose on the islands - Chenjean saw one in the back yard of our B&B and thought it was a cat at first.) According to this man, they ate up all the bugs and things that chickens eat, so he's had to supplement their diet with his chicken feed. An interesting character, but I didn't get the nerve to ask for a picture...
Not being beach people, the wife and I headed off to do inland things while the kids played elsewhere. Through an internet search we identified a jungle hike nearby that might be fun, and after seeing this sign I knew it was just what we were looking for!
Other signs below that we saw here and there:
Yes, gotta have just one scene of the stage and what it looked like there. As you can see, we were blessed with good weather that day, so it was pleasant to sit outside and take everything in during the long performance, which lasted a couple of hours. With no bugs! Hawaii has very few bugs, one of the things Chenjean liked most about the trip, coming from a place like Houston.
It's something to think that these performers do a show every night. They were very polished, and smiled a lot. Very pleasant experience overall.
NEXT in the series are some frames captured during a jungle hike that Chenjean and I took by ourselves while the kids were playing on the beach somewhere, a hike that ended up being one of the favorite shoots of the trip...
This guy was the star of the show (next to the pig).
Chenjean and I were walking around, pretty much trying to stay away from the crowds, when our daughter Allison began to frantically text that something neat was going on. Seeing all the people I had no interest, but she kept texting so we finally wandered over to where they were making ceremony of retrieving a cooked pig out of the ground. Never saw the pig, but, just as mentioned in this post captured at the Louvre in Paris, much more interesting to me was the behavior of the crowds surrounding the event.
Glowing Effects of the throng below (click to enlarge):
Took some fancy post-capture work to make the clouds stand out, and ended up pretty close to being successful. Though I dislike the beach, tolerated the sand enough to step out and snap this panorama...
Love branch patterns and love silhouettes, so knew this was going to end up in the blog as soon as I snapped the shutter.
So one night we drove down to nearby Old Lahaina for what is billed to be the best Luau of the dozen or so decent ones on the islands. And, though it smacked very much of a tourist trap, it was an experience like no other...very professionally serviced and choreographed. Of course the Bigger Cahoona had to come along, and was put to good use, but most of the next half-dozen or so posts will be what was going on in the periphery and in the distance, not where the "action" was onstage.
Upon entering, the first thing they do is point you to the bar and drinks station. We don't drink alcohol, but they had plenty of neat stuff for us teetotalers, including what you see in this post (what looks like a straw is actually a piece of pineapple).
Forgot where this was captured, but thought I'd use it as a bumper shot before moving on to the Luau. Gotta be a tourist, right?
Actually I don't mind at all being a tourist, which is a good thing because the Bigger Cahoona strapped around my neck sure pegs me as one. I had a good friend who made fun of someone because his la-di-da, big-time camera rig was always stuck to his side, "like an appendage". I chuckled with him, but didn't mention that that's me whenever we go somewhere on a non-business trip.
It takes a lot of watering in Houston to keep these guys alive, but hibiscus is everywhere on Maui because there is a nice, soft afternoon rain most days. One wall adjacent to the Ritz was completely blanketed for close to a half-mile.
Both of these were captured as we were on our way back from the hike at Kapalua Ridge...
Finally - the perfect stump shot. Lots of places I've tried, with very little success, but this one nails it. Will make a good print some day...
It was sure hot out there on those lava rocks, even though it was still morning. Either someone put this crab there or it died in its tracks of the heat; cropped-in view below:
Two of these entered into an interesting courtship dance while we were standing nearby. We found out a little further down the trail that they nest below in crevices carved out of the cliffsides.
Because of the time difference between Houston and Hawaii we were all up well before the crack of dawn the first morning and anxious to see what was around. We wandered down to where the water was and unexpectedly ended up on one of most beautiful trails on Maui. As you can see, the sun was full-on, so quite a bit of postcapture work was required to brighten up shadows and other dark areas. Think the Bigger Cahoona has an automatic setting for active D-lighting, which I'll definitely use next time around...
...and while we were at the Ritz, why not hang around as if you were one of the rich folks? Neither Chenjean nor I have an attraction for such things, but it was interesting to see the vast property manicured so meticulously by the hotel.
This is a 4-shot panorama, so it's best to click and enlarge on a regular computer or iPad (as opposed to a phone). Chenjean doesn't have much patience to stand around while I'm taking pictures, so off she went down the sidewalk...and ended up in two frames! If I'd thought about it would have had her move around so as to appear in all four frames. Cropped-in view below:
This was our little neighborhood for five days. Again, we could not believe the price we got for one of these bungalows, at $200 per night, while those at the nearby Ritz Carlton were paying more than twice that amount to stay in a beehive. We had the views from our porch that were just posted, plus a large kitchen to prepare breakfast and other meals, and two full baths, one of which belonged to a humongous master bedroom. The owners of that B&B earned customers for life.
Tomorrow's post will feature a shot of one of these houses, captured as we were walking down the sidewalk and across the way...
On the second or third morning there (we stayed five nights in all) I got a hankering to take this one but had to walk down a slope, then rearrange some bothersome foliage that was in the way. The kids sitting on the porch must have been amused. It was worth it, though...the bird is a bonus that I didn't even notice until post-capture after getting home.
Speaking of animals, on this very morning Chenjean saw, of all things, a mongoose. Thought it was a cat but we had to correct her. Didn't know those guys were here, but evidently they've had the run of the place for decades.
...a silhouette at dusk, looking to the left from our back patio.
This was captured at dusk from nearly the same spot where I was standing in yesterday's post. One of the three blog cards I've made so far features this pic; in the first one below the buildings looked way too tiny on a business card so I cropped in and added text to the one at the bottom:
Our daughter Allison graduated as a chemical engineer from A&M in very good shape, and had already secured a job with a great company, so we decided to give her a celebratory trip to Hawaii. My wife did a lot of homework on places to stay, etc., and found this little jewel of a bed-and-breakfast for only $200 per night. This view from the porch made me decide never to do a hotel again if at all possible. A two-shot panorama, it will not do justice unless you're on a computer and click to enlarge.
