Archive for the ‘Trip 5 Plans’ Category

Sunday Photo: Bridge at Oheo Gulch

Sunday, August 30th, 2009

Bridge at Oheo Gulch

Taken by Kris Nelson on February 24th, 2009
Location: Oheo Gulch at Haleakala National State Park

Lots of good stuff this week, but let’s start with the photo. The shot above one of the photos I got soaked for when visiting the Oheo Gulch earlier this year. Regardless of the fact that my cell phone never recovered and we had to take a pass on our hike to Waimoku Falls along the Pipiwai Trails, I’m still pretty happy with the way it came out. :)

I know I’ve already said this quite a few times now, but spending the night in Hana and being able to make it out to the park before the majority of the crowds was a great idea. Highly recommended if you’re able to fit it into your vacation schedule.

Two Weeks to Takeoff

Now, onto the countdown to our next Maui trip. We leave in just two weeks, and just because we finally wrapped up all the travel arrangements, it doesn’t mean it’s just smooth sailing from here on out.

I posted some of our initial Trip 5 ideas already, and now it’s time to start making those reservations. There’s also a few omissions that I left out. First of all, Cindy wants to go parasailing. Yup, something she hasn’t been able to try the last few trips because of whale season. Me, I plan on tagging along just to snap some neat photos, but don’t have any desire to take the plunge.

I also mentioned last week that we wanted to make it out to Baldwin Beach near Paia, which we passed up on on our way back from Hana in February. Well, we hope to make it more than just a trip to the beach, and thanks to a post from Liza at A Maui Blog, I’m inspired to plan a longer visit to Paia that day. Read her post on why she loves Paia town to see some of the things we’re going to look into.

Shooting on top of the world

Gearing Up

Not forgetting the primary reason for this trip is to attend the Maui Photo Festival, I still have quite a few things to do in order to prepare for all the learning and shooting I’m going to be doing. I started this list over at my photography blog, and so far the only item I can cross off is the new gear I ordered from Adorama. It should be arriving this week, just in time to test it out for a bit before we leave.

As for the other items on that list, I hope to cross more of them off today, or early this week. As you can tell, there isn’t much time left. But, as seriously as I want to start taking my photography, I really do need to make more time for it on top of everything else I do on a weekly basis.

Sunday Photo #75

Lastly, it seems like only yesterday I was talking about my first Maui photo as the 50th edition in my Sunday Photo Series. Well, as fast as this summer has zipped by, I’m already up to #75 with today’s post. I like the feeling that I’ve been able to share all my favorite photos with all of you over these past two years, and am excited that I still have so many to post and more future trips to Maui that will allow me to continue sharing the Aloha for years to come.

Here’s to another 75!

Mahalo and Aloha,
- Kris

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Sunday Photos, Trip 5 Plans | 2 Comments »

Maui Ocean Center Welcomes New Turtles

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

Turtle CrossingI just received a note from subscribing to the Maui Ocean Center newsletter that they will be having a traditional Hawaiian blessing tomorrow, August 27th at 1pm to welcome a batch of 6 new hatchlings on loan from Sea Life Park on Oahu.

We’ve been huge fans of these guys since we first saw them popping up their heads from the water outside of our ocean front room at the Sheraton. And since we’re not avid snorkelers, we get our up-close turtle fix by visiting the Maui Ocean Center instead. Based on this update from the MOC, I think there’s a very good chance we’ll be paying them a visit next month as part of our mini Trip 5. They look too cute to pass up.

More from the newsletter:

Turtles at Maui Ocean Center
Maui Ocean Center cares for a total of 12 green sea turtles; the six new hatchlings and six which are juvenile. While at Maui Ocean Center, the turtles are fed a primarily vegetarian diet, including algae brought from the ocean, to prepare them for their eventual release to the open sea. The turtles were captive-bred at Sea Life Park on Oahu. Sea Life Park is home to a colony of adult Hawaiian green sea turtles which produces 200 to 300 hatchlings each year, most of which are released into the wild. A few of these, including the turtles at Maui Ocean Center, become part of the Hawaii Green Sea Turtle Educational Loan Program and are released at a later age to provide an educational opportunity for those that visit these institutions.

If you happen to be nearby in the next month or so, and hadn’t thought of visiting the ocean center, maybe this might change your mind.

In fact, I remember shooting video from the Turtle Lagoon exhibit at the MOC a few years ago that I posted on YouTube. Grant it, I spend way more time working with Photoshop than editing movies, so the quality has a lot to be desired, but it’s still fun. Someday I’ll get around to tweaking the quality.

In any case, here you go.

More Honu Love

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in News, Trip 5 Plans, Videos | 1 Comment »

Let Trip 5 Planning Begin

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

High above HawaiiIt’s now official, we’ve booked our airfare for our upcoming trip to Maui next month, and the planning can now begin.

Back So Soon?
It wasn’t exactly easy to squeeze in a second trip to Maui this year, but not soon after I found out last February about the Maui Photo Festival being organized for this September, I knew we had to find a way to make it there. After a summer of tightening our belts, and quite a bit of help from a second job, we’re counting down the days with less than 3 weeks to go.

The Timing
One of the big draws with the Maui Photo Festival was that they had a really great rate at the Hyatt Regency Maui, where the event is being held. Sure, there are still better deals to be found on Maui, but we’ve admired the Hyatt from afar on those long walks from the Sheraton, and have had friends that have stayed at the Hyatt with nothing but great things to say about it.

Something I overlooked initially was that the great deal being offered by the Hyatt was available 3 days before and 3 days after the festival, which is being held Sept. 16th-20th. Which was great, since flying out for just 5 days would have felt sorta like a drag.

So, we jumped on that option and extended this late summer vacation to 8 days, 7 nights. We’ll be leaving during our normal Sunday morning timeframe on the 13th, but flying American this time instead of United. Our red-eye back will be Sunday night the following week, giving us more than enough time to say Aloha to some friends before we go.

Time For Ourselves
With us arriving Sunday afternoon and the festival not officially starting until Thursday, we’ll have 3 full days to do whatever we’d like. That doesn’t seem like much at all compared to our normal 2 weeks, but it’s enough time to catch up on a couple of spots we missed in February. Here’s the working list right now:

Westin 015Cindy in Spa Heaven
So, what will Cindy be doing while I’m off doing workshops and hanging out of helicopters (more on that soon)? Well, the Hyatt has a really great spa that I’m sure she’ll want to visit. There is also the newly opened Black Rock Spa at our very favorite Sheraton Maui Resort that she just missed earlier this year. And, we can’t leave out the great folks at the Heavenly Spa at the Westin. Could she do all three spas in just one week?  I don’t know, we’ll have to ask her. :)

More to Come
With less than 3 weeks left, we don’t have that much time to get things scheduled and planned out. Never fear though, as all that activity planning will be shared right here on the blog. It should be fun.

That’s all for now. Be sure to stay tuned for all the latest.

Mahalo,
- Kris

Tags: , ,
Posted in Trip 5 Plans | 5 Comments »