These are from in Port Hardy, and near the airport.  When I arrived in Port Hardy, somehow my Nikor 200-400mm lens failed to operate on me.  Lucky enough, Paul have extra telephoto lens for me use.  The first 4 pictures are from Sigma 200-400mm, and the bottom two photos are from 17-35mm with 50-60% cropped.  Good advice for everyone!  We need to check our camera equipment before take it on our trip...  It could be disaster if Paul wasn't there to loan me one.  I'm a lucky guy on this trip, I have a free personal tour guide, and extra camera gear on standby.  Thanks Paul!

Sunrise Storm

Because of the time difference between Hawai'i and the mainland (5 hours from where I was), my internal clock is still trying to reset itself. Because of that I've been waking up around 4:00 a.m. everyday since we've been here. It has made for some very long days but I have been able to see lots of sunrises!

I took this shot a couple of days ago of a storm on the horizon as the sun was coming up.

If you ever decide to move to Hawai'i and bring stuff with you, I would highly recommend using Matson shipping. Our container from the mainland arrived this past Thursday, a week early, and everything was in perfect shape! They were extremely organized during the whole move and made that part of our move very simple. We are spending the weekend un-boxing stuff and getting the house set up so we can live. We had our first night on a bed since we've been here last night and at my age not sleeping on the floor was a big bonus!

Q's Happy Place!

I managed to find some Eagles for Q when he was up to visit me on Northern Vancouver Island earlier this week. He was one happy camper to say the least!

I can't wait to see how his pictures turned out!

Stop The Truck!

So I'm showing Q around Northern Vancouver Island, as we drive through Coal Harbour where I live Q says "Stop The Truck"! Go back, go back! So I do... It would seem I've been driving past this scene so many years I've become blind to it. 

But Q sees the possibilities in this scene and sets his camera up with a fancy filter system to limit the amount of light coming in to the camera. Going for the long exposure in the middle of the day.

Long story short here is his impressive result! 

Just one problem... my Wife is going to kill me when she sees me looking on line for a set of filters for my camera!

Beached

This in an outrigger canoe sitting on one of the many beaches of Maui. This one happens to only be about 15 minutes from my house.

I'm still in denial that I live here. It seems like we are just on vacation except we're sleeping on the floor until our furniture arrives. I can't wait to sleep in a bed!!

Paul Play Ground!

While we visiting Vancouver with my wife families, I have decided to take a day to visit Paul in person.  I'm glad I have make right decision to do that.  Paul is very interesting man to meet, and his wife is a sweet lady.  Paul took a whole day to show me around of his paradise.  What I have seen, I wish, I could have more time on this island.  There's a lot of things to see, and photograph.  Like Paul said I will be back, you're absolutely correct.  I would recommended to take another an hour flight from Vancouver, then you will find yourself on a paradise.  Unless, you preferred a night light, stay in Vancouver, and put up the horrible traffic.  Thanks Paul!

Finally!

No not finally Paul actually posted something... Finally Q came to visit me on Vancouver Island!

Though Quynh, Ron and I have been colaborating on this blogsite for a number of years this is the first time I've actually meet Q in person. Hope to meet Ron in person one of these days too.

Q was only up for a day so I gave him a whirlwind tour of my little patch of paradise and found as many photo opportunities as I could while dragging him from place to place. Hopefully he posts a few of the shots he got!

Vancouver Island must have left a good impression as he swears he'll be back!

Blue Skies

What can I say? I have found paradise!

The same sunset

This is the same sunset as the last photo but this time I'm facing the sunset. I don't think this will ever get old!

A sunset on Maui

You will be seeing a lot of these sunsets. Not as many as me but I will post enough that you will want to come to paradise yourself, even if it's just for a vacation!

This shot was taken with the sun setting behind me. The sunset was lighting up the high clouds better than the ones around the sun itself so I changed my perspective.

The Hoku Moon

 

According to Hawaiian legend, the Hoku moon is the third day of the four Hawaiian full moons. It was believed to be the fullest moon and was good for anything that was planted in rows.

 

Aloha!

the road trip

The road trip is over! We spent four days on the road driving to California and we get on a plane early tomorrow morning for Maui.

I can definitely say I am ready to get out of California!!!

A re-shoot

When we were on Maui this last time I went back to re-shoot this shot because I thought I could do better. I used a fisheye lens this time and laid several shots in on top of each other to make it an HDR image.

It's about time for our big move. Our shipping container showed up yesterday and we should have it loaded and ready to go by next Wednesday. Our plan is to Leave on Thursday and spend a week driving to California where we will put our pick up on a boat and us and the dogs on a plane and head to paradise.

I'm hoping to be able to post some photos of our trip to California along the way but all I will have with me is the Nikon point and shoot. I left all of my other cameras and lenses in Hawai'i this last trip so they would be there when I got there. 

Looking for Crackers

There's always a surprise along the road to Hana.  We came across these two sitting on a fence in the middle of nowhere while we were driving.

A Fence with Flare

I came across this fence in the little town of Pa'ia on the windward side of Maui our last trip.  I had to use the fisheye lens to get it all in the frame.

There are a few of these surfboard fences on Maui and I plan on finding them all. I might even attempt to actually surf one day or maybe just photograph surfers from the water, I'm not sure which would be safer.

Banff NP.

Not sure you have experience photographing in -20F before, and wind chill around -40F.  The scenery looks peaceful!  But, it's soooooo cold that your camera starting acting slowly, and the camera battery getting weak that the shutter won't open for you....

Taking a breath

I found a new little beach spot on Maui this last trip that I never knew about before. I will be returning there soon because of the turtles. We watched for about an hour while 15 turtles floated around in the surf eating off the reef. 

I didn't have my underwater gear with me or I would have been in the water. Next time I will be prepared!

Just Me!

I told my wife that if I die, displace the 1st. picture at my funeral.  I think that's a little weird, but what do you think?

A wave goodbye

We are headed back to the mainland today but just for four weeks. We'll have enough time to pack what we are bringing into a container, drive to California, get on a plane to return to paradise and begin a new chapter in our life.

 



A Painter at work

 

This is a local painter on Maui during a day at work. We ran into Carleton in Kihei while he was working on his latest painting and he graciously allowed us to take some photos.

 

This particular painting is now finished, framed and hanging in a gallery in Lahaina waiting for some lucky person to buy it. We were thinking about making that purchase ourselves but at $4600 it was just a little out of our price range!

sunset sail

Just another one of those Hawaiian sunsets. They never get old!!

Hanging loose in Hawaii

 

I don't do well on boats that are on the ocean and I'm scared of heights so what do I let my wife talk me into? Parasailing!

 

I have to admit it was a good experience but I probably won't do it again. LOL

 

This is a shot of Maui from 400 feet above the ocean. Any more shots like this will come from a drone so I can stand safely on the ground!

 

Aloha form Maui!

 

We've been here almost two weeks and I'm just now getting around to taking some photos.

 

We have found a house, bought a car, got all of the ultilities and insurance in place and are ready to go. Now it's back to the mainland to finish packing and make the final move in 4 weeks.

The "eyes" have it

Aloha!

Well, not quite yet. We're headed to the island tomorrow to find a house (and take some photos!)

Hopefully once we find a place I will have time to post some photos of Maui. We've never been to Hawai'i during the summer so it will be interesting to see the difference.

Early morning rain

Even when it rains in Hawai'i it looks great!

This is a storm over the island of Moloka'i about 7:00 in the morning. By the time I had my coffee and headed for the ocean the storm was over and the sun was shining bright.

Rainbow Eucalyptus Tree

I think I may have posted a version of this before. I am reworking a few photos to get them ready to print onto metal and I have to say, this one looks FANTASTIC on the metal! 

This is actual how these trees look in the wild. I hope you are ready for Hawai'i photos every week because it won't be long before that's all I have to post.

I know, poor me!! LOL

Chasing Squirrels

So a few days ago I had my two dogs and my Son's dog out for a walk. We had just left the house and were only 100 feet behind my little work shop when my Son's dog ran 20 feet into the woods chasing Squirrels I assumed... Until I saw this up the tree, maybe 30 feet from where I was with the other two dogs!

Nice kitty... Stay kitty...

Hey Paul,  Could you text me or email me at ***-***-**** or Quynh.l********.com.  I'm coming in your way in this summer.  Thanks

It's Spring!

The dogwoods are blooming and the other trees are finally getting some leaves on them. Before long everything will be lush and green.

Just in time for me to pack up and leave!  Besides being sick for about a month which kept me from posting, the last few months my wife and I have been selling what we can and packing the rest for a move to Hawai'i. We finally got tired of thinking about it and decided to go and not look back.

We will be Kama'aina, pronounced ka-ma-EYE-na,

 (Hawaiian for local) by this summer.

Sunrise over Haleakala

This was taken from a boat in the ocean about 7:00 a.m. in the morning. I was headed out to see if the whales would be active and while waiting for the whales I took a few shots of the sunrise.

In Hawai'i I think the sunsets are better than the sunrises but then again, I don't like to get up early that much!