White Plains Beach Surfing

The long awaited surfing photos!  Location is White Plains Beach and I took along the camera to finally get some pictures for everyone.

The eastern part of White Plains Beach

 Other surfers out on the breaks:

 Thanks to Dave for the following pictures.  I'll give you the play by play of one wave that we caught on film.  Topher waxing the board (the board is slippery when wet so the wax keeps your body on while paddling out and your feet on while surfing).  

 Paddling out...

Up and over the waves I go:

Two people surfing past me as I keep paddling out (I'm on the left of the two surfers)...

I see the wave I want; I start paddling to try to catch it...

On the wave (ok so you don't really want to be there, but I got back down)...

On my knees...

Starting to stand...

Ah ha...Surfing!

And now I'm realizing I picked the wrong wave...It died out after 20 or 30m, 

and I'm starting to sink.  On to other waves!

That's all I got for now.  I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend.  Thanks for reading!

Ka'au Crater

Sunday, I returned to finish a trail I did a month ago.  Unfortunately, I still didn't finish it.  I got to the point I intended to, but didn't realize the trail went even further, so the rest of it awaits another day.  I started in Palolo Vally (number 2 on the map) and hiked to Ka'au Crater (which the arrow is pointing to the big green crater).  I live at number 1.

(courtesy of Google Maps...shhhh; don't tell them)

As you can tell from Google maps the Crater is huge (it's the round circle the arrow is pointing to).  There are three large waterfalls along the way.  The water for the waterfalls is actually gathered by the massive crater's basin, and I essentially hiked along this stream the whole way up the mountain.

Waterfall number 1 from the top:

T3i: SS 1/8, f 5.6, ISO 200, FL 18

Waterfall number 2 from below (Dave is standing on top):

T3i: SS 1/400, f 3.5, ISO 200, FL 18

Waterfall number 3 actually was a series of about 20 waterfalls, each ranging from a couple feet to 40 feet in height.  In this picture you can even see the next one behind it.  To get to the top you had to climb up the side of each waterfall.

A section of waterfall number 3:

T3i: SS 1/30, f 4.0, ISO 200, FL 20

Along the way, previous hikers had balanced rocks in the stream, so those are always
entertaining to look at (and time to practice some different types of shot!).

Left Photo*: SS 1/30, f 5.6, ISO 200, FL 50           ///          Right Photo: SS 1/20, f 6.0, ISO 100, FL 55

Finally reached Ka'au Crater.  The crater basin is massive and flat.  So big that I couldn't even fit each side into the frame of my picture, so just imagine that the crater walls you see in the picture below are extending all the way around in a circle (I'm standing on top of the the crater's edge opposite those seen in the picture).

T3i: SS 1/50, f 8, ISO 100, FL 18

T3i: SS 1/125, f 8, ISO 100, FL 18

From the southern edge of the crater you can look back onto Waikiki and Diamondhead Crater (Diamondhead Crater is on the left of the picture).  My apartment would be in the frame if it wasn't for the darker hill on the right side of the picture.

T3i: SS 1/100, f 9, ISO 100, FL 55

 Mahalo for visiting!  Let me know you were here,

 and what you think in the comments below.

*Photo Editing Effects for this photo: Increase in contrast (+10), hue (+20) and sharpness (+55).  Decrease in saturation (-33)

The Spitting Cave of Portlock Ate My Slippers...

Dear Spitting Cave of Portlock,

I would appreciate if you'd give me my slippers back.  They are my favorite ones, and I had just worn them in to the point where they were really comfy.

Much obliged,

Hawai'i Topher

-------------------------------------

Backstory:  I stopped at a shoreline cave I had heard about, since I was close to it after doing some SUP (Stand-UP paddleboarding).  Many things in Hawai'i quite often do not point themselves out, and you just have to sort of know they exist since there aren't signs.  This makes it hard for tourist, but awesome for locals.  Dave and I went down this small, quiet street in Portlock (where the average home price is well over 15 million....Dog the Bounty Hunter lives here; he has a painting of himself on his driveway gate; picture something really gaudy in your head and then multiply that by at least 3)...I digress: We barely noticed the little passage way between two homes which lead down the volcanic, rock-lined coast to the Spitting Cave of Portlock.  The short but steep trail opened up to this:

T3i: SS 1/20, ISO 100, f 22.0, FL 19

The Ocean has eroded the volcanic rock and formed the cave in the picture below.  I've decided that a more apt name would be the Violently Erupting Cave of Portlock, because the water pressure builds up so much that it seems to erupt shortly after a swell of water enters.  It looks calm, but it's not.

T3i: SS 1/125, ISO 200, f 9.0, FL 18

I decided that I could hurry out to the edge before a swell started in order to get this picture...

T3i: SS 1/65, ISO 100, f 7.1, FL 22

...but I thought wrong!  I successfully snapped the photo (the daredevil side of me made me do it), but I found myself caught in the next swell, and when I ran for safety the Ocean gobbled up my slippers.  I was determined to make a swim for them.  Unfortunately the water here has strong undertows, and moves incredibly fast, so I had to make the responsible decision to let them go and avoid the possibility of being swept into the cave (awww...who are we kidding?  Dave made the responsible decision as he sat safely on the top of the cliff and refused to hold my camera, while also stating he was going to tell my sisters, and requesting that I answer the following question first: "who should I call first when you meet your maker?***"  Dave should have been on the debate club, he had compelling arguments!).  Hindsight 20-20, I agreed with the right decision so I get a little bit of credit, right?  Here are my slippers just floating away...      (a note to concerned family: don't worry I exaggerated this whole part and was never in any danger...oh no, what to believe?)

T3i: SS 1/160, ISO 100, f 7.1, FL 43

Scoreboard:  Spitting Cave of Portlock: 1,  Topher: 0**

The Spitting Cave of Portlock in all its glory: The next set of pictures are a slide show of the sequence of events (Time-lapse: 20 sec).  Click on the first picture, which should activate 'full-screen' mode.  Then click directly on that photo and each subsequent photo will appear with each mouse click (just be sure to click on the photo; if you click off the photo it will exit back to this area).  Enjoy!  Thanks for reading!

(T3i: ISO 100, f-stop 4.3, FL 18, SS range varies between 1/750 to 1/1250)

***Ross, Dave has temporarily decided that you get the call.    Ha. j/k.
**Game still in progress.  I'll be back...this is a battle I intend to win.