Circle Island

Aloha!  By Thursday I was finished temporarily with all my job interviews.  L. had a rare day that was mostly free.  She was hosted on the radio in regards to her research (congrats!) so we planned to meet up after that.  I took the bus from the leeward (east) side into Honolulu.  I had no idea what we were going to be doing, but was really excited that I’d be testing out my new camera (bear with me on the pictures…I’m still learning how to use this thing).  Before I knew it we were off on my very own ‘Circle Island” tour!  First stop was the Pali lookout.  Pali overlooks Oahu’s windward side, and town of Kailua.  (I think you can click on pictures to expand them?)

Pali Lookout.     (All Pictures: Cannon T3i, Lens EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II, Manual Mode/Focus w/ UV filter and circular polarizer;  This picture: SS 1/2500, f-stop 5.0, ISO 800, WB Tungsten….Sends I know you’ll be disappointed that I forgot to change the WB…oops.  I won’t let it happen again, I was just soooo excited!)

Pali Lookout.     (SS 1/2000, f-stop 5.0, ISO 800, WB Tungsten)

Warning: History Lesson Time!  In the 1700’s Kamehameha I sought to unite all the Hawaiian Islands under one leader.  The Pali lookout was the site of the battle of Kaleleka’anae (which means “leaping fish” and refers to the 400 soldiers that were forced off the edge of the cliff).  Kamehameha I became the first King of the Islands after this battle. 

After this we made a quick stop further up the windward coast at a Macadamia nut farm where I sampled about 10 different flavors (the cinnamon and kona coffee flavored were my two favorites) and had some kona-macadamia coffee (probably the best coffee ever!).   Then we stopped in north east Oahu at Sharks Cove to do some snorkeling and play on the beach.  Unfortunately, the water was too rough to go beyond the rock barrier, but I still saw a few neat fish. 

Shark Cove.  I'm standing on a hill, to get an idea of how big it is, there is a person in the middle of the water.  Can you see him?     (SS 1/2000, f-stop 5.0, ISO 400, WB Daylight)

Shark Cove Beach. (SS 1/60, f-stop 22.0, ISO 400, WB Daylight)

We then had lunch at a food truck across the street (this truck was in the paper the next day as one of the best local places to eat, so L. knew what she was doing!).  Ahi Tuna pan-seared skewers: the best fish I’ve ever had!  (L. made me promise to eat whatever she put in front of me for the day; that was the deal I made, being as I like most things, I was agreeable).

Then we headed toward the north shore.  Suddenly we were stopping quickly at a beach and I was trying to gather beach stuff.  L. told me to stop and just bring my camera.  I was confused but complient.  We get to the beach and I see a sign about how to interact with turtles and I something like: “Uhhh….are we going to see….(and then I suddenly see it)….oh my gosh, oh my gosh, there’s a TURTLE!”  It was an awesome surprise and after doing a happy dance I started taking pictures.  The first 50 I took were horrible since I was so excited I forgot that the camera doesn’t focus/adjust itself when in manual mode, so I had to calm down and refocus on my photography efforts.  Here’s two of the 100 turtle pictures I took.

Turtle Beach. Turtle’s name is Missy (Hawaiian name: Kauila) and she is a 30 y/o female.     (FL: 55mm, SS 1/500, f-stop 5.6, ISO 200, WB Daylight)

Turtle Beach.  Turtle’s name is Olivia-Dawn (Hawaiian name: Ipo) and she is a 35-40 y/o female.  Her claim to fame is in 2004 she made a 1000mi round trip to mate/nest and has performed a 400’ dive; apparently the turtles have GPS!  (FL: 32mm, SS 1/200, f-stop 14.0, ISO 400, WB Daylight)

Well, I didn’t think the day could get much better, but thus it continues:  L. then took me to the Matsumoto Shave Ice in North Oahu’s town of Haleiwa.  Here we had shave ice (there is no ‘d’ on the end of ‘shave’ here in Hawaii).  L. told me I must have beans in it and ordered it with an Azuki bean.  Now I thought this was some kind of seek-and-find within my shave ice, however, to my surprise it wasn’t just one bean, but lots of beans in the bottom.  They were the shape and consistency of kidney beans but much sweeter in taste (thankfully).  Very odd compared to back home.

   (FL: 18mm, SS 1/160, f-stop 5.6, ISO 400, WB Daylight)

Beans in my shave ice!  What are they doing in there?    (FL: 33mm, SS 1/50, f-stop 4.5, ISO 200, WB Daylight)

After this we headed inland from the north, L. said we were now headed up “Pineapple Hill” and I quickly knew we were headed toward the Dole Plantation.  She had particular amusement as I was looking for all the pineapple trees.  She let me struggle for a couple minutes, then finally told me we were currently surrounded by the pineapple PLANTS!  When did I miss that memo growing up?  They grow as a plant?

Dole Building.     (FL: 18mm, SS 1/1000, f-stop 5.6, ISO 400, WB Daylight)

a young pineapple plant.     (FL: 21mm, SS 1/640, f-stop 5.6, ISO 400, WB Daylight)

Then we headed back to the north shore.  We picked up dinner at the grocery store (tuna poke and fresh pineapple), and set off for Sunset Beach for a picnic Hawaiian style!  Before sunset I even grabbed a few pictures of a surfer.

Surfer at Sunset Beach. (FL: 55mm, SS 1/250, f-stop 5.6, ISO 200, WB Cloudy)

Sunset at Sunset Beach…its not just a clever name!     (FL: 55mm, SS 1/250, f-stop 5.6, ISO 200, WB Daylight)

It gets dark in a hurry here after sunset; then we watched the stars come out.  Venus and Jupiter are really bright currently so they were easy to find too.

L. was so gracious to show me around the island.  I was blessed to have the ‘non-tourist-edition.’  It was fantastic and probably the most jam-packed day of excitement I’ve ever had.  

Sorry for the ‘uber’ long post, but several people wanted “lots of pictures.”  I promise they won’t be as long in the future!  (and I’m not sure I could ever accomplish this many things in one day again…I even left a few things out!)  Aloha back home, and a special shout out to my bro and sis:  Happy Birthday to the other 2/3rds of the trio!