Hawaii Travel Diary – Day 3: Dawn at the Beach, dinner at the Ritz

Hawaii Travel Diary – Day 3: Dawn at the Beach, dinner at the Ritz.

Since it was the last day of the year, I wanted to do something special. That’s why I woke up at 3am and went shooting the dawn at the beach (which is like 90 seconds from my apartment by walk).
As soon as I stepped outside I noticed something: I never saw so many stars before!

The sky was clear, and since the only lights come from little houses, the environment is almost light pollution free.

Night test shot; I’ve tried to do some light painting on the trees with my phone’s flash 🙂

The weather on the island is perfectly warm, but at night it can be chilly. While shooting landscapes you stay still for a long time, and you can get cold pretty easily. Luckily the coffee shop was opened already, so a double black coffee did the trick.

Coffee shop at dawn

As the  sun was setting, the clouds started to get wonderful colors.

Here’s a test with an ND filters. Long exposures with waves are always cool!

The bench where I put my tripod on to shoot at the stars (and also where I drank my coffee).

So there I was, standing in front of a sea of stars above the pacific ocean. That’ll be a moment I’ll always remember.

Above all that, the sound of the ocean kept me company for the whole time. I know what waves sound like, but the ocean’s ones are different, cause the sound is constant. Here’s a little audio recording I did there        

Total time of shooting: 3 hours. Time flies when I shoot . I was like “it’s day already?!”.

The sun was up and warm for a perfect new year’s eve. On my way home I stopped at a local market to get something refreshing before starting working on the new pictures (it tasted very good!).

After a light lunch (pizza, fried chicken wings and some kind of sandwich – plus beer of course), it was time to go and explore one of the best hotels in the world: The Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua.

I’ve never seen something like this before: it is huge and extremely luxurious.

Ritz-Carlton entrance hall

The view from the terrace

From up there I walked to reach the beach.

The good life at the Ritz

Once I reached the beach it was very windy! I didn’t get too close to the sea; you don’t really want saltiness on your filters/lenses.

This is how I am for pictures: I go to a certain place to take certain shots, and then I start wandering around and getting lost in my own world.
That’s what I did here as well. I found a path starting from the beach and I followed it.
I walked for a while when I bumped into some really serious nature sculptures:

Nature sculptures on a trail

I wandered around for some hours, and I went back to the Ritz-Carlton to enjoy a super tasteful (and strong) Mai Tai and a typical dinner.

So what did I do at midnight to celebrate New Year’s Eve?
I slept.
Yes, I went to sleep at 11pm.
I’ve always celebrated new year’s, but this time I really didn’t feel the need for it. My day started at 3am, I watched the stars while listening to the ocean, shooted at the dawn, visited the Ritz-Carlton and enjoyed a Mai Tai.
Life just can’t be any better than that.

Happy new year!