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Hawaii Travel Diary – Day 4: Iao Valley & Bubba Gump

by Alessandro Carpentiero

Hawaii Travel Diary – Day 4: Iao Valley & Bubba Gump.

I never thought I would have spent the first day of 2015 in Maui, but here I am! I was kinda tired from the sunrise shooting of the previous day, so I decided to live this day with the Aloha spirit.


That’s why I went to enjoy a light breakfast at the beach.

First breakfast of the year

First breakfast of the year

Of course I couldn’t resist to the view, so I took a couple of shots there as well (same place of the day before, but like sunsets, every sunrise is different). The clouds painted a wonderful sky, and the sun enlightened Lanai island.

Morning breeze in front of the ocean

Morning breeze in front of the ocean

After spending the rest of the morning working on the pictures and relaxing a little, it was time to shoot again. Iao Valley here I come!
As soon as I arrived there the view was incredible (looks like Jurassic Park – except for no dinosaurs)

Iao Valley

Iao Valley

If you turn yourself you can see the Iao Needle Point, which is a famous landmark in the state park.
The “needle” itself is an illusion, and is in reality a sharp ridge that gives the appearance of being a spire when viewed end-on. The needle is an extension of and surrounded by the cliffs of the West Maui Mountains, an extinct volcano.

 

Iao Needle Point

From there I walked a little following a very much slippery and tiny track (not a good idea when wearing sneakers and a camera on your neck, but I survived).

Getting lost inside the wilderness

Getting lost inside the wilderness

When I take pictures I lose the track of time, so of course it was sunset time already (damn!). Too bad Iao is not a great place for sunsets, cause is faced east and the sun goes behind the mountains pretty soon.
So let’s jump in the car and reach a point from where to shoot the sunset!

Driving towards the sunset! Next time I should put an alarm clock to remind me "hey, it's sunset time!"

Driving towards the sunset! Next time I should put an alarm clock to remind me “hey, it’s sunset time!”

The best time for the sunset was gone already, but after reaching a panoramic view point (which is also used for whale watching), I took a decent shot of the blue hour.
As you can see very dark clouds were approaching, but that was nothing compared to what happened here last night (you’ll see that in a couple of posts).

Blue Hour facing the Pacific ocean

Blue Hour facing the Pacific ocean

After all this shooting it was finally time to eat something; that’s where Bubba Gump comes in!
I thought it was only in the Forrest Gump movie, but apparently it’s a theme restaurant kinda popular in the US! And of course it’s based on the movie Forrest Gump. What can you eat there? Shrimps, shrimps and…shrimps!

Bubba Gump

Bubba Gump

Weird drink with

Weird drink with chilly in it!

Shrimps bucket. I hate a loooot!

Shrimp bucket

I never ate so many shrimps before (nor I will), but it has been a very nice experience!
Once out of the restaurant it was time for some cheesy and “tourist shot”:

Forrest Gump bench

Forrest Gump bench

Me trying Forrest Gump shoes.

Me trying Forrest Gump shoes

9 pm, time to go to sleep. Tomorrow’s alarm clock will be at 4.30am to explore new parts of the island and shoot at the sunset!

 

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