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Hawaii Travel Diary – Day 5: Blowhole

by Alessandro Carpentiero

Hawaii Travel Diary – Day 5: Blowhole

Hello everybody!
Although on vacation, you can’t really rest if you want to take nice shots. It’s well known that the most flattering lights can be found at sunrise and sunset, so that means no much sleep.


Today I woke up at 4am, and decided to just drive casually to find a nice spot to shoot from (usually you should plan the location ahead, but sometimes I like just to go out and explore).
So with no breakfast I explored the coast for several miles (a lot); I kinda like it driving here! The roads are very curvy – fun to drive – and the view it’s amazing.
The sun was almost rising and I still haven’t found a location when, wow. After exiting from a road in the middle of the jungle I saw something wonderful.
The sun was starting to color the clouds, hidden from cliff. Magical moment.

Waking up at 4: worth it.

Waking up at 4am: worth it.

How wonder how the light was behind that hill. It must have really been awesome. But well, every sunrise is different, and I’m quite happy with what I’ve got 🙂

While driving back from that wonderful location, I saw the sign “Blowhole here”. I’ve heard about it, so it’s worth a try.
I really wasn’t ready for a hike, but you do what you gotta do. So I walked my way going downhill on a very slippery (and inexistent) trail to finally reach these so called Blowhole. (Sorry but I don’t have pictures of the trail because it was very risky and I didn’t wanna fell and ruin my gear 😀 ).

Once I got there I witnessed an incredible and rare natural phenomenon.

Nakalele Blow Hole Maui

Nakalele Blow Hole Maui

No they’re not geysers, although they look similiar to them.
So what is a blowhole?
Wikipedia has the answer 😀 “A blowhole is formed as sea caves grow landwards and upwards into vertical shafts and expose themselves towards the surface, which can result in blasts of water from the top of the blowhole[1] if the geometry of the cave and blowhole and state of the weather are appropriate.”

This is how it works:

How it works

How it works

Basically, if the wave was intense enough, there was a blowhole. So yeah, I saw a lot of them and it was amazing! I couldn’t get too close because it’s dangerous; you risck to get sucked in. See the sign :O

Warning!

Warning!

 

I stayed there a lot of time because every time the effect was different, and I was waiting and waiting for a big one!

Blowhole detail

Blowhole detail

If you watch closely the picture above, you can see several little crabs! (and yes, I got wet to take this shot 😛 )

Just a few centimeters from the blowhole, there were several of this little crabs

Crabs don’t fear the blowhole

All this was simply amazing. And that’s just the beginning of it!
If you turn your head right from this spot, this is what you see:

Bad light, but it gives an idea of the view

Bad light, but it gives an idea of the view

Heart rock

Heart rock

Yes, there is an heart shaped rock! and yes, it’s made by mother nature 🙂

Everything depends from where you look it from

Everything depends from where you look it from

After several hours it was time to climb up again; this time once on the top, I took a couple of pictures.
It’s incredible how the view changes just by walking for some minutes! Feels like Ireland.

Lines in the ground

Lines in the ground

Hawaiian Hills

Hawaiian Hills

It’s just mid morning, but I’m up since several hours without having eaten anything. It’s time for breakfast!

Loco Moco, typical hawaiian breakfast dish.

Loco Moco, typical hawaiian breakfast dish.

I left some bites for this little fella:

Looks like someone wants my breakfast!

Looks like someone wants my breakfast!

On my way back I stopped a couple of times to take some random pictures. Everywhere you turn, you see something nice!

A river reaching the sea

A river reaching the sea

Somewhere over the Ocean

Somewhere over the Ocean

 

After spending the afternoon editing on the pictures (and taking a nap), it was time to shoot again.
Too bad it was raining! (yes, somentimes it rains also in paradise :P).
Luckily the rain stopped for a little, so that I had the time to mount my tripod to took a selfie:

Waiting for the storm

Waiting for the storm

It has been a super long day, so it’s finally the time to relax a bit and enjoy a drink in the storm!

Mai Tai: every place you try it, it's different!

Mai Tai: every place you try it, it’s different!

Another long day is waiting for me tomorrow, so I better sleep early!

 

Alessandro

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1 comment

Marco 26 April 2015 - 15:24

Buen trabajo..!

Reply

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