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Post by afriendlychicken on May 13, 2010 16:16:44 GMT -5
One of my brothers loves to go scuba diving. In fact, at least twice a week he'll dive for his dinner. I, on the other hand, seem to have an aversion to swimming. I rarely swim and have, amazingly, never learned how to dive. When I was young and living on Oahu, there was so much reef near the shore that I used to hate it. I would only swim in sandy water, to avoid the eels, crabs, manta rays, vana which is Hawaiian for those prickly sea urchins, and other reef beasties that can poison and bite you. On this island, the ocean is too deep. You jump in the water 2ft off-shore and it's already 20ft deep. The good thing about this is the whales tend to come pretty close to shore. I've seen whales within a 100 yards of where I was standing on-shore. I could hear and smell them. It was awesome!
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Post by caucasoididiot on May 13, 2010 17:40:32 GMT -5
Gorgeous as always. I especially like Molokini. Moku Ola doesn't look like it has much freeboard, though. What kind of tides do you have in that bay?
The whale watching sounds cool, but your mention of their smell puts me in mind of a seal cave in Oregon I once visited. It was . . . pungent.
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Post by afriendlychicken on May 13, 2010 21:11:18 GMT -5
Hawai'i doesn't have large tidal differences. The average difference between high and low tides in Hilo Bay is between 1ft and 3ft. It's a pretty calm bay, but like most of Hawai'i's bays, it can hide a very strong under-tow. Okay, I agree on the smell. No sea animal has a great smell. But seeing a 30ft humpback 100 yards off-shore and hearing the sound the blow-hole makes while spraying is great. I should share an image of the Hawaiian monk seal with you...wait..I'll be back...(about 2 minutes later)...I found one: It's a healthy bugger. They are an endangered species and you are not supposed to go near them if you see one basking on the shore like this. And, frankly, I think they know that because they seem to chose to bask on populated beaches. They like THE POWER!
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Post by spackle on May 13, 2010 21:53:05 GMT -5
Those little islands are neat, they're all such different shapes. Also very neat is whales close to shore... unbeached whales close to shore. I'd love to see that. Great pics, friendly!
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Post by Bix Dugan on May 13, 2010 22:15:33 GMT -5
My brother (who'll be in Kauai soon) is thinking about trying something called SNUBA, a combination of SCUBA and snorkling. I guess they pump air down a tube, and it doesn't require certification. Heard of it? He also saw an ad for a two-man ultra-light plane ride, hehe.
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Post by caucasoididiot on May 13, 2010 22:41:28 GMT -5
SNUBA, a combination of SCUBA and snorkling. Heh heh . . . hardhat reborn?
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Post by afriendlychicken on May 14, 2010 1:08:11 GMT -5
Also very neat is whales close to shore... unbeached whales close to shore. I'd love to see that. Oh, wait, they're supposed to be in the water? DAMN! All these years I've been watching dying whales... Honestly, you have to experience seeing the whales once in your life. It's an awe-inspiring experience. My brother (who'll be in Kauai soon) is thinking about trying something called SNUBA, a combination of SCUBA and snorkling. I guess they pump air down a tube, and it doesn't require certification. Heard of it? He also saw an ad for a two-man ultra-light plane ride, hehe. I've heard of it. I would only suggest to him to make sure that whomever he chooses is certified. There is a lot of un-certified people who run business' aimed at tourist. He should take that ultra-light plane ride because about a third of Kauai is inaccessible. But again, check for certification. Did you know none of these business' are run by long time residents? It's usually outsiders who move here and decide they want to improve the tourist experience. Sometimes they do, sometimes we want to hunt them down with torches and "kill" them. What until we find the person who thought that para-gliding would be great for Hawai'i. Heh heh . . . hardhat reborn? EGAD! What is that? 1920's scuba gear? Is that Captain Nemo? And again, thanks everyone for the kind words. Knowing that you all are enjoying it makes doing this a lot of fun.
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Post by ilmatto on May 14, 2010 4:26:20 GMT -5
AFC, sometime when you get a chance, explain what is the deal with Molokai. I read somewhere years ago that the whole island was a leper colony at one time; but then I heard Steve McGarrett talking about it; has the place been renovated and cleaned out or something? I guess it's sad that my knowledge of Hawaii is based on what Steve McGarrett says.
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Post by afriendlychicken on May 14, 2010 17:59:06 GMT -5
Moloka'i is an island. Did that help? ;D There was a leper colony on Moloka'i, but it was only on an almost inaccessible peninsula called Kalaupapa, and not the whole island. The only way to get there is a donkey ride down a 3,315ft cliff. No one is allowed by sea. I didn't know this until just now but the cliffs there are the highest sea cliffs in the world. I'll find an image, hold on... It was here that Father Damien helped people with leprosy. And keep watching Hawai'i 5-0 and listening to Steve McGarrett. They were pretty accurate on that show, except for the normal TV and movie scene of a car turning in one area and showing up somewhere else entirely. You know, the turn in Los Angeles and ending up in San Diego kind of scene?
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Post by ilmatto on May 14, 2010 20:29:54 GMT -5
I haven't seen a Hawaii 5-0 show in 20 years I guess. My favorite from my childhood (70s) was "3 dead cows at makapuu" - I can remember it like it was yesterday. A vial of deadly engineered virus or something is on the loose, in the final scene, a beach bum has the vial and is dying or dead; he has a shack on the beach, and the authorities bring in a guy with a flame thrower who torches the place. I was impressed; what entertainment. What a problem solving device.
Remember a couple of years back, that jerk-lawyer guy who had super-TB and sneaked through the canadian border because the airlines wouldn't let him fly? I recommend that the border security people solve his problem with a flamethrower. The shoe bomber guy? Flamethrower.
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Post by caucasoididiot on May 14, 2010 22:26:27 GMT -5
I was watching some of that show on hulu last year. The funny thing was one episode where some of the action shifted to California. After decades and decades of "Guys, this is so not Illinois/France/England/Germany/Uzbekistan" it was fun to see somewhere else pretend to be California. (^_^)
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Post by afriendlychicken on May 14, 2010 23:16:12 GMT -5
You won't believe this but one of our local stations started to show old Hawai'i 5-0 episodes recently, and the very first episode I saw was the exact one you described. Dead cows, Makapu'u, guy on beach, flame thrower, the works. I think it was a first season episode.
Hawai'i tends to be shot as everything but Hawai'i. They are filming the next "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie here at this moment. Hawai'i has a tradition of really bad movies being filmed here.
Waterworld is one of them. It was filmed just off the shore of Kawaihae on this island. I can remember that stupid structure sitting out in the ocean for a few years and hearing talk of the arena being a tourist attraction. HA! Thankfully, they sunk that eyesore to create an artificial reef, so some good came out of this movie.
Pearl Harbor: No comment.
Black Widow: It was filmed here in Hilo and has a nice scene that was filmed during an eruption. I admit, this isn't that bad.
Planet of the Apes(The Tim Burton Remake): Yep, they were here. Actors in monkey suits riding horses across lava fields. What a thrill, yea?
Donovan's Reef: A John Ford film it may be, but it ain't a good one. Nice scenery of Kauai though.
I think I need to work on that Hawai'i in movies post I wanted to do. Bob Hope, here I come!
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Post by afriendlychicken on May 17, 2010 3:26:27 GMT -5
You know what? That movie post is just going to have to wait. Instead, I'll take you through Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park to see some of it's beauty. I'll try to find raw video's instead of the travelogue touristy type to give you the actual feel of being there. This first video just gives a nice over-view of what the park's like. Since the last video ended at Thurston's Lava Tube, here's a video showing the walk through it. One of my brothers, for some unknown reason, always does the tooky tooky bird from "George of the Jungle" when we walk through here. "Ah ah ee ee tooky tooky." Next, I'll take you through Kilauea Iki trail and to Byron's Ledge. The person mentions Devastation trail but that's not it. The nice thing about this video is it shows you how fast the weather can change here. I've walked through this trail a few times. This is Devastation Trail. This was caused by the eruption of Kilauea Iki in 1959. The trail is located behind the cinder cone they keep showing from the opposite side of Kilauea Iki Crater. You can see Kilauea's current steam eruption in the background. Talking about eruptions, this is what Kilauea is doing now. This is the steam cloud coming from Halema'uma'u Crater. And lastly, some nice footage of the flow from the Pu'u O'o vent a few years ago, as it flowed into the ocean. You'll see a few funnel clouds and lightning. The flow at the moment is not entering the ocean, but a new flow is now getting close again. I hope you enjoyed that. Until next time, Aloha.
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Post by ilmatto on May 17, 2010 7:22:13 GMT -5
I watched that last video; it's really amazing and kind of scary that the Earth's bleeding guts are exposed to the surface at all, for any length of time. I love watching those documentaries showing the lava flows. I remember seeing a video where a helicopter overflew a volcanic eruption and the heat started melting the rotor blades and they were forced to land immediately.
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Post by afriendlychicken on May 17, 2010 17:08:51 GMT -5
Ilmatto, you live in a dark world. You should meet one of my brothers, I think he lives in the same universe as you. Maybe I put too many videos this time? I was trying to show the real experience because, honestly, you will almost never get to see the eruptions the way most documentaries show it. That last video, with the flow in the ocean, is the one way most will see a flow. I was standing on a lava bench once that was within 40 yards of an ocean flow because the wind direction allowed the spectators to get really close. There was a 10 to 15ft lave tube pouring into the ocean and I watched for about an hour. A few days later, the place we were standing on collapsed in the ocean. Like seeing a total lunar or solar eclipse, it's one of those rendered speechless moments in life. Very magical.
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