Sunday 6 March 2011

Waikoloa Beach

Actually, beaches, but despite living on Hawaii Island for nearly 15 years now I'd never visited this place before. The picture above shows one of the beaches shortly before sunset. It was empty apart from a few surfers off in the distance. The vog that seemed to be hanging a mile or so off the coast made for quite a strange looking scene but the beach was pretty enough. Just beware that there's little sand, just lots of white coral that'll rip your knees to shreds if you lose your footing, as I nearly did a couple of times. The coral is razor sharp and on the steep parts of the beach will give way without warning. It's a beautiful place nevertheless and wonderfully devoid of tourists!

Same place an hour later. The sunset was not spectacular so was packing up when suddenly the high cirrus clouds lit up, so out came the camera again and just got this shot in time. I tried to take a panorama but by the time I'd taken the first picture the clouds were dark again. It was literally a two minute window when the clouds looked like this.

This is from the beach near the Waikoloa hotel I was staying at. No razor sharp coral to worry about but the sunset was crap. There were a bunch of us there to watch as the previous night's sunset had been so spectacular but this time a mixture of vog and an approaching front meant the sun disappeared behind the clouds well before sunset. Oh well, I did the best I could do in the circumstances. I'm hoping to revisit the place next week.

5 comments:

Tammie Lee said...

lovely photos
sunsets and sunrises.... each one a unique dance

Tom said...

Tammie - how true!

Unknown said...

The sky in that second picture is just magnificent!

Alexa said...

I went to the Hawaiian islands twice as a part of my parents' work when I was young. Although my memory is hazy in most places, it still remains the most fantastical envrironment I have ever been in. I think the pictures on your blog capture the moments I forgot brilliantly. Thank you.

Rose said...

Perfect photography that so enhances the beauty through your lens - breathtaking, wonderful shots superb colours!