Hawaii, the paradise... (2)

Before boarded the plane to Honolulu, I promised my little Michelle to bring back 2 images for her.  One was the lava flowing into the ocean and the other one was the Milky Way nightly skies from Mauna Kea.  

When we got to the Big Island, the first thing I asked about was the "lava flowing into the ocean."  Sadly, I was told that after years of volcanic activities, about 3 months ago, the lava stopped flowing into the ocean because the lava tube broke... The lava is now flowing to an inland area instead going out to the ocean. 

My one and only hope for this trip immediately turned to a shot of the Milky Way!! 
    

The first day when we got to the Big Island was the new moon, so the sky was perfectly dark with nothing but stars!  The next morning, we drove up to the top of Mauna Kea just to lock down a perfect location for shooting at night.  The entire way up to the mountain made me deeply worried about my chance to get a Milky Way shot because we drove all the way up through clouds and rain...  When we got up there, surprisingly, the sun was shinning.  I had a long talk with the young guy who worked at the Mauna Kea Observation Center.  He showed me their world-class weather forecasting computer system where the sky was monitored and reported every 6 hours.  "For the next 4 days", he said with great confidence, "it will be dry and clear up here!"  Great, isn't it???!!!

We took our time early that evening, as we knew we would get a clear sky for the night.  Photographed the volcanoes at the Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, which was about 60 miles from Mauna Kea.  Had a great dinner, then we headed up to Mauna Kea.  Guess what, I have to say the drive up to the mountain was one of the most dangerous drives I've ever made.  The visibility was so low that all we could see was the waves of clouds coming at us...  This went on for about 40 minutes, and I started to wonder if the young man at the observation center really knew what he was talking about...  I replayed his confident conclusion about the clear sky over and over in my head and could not believe that he had no clue about what he was talking about!!!

To my amusement, about 2 miles from the top of the mountain, the clouds suddenly disappeared -- yeah, I meant "suddenly".  All we could see was the dark sky and bright stars.  The place was unbelievably quiet.  There was absolutely nothing but darkness of the sky, brightness of the stars and the silence of the surroundings.  

Honestly, I have never seen so many stars so bright in my life!!  I took my SHOT, but realized that there was so much more the camera could not capture for me...       

I was so totally in love with the place that I got up at 4:30 AM the next morning and drove up there again, through clouds and rain, to capture the sunrise from the ocean of clouds.  Once again, it was so quiet up there, made me feel I was so close to a different world.  There was nothing but coldness, high winds and the unending beauty of an amazing sunrise above the clouds. 

I wish I knew how to photograph nature's wonders.  For the first time, I felt deeply how limited my photography skills were...   

Hawaii, the paradise... (1)

Our trip started on Thanksgiving Day.  Flew 9.2 hours from Chicago to Honolulu, got to Waikiki right before sunset.  It was very nice and calm out on the island, the park was filled with huge tropical trees.  Kids were playing in the ocean and parents were sitting on the beach enjoying the soft afternoon sunlight...  It was only then when I realized that, perhaps, not everyone cared about the turkey...

The entire 10-day trip was adventurous.  Big Island was such a profound place.  You'd have the opportunity to cover at least 3-4 ecosystems in one day -- from the beautiful coastlines to rainforests to endless black lava fields to fresh volcano ash hills to black sand beaches to green sand beaches and to white sand beaches...  The top of Mauna Kea at 13,000 ft is clear and dry 360 days a year.  You can see the Milky Way and millions and millions of bright stars at night...  Because it's in the middle of the ocean with the least light pollution, Mauna Kea is known to be the best place to see the Milky Way.

From the sea level in Hilo to the top of Mauna Kea at 13,000 ft could be one of the most amazing and unpredictable trips you've ever taken.  You would drive from the peaceful civilization through heavy rain and then thick cloud layers where the visibility was only about 1/10 of a mile, finally, about 3 minutes before getting to the top, you would suddenly see dark, dark clear skies with millions of bright stars.  In the morning, the temperature could drop from 70F in Hilo to below 20F on top of the mountain. 

Some day, I will show you the amazing sunrise photos I took up there under windchill of 15F...  The sun came out from the thick clouds and colored the entire world to orange and then red -- pretty unbelievable stuff, and it's just impossible to capture with a camera!!

For now, please allow me to share the last 2 photographs I took on this trip: sunrise from the Black Sand Beach. When you think about it, even in the black lava covered areas, nature still has its own unique beauty and it has its own moments to shine!


Black Sand Beach
December 6, 2013