And then I left Hawaii. But wait, there’s more!

I of course couldn’t leave Maui without trying to get one more sunset. What do you think?

After spending a rather uncomfortable night in the airport in Honolulu, I grabbed a flight to San Francisco and then jumped in my car and drove to Marina Del Rey.  I spent Sunday the 11th of June running around getting copies of scripts I was going to try to get people to read the next couple of days. I then roamed around the Marina Del Rey Marina and had a great meal at the Warehouse Restaurant with a beautiful view of yachts of all sizes, none of which I could afford!

Monday, after picking up the finished scripts, I decided to check out Venice Beach. I strolled about a mile or so up and down the beach, taking in the sites and taking some pics of people along the way when they asked. Then I had a wonderful meal at the Smokehouse Grill in Burbank with my friend from college, Guy Philippe.  It was great catching up.

The next day, I had meetings with three producers or agents, pitching to them the concept for a new show “Recipe 4 Romance” I have co-written with Stacy Rubalcaba from Kansas City. All three loved the concept and asked to see the scripts. So the pitches worked, now it is whether they think they can do it or want to do it or who the hell knows! It’s Hollywood!!!

Having taken care of my business, it was time for pleasure. I spent the evening roaming around Santa Monica and having a delicious Italian meal in one of the cities many fine restaurants.

The next morning, I was up early and on the road towards Missouri. Having not slept real well the previous night, I decided to stop early and stayed overnight in Las Vegas in a fabulous room in the Desert Blue. The next morning I was on my way again stopping overnight in the tiny town of Green River, Utah. From there, it was a straight shot through Colorado, stopping for a delightful lunch in Evergreen, Colorado and then topping the front range and coasting across the plaines of Colorado and Kansas. As I got closer to Kansas City on the 16th of June, I had a beautiful light show with jagged flashes filling the air across the entire eastern horizon and the clouds glowing in a moving sea of light. Fortunately for me, I was behind the storm and when I arrived in St. Joseph around 3:30 am the 17th, it was long a distant memory.

This BBC Journey of mine will never be a distant memory. Hawaii is an amazing land of contrasts. My trips to and from San Francisco were memorable – I mean, who can say they spent their birthday pitching a TV show idea to three producer/agents? Well, at least no one I know!

I hope you enjoyed the photos. Remember, everything that came after the boat ride in Kauai was shot with a cellphone! All my Big Island and Maui pics – yep – cellphone. The jury is still out about my camera. We’ll have to see what Canon says.

Until the next time, keep an eye out for an announcement about a new commercial website for Robert G. Nulph Photography. Aloha!

Molten lava, billowing white steam, the creation of new land – this is Hawaii!

The ride in the no tiny no door helicopter over the volcano Kilauea, was fantastic. Having been cancelled the day before, the pilot was glad that we were able to see a lot more activity than had been going on for months. This is one of the most active volcanoes in the world having begun its current activity in January of 1983! The new shiny silvery lava is amazing, covering much of the area around the open crater. The crater itself has a molten lake filling its interior. While there, we witnessed a large sheet of solid lave tilt and dissolve into the molten interior. With the doors off, we could feel the heat from the volcano. An amazing experience!

Before my fantastic voyage over the volcanoes, I donned flippers and mask and went on a snorkel tour of the Kona area seas. Magnificent! I have been to the Caribbean many times but I have to say I prefer Hawaii. It really felt like I was swimming in the saltwater tank I used to keep. Schools of Yellow Tang, Long-nosed Butterfly Fish, elegant Angelfish, large Parrotfish and of course the Huma Trigger Fish just to name a few. The tour I was on traveled to four different spots and our guide Manu gave us a great tour of the coastline history and lore. A great way to spend a morning in Hawai’i!

The next day I boarded the plane for Maui, my last island stop. On this lush island, I stayed a small upstairs bungalow using Airbnb. The place was a beautiful hidaway on the northern tier of the island. Once afternoon, I climbed down through the jungle to the shoreline. The beach was not a black beach, it was a boulder beach. No sand here. Huge boulders filled the beach – all round and weathered by surf and wind. It was beautiful. A creek flowed past the beach opening up into the bay.

My time in Maui began with my persuit of visiting as many national parks as possible. Maui features the Haleakalā National Park, This park includes the massive Haleakalā Volcano summit (at 10,000 ft) and below, its massive erosion Crater, the the famous Haleakalā Crater. It is huge: 6.99 miles across, 2.0 mi wide, and some 2,600 ft deep. The interior of the crater is dotted by numerous volcanic features, including large cinder cones thousands of years old the last eruption was between 1480 and 1600 AD. It is interesting that the summit visitors center closes around noon due to the heavy clouds that move into the crater almost every afternoon. The summit is usually sunny but is ringed by a crown of clouds, much like the two volcanoes on the big island. I have included an amazing panorama shot of the crater to give you a great idea as to what I saw while sitting on the summit.

On Maui, one of the premier trips is the Road to Hana. This road is a twisty, often single lane passageway cut out of the cliffs that border the Northern Seacoast of Maui. It seemed like every road in Maui was laid out using a snake. My question is, “Where did they get the snake? There are no snakes in Hawaii!”

Although treacherous, this road is absolutely beautiful. It traverses the undulating coastline; 52 miles through lush rainforest, crossing 59 bridges, 46 of which are only one lane wide. There are 620 curves along this highway with many of them almost 360º turnes that make you think you are going back to whence you came! Around every curve you can expect beautiful vistas of the Pacific Ocean or the flash of a hidden falls in the lush ravines that are carved out of the side of the Maui volcanoes. Or you could meet another car – then it is time to decide who has to back up to let the other one through!

On my journey on the road to Hana, I stopped when saw the flash of a falls high on the mountainside. I had bypassed Twin Falls because it seemed like half the tourist population of Maui was there. I parked my car near a couple of others and started the trek up the creek bed. After passing a few smaller falls, I came upon a beautiful 50+ foot falls with an asian girl enjoying its cool water pool. She and I were the only visitors at the falls. We talked for awhile and then she consented to a few pics. A beautiful setting for portraits – giving me an opportunity to practice the other side of my photography business – that of on location portraiture (Not that many of my clients in Missouri or Kansas will have a waterfalls like this for a background!) Look Mom – no photoshop!

After visiting other waterfalls and gorgeous vistas on the Road to Hana, I stopped in Hana for lunch with a wonderful view and then continued my way around the other side of the island. Seeing yet another wonderful waterfalls (sans model) and a beautiful rocky coastline.

The next day, I left my little hideaway and ventured up the coast to do a swing around the northern bulb of Maui. This road was just as treacherous as the Road to Hana and just as winding! However, instead of lush rainforests, this coastline featured grasslands and bare rocky shorelines. A beautiful drive that ended in Lahaina at a very nice restaurant called Frida’s, named after the beautiful Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo, known for her self portraits. (She is also known for the tumultuous marriage to muralist Diego Rivera.) The restaurant sits along the bay and features very good Mexican food. My delicious burrito was accompanied by a beautiful view of the ocean and the sounds of the surf hitting the sea wall in front of me, sending a fine mist that cooled the very warm day.

After a great meal, I slowly made it down the Western coast of Maui and settling in at the Wahikuli State Park beach to relax and catch my final Hawaiian sunset. I will post these pics later

Stay tuned!

The Big Island… Yeh – it’s big!

The Big Island or Hawai’i is so big, it often feels like you are no longer on an island. You can all of the other Hawaiian Islands, put them together and you would still not have the land mass of the big island. Not only that, it has two 13K+ mountains that are the largest mountains in the world by mass. The big island also has the most active volcano in the world, but that will be covered in the next blog.

I spent a great deal of time driving around this island. Nowhere was close. After being able to zip around Kauai to get from point “A” to point “B” quickly, it was a bit of an adjustment in planning my excursions. On top of that, I had planned on taking a helicopter ride over the volcanoes but after driving for 2 hours from Kona to Hilo over the Saddle Road, the flight was cancelled as we got ready to walk out onto the tarmac. Never fear though – it was supposed to happen. The next day, after driving the Saddle Road through a driving rain the next day, we had a spectacular flight. I will post those pictures later.

One great thing that came out of the cancellation was an incredible sunset. I just sat on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere and shot the sunset using the local flowers as a framing subject.

Volcanoes National Park it quite interesting with massive lava flows from various eruptions and craters that were once very active. It rained while I was there, providing ample opportunities for rainbows. It was also extremely windy – moving this big guy around like I weighed 100 lbs. I’ve never experienced such strong winds.

Speaking of winds, the island is interesting in that every part of the island is different with different weather. It could be pouring on the Saddle Road – the road between the two massive volcanoes that dominate the island, and be totally sunny and hot in Hilo or Kona. The only time I saw both mountain tops was on the flight to Maui. Both were in clear blue skies with a ring of clouds around their slopes.

The Northern part of the Big Island features steep rocky coasts and massive cattle ranches. At times it feels like you are driving through the rolling hills of the Midwest until you look more closely at the plant life or suddenly see the massive ocean in the distance as you top one of the hills. Absolutely gorgeous country! Again, one minute raining like crazy and the next clear and beautiful.

Speaking of plants, there are more flowering species of plants here than anywhere else I have ever traveled. The purple blossomed tree that we see in the painting in Robin William’s wonderful movie “What Dreams May Come,” I thought was an artist’s idea of an ideal artistic tree. But it’s real! It lives on Maui and the Big Island. So many times I have felt like I am in a live Dr. Seuss book or a florist’s shop. It’s amazing!

Well, that’s enough rambling for now. Enjoy the pics!

Stay tuned. More form the Big Island and Maui coming up!