Naialani

I stopped by a beach on the West side that the locals call "TRACKS". You drive off the main highway onto the grass, park at the edge of the sand and you are there!! it is OLD Hawaii at its finest!! To the left side of the grassy edge stands a pipe 6 feet high, curved at the end, thats the shower. On the right side of the grass a bathroom built in the 60s or 70s. No fan fare, no fancy stuff just basics. I remember on the north side of the island , the beach i call home , the bay, we as kids used to have to crawl thru the bushes to get to the beach. I dont miss crawling thru the bushes, but i do miss the simple, basic life we used to live. A good day was a day spent at the beach, swimming ,eating, and getting extremely burnt, then home to take a shower, dinner, the 3 stooges on TV , then bed , if you lasted that long !! I dont know when it became important how much money you made, what kind of car you drive or WHO decorated your home. I miss the time when living right meant tel...

Went to the West side of the island today, spent some time in the man made lagoons of the only hotel on the west side. Because its the only hotel out there its quite nice. Very very different from Waikiki. The enviroment is soooooooooo laid back, these two ducks were sitting next to my car when i came up from the beach...LOL... quack quack....lol..... i am an island girl.

Three miles straight out from where I swim with the dolphins, a boat pulls up, stops its engines, and throws a big silver cage overboard. The people who operate the boat then load people down into this cage and hang a big piece of raw meat off the boat. Needless to say, the BIG Tiger Sharks in the area and the occasional Great White Shark smell a meal. If they are not there when the boat gets there , they will show up shortly. The humans in the cage are given a rare opportunity to see a big shark up close without getting hurt. This activity in recent years, has changed the way I swim with the dophins. Now a human isnt shark food but accidents happen. Three miles seems like a long way but to a BIG SHARK it is a NANO second. I now pay GREAT attention to what and HOW the dolphins are acting. I have had them swim into the bay, swim around me a couple times highly, highly excited and then VERY quickly dissappear, when this happens i need to be close to shore. If they leave in a split seco...

I continue to swim with my underwater camera. I am really enjoying myself. After a trek over the rocks , i hit the water with glee. YES !!! in the water and off i go. Soon after i hit the water i came across a BEAUTIFUL shell. As i reached out to pick it up, I thought to myself WOW this a beauty. Now ive lived here all my life and WAY IN THE BACK OF MY MIND I REMEMBER thinking, LANI be careful , you dont usually see shells like this here. I turned it over, it looked empty , it was so pretty i stuffed it in my bathing suit and swam on. About 30 seconds later I feel a soft pinch to my skin and i go," OT ROH the shell has already been taken" , by a hermit crab!!!!!.....lol... If looks could kill, i would not be writing this blog today, needless to say he was NOT a happy hermit crab.!!! LOL ... I said sorry and moved on, just a little sad that beautiful shell could not be mine, but felt better knowing he would soon be a Happy Hermit crab again !!! I love the ocean and ALL the cre...

I smile every time i see this sign. The bay has always been a sanctuary for me, and 3 years ago the State of Hawaii made it a sanctuary for the Humpback Whales. Now those of us who frequent the bay and there are a few of us who spend every free minute in the waters of the bay, scratch our heads in wonder. In all the years we've been coming to the bay we have only once seen a whale in the bay. It was a baby humpback and the whole time that baby was in the bay, its mother stayed out of the bay breaching herself silly in the deep water until that baby left the bay and resumed its place next to mom. Although a little confused we are grateful that the bay offically became what we regulars have known for years. That this is a special place , meant to be protected from anything that may cause it and all the the wonderful creatures that live in it, and those who occasionally visit any harm. I moved on from the bay, to the next beach to continue practicing with my underwater camera . The ...

I was driving home from the beach on Monday, and as always I looked a little to the right while driving. I like to look at the mountain range. I started to smile because at a certain point in that range my dad came to my mind. Years back a movie called Tora, Tora, Tora was being filmed on Oahu, and they used Japanese zeros during the filming. One particular day i remember them flying over our house. My dad being from the Pearl Harbor era, he had friends on the ships that sat in the Harbor, looked up, saw the movie set zeros, paused for a second stare and then started running .... LOL reflex reaction !!! I teased him about it for years, he would just give me a silent glare ...LOL. On this day that memory caused me to pull over and stop the car. I stood on the door sill of the car and took a picture of Kolekole Pass, the dip in the mountain range where the real Japanese Zeros came thru years ago. On this day I took this picture with my dad in mind. That time, that day so long ago, never...

My boss, Roy came running into the store this morning yelling "LANI YOU GOT YOUR CAMERA??" now, if you know Roy you know he gets excited over very few things, unlike myself who hyperventilates with excitement when i awaken. Ive lived another day and it is all up hill from there,all day.!! What was he so excited about?? ' Rainbow Moon.

I call him "CHATTER". For some reason every time he sees me he opens his mouth and gives me a warning chatter. I am not sure why , but i take each chatter i get from him as a warning. It tells me "be careful, we are wild dolphins" and so I am reminded that this great wide, beautiful ocean that i swim and play in is NOT an amusement park and that i need to be mindful of the creatures and their ways !! He is the dolphin right in the middle of the picture there. The one with his mouth open ...lol. I get asked if i pet them or touch them. I dont. I remember diving under and putting my face almost to the skin of the dolphin and thinking" do not touch, lani... do not touch." Why? They cant tell me its okay. If someone walked up to me while i was in a public place, a stranger, and touched me i would be a little bent. I feel the same about the dolphins, if they want to touch me, thats fine, but they cant tell me if its okay for me to touch them. I adore these anim...

After one day on the west side in the "Baby Pools" i couldnt bare going back so i went on down to my beloved North Shore. It was a little rough and cold but i wasnt complaining !!! I love my side of the island !!! There are parts of the North Shore were the volcanic shoreline is just deadly. If you fall ,you are gonna get hurt, bad. I realized as i was climbing over it to get some underwater pictures that a sandy shore is the most under rated thing on the planet !!!! Once i was in the water i was fine. The water in the small ocean pond of Sharks Cove was cold and clear, I got more practice using my new underwater camera. I better get this down quick because dolphins do not stop and pose !!!! i am excited for what summer will bring !!

I am starting a new thing in my life. I got a digital underwater camera. Now for 2 years ive been using a cheap 10 dollar disposable one. No fuss, no bother just shoot and swim. I am hoping i can get my coordination working and take some good pictures. I have several months to practice before the dolphins show up. LOL if you know me , you know this could take years !!!! For example, I stepped out of the water , walked up the beach turned and thought oh a great pic, I forgot to dry the camera off!! So i have a shot of the beach with a big water mark going down the middle of the picture. i started practicing with my new camera on the west side of the island, the north side where i usually spend my time is too rough this time of year. I went to a place my family calls "Baby Pools", they are man made lagoons for a big hotel and although beautiful, just not what i call good swimming.lol The fish in the lagoons, just seem to be colorless, like the lagoons themselves, but it makes...

She swam past me never taking her eye off of me or what was in my hand. She had seen me out there before, but this time i have something in my hand!!! She has her baby to think about . There was an unseen signal given to her child who although older , still swam with mom , so while mom watched me, baby moved from under mom to beside her. MOM kept her body between me and baby the whole time.I felt proud of this mom so intent on protecting her child ,but also i felt like throwing the camera i held in my hand to the high seas, this camera stood between me and her trust and i didnt like it !!! it was because of this short encounter, that I more than likely will leave my camera in my swim suit or better yet on shore. I have missed some wonderful wonderful shots, like the day i took my boyfriend into the water and while surrounded by dolphins his spirit soared so high i caught him doing cartwheels underwater!! my camera sat on shore missing the whole thing..lol... Thats just how it is .

Im gonna mark my calendar. Feb 1,09 , this was the way the bay looked yesterday. Its the middle of winter here on the North Shore, but today it looked like summer ,that is until you dove in. The water was cold ,cold ,cold. I passed one of the regular swimmers, Akio on the way down the beach . He had just gotten out of the water and he was purple. The only sound that passed thru his shaking lips were the words COLD COLD, at least thats what i think he was saying !!! LOL... I love the bay for it to look like this in Feb is very unusual. The paddle board guys LOVED it !! these were beginners you could tell. They spent more time in the water than on the boards. They are always fun to watch. Determination is the key word for a begginner paddle boarder. Because of the unexpected good weather, the bay on this feb 1,09 was crowded. just when i thought it couldn't get any noiser , here comes the Coast Guard helicopter !!!! OMG!!! now its a good thing there were no dolphins in sight because...

SOME days the drive to the beach seems to take forever!!