Geckos: Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden, Papaikou, HI

Posted on Saturday, Dec 31, 2011

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Geckos were one of the delights of our Hawaiian adventure. Before we left home I told Lewis that he could expect to discover both bugs and geckos lurking inside the condos and hotels where we would be staying. It turned out that we encountered almost no insects—two cockroaches over 23 days—and no geckos. We were a little disappointed with the latter; we were looking forward to having a gecko roommate or two. This is not to say that these diminutive creatures were scarce. Once we figured out where to look for them, they were everywhere. One even wandered out of the engine compartment and onto the windshield as we drove along the road to Hana. This resulted in several unscheduled stops so that a Certain Boy could exit the vehicle to get a closer look.

There were different varieties of gecko—some larger; others more colorful. Our favorite variety was the one pictured in the first seven images, all taken at the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden north of Hilo on the Big Island. We spent the better part of a day here wandering the trails, enjoying the amazing variety of flora and stalking the geckos. One gecko in particular seemed to take as keen an interest in us as we did in him (her?). He would creep out toward us on one of the large heliconia leaves only to retreat after a few seconds. Then, a few seconds later, he would venture out again even closer. After approaching within arms length, he disappeared for good—or so we thought. It eventually occurred to us that he might be watching us from a different vantage point and, sure enough, there he was right above us looking down.

Our first close encounter occurred on Kauai weeks earlier at the Allerton-McBryde National Tropical Botanical Gardens visitor center. Darla spotted him and, after an extended chase, I caught him. He was so tired by this time that he was willing to sit on Lewis’ arm without making any attempt to escape. Needless to say Lewis was ecstatic after this experience, which created an ongoing imperative to commune with as many of Hawaii’s geckos as possible. It was only after returning home and reviewing these images did we realize that our first encounter was not with a gecko at all but one of the islands’ Anole lizards.

[Click on a thumbnail to view the entire image.]

©2011 Timothy Linn. All Rights Reserved.

Tree Tunnel: Maluhia Road, Kauai

Posted on Saturday, Nov 26, 2011

Saturday, July 2, 2011

I’m a big fan of tree tunnels. There’s a really good one coming down from Mount Hood into Rhododendron, Oregon. It is how I always imagined Bavaria’s Black Forest, the setting for several of the German fairy tales I remember from my youth. Kauai has one too, along Maluhia Road just before it intersects Route 50. If the tree tunnel outside Rhododendren is intimate, dark, and even a little foreboding, the one on Kauai is just the opposite. It is lush and expansive, with a glowing canopy over 100 feet above the ground.

As is often the case with Hawaiian lore, there are conflicting stories about how this mile long corridor of Eucalyptus trees came to be. The most prevalent story credits sugar, pineapple, and cattle magnate Walter McBryde with donating these trees after they were left over from landscaping his estate more than a century ago.

Regardless of it’s origin, no one disputes that two hurricanes, one in 1982 and another in 1993, nearly destroyed the tree tunnel. Eighteen years later the canopy has once again grown together, however locals will tell you that it is still not as filled out and dense as it was prior to the two hurricanes.

Our fond memories of the tree tunnel are not just a result of its beauty but also because it leads through some beautiful countryside to Koloa Town, the quaint little community where we enjoyed delicious haupia ice cream (made from coconut milk in lieu of regular milk) and some outstanding pizza—in that order.

[Click on the photograph or any link to view the full-size image gallery.]

©2011 Timothy Linn. All Rights Reserved.

Lithified Cliffs: Makawehi, Kauai

Posted on Saturday, Nov 19, 2011

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Q: What’s the difference between a 4×4 and a rental car?
A: You can take a rental car anywhere.

I love that joke because there is so much truth in it. But what does it have to do with the lithified cliffs east of Po’ipu, you may ask. Let’s just say that a certain driver who shall remain nameless left a little bit of our rental car along the heavily rutted “road” that leads to this area.

These cliffs are composed of sediment that has been transformed into rock over time—rock that could be described as a cross between swiss cheese and Death Valley’s Devils Golf Course. It would be easy to stumble and fall here; the results would not be pretty. This rock is as sharp as it looks.

Hoping for beautiful light, we waited until early evening to come out. We ended up with clouds instead that eventually became a brief but intense rainstorm which left us all soaked. Not a problem though because, as I reminded everyone, the rain in Hawaii was warm. (This had become a little bit of a running joke for us. The rain did not feel particularly warm.)

[Click on a thumbnail to view the entire image.]

©2011 Timothy Linn. All Rights Reserved.

Roots & Vines: Ha’ena Beach, Kauai

Posted on Saturday, Nov 12, 2011

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

This root and vine covered rock face is located across the highway from Ha’ena Beach, adjacent to Kauai’s more famous Tunnels Beach. We had stopped to check out Tunnels in advance of snorkeling it the following morning, but I was immediately drawn to this scene instead. It reminded me of photographs that I’ve seen over the years of the ancient Buddhist temples in Thailand and Cambodia which are in the process of being slowly reclaimed by the jungle.

As I headed toward the roots and vines, Darla and Lewis made a beeline for the water. The cliff had already fallen into shadow but the beach was still bathed in the golden light of evening. If it’s cold outside as you read this—perhaps there is already snow on the ground—you may wish to mentally transport yourself to this warm Hawaiian beach via 63 seconds of video footage featuring a Certain B.O.Y. playing at the edge of the ocean.

©2011 Timothy Linn. All Rights Reserved.

Queens Bath: Princeville, Kauai

Posted on Saturday, Nov 5, 2011

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Queens Bath is a large and well known tide pool located right in Princeville, where we stayed our first couple days on Kauai. During the winter months massive waves slam into Kauai’s north shore making the Queens Bath area a great location to capture beautiful and often dramatic images. During the calm summer months there is far less drama and far more people hanging out and having fun, as was the case on this day.

The path down to Queens Bath, like many in Hawaii, isn’t marked and doesn’t look like much from the top. It is steep in spots and muddy too. It follows a small stream which eventually flows over a waterfall that was full of people both times we passed by. Not too much farther is the large black lava outcropping that contains Queens Bath. We knew we were in the right area when we reached a wooden sign with slash marks for each of the 29 people who have died at this location.

There are many interesting formations along this section of coast including a number of tide pools so it wasn’t immediately clear to us which one was Queens Bath. We were wandering at the edge of the ocean, observing a group of sea turtles, when we encountered this small pool. It wasn’t Queens Bath but it seemed like a perfect place to stop and play.

Looking at its olivine color it is easy to imagine that the pool’s bottom was slippery—maybe even a little bit slimy—but it was actually neither; it was luxuriously soft. This, along with the pleasantly warm water, made the pool a great place to sit and soak while Lewis stalked the small tropical fish which get washed into it by the occasional large wave that surges up over its edge. If you look closely at the final image, one such fish is swimming rather nonchalantly between Lewis’ hands and my S95 in its underwater housing.

We eventually did make our way to Queens Bath itself. I think it had more swimmers than water in it. More interesting was a nearby group of teenagers who were jumping from the lava cliffs down into the ocean. None of us felt the urge to join in but it was fun to watch them work up the courage to jump.

[Click on a thumbnail to view the entire image.]

©2011 Timothy Linn. All Rights Reserved.