ICONIC COINCIDENCE

A WORLD CAPITOL

GROUND ZERO

HALEIWA

    1,860 miles from the nearest continent, further away from "mainland" than anywhere in the world is a funky surf town that is a premier sports capitol of the planet. 

   As fate would have it, just a few miles down the road is ground zero for an Industry that is now world wide. In 1899 recent Harvard grad James Drummond Dole came to Oahu and began what became Dole Foods, the folks who turned Pineapple into a major crop and built an empire in the process.

Dole

Courtesy of Dole Foods

Kahanamoku

Courtesy of www.nnbd.com

   The creation of modern surfing is attributed to Duke Kahanmoku, born on Oahu nine years before Dole arrived.
In many ways their lives paralleled. Kahanmoku was a champion swimmer, actor and a businessman. 
    Surfing and Pineapple-icons of the Islands. It is a cosmic coincidence these vastly divergent influences share roots on Oahu and both attract visitors from around the globe.

    At a Disneyesque location just a few miles down highway 99, people cue up to ride on the Aloha Express to view the red oxide volcanic earth that helped Jim Dole take the Pineapple from Paraguay and make it as Hawaiian as the North Shore has made Surfing.

     Dole is now about a lot more than Pineapple.

   Surfing is also an industry. Dole and Kahanmoku are revered. Their iconic legacies remain neighbors in North Oahu where Kings and Queens were once the royalty and where chickens strut on the court house lawn.

   Aloha!

   See you down the trail.

THE ORIGINS and A BIG OOPS

LEGENDARY BEAUTY

   At first sight, the trees take your attention as you enter
Waimea Valley considered a sacred ahupua'a, land that runs from mountain to sea.

   This wahi pana, place of kings and high priests, is a remarkable botanical garden. It is how this land was before development and commercialization.  It is a glimpse into origins.

    Common name for the tree above and below is Canon Ball.  Any questions?

   Deep canopy and lush forest enliven your imagination to

 ponder how Captain Cook's English sailors must have regarded this paradise when they landed here, looking for water.

  One begins to understand how natives of this land were shaped by the stunning beauty and richness of the natural order.

   Life here is rich, exotic and vibrant. One can sense how all of it is part of the same web.

   Hawaiians say the mana or life force and essence of those who lived and ruled in this valley remains. It is indeed an extraordinary place, and to this writer's mind a satisfying world away from Waikiki Beach on the other side of the island.

OOPS

    Oahu's north shore is legendary for big waves and big wave surfing.  Shortly after sunrise on a day when the waves were 30-40 foot, my friend Jim caught this series of shots of surfing photographers getting caught off guard.

 Photo by Jim Cahill

 Photo by Jim Cahill

   What a desperate moment, fishing for your gear!

 Photo by Jim Cahill

Photo by Jim Cahill

    

   Those are expensive cameras, lens and tripods to get soaked and in some cases lost.
    I was able to catch a shot of what may have been the safest camera platform of the morning

     The flight controller had this drone down at wave level, between swells and then rapidly got it out of harms way. It was a neat side show.
     The other good spot was high ground.

    The eyes of the two surfers, the veteran and the boy speak volumes about the big waves.

   See you down the trail.

SEEING INSPIRATION

REFLECTIONS

   Mark Twain, Jack London, Robert Louis Stevenson and Ernest Hemingway all found refuge and inspiration in the Hawaiian Islands. 
    The abounding beauty is but one of the captivating influences that engage the mind and put the muse to dance. The melding of Polynesian culture with indigenous history and native personality is rich. Add to that, color,   aroma, food, and a special relationship of people with nature all playing out in the unique light of a Pacific Island and you have a blend for reflection, appealing to writers and countless artists.
      William Faulkner said a writer needs experience, observation and imagination. Twain, London and Stevenson found it here.  
       On a previous visit, working on a documentary, a helicopter pilot with whom we worked told me the land and the Hawaiian people are connected in a special way and he said the land is alive. There is an energy and power to life that abides on land that has emerged from the sea by power of the ring of fire. Observing and experience life here stokes the imagination with volcanic power.

SEEING IT

     These frames are works of reflection in degrees of intricacy. If you have a moment, decipher how reality is bent by reflection.

  The following are a trio in tribute to the dancing palms.

   The following frames may take a moment to determine how up is on the bottom.

   Wishing you moments of reflection and inspiration.

REMEMBERING THE DREAMER

    

     See you down the trail.

A PIECE OF PARADISE

FEWER TOURISTS-MORE LOCALS

    Around the northern point of Ohau, away from Waimea, the Pipeline and Turtle Bay lays stretches of undeveloped scenic beauty dotted by local communities of Kahuku, Laie and Hauula near Sacred Falls.

    The north shore appeals not only to surfers and fans, but those who like nature, country, local culture, agriculture and a very laid back mood.

   "Keep the country, country" is the call on signs and bumper stickers.  Here, as in communities close to nature, there is the tension between the way it is and the desire of developers. 
    I have preferred other Hawaiian Islands because of the heavy tourist development and building of Honolulu however the local and authentic feel of the North Shore and from here south to Hauula is delightfully pleasing. There is an easy accord between simplicity, balance and allowing the beauty of nature to be dominant. 
    The world has enough high rise condos, hotels and resorts. I'm with those who find favor in true local culture and perspective. Here it is country and it feels to this outsider that is how it should be.

 BATTLE IN PARADISE

 History looms in a strange juxtaposition on a point between Kawela and Turtle Bay. The beauty of paradise interrupted by an artifact of WWII.  The bunker stands at the tip of Protection Point.

 The fortification was one of many along the shoreline, protecting the Kahuku airfield that housed B-17 and B-24 aircraft.

  Here in paradise or on beaches and rises in modern Europe,  I am struck by the paradox and contradictory force of such beauty being the scene of historic and heroic battle.

 LOOK FAMILIAR?

    This banyan forest on the north shore has been a scene in many films and productions, the most recent being Hunger Games.

    Better that such paradise be the setting for only play war.  Were it that way everywhere, huh?

    See you down the trail.