Picking the View Side of the Plane to Oahu

Aerial shot Maui (foreground) and Hawaii (background) on a cloudy day. When flying to Hawaii, the direction of approach will vary somewhat depending on the direction of the wind and where you are coming from. However, most of the time, whether coming into Hawaii from Northern or Southern California, the planes will fly in toward Oahu from the Southeast. Thus, the left side of the plane will view Maui and the island of Hawaii first and then fly over the low planes and hills of Molokai before approaching Oahu over Pearl Harbor and landing on the reef runway. Depending on the winds, sometimes the plane will loop out over the ocean and fly over Hanauma bay, Koko Head and Waikiki approaching in the opposite direction. However, the majority of the time, when flying to Oahu, the left side windows are your best bet. When leaving, chose the opposite. Nothing, of course, is guaranteed.

Hawaii from the Air!

On a nice clear day, you can see a long, long ways. While we're still missing Oahu and Kauai, you could see most of the major Hawaiian islands on this nice, mostly clear day.

Foreground, from left to right: the islands of Molokai, Kaho'olawe and Lanai.
Background, from left to right: the islands of Maui and Hawaii.

Hawaiian Islands

From foreground to Background: Molokai, Maui, Hawaii. A view of the tops of the volcanos of three of the major islands in the Hawaiian Island chain as they rise above the clouds & vog (Kilauea is erupting again...). Notably missing Oahu, Kauai and Niihau.

Kihei on Tilt

What's a guy to do on a deserted beach in Kihei, Maui but take pictures? This one's on tilt with my head tilting to compensate just a tad. Do you suppose it's global warming or maybe one too many cups of coconut juice? White fluffy sand and nobody around. Gosh...

Tough Feet

Are our feet tougher when we're younger or when we're older? Or perhaps, our ability to ignore hot, sun soaked lava rock is better when we're younger? Or our willingness to hop off of lava rocks into the ocean? Either way, you wouldn't catch me hopping around on lava rock bare footed. Nope, those feet are way too used to those soft, cozy shoes of mine to get away with running across lava rock. I don't remember wearing shoes very often in grade school, however. Maybe there is something to it after all?

More Pictures From Maui

I snapped this shot of a Gulf Fritillary along the trail to the source of the Seven Sacred Pools out past Hana, Maui. The trail was really beautiful although the water level was a little low since they had just gotten through a dry spell. The weather compensated by drenching us silly up at the falls and along the way back to the car. Luckily, that Hawaiian rain is wonderfully warm, refreshing stuff although the camera was probably none too appreciative (stayed in the backpack on the way back).

House of the Sun

This is Haleakala, house of the sun, in Maui. You can see the black and rust red cinders that line the interior as well as the cinder cones that surround the outside of the crater. If you look really close you might see the persons hiking below, although, at some 10,000 ft., the hiking turned out to be more work than I had anticipated, having spent far too long at sea level.