Thursday, January 15, 2009

A Winter Photo Essay - Hawaiian Style



Photo: Big Beach, Makena, Maui, Hawaii, December 2004. Digital photograph. Privately held by Thomas MacEntee, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Chicago, Illinois. 2008.

This post was written for the 64th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy hosted by Jasia at Creative Gene.

I know that the these of this carnival has to do with "family photographs during the winter" but, to be honest, I could not find one in my collection where family members were shoveling snow or sledding or doing any of the other activities associated with snow and upstate New York.

Perhaps it was the fact that it was just too cold for cameras to operate.  I remember cold days similar to today in Chicago: as I write this it is 10:00 am with a temperature of -7F and a windchill of -24F.  As we like to say here "Chicago - where many are cold but few are frozen."

Many of my friends currently take a week or two to vacation in a warm spot such as Palm Springs, Puerta Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas or Hawaii.  I've chosen photos from my last trip to Maui in December 2004.

Above, is a great beach shot looking off of Big Beach towards Molokai.  Big Beach is at the Makena point along with Little Beach.  Little Beach is known for its nude sunbathing and for being sort of "hippy trippy" in its atmosphere.


Photo: Access point to Little Beach, Makena, Maui, Hawaii, December 2004. Digital photograph. Privately held by Thomas MacEntee, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Chicago, Illinois. 2008.

Above, is the view towards the cliff separating Big Beach and Little Beach.  In order to get to Little Beach where you can see and be seen, you have to climb a very steep cliff.  Luckily for the denizens of Little Beach that day, my arthritis and knee surgery kept me from making the climb.


When I lived in California, trips to Hawaii were only five hours but from Chicago, the trip is a very long nine hour nonstop trip.  That's probably why we haven't made the trip since 2004.  The shot above is from the hotel in Wailea.  Wailea is right next to Kihei and is in the southern part of Maui which is considered the "dry" section.  Not much rain, and always warmer than West Maui or North Maui.

Photo: Palm Trees, Wailea, Maui, Hawaii, December 2004. Digital photograph. Privately held by Thomas MacEntee, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Chicago, Illinois. 2008.


Photo: View of West Maui at Sunrise, Wailea, Maui, Hawaii, December 2004. Digital photograph. Privately held by Thomas MacEntee, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Chicago, Illinois. 2008.

When I am in Maui, the time zone difference always has me up early - so I usually try to take some sunrise photos.  Above is a view from the balcony of the hotel looking towards West Maui.


Photo: View of West Maui at Sunset, Wailea, Maui, Hawaii, December 2004. Digital photograph. Privately held by Thomas MacEntee, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Chicago, Illinois. 2008.

Finally, the same view at sunset.  The sun sets at about 6:00 am in the winter since there is no Daylight Savings Time in Hawaii.  Usually we would take our place at the bar at 4:30 pm and catch the migration of whales in the water.  Then about 5:00 pm there would be a blast from a conch shell horn and the torches would be lit all over the hotel grounds.

So there is my view of winter, or at least the way I'd prefer to see it.  Right now there are about three weeks until Ground Hog Day and I am praying that the little rodent does not see his shadow!

4 comments:

Charley "Apple" Grabowski said...

This is the winter I dream about every night! Thanks for sharing. On my one trip to Maui I somehow missed Little Beach ;-)

I love your new layout!

Dorene from Ohio said...

Now that is the kind of winter essay that I enjoy!

Janet Iles said...

Great photos. I do like photos of sea and sand.

Becky Thompson said...

With the hard winter so many people are having, this is a terrific time to post photos of a Hawaiian winter. Thank you, Thomas!