Parasail

One of the ocean-based tourist activities we have here in Hawai‘i, is parasailing. Basically, a person sits in a sled with a parachute attached to it, and tethered to a speedboat. The rider of this catches some air as a wave breaks in the foreground.

I have seen photos of this activity in other parts of the country as well.

Rusty Chains

This rusty chain is part of the slack that holds a tire to the side of a pier to prevent boats from colliding with the pier.

Voggy Drive

With the eruption of Kīlauea, one of the Big Island's volcanoes, southerly winds bring up the volcanic haze, we call vog, up north to O‘ahu. It wreaks havoc on those with respiratory ailments, or sinus allergies. On the Big Island, it's a health risk when the winds are calm and the sulfur dioxide levels are high.

I took this photo while driving home Friday afternoon, west-bound on the H1. You can see the haze shrouding the buildings in the background, which are less than a few miles away. This vog is unlike the smog in L.A., where one can see the the smog layer, but this vog was everywhere. One thing that the vog does ... it creates some really red sunsets.

The Honolulu Advertiser's article link about the current phase

Playtime

These two kids play amongst the boulders that line the shore of Kaka‘ako Park in the late afternoon.

West Side Sunset

Framed by the rocks outside the JW Marriott Ihilani Hotel & Resort, the sun sets on O‘ahu's west side.

Touch And Go

This US Coast Guard HH-65 "Dauphin" rescue helicopter was practicing its landings, called "touch & go's", on the Queen's Medical Center's helipad. The HH-65 landed on the pad, held for a few seconds, then took off to cycle around several more times.

It's seen here making its turn after departing the helipad for another landing attempt.

The Queen's Medical Center is the main trauma center on O‘ahu, and the entire Hawaiian Island chain. The helipad will receive medevac flights 24-7 by the US Army (who does the O‘ahu medevac from outlying areas), the US Coast Guard, and even the US Navy.

The first night I slept in my apartment, I was awakend by the sound of a US Army UH-60 "BlackHawk" medevac flight at 5:30am. Now, it's to the point where I have grown immune to the sound of a "BlackHawk" arriving and departing the Queen's helipad.

Orchid Path

One of dozens of orchids line the ground for a couple to walk through after their wedding ceremony.

I was thinking it looked nice, but what a waste of these beauties of God's creation, many of them were trampled under foot.

Old Ford

This Ford looks like the same car, though different colors, as the one that appeared in the ZZ Top music videos back in the '80s.

Afternoon At Nordstrom's

How I spent my afternoon at Nordstrom's while Kathy went shopping ... and I had company too!

Outside the Gelato Bar, Kathy and I had actually seen a guy sitting in this chair while his other half was shopping for lingerié. At one point, he had a hand on the sitting mannequin's shoulder. Rather than trying to snipe a shot of the guy, I had Kathy take a shot of me waiting in the chair amongst the scantily-clad mannequins, after the guy and his girl left. We both got a good laugh over this shot.

Waiting For The Finishers

I was patiently waiting for the first finishers of the 2008 Great Aloha Run when I got this shot of our hand-held camera at the mouth of Aloha Stadium's north tunnel, which was several yards from the finish line.

The black granules on the ground are from Aloha Stadium's Field Turf® playing surface. The granules are designed to simulate dirt, and to hold down the millions of "grass" fibers.

After every event I work on the field, I have to empty the granules out of my hiking boots, which usually contain a couple of dozen between my shoes and socks. The one thing I love about Field Turf is that it's quite soft to run on, unlike the previous artificial turf that Aloha Stadium has.

Pine And Sky

One of the many long-needled pine trees that line the rural beaches of O‘ahu against the clear blue sky.

Tiny Flowers

I came across these really tiny flowers that measured about a quarter-inch across.

Lone Fisherman

This fisherman found solitude among the many others by moving several yards away from the rest of the pack.

Kaka‘ako Promenade

Dusk at Kaka‘ako Waterfornt Park's promenade.

Footprints In Sand

A shot of Kathy and her footprints she left in the soft sand of Kalaeloa Beach.

Euphorbia

Orbs of water rest on the petals of these Euphorbia flowers.

Back Flip

A freestyle motocross rider performs a back flip in a demonstration that was part of a promotional event for Boost Mobile at Aloha Stadium.

Crashing Wave

A four-foot wave crashes at Magic Island Park.

After A Long Flight ...

Northwest Airlines Flight 22 lands at HNL after a eight-hour long flight from Narita International Airport (Tokyo, Japan).

The motion blur was created with Photoshop.

Preparing For Departure

This American Airlines Boeing 757-200W prepares to leave for San Francisco, CA, as Flight 39 from HNL's Gate 18. It looks like they might have a few late bags to load, with the conveyer belt nearby.

I took this shot while being escorted by airport personnel to get a gateside photo of the first Alaska Airlines flight between Seattle and Honolulu. I guess I could not escape the side-view mirror ...

777 Sunset

This United Airlines Boeing 777-200 takes off at sunset, bound for O'Hare International Airport (Chicago, IL).

Open Wide!

The nose cargo door of the gigantic Lockheed C-5A "Galaxy" opens wide with the cargo loading ramp extended. The ramp looks like a tongue swallowing up those checking out the interior of the largest American-built aircraft. It belongs to the US Air Force Reserve's 337th Airlift Squadron "Patriots" based at Westover Joint Air Reserve Base, MA. On the tail band, they have the helmet logo of the New England Patriots football team.

Today's photo was taken during the 2007 Blues On The Bay airshow, and in the background, an aerobatic aircraft performs its stunts.

Moving On

A couple of years ago, Delta Airlines began phasing out their McDonnell-Douglas MD-11 airliners from their fleet. Upon retirement, most of the time, these aircraft are relegated to the desert storage fields of California and Arizona. However, these MD-11s are finding new life as freighters for UPS and FedEx, as is the case with N805DE (above). Before it moved on to FedEx, the Delta titles and tail markings were painted over, which left a remnant of its previous life. N805DE stopped off at HNL on its way to Singapore to undergo conversion from a passenger carrying airliner to becoming a freighter. After the freighter conversion, the aircraft received a new registration, N522FE.

Vintage Bird

A sepia tone photo of Kamaka Air's Douglas Super DC-3 as it prepares for an inter-island cargo flight. This aircraft is definitely a rarebird!

Bird Of Paradise

This month's theme week is aviation ... these photos have not appeared on the HNL Rarebirds blog ...

In 1992, Aloha Airlines brought back the bird of paradise logo as their corporate branding. These colors lasted until last week when the airline filed for bankruptcy, and ended their passenger services after almost 61 years of flying. Shown above is their bird of paradise logo painted on an Aviation Partners Boeing Blended Winglet used on their Boeing 737-700s.

Aloha was my airline of choice when flying inter-island, especially when the company I worked for, used "AQ" for our neighbor island video assignments.

I also flew their west coast service, to/from Orange County, CA, in October 2004, and was the subject of my first full magazine article, a flight review published in "Airways" magazine in April 2006. I was also invited to be a part of media events over the past couple years covering events like the return of the "Funbird" ("Airliner World"), their 60th Birthday celebration ("Airways"), and the painting of N748AL by marine artist Wyland ("Airways"); all of which were also featured on my HNL RareBirds blog. Several of my Aloha photos also appeared in issues "Airliners" and "AIR International", as they requested photos for articles.

Today's photo is a tribute to all of the great folks that worked for Aloha, and to those folks I had the opportunity to meet while at the AQ events. My heartfelt prayers go out to all those affected by the closing of AQ.

Blue Light

Around an airfield, the blue lights represent taxiways. At night, the field becomes a sea of blue to keep pilots and their planes on the taxiways.

This blue light sits along the perimeter of the bayside ramp of the Marine Corp Air Field at Kane‘ohe Bay, taken before entering the 2007 Blues On The Bay airshow.

It's also a hint to what the theme week for April will be ...

At The Car Hop

This 1961 Corvette looks like it's at a car hop with the food tray attached to the driver's side door. It was on display as part of a classic car show.

Railing Reflections

This polished brass t-joint provides a wide-angle mirror of Kathy browsing through her magazines at a Barnes & Noble.

White Crowns

A depth-of-field shot of white crown flowers from Foster Botanical Gardens.

Giant Lake

A new lake was discovered on the west side of O‘ahu. The unnamed lake was found while developers were breaking ground on new housing developments.












Apirl Fool! It's actually a big tide pool on the shoreline fronting the Ihilani Resort.