Hawaii:
So much still
to discover

In the middle of a January snowstorm a few years ago, I left to visit a friend at her sister’s home on the Big Island of Hawaii. After my friend left, my husband arrived and after he left I went on alone to Maui. I avoided the over-touristed areas and was able to find quiet back roads, secluded beaches and natural hot springs frequented mostly by locals. I was thrilled and somewhat relieved to find that such places still exist in Hawaii. It truly is a tropical paradise filled with breathtaking waterfalls, flamboyant flowers, spewing volcanoes and brilliant rainbows. In the true aloha spirit, people are easy-going and accepting of diversity and eccentricities. The island culture and heritage does still exist beyond what is presented for tourists; in fact many people talked of a passionate resurgence of interest in preserving what remains of the real Hawaii.

I had never seen a black sand beach before or tasted passion fruit freshly picked or watched as the earth recreates itself with hot lava sizzling into the sea. As a photographer and a woman in love with the sea, I was in heaven.