Hanalei Bonfire - Kauai, Hawaii USA

Hanalei Bonfire - Kauai, Hawaii, originally uploaded by PatrickSmithPhotography.

Hanalei is a small town on the north shore of the island of Kauai. It has a 3-mile wide perfect crescent of sandy shoreline with the rainiest mountains in the world right behind them. While it rains about 100 inches per year in Hanalei, it rains about 600 inches per year on Mt. Waialeale, about 5 miles behind the peak on the left.

Even with all of the rain, days are usually sunny in Hanalei with maybe 1-2 hours of rain mostly at night. The mountains in this image range from 3,000 to 5,000 feet in height. This shot can only be done with a medium tide and this effect only lasts for a few minutes before another wave moves in.

Here, I attempted to show one of the waterfalls in the reflection. It took about 15 minutes of fiddling around before I finally got it right. All these elements combine to create a thickness to the atmosphere that makes me feel like I'm right back on the beach every time I view this image

Snorkeling With A Sea Turtle

Snorkeling With A Sea Turtle, originally uploaded by Marc Shandro.

Nicola finds a sea turtle on her first snorkeling experience!

Our special "one kid at a time" trip with dad started with Morgan when she was 11. She chose to see Florida -- Disney World, Cape Canaveral and Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge. When Aaron turned 11 he said "I want to see the Grand Canyon", so that's where the two of us went -- for a two week road trip through Arizona and New Mexico (you can see some of those pictures in this set: www.flickr.com/photos/mshandro/sets/72057594127634638/. early on in my Flickr days.

For Nicola's trip, she chose to see Hawaii. We spent 2 weeks exploring the Big Island together in February 2010 and had a wonderful time! We stayed close to Kahalu'u Beach Park near Kona where the snorkeling here is "one of the nicer spots on the Big Island" (as mentioned in the Big Island Revealed guide book -- recommended).

I've been away from the Flickr scene for too long now! I'll slowly put some more up from this Hawaii trip... when I get back from San Francisco with Morgan. Now we're starting a Grade 12 tradition...

"A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step." -- Lao Tzu
Copyright © Demetrios the Traveler

Auckland New Zealand

lights on in auckland before earth hour © wwf / chris gorman, originally uploaded by Earth Hour Global.

The Auckland metropolitan area (commonly pronounced /ˈɔːk.lənd/), in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with a population approaching 1.4 million residents, 31 percent of the country's population.
Demographic trends indicate that it will continue to grow faster than the rest of the country. Increasingly cosmopolitan, Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world, and has seen many people of Asian ethnicity move there in the last two decades. In Māori Auckland's name is Tāmaki-makau-rau, or the transliterated version of Auckland, Ākarana.
The 2009 Mercer Quality of Living Survey ranked Auckland 4th place in the world on its list, while The Economist's World's Most Livable Cities index of 2010 ranked Auckland in 10th place. In 2008, Auckland was classified as an Alpha-City in the World Cities Study Group’s inventory by Loughborough University, the only one in the country.
Auckland lies between the Hauraki Gulf of the Pacific Ocean to the east, the low Hunua Ranges to the south-east, the Manukau Harbour to the south-west, and the Waitakere Ranges and smaller ranges to the west and north-west. The central part of the urban area occupies a narrow isthmus between the Manukau Harbour on the Tasman Sea and the Waitemata Harbour on the Pacific Ocean. It is one of the few cities in the world to have harbours on two separate major bodies of water.

"A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step." -- Lao Tzu
Copyright © Demetrios the Traveler

Toka Festival, Tanna Island Vauatu

Toka Festival from Jonathan Clay on Vimeo.

Once every two to three years, all the villagers of Tanna Island, Vanuatu, come together for colourful festival of dancing and feasting.

This is a sequence from the film "Strange Islands", part of the BBC's documentary series "South Pacific".

Note to moderators: this film was directed and produced by myself for the BBC Natural History Unit.

"A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step." -- Lao Tzu
Copyright © Demetrios the Traveler






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"A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step." -- Lao Tzu
Copyright © Demetrios the Traveler






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Bora Bora a tropical paradise...

Bora Bora island is possibly the single most famous island in all the world. The legends, mysteries, and romance associated with the words "Bora Bora" bring an almost mystical presence to the island.

It's true Bora Bora is indeed a wonderful place to vacation... but this magical presence is not so unattainable.

This website seperates the facts from the fiction regarding this wonderful Tahiti Polynesian island paradise: Tourism aspects, activities, practicalities, culture, and all the things you'll want to know when planning a trip to Bora Bora. We propose to the would be traveler that the Island of Bora Bora is quite real and attainable as a vacation getaway.

Part of the allure has to be its almost unbelievable beauty. Two towering peaks of sheer black rock dominate the center of the island and make an impressive backdrop to an assortment of blue waters that will dazzle the eyes. Bora Bora's lagoon is its most treasured feature, and allows the traveler many opportunities to experience it in a variety of ways. Windsurf, jetski, scuba dive, swim, bask in its warmth... the list goes on.

Bora bora is truly an experience worth having. A wonderfully relaxing place to be as well as a great island for you to experience, your Bora Bora vacation will never be forgotten.

Explore our pages as you take a cyber tour of Bora Bora and let us know what you think. The magic is there still. The legend persists. How will you experience it?

for more information about Bora Bora 

"A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step." -- Lao Tzu
Copyright © Demetrios the Traveler






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Honoloulu, the birthplace of a President ...Χονολουλού, ο νησιωτικός παράδεισος, η πατρίδα ενός προέδρου

053_53, originally uploaded by cdmm4663.

Honolulu is the capital and most populous census-designated place (CDP) in the U.S. state of Hawaii.
Although Honolulu refers to the urban area on the southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, the city and the county are consolidated, known as the City and County of Honolulu, and the city and county is designated as the entire island.
The City and County of Honolulu is the only incorporated city in Hawaii, as all other local government entities are administered at the county level.
The population of the census designated place was 371,657 at the 2000 census, while the population of the City and County was 909,863. In the Hawaiian language, Honolulu means "sheltered bay" or "place of shelter."
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Η Χονολουλού είναι η πρωτεύουσα και η πολυπληθέστερη κοινότητα της Χαβάης, στις Ηνωμένες Πολιτείες. Στα χαβανέζικα χονολούλου σημαίνει «προστατευμένος κόλπος» ή «τόπος προστασίας».
Την 1η Ιουλίου 2004, σύμφωνα με το Γραφείο Απογραφής Πληθυσμού των ΗΠΑ, η Χονολουλού υπολογίστηκε ότι είχε 377.260 κατοίκους, ενώ η πόλη μαζί με την κομητεία (ουσιαστικά το νησί Οάχου) 900.000.
Στη Χαβάη η τοπική διοίκηση υφίσταται μόνο σε επίπεδο κομητείας, και έτσι η πόλη και κομητεία της Χονολουλού επεκτείνεται σε όλο το νησί Οάχου.

Εξωτερικοί σύνδεσμοι
City & County of Honolulu - επίσημη ιστοσελίδα
Hawaii Vistors and Convention Bureau
Honolulu Traffic Information Center (includes camera links)
National Weather Service Honolulu office
Hawaii Community Theatre Web Index
The Arts District Honolulu

Vanuatu....Ενας παράδεισος στον Ειρηνικό!

"A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step." -- Lao Tzu
Copyright © Demetrios the Traveler