Photoblog: And Paradise was Nice

I’m back with the requisite mainlander pink sunburn, 6 days in Hawaii did me good, we stayed in the North shore, which is mainly untouched, unlike the crowded skyrises of Japanese/tourist owned Honolulu.

To unplug was good, but I’m still going to slowly wade back to shore (aka reality). Mentally, I’m still floating in the blue azul sea, I guess the vacation wasn’t long enough.

I’m not the only one that’s distancing themselves from the conversation, so expect me to slowly return to normal, if at all.

But, in the meantime I wanted to share some of the photos I took from the vacation, all are untouched raw photos from the Nokia N95 camera phone. Please note that I test social media products, and this one was given to me from a fellow analyst, which I have since given away.

Update: We stayed at Gigi’s rentals, in these beach cottages, (specifically this one Gigi’s Ocean Paradise) very affordable, less than a hotel. See Google Map, it’s the cottage, not the large complex. It’s nice to shop for you own food at the local supermarkets, getting fresh seafood and wine/beer, and not spending ridiculous amounts of money on food.


Oahu Sunrise: North Shore
View from Hau’ula, Oahu’s Quiet and Rural North Shore, this was my daily morning view….sigh

Waving
Gentle sway, rustles in the wind

Sunrise, East Oahu Shore
Warm sunrises

Crab Fan
Every morning, the sand crabs dug ‘fans’…

Crab Mounds
…and mounds

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Seclusion

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Clean morning air

Turtle tracks
Tracks of a giant sea turtle

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Where we stayed, our private beach

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Kayak

Secluded Beach
Private Beach

boards
Surfboards in Kawailoa, the Surfing Capital of the World

Matsumoto's Shave Ice
Matsumoto’s famous shaved ice

Giovanni's shrimp truck
Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck

Giovanni's shrimp
The shrimp is raised in local shrimp farms, very fresh. We brought our own beer

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Peacock in Waimea Valley

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Lifeguard tower at Bonsai Pipeline

Bonzai Pipeline
Bonzai Pipeline

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Silhouette

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Kailua Bay

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Buoys

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Fragrant

our beach house
Beach Cottage

93 Replies to “Photoblog: And Paradise was Nice”

  3. Hey jeremiah,

    Glad to see you had an awesome vacation. My girlfriend and I are headed to Kapolei on Sunday for 5 days. After seeing your photos, I cannot wait.

    Hope all is well.

  5. Jeremiah, Welcome back! The pictures look absolutely amazing. Pretty impressive from the N95. Good luck shifting from THAT into the regular routine! -Dan

  6. Welcome home Jeremiah. Glad to see you were enjoying some quality down time. Your vacation photos look fantastic! The Nokia N95 picture quality is remarkable.

    @dmitrigunn

  7. Graeme

    My phone camera doesn’t have a zoom, so there are surfers in other pics, but they just appear as specks.

    While on vacation, it’s nice not to lug around a bulky camera.

  9. Great shots. Takes me right back. I lived for 2.5 years in Hauula and definitely miss the ocean. Nice to see you were enjoying yourself. Your twitter presence was missed.

  10. Welcome back to the mainland. Mahalo my friend
    Take your time coming back. It looks like you had an amazing/relaxing time there. It helps to recharge in Hawaii.

    Heard you 86’d my question via twitter on the widget panel yesterday. 😉

    Cheers!

  15. Great pictures Jeremiah, my mouth is watering from the picture of the shrimp from the shrimp truck. And yes the N95 also blew away my expectations of what kind of quality you can get from a cameraphone.

    (for anyone that doesn’t know I do work for Nokia so I’m probably bias 🙂

  19. Glorious. I went to Maui last year–what a great time. Of course, I wasn’t as good as you, and I did a couple of hours of email every morning before Alisha got up.

  22. Looks like you had a great trip. Would love to get the information on where you stayed as I am always looking good locations on the north shore.

  25. I can’t even bear to look at these. Too painful. Must book vacation. NOW. At the very least I’m going to find some Melona…even if I have to have it shipped here (they don’t carry at my local Sam’s).

  26. Aloha Jeremiah,

    It was great to meet you. Those photos are fantastic. Thanks again for spending time with the local Hawaii geeks. We all hope to see you again soon.

    Aloha, Dave.

  27. Glad that you enjoyed Hawaii, and hope that you will be back soon. Your lovely photos will definitely send your followers our way.

    There are lots of interesting deals to Hawaii right now, including a $599 Royal Carribean cruise next month that does a night sail of the volcano.

    Aloha,
    Jeff
    http://beatofhawaii.com

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  30. Okay, if you ever quit the Analyst gig, we now know you have a future in Travel photography…
    Those are simply incredible.

    I would’ve thought you were a professional photog working on a show or a marketing spread.

    Take your time – the ‘conversation’ has been full of childishness, churlishness, and whining this week. That’s as good a time as any to stay away and recover your strength for awhile.

    Let the sunshine stay in your soul for a few more weeks – and then come back to let us hear what you’ve thought about.

    Glad you had a good vacation – you deserved it!! 🙂

  34. Hey Jeremiah, welcome back!

    Glad you had a great time.

    North Shore is one of my favorite places.

    An exhilarating feeling is to wade out into the surf on the North Shore, on what appears to be a calm day. Once you are out in the open water, it’s a whole other story.

  36. If jealousy is a sin, then I’m a sinner. Wonderful photos Jeremiah. Glad you enjoyed your time away. Thanks for the link as well.

    Now, get back to work! 😛

  37. Aloha Jeremiah,

    It looks as if you enjoyed your time in Hawaii 🙂

    Those are some nice pics especially the one with the turtle tracks. Thanks for the taking the time to hang out with us at the Highway Inn and giving advice on our various situations.

    If you are ever back in town be sure to look us up so we can show you the nightlife of Honolulu :0.

    Off to enjoy the beach.

    Chris
    http://www.techustle.com

  38. Stephanie, these photos are from my camera onboard my Nokia N95 cell phone.

    Thanks everyone for all the kind comments.

    Paul, no, I don’t want to get back to work, I’m still quite sluggish.

  40. Jeremiah,

    Take your time, wade into the waters — paddle out to the third break when you’re ready. Mahalo for sharing my home with your readers, am glad you found a spot on Oahu that treated you and your wife well – and gave you the momentary peace that you needed.

    Aloha,
    NEENZ

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  42. Great stuff! As everyone is on the topic of camera phones, anyone looking for a camera phone should try the SonyEricsson K800i or higher.

  43. Awesome pictures! I am looking at N95 in a new light.

    Miss your tweets. Was just wondering where you have gone..hope you are feeling recharged!

  46. Welcome back Jeremiah! Pictures look amazing…definitely putting Hawaii on my list of vacation spots.

  47. Love the pix Jeremiah,

    Of course now I’m wishing I got the N95 on the last upgrade… thought I’d keep using the old fashioned SLR for photography and the phone for internet/calls. But your shots really stand up. Great job. Welcome back.

    PG

  48. Jeremiah,

    You should trade Gigi’s Rentals vacation time for a web site update. I am sure you could pull out some made HTML skills and give that site a little refresh.

  49. Genius! I’m a strategist too and also took my first vacation in ages a few weeks ago and hit Ohau and Maui. North Shore completely rocks, though only if you’re into complete remoteness, and surfer style… And it is 27hrs if you’re flying from the UK. Great skills.

  50. Wow, what a nice relaxing set of pix and storyline. Almost makes you wonder if technological immersion is really so great after all…but it really IS, because without it nobody else could enjoy your pix!

  51. It’s actually Banzai Pipeline like the kamikaze, not the plant. Also, I think you may have been staying at my Mom’s friend’s house if the beach in your pictures are indicative of where you stayed. Your photos and descriptions make me miss home…

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  55. Giovanni’s…. Love that place and like Frank, I am happy to see it is still there (I enjoyed their shrimps back in 1999). Welcome back.

  56. Joe

    Thanks
    I wanted the spicy ones, but my wife and I were splitting a plate, she didn’t want one.

    Plus the menu said “no refunds for spicy shrimp” so I figured it would really light the butt on fire.

  59. Gorgeous photos! I’m dying for a vacation 🙂 The color of the water are amaaaazing. Thanks for sharing!

  61. Bah! Where’s the jellied eals, chip shops and cockle stalls? This has nothing on a beach resort in the UK.

    Which reminds me – when might you next be coming to the UK for a visit? Any plans to share the social media sh-message to us Londoners?

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  65. Amazing photos. Shame that the N95’s type of noise reduction turns photos into watercolor paintings. If they would have chosen to use a Gaussian instead of a Median filter, the photos would have looked more natural at full size.

  66. Although I’m a SonyEricsson fan, i should admit that N95 is a very sharp shooter….

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  70. Jeremiah

    Thank you for writing about how much you enjoyed staying at Gigi’s condo at Pat’s at Punaluu. I own two second floor units in the R Cottage– Lou Lu and Pukana La. This spring I put in sliding doors so the the condos can also be rented as a double unit. Gigi has added some new pictures of them to the web site.

    The location is a treasure that we like to share. Your comments and beautiful pictures describe what we offer.

    Also, when I attended Taipei American School a long time ago, one of my good friends was Lily Oh Yang. Her family came to Taiwan in 1949 with Chiang Kai Shek. The last time that I saw her she worked for the National Institute for Health (NIH)in Washingon.

    Again, thanks for sharing information about Gigi’s vacation rentals.

    Claudia

    Claudia Chaille

  74. Damn, these are gorgeous! You make me miss the tropics where I once lived and that I have so loved.

    I was just about to get my new iPhone, but the N95 is tempting for the photo quality. Is two phones ridiculous? Er…I guess I could just use my fancy digital SLR instead.

  78. WOW,it’s been 8 years since I’ve been to Hawaii…and with it being single digits right now…these photos make me want to pack it up. Truly paradise on earth hey? Thanks for sharing and hope you can enjoy many more!

    Duong Sheahan

  80. Came across your blog since I was looking for reviews on Gigi’s Paradise cottages, specifically the one that you might have stayed in. I was wondering if you might tell us your honest opinion of the unit (cottage A4) – was it clean, comfy. Some of the reviews I have read regarding the complex (Pat’s at Punaluu) have not been complimentary, i.e. sewer smell in the parking lot, dirty units, etc. The pictures on Gigi’s website tell a different story though. We aren’t necessarily expecting the Four Seasons here but it would be nice to know that the cottage is clean and comfortable.

    Thanks for your input.

  81. Emily

    Going to Hawaii isn’t about standing in the condo. With that said, the condo was nicely decorated, clean, but the bathroom and kitchen were a bit outdated. There were no funny smells, yet the place is a bit older.

    I recently went to Maui, and stayed in a more modern condo –but it was far more dense, and didn’t have that beachhouse feel.

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  87. So beautiful Jeremiah – I spent 10 days there at xmas… makes me feel relaxed already looking at your photos 🙂

  88. Wow! What a wonderful place! You really had a great time. I've never been in Hawaii.
    The photos jut proved that Hawaii is like just like a paradise.

  91. Going to Hawaii isn't about standing in the condo. With that said, the condo was nicely decorated, clean, but the bathroom and kitchen were a bit outdated. There were no funny smells, yet the place is a bit older

  92. Do you have the full picutre of Beach Cottage, I stayed in the cottage, but cant find a good quality pic on my camera to put it on a canvas for my wifes birthday.

  93. Do you the beach cottage picture still, I need the full pixel version, i tried to just save this one, but it says it does not have enough pixels to put on canvas

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