Living on the West Coast, Hawaii is easily accessible, as is Florida for those East Coast New England inhabitance. My wife and I now make it a habit of spending about a week each year in Hawaii, with Kuai being one of our more favorite destinations. We typically stay on the windward side, around Princeville, and have become fans of Hanalei and Kilauea, both with the quaint shops and low-key restaurants.

We have found that we like to visit there in early December, between the two US holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas, after the rush of Thanksgiving but before the masses enjoying the end-of-year adventure. While I had been down to Hanalei Bay a number of times exploring and photographing the area, the Lumahai Mountains to the West of Hanalei Bay as well as the Waioli Mountains to the south and its Hihimanu peak. My favorite is Hanalei Bay from Black Pot Beach County Park. Occasionally, we will get lucky with a storm coming off the ocean with big rollers. Then, I will photograph the surfers during a frequent shower and catch a rainbow or two.

On this visit, not only were we lucky enough to get those big rollers, but we were almost to a full moon, so I thought it would be fun to go down to Black Pot Beach at night and shoot the Hanalei Bay Pear and ramp with an 80% waxing moon over my back, i.e., to the East. More importantly, the forecast was for mostly clear skies that Saturday evening. So around 8:30, I drove down to the beach, navigating the roads at night to the park, unloaded my gear and made my way to the sand. I was a little surprised to find some surfers still hanging out with their beach fires, but they soon left the beach to myself. I set up my camera, worked the scene and enjoyed the evening.