The Maui Post
Ahh - one week on Maui makes for a nice way to reduce the vacation days balance and if it’s paired with the wedding of two friends, it’s even better …
Jennifer and Richard decided to get married and picked Hawaii’s Maui as the place where it was supposed to happen. Makes sense, knowing that Jennifer was raised on Oahu and given that her grandma does not like to travel to the mainland - in fact, it’s been grandma’s first plane trip in a while, but more about that later.
Poor Frisco had to stay at home, but at least he was hanging out with his buddies at Katherine’s doggie day care (http://www.katherinesdoggiedaycare.com/) and from what he told us when we returned, he had a really good time (thanks Katherine!).
Anyway, Candice and I leave for California to stop over and see the family in Cupertino, before we leave on Monday (11/18) early in the morning for Maui.
Of course we have to stay at the place where Jennifer and Richard get married, which happens to be the Maui Four Seasons Resort at Wailea (see http://www.fourseasons.com/maui/index.html, if you’re interested). Yeah, yeah, “poor guys” - I hear ya.
That’s the view you get when you look from the balcony down to the pool. The “fenced off” area on the right is the reason why people got a 50.- US$ voucher a day until recently (until the beginning of November that is - after that it was considered that the renovation period was over and people did not deserve a rebate - oh, well).
The first two days on the island we went diving with the ScubaShack guys (http://www.scubashack.com). While it wasn’t the most exciting diving we’ve done, it was certainly nice to get some pressure on the brain. We even had the chance to dive on the North side of Molokini island (http://www.molokini.us/) twice, which is quite often impossible because of the strong currents there.
And the next few days before the wedding are spent with the sweet nothing, which means getting up late, fighting for a pair of chairs (which became more difficult towards the end of the trip), sitting in the sun, dipping into the ocean/pool and eating. One day I manage to walk around on the property and take some shots of things I liked (including Lizzy, the Hawaiian lizard model):
And Candice can be found in this pose most of the time:
The day before the wedding, Candice is busy with wedding prepartions which gives me the opportunity to escape in our rental car (Dodge Neon - America’s finest piece of dudu) and drive with speeds approaching the speed of light around the island. I drive up the west coast towards Lahaina and the Kaanapali beach area (where we stayed the last time we were on Maui) and finally leave civilization behind as I approach the north-western coast (see the map at http://www.lonelyplanet.com/mapshells/north_america/maui/maui.htm). Channel 2 told us the last few days that there was a nice surf on the north shores and that we would get some good surfing conditions with up to 15 foot waves. Me and my 100-400mm zoom lens (link at Canon) want to get a piece of the action and shoot some of the surfer dudes (and chicks as I would find out later).
While the waves are not as big as advertised we (my lens and I) do get some nice shots and we are pleasantly surprised that the surfer popluation is not as “male-heavy” as we thought it would be.
PS: If you’re wondering about the color on those shots -
I used some “Velvia” ICC profiles for my D30,
which makes things look a bit more saturated.
If Velvia and ICC don’t make sense to you, just ignore this PS 
Some of the dudes are still practicing and have some problems with the big waves (hehe):
After about an hour, the Dodge mobil and I continue driving along the north coast in eastern direction. We pass the spot, where it says on the map supplied by the rental car company “Don’t drive beyond this spot - if you do, you violate your rental car agreement”. There are two segements of “road” on the north and south side of the islands where it is “too dangerous” to drive the precious rental cars. The roads are narrow and not in the best condition. The Alamos, Hertzs, Nationals, etc. don’t want you to drive there, because too many people have been involved in accidents. As I’ve been on this road before I ignore the warning and continue towards Kahului Bay.
Kahului is hit full force by the winds (that’s why the airport is here as well - duh!) and provides excellent conditions for wind surfers:
and para-surfers. The later ones are more interesting, because I haven’t seen those too often. Take a parachute, add some 100 ft of line, fix line to parachute and belt around your waist, stand on surfboard and let wind drag you over the water at high speeds. Add jumps and 30 foot “lifts” into the air to make things a bit more challenging. The funniest part is watching those guys trying to get back onto the shore - I tell you, those big kites are pretty darn difficult to calm down.
When I return back to the hotel, it’s almost time for the rehearsal of tomorrow’s ceremony and we meet bride, groom and lots of the people from the wedding party:
Every night the stairs of the hotel are illuminated and as it is one of the few evenings that Candice and I are awake after sunset, I ask my wife to place her silhouette against the stairs:
Next day (Saturday 11/23/2002) is Jen & Rich’s big day. It’s one of the few days without a single cloud in the sky and I’m happy I’m just wearing a shirt and tie instead of the full Tuxedo of other wedding guests.
The ceremony starts at about 4pm out on the lawn and ends way past midnight in the ballroom. Here are just a few of the pictures I’ve taken during the cermony.
And the ones below are my favorite shots. The “official” wedding photographer dragged Jen and Rich down to the beach as the sun was about to set. I was quite funny to watch the two of them in their wedding outfit between all those people in shorts, bikinis and swim-suits. I stayed up on the lawn area and took pictures from about 150ft away - and I love the results:
Jen and Rich, if you ever read this: Thanks for inviting us to a great wedding and for your hospitality the next morning!!!
Back on the beach the next day, I read in “Shutterbug” magazine (http://www.shutterbug.net/) about reader photo submissions and the assignment “Reflections” for the next issue. I plan to submit the following image:
Monday morning we left the hotel and went back to Santa Fe with a one night stop over in Cupertino.
The reflection picture is awsome!
We love the pictures, Tobi! Thank you so much for lending us your artistic talents. We think that you could have a second career as a professional photographer.
Tobi,
You are hilarious. I always love your captions and comments. The pics from the Maui wedding are gorgeous. Also, the water sports action pics are great. Kepp posting your photos and stories. I have your site bokkmarked!
Love, Dana
Umm, excuse the typos in my last posting. Are you planning to bring your camera to my wedding? I hope so….
The photo’s look great!! Nice friends you must have to put photo’s of you guys on their website!! Good to share photo’s with friends from Australia!!!!