Monday, September 13, 2010

My Big Island trip: Snorkeling and Volcano Videos

Finally, I've sifted through all the video footage the Housemate and I took on my camera during our trip to the Big Island to bring you only the best (or at least the better). I ended up making two videos.

The first includes all of my good snorkeling footage; though it does have a couple clips taken while not snorkeling, they are at least water related (such as the baby eel from the tide pool at Pine Trees Beach). I figured one snorkeling video was more convenient than separate videos for each of the beaches I went to. I will note again that the Housemate is much steadier with the camera while snorkeling than I am, in part because he is much more experienced with free-diving than I am. So you can mostly tell the shots that I took by whether or not they look jumpy. The steady shots underwater are basically all his.

The second is the video I took at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park; it has some short clips of craters and steam vents, but it's mostly the awesome video footage from when we went to see the red hot lava. Since when I was filming, I didn't know which clips would be put in the final video, or even that I would be making a final edited video, I prepared many of them as standalone clips. That is to say, I did quiet little narrations in many of them (e.g. "This is the Halema'uma'u Crater on August 28, 2010"). How many times can you hear me say the date? Oh well, you can ignore my commentary, since the subtitles tell you what you need to know.

Note you can watch it in HD (720p). Enjoy!

Snorkeling video


Volcano video


Here are the links to all of my previous posts of photos (and stories) from our trip to the Big Island (just to have them conveniently all in one place).

Magic Sands Beach Park (first snorkeling trip)
Pine Trees Beach (lava rock beach with tide pool)
Hapuna Bay (second snorkeling trip)
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park: Halemaumau Crater and Thurston Lava Tube
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park: Kilauea Iki
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park: End of the Road
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park: RED HOT LAVA!
Pu'uhonua o Hanaunau (the best snorkeling)

17 comments:

Unknown said...

The first video is so calming! And the second is so COOL!

Eleni said...

Thanks! I'm still amazed when I watch the lava flow video, but I have to remind myself that I WAS THERE. Pretty wild.

Nathan Lurz said...

I love the sound of snorkeling....though now I kind of really need to pee...

Eleni said...

It's funny because the sound in the video isn't really the sounds that I hear snorkeling. I think the microphone may pick up different pitches more strongly than my ears. At one point in the video I think you can hear me breathing deeply, but that's what I hear most of the time. Snorkel sounds and waves.

Unknown said...

Wow! So jealous- I've always wanted to go to Hawaii, but it's well over 12 hours plane ride away. Maybe one day :)

Saying hi from 20SB. Come visit me at http://www.nestingwithniall.blogspot.com any time :)

Eleni said...

Hi Kelly! I used to live on the East Coast, so I know what the 12 hour plane ride is like--my family would come out every few years to visit my grandparents who live here in Honolulu. I'm really lucky to be living here now :)

Little Niall is so adorable! Lucky mom :)

Unknown said...

To think that the unbelievably hot red substance that flows and even drips into the sea is in fact melted rocks coming from near the center of the planet... what a mind blow! And the sight and sound of the crashing waves coming over it, that's a pretty damn cool video! God's creation is really magnificent!
Imagine the water's temperature there!

Eleni said...

It may not be from the center of the Earth so much as the molten rock right underneath the Earth's crust, but still--that's pretty deep.

I'd be interested to know the water temperature around that spot, and how far away there is a noticeable spike in heat (yes, I'm an oceanographer...). I bet a lot of that water just instantly vaporizes when it touches the molten rock.

Unknown said...

It sure does, we can hear it in your video! No fish around the place :P

I remember a Brazilian tv program that showed a guy over a crater, he was in a place he could step on (if I remember it well), but to show how hot it was, he put a tree branch close to a hotter spot and even before it touched the lava, the wood caught fire. I couldn't find it, but looking for it I found, from the same tv show, this video: http://fantastico.globo.com/Jornalismo/FANT/0,,MUL696077-15607-174,00.html

It shows the Kilawea (the same you've seen in person, right?) as the most active vulcan, in eruption since 1983. In case you're wondering how it would look like in the light of day and underwater (I was) it's around 2:25 to 5:30 (hope you like it).

Eleni said...

Yes, Kilauea is the volcano I was visiting. Thanks for the link! It looks really cool underwater--sort of cools at the surface layer and then the still-hot inside gushes through it.

Sebastian Anthony said...

Ye gods, the volcano video is awesome :)

Very steady hands in that caldera/crater video...

I suppose I'm going to have to include Hawaii in my Around America tour! Do I have somewhere to stay?

Eleni said...

The steady crater video used a tripod (my little Gorillapod). I did have a tripod, I just forgot it most of the time, which is a shame. I'm still kicking myself for not having it at the nighttime hike.

You can stay with me! Though I couldn't cover you if you went to the other islands, which I'd highly recommend (I mean, if you're coming all the way out to Hawaii, might as well be thorough). It may be that I've just gotten used to O'ahu, but while I think it's a lovely island, we don't have anything as breathtaking as Waimea Canyon or Na Pali Coast on Kaua'i, Haleakala on Maui, or the active volcanoes on the Big Island. You should see (and photograph) it all.

Sebastian Anthony said...

Sweet!

OK. I'll add you to my Word doc.

(I knew it was a tripod, Eleni :P)

Eleni said...

Great. Nice to know there's a Word doc list. Is there a certain order to the list? Do I rank highly? ;)

(Oh. OK. Haha, then, I guess.)

Sebastian Anthony said...

(Do you ever laugh out loud? I very rarely do it myself, either...)

You're very high up the list -- it's just unfortunate that I can't drive over to Hawaii :(

Eleni said...

That is a problem. We are pretty isolated, and the plane tickets out here usually aren't cheap, though the price would certainly depend on where you're coming from.

(I laugh out loud in person more than when I'm sitting at my computer. Usually just little chuckles. Some people overuse "lol", but I make a point of only using "LOL" when I'm actually laughing out loud, which is rarely. "Haha" is more of the chuckle, though this recent usage was a special case as I'm sure you understood.)

Unknown said...

The videos look great, specially the snorkeling sound . There are lot of best snorkeling in hawaii big island you can enjoy.