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2016 Hawaii Trip Report

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February 12, 2016/by
I arrived on the Aloha island and started driving on the familiar road. And of course always with an island vibe, Reggae music! This is my 3rd year coming back to Lumeria, the most beautiful retreat center in Maui. We'll be staying here for 4 days! I remember this guy!! He loves chips too-  He was drooling all over the place! (just like me) Lisa's yoga retreat in Maui is always fun! We always connect our minds and souls. A delicious welcome dinner WITH... MERMAID COCONUT RUM!! Lisa's mom was my awesome roommate! Thank you, Lynette! Food was delicious as always! We had a great underwater photo shoot with everyone and I presented a slide show on the projector. Perfect space to hang out, laugh and eat donuts on the sticks!! yes, donuts on the sticks!!! I also got to meet my friend Kimi for a little bit. She is a busy gal! We always have fun underwater! Beautiful beaches... After Maui, I flew to Oahu by myself. I met my friend Amber at Coffee Gallery. Amber and George are engaged! Congratulations!! See you in July! I went to visit her work in Turtle Bay. She hooked me up with a delicious meal!! And a beautiful sunset! She called it, FIRE BALL. Instead of scuba diving, I did snorkeling tour to see dolphins.  We saw whales! Aaaaaand dolphins! I saw them underwater but not that close... Turtles are always beautiful. and sloooooooow I was also exploring on land. I went on a gorgeous hike, walking in between the beautiful mountains and the ocean. I loved it! Wiiiiii- (not me up...
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40th birthday with sharks in Hawaii

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April 25, 2015/by
40th birthday with sharks in Hawaii I've been busy lately! I was in Santa Monica for a presentation at Apple Store few weeks ago, I hosted a Sumo wrestling birthday BBQ party and I just came back from Hawaii! I was in Oahu for 5 hours last year to meet a cancer survivor, Amber and my friend, Kimi. We had such a great time doing underwater photo shoot but it was too short! I'm glad I'm back on the island for 5 days this time. On my birthday, we did a PELAGIC MARINE ANIMAL RESEARCH DIVE to see sandbar sharks! I was so excited! They came so close to us! We were super lucky to have 100ft visibility! so beautiful... They love to play with the bubbles from the boat! So cute! I felt like I was in a dream, swimming in the deep blue and seeing 20 sandbar sharks. I'm so happy with this shot! Juan and Ocean are so knowledgeable, confident and humble about sharks and the ocean conservation. Please check out their site to learn about them! http://www.oneoceandiving.com AND Ocean is a captain, scuba instructor, freediver, and everything ocean! Super woman!! It's so cool to see a female captain! We stayed at a condo with a beautiful ocean font view in Haleiwa. We snorkeled every morning!   We drove to Honolulu to see my friend, Kimi Werner at Ocean Expo! I see her every year for 4 years now. Since I missed her in January, I feel it's complete! Thank you, Kimi- It was so coincident to...
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Hawaii Trip – Yoga Retreat, UW yoga photo shoot, Hawaiian Cancer Survivor and friends!

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February 13, 2014/by
I came back from Hawaii a month ago and I'm still keeping my Aloha spirit in me. I was on Maui and Oahu for 6 days! My main plan was to only relax doing yoga retreat at Lumeria with my favorite instructor Lisa Danylchuk. She also worked with me on one of the cancer survivor photo shoots with Erica Yee. The yoga retreat center, Lumeria was gorgeous! I loved the vibe and the architecture design. People are super duper x5 nice and sweet! I was like in the dream being in the nature, practicing yoga, dipping in jaccouzi, swimming in the pool and eating organic delicious food everyday. I was also working on my underwater images and it was my dream office to work at! I brought my camera gear to capture Lisa's amazing yoga poses and the cool yogoni gang we spent 5days with! They all loved the experience and I was happy to work with them. While I was in Maui, I made a decision to meet at least one Hawaiian cancer survivor for an underwater healer photo shoot. I contacted my friend Kimi Werner and she introduced me to Amber Noilani who survived from thyroid cancer when she was 20 years old. I made a spontaneous decision to go to there for 6 hrs to meet them. Due to the Friday traffic, we got to the pool late and we had only 30-40 min. in the water. But I've got to capture Amber's beautiful images and the moment of Amber...
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