First Week of Hawaii UnCruise Expedition Trips in the Hawaiian Islands: From Big Island to Molokai

The waters were high after some recent flooding in Halawa Valley on Molokai, but our guests were still up for some fun river crossings as we hiked up through the valley.

What a week! We kayaked along lava rock coastlines, snorkeled over pristine reefs, found some early season humpback whales, and hiked on three different Hawaiian Islands. We spent seven days exploring the islands of Molokai, Lana'i, Maui, and the Big Island from our mobile adventure platform of the Safari Explorer. The Explorer is a 150ft expedition vessel that houses about 30 guests. My job is expedition leader, which means I get to create the itinerary and be the guide for the guests out in the field.

Take a look at the photos and captions, and see if you can tell if I have a fun time doing my job.

An endemic apapane honeycreeper sits still for just long enough for me to snap a photo with my 400mm long lens, high on the slopes of Hualalai Volcano on the Big Island.

Me in my element, leading a kayak along the rugged lava rock coastline of the Big Island.

A pod of bottlenose swam right under my kayak during our first outing near Red Hill, Big Island. I stuck my underwater camera in the water and shot blind, getting pretty lucky with this shot.

I may have played up this fall a bit during my kayak demo on our first morning. Gotta keep the guests entertained... and everyone loves a good blooper for the slideshow.

This white-mouth moray eel dove under a coral just after I took this photo during our snorkel at Kealakekua Bay on the Big Island.

A close up of the white mouth moray eel.

A rare find on the shallow reef, this titan's trumpet was used to blow, as a means of communication by the early Hawaiians.

Showing these folks how to back flip off the high jump.

We had an amazing sunset out over the water before heading into the shallows for our manta night snorkel.

This turtle swam right by us during our snorkel along the South shoreline of Maui. It took me a moment to realize that a large trumpetfish was hiding just under the turtle, darting out to ambush unsuspecting fish every once in a while, before returning back to its mobile hiding place.

Kayaking into nooks and crannies in the lava rock coastline in front of Keawala'i Church, the oldest church on Maui, built in 1832 and still in use today.

I was a little worried that this group challenge would end up with some kayaks washed up on the beach, but they pulled it off!

Our chief mate, Justin, looking through his own underwater bubble ring.

Feeling good about our snorkel off the wild coast of Lana'i.

We had an odd number of guests wanting to kayak today, so I had Vic jump in a double with me. We made it through narrow gaps in the lava rocks, past blowholes, into a sea cave, and finally to this natural rock arch.

Our view looking out of the sea cave that we kayaked into.

We even got some early season humpback whale action this week!

I was able to ID this whale, and found out it had traveled all the way from Frederick Sound in SE Alaska.

One of big finds of the week was this rarely seen hawksbill sea turtle at Olowalu.

These amakihi honeycreepers are difficult to photograph. I'm glad I got a few shots of them from our hike up at 6,000ft on Hualalai Volcano.

Another one for the outtake reel. The red dirt cliffs of Lana'i made for a fun backdrop for this posed e-bike crash shot.

I don't often find toads here in Halawa Valley, but I found one today!

I thought my son would like this shot.