Photo of the Day (4.4.09)


After being away from home for a month, you could say this photo is a sight for sore eyes. Now, don’t get me wrong, I loved my time in Cuba: the beaches are pristine and the water is crystal blue and clear. But something about the beaches of Hawaii (and in this case Maui) are so special and identifiable.

This photo, which comes to us from superdisco, does a great job capturing the tranquility of Maui’s moon-shaped Molokini island, the romance of Hawaiian sunsets, and the awesome silhouette of a lone (and leafless!) tree.

If you have some great travel shots you’d like to share, be sure to upload them to the Gadling pool on Flickr. We might just pick one as our Photo of the Day!

Romantic island inns

With Valentine’s Day approaching, the internet is teeming with romantic getaways. Forbes.com recently came out with an article about America’s most romantic places to visit, and now Coastal Living writer Steve Millburg some of his own advice about where to spend a romantic island holiday. Unfortunately, I find Millburg’s “Top 10 romantic island inns” list rather disjointed and not fully comprehensive enough to qualify as an accurate Top 10 list.

These are the places Millburg identifies in the top ten:

  1. Petit St. Vincent, Grenadines
  2. The Inn on Peaks Island, Maine
  3. The Inn at Mama’s Fish House, Maui, Hawaii
  4. The Collier Inn, Useppa Island, Florida
  5. Hotel del Coronado and Glorietta Bay Inn, Coronado Island, California
  6. English Country Garden Bed & Breakfast, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia
  7. Casita de Maya, Cozumel, Mexico
  8. MacKaye Harbor Inn, Lopez Island, Washington
  9. A Water’s Edge Retreat, Kelleys Island, Ohio
  10. Jekyll Island Club Hotel, Jekyll Island, Georgia

I understand that as a magazine intended for American readers interested in coastal living, the list may need to be limited to destinations within arm’s reach of the mainland and it appears to cover the important regions in the U.S., but I would like to think this list would try to be as realistic as possible too. Starting with an inn in the Grenadines, however, Petit St. Vincent at $675 a night doesn’t just qualify as a “splurge,” but a costly investment I imagine few readers can or will be able to afford. The rest of the destinations cost within $150-300 per night.

While I’d like to think that seven of the world’s most romantic islands are in the United States, I’m almost POSITIVE that there are much more noteworthy romantic island hideaways that Millburg doesn’t account for here. I mean, if Maui qualifies as an romantic island, then what about the Maldives, St. Kitts, Bora Bora, Sardinia, Corsica, Korcula, Bali, or New Zealand while we’re at it!

The more I read these kinds of lists, the more I realize how little readers are able to expand their horizons with the content they are given. I would love to see travel writers like Millburg stretch the reader’s imagination by going global rather than staying local and regional.

Photo of the Day (8-06-08)

Today is my dad’s birthday. As he’s become older, he’s become a real world traveler. His next major trip is to the Philippines. It’s hard to keep up. He’s also been to Maui where Global Voyager snapped this shot. Even though my dad doesn’t jump off cliffs like this guy, the heading for the photo “I can fly” reminded me of my dad. Traveling is how he soars.

Besides, if you’ve ever taken action shots, you’ll know that the chances of capturing such a perfect image where the person is suspended, just so, is not easy. Notice how the clouds are reflected in the water. Neat touch.

If you have an image you’d like to share, send it our way at Gadling’s Flickr photo pool. It may become a Photo of the Day.

Snorkeling Maui’s Molokini Crater

I love to snorkel. Living in New York, it’s not something I get to do very often (East River anyone?) so I jump at the chance to try it any time I’m traveling somewhere more tropical. Hawaii is an especially good spot for snorkeling fans, offering an embarassment of good spots where you can literally walk into the water off the beach and see all kinds of neon-hued fish, giant sea turtles and all sorts of weird-looking coral formations.

Recently I had a chance to check one of Maui’s most famous snorkel spots, Molokini Crater. This tiny crescent-shaped island, just off Maui’s southern coast, is actually the remains of a long extinct volcano. Today, it’s a recognized wildlife sanctuary, home to hundreds of species of marine life, including huge fish, sea urchins, coral, shrimp and all manner of nesting sea birds. Due to the island’s unique crescent shape, it’s largely sheltered from the dangerous ocean currents, making it the ideal place to check out some cool underwater life in a unique setting. Upon entering the water, I was surprised by my surroundings. The water depth is much deeper than I’ve typically found when snorkeling, reaching down almost 40-50 feet. The visibility at Molokini was also fantastic, allowing for great underwater views in all directions. Not to mention I was surrounded by hundreds of triggerfish like the one you see in my picture above. Divers and snorkelers come out to the area fairly regularly, so they’re not afraid to swim right up to you for a closer look. As I swam around, I encountered all manner of sea urchins, angelfish and even an octopus. Definitely on par with some of the best snorkeling I’ve done. I won’t try to claim I was by myself – a large number of boats and snorkelers visit the island each day. However, it was easy enough to swim away from the crowds and find myself all alone with nothing but the sound of me breathing through my snorkel tube.

Since Molokini lies well off Maui’s coast, you’ll need to take a charter cruise to reach it. Depending on what you want, trips can run anywhere from $70-$100, typically including an hour or two of snorkeling, lunch/breakfast and the opportunity to laze around on a sailboat, cocktail in hand. We ended up using Paragon, who charter a small catamaran and had a very friendly staff, though I will say they were a bit casual about confirming our reservation.

And what about all you land lovers? Fear not, you can still check out some cool Hawaiian marine life. Take a visit the Maui Ocean Center, which I hear is fantastic.

Photo of the Day: 4-6-2008


I love the blue-greens of this shot, and the sun so bright it appears to be bleaching the tree. There’s something post-apocalyptic in this for me — the bright light, the dead tree. Flickr user Arachide captured this scene on Maui, and it’s quite a contrast to the lush tropics of the Hawaii I’m used to. I suppose that’s what I like about it.

Have any travel photos that bring to mind the apocalypse? Upload them to Gadling’s Flickr pool and we’ll consider them for our Photo of the Day feature.