Photoblog: And Paradise was Nice

Categories: TravelPosted on April 18th, 2008

I’m back with the requisite mainlander pink sunburn, 6 days in Hawaii did me good, we stayed in the North shore, which is mainly untouched, unlike the crowded skyrises of Japanese/tourist owned Honolulu.

To unplug was good, but I’m still going to slowly wade back to shore (aka reality). Mentally, I’m still floating in the blue azul sea, I guess the vacation wasn’t long enough.

I’m not the only one that’s distancing themselves from the conversation, so expect me to slowly return to normal, if at all.

But, in the meantime I wanted to share some of the photos I took from the vacation, all are untouched raw photos from the Nokia N95 camera phone. Please note that I test social media products, and this one was given to me from a fellow analyst, which I have since given away.

Update: We stayed at Gigi’s rentals, in these beach cottages, (specifically this one Gigi’s Ocean Paradise) very affordable, less than a hotel. See Google Map, it’s the cottage, not the large complex. It’s nice to shop for you own food at the local supermarkets, getting fresh seafood and wine/beer, and not spending ridiculous amounts of money on food.

View from Hau’ula, Oahu’s Quiet and Rural North Shore, this was my daily morning view….sigh

Gentle sway, rustles in the wind

Warm sunrises

Every morning, the sand crabs dug ‘fans’…

…and mounds

Seclusion

Clean morning air

Tracks of a giant sea turtle

Where we stayed, our private beach

Kayak

Private Beach

Surfboards in Kawailoa, the Surfing Capital of the World

Matsumoto’s famous shaved ice

Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck

The shrimp is raised in local shrimp farms, very fresh. We brought our own beer

Peacock in Waimea Valley

Lifeguard tower at Bonsai Pipeline

Bonzai Pipeline

Silhouette

Kailua Bay

Buoys

Fragrant

Beach Cottage

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This entry was posted on Friday, April 18th, 2008 at 4:30 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Awesome pictures! Hope you had a great time. Missed your useful tweets and blogs.

Posted by Mike on April 18th, 2008 at 4:39 pm

…..mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm……….

BTW, that’s a camera phone? Nice pix!

Posted by Mike Mathews on April 18th, 2008 at 4:39 pm

Hey jeremiah,

Glad to see you had an awesome vacation. My girlfriend and I are headed to Kapolei on Sunday for 5 days. After seeing your photos, I cannot wait.

Hope all is well.

Posted by Michael Barber on April 18th, 2008 at 4:40 pm

Dude, thanks for the great photos. But no surfing shots? (Okay, thanks for the one wave pic…)

Glad you had a good vacation!

Aloha,
Graeme

Posted by Graeme Thickins on April 18th, 2008 at 4:40 pm

Jeremiah, Welcome back! The pictures look absolutely amazing. Pretty impressive from the N95. Good luck shifting from THAT into the regular routine! -Dan

Posted by Dan York on April 18th, 2008 at 4:41 pm

Welcome home Jeremiah. Glad to see you were enjoying some quality down time. Your vacation photos look fantastic! The Nokia N95 picture quality is remarkable.

@dmitrigunn

Posted by Dmitri Gunn on April 18th, 2008 at 4:42 pm

Graeme

My phone camera doesn’t have a zoom, so there are surfers in other pics, but they just appear as specks.

While on vacation, it’s nice not to lug around a bulky camera.

Posted by jeremiah_owyang on April 18th, 2008 at 4:42 pm

Jeremiah- very nice. takes me back…

Posted by Rocky on April 18th, 2008 at 4:50 pm

Great shots. Takes me right back. I lived for 2.5 years in Hauula and definitely miss the ocean. Nice to see you were enjoying yourself. Your twitter presence was missed.

Posted by John Lynn on April 18th, 2008 at 4:51 pm

Welcome back to the mainland. Mahalo my friend
Take your time coming back. It looks like you had an amazing/relaxing time there. It helps to recharge in Hawaii.

Heard you 86′d my question via twitter on the widget panel yesterday.

Cheers!

Posted by Rodney Rumford on April 18th, 2008 at 4:51 pm

Awesome pics! I need a Nokia N95 - the pictures are better than my cannon!

Posted by Kalei on April 18th, 2008 at 4:52 pm

Rodney

It was an excellent question, which we took anyways

Thanks for being engaged, even 300 miles away!

Posted by jeremiah_owyang on April 18th, 2008 at 4:56 pm

Welcome back. missed u on twitter. Just wasn’t the same w/o u.

Glad u had a great vacation. Awesome pics. didn’t you hate to come back?

Ann Rusnak
“The Time Diva”

Posted by Ann Rusnak-The Time Diva on April 18th, 2008 at 4:56 pm

Fantastic pictures! Glad to see you putting the Nokia N95 to full use.

Posted by Stefan Constantinescu on April 18th, 2008 at 4:58 pm

Great pictures Jeremiah, my mouth is watering from the picture of the shrimp from the shrimp truck. And yes the N95 also blew away my expectations of what kind of quality you can get from a cameraphone.

(for anyone that doesn’t know I do work for Nokia so I’m probably bias

Posted by Karl Long on April 18th, 2008 at 5:10 pm

Thanks a ton for the example that even the most connected can successfully unplug and for the absolutely inspiring photos. Bravo.

Posted by Dave Levine on April 18th, 2008 at 5:10 pm

Awesome photos! I just bought the n95 too so I’ll be posting up to Flickr shortly with them.

Posted by Randy on April 18th, 2008 at 5:18 pm

Fantastic photos! It makes me want to get back to the North Shore asap!

Posted by Sheila on April 18th, 2008 at 5:25 pm

Glorious. I went to Maui last year–what a great time. Of course, I wasn’t as good as you, and I did a couple of hours of email every morning before Alisha got up.

Posted by Chris Yeh on April 18th, 2008 at 5:30 pm

Shame shame Chris. just a shame.

Posted by jeremiah_owyang on April 18th, 2008 at 5:50 pm

Chris, part 2

But now I’m trudging through email hell.

Posted by jeremiah_owyang on April 18th, 2008 at 5:51 pm

Looks like you had a great trip. Would love to get the information on where you stayed as I am always looking good locations on the north shore.

Posted by Kelly Tirman on April 18th, 2008 at 5:55 pm

I update the post. We stayed at http://www.gigisparadise.com/cottages.htm

Posted by jeremiah_owyang on April 18th, 2008 at 6:40 pm

Its been quiet in blog/twitter land. Never thought I would say this but you were missed!! Welcome back.

Posted by Colin Henderson on April 18th, 2008 at 6:56 pm

I can’t even bear to look at these. Too painful. Must book vacation. NOW. At the very least I’m going to find some Melona…even if I have to have it shipped here (they don’t carry at my local Sam’s).

Posted by Amy Worley on April 18th, 2008 at 7:10 pm

Aloha Jeremiah,

It was great to meet you. Those photos are fantastic. Thanks again for spending time with the local Hawaii geeks. We all hope to see you again soon.

Aloha, Dave.

Posted by Hawaii SEO on April 18th, 2008 at 7:19 pm

Glad that you enjoyed Hawaii, and hope that you will be back soon. Your lovely photos will definitely send your followers our way.

There are lots of interesting deals to Hawaii right now, including a $599 Royal Carribean cruise next month that does a night sail of the volcano.

Aloha,
Jeff
http://beatofhawaii.com

Posted by beatofhawaii.com on April 18th, 2008 at 8:44 pm

Really nice pics - you have a good eye and should use a real camera!

Welcome back.

TO’B

Posted by tom obrien on April 18th, 2008 at 9:12 pm

[...] written in my head, when I discovered this picture shared by a really famous guy in the tech world, Jeremiah Owyang. I thought the picture would go well with what I wanted to talk about and then discovered that the [...]

Posted by Luke Gedeon - Solutions Researcher » The web is just a beach at low tide on April 18th, 2008 at 9:58 pm

Okay, if you ever quit the Analyst gig, we now know you have a future in Travel photography…
Those are simply incredible.

I would’ve thought you were a professional photog working on a show or a marketing spread.

Take your time - the ‘conversation’ has been full of childishness, churlishness, and whining this week. That’s as good a time as any to stay away and recover your strength for awhile.

Let the sunshine stay in your soul for a few more weeks - and then come back to let us hear what you’ve thought about.

Glad you had a good vacation - you deserved it!!

Posted by GeekMommy on April 19th, 2008 at 12:51 am

You deserve this!
Thanks for sharing - what an amazing experience.

Posted by Dan Blank on April 19th, 2008 at 2:42 am

Jeremiah, Glad you are back and also happy to see such wonderful pictures.

Posted by jennifer jones on April 19th, 2008 at 7:50 am

Jeremiah,

Looks like an awesome vacation !!
Excellent pictures as well - really capture the feel of your time there.

Welcome back..

Posted by Dvir Reznik on April 19th, 2008 at 8:55 am

Hey Jeremiah, welcome back!

Glad you had a great time.

North Shore is one of my favorite places.

An exhilarating feeling is to wade out into the surf on the North Shore, on what appears to be a calm day. Once you are out in the open water, it’s a whole other story.

Posted by Ray Valdes on April 19th, 2008 at 11:19 am

Nice pictures…
How do you capture all these pictures?
Which model is your camera?

Posted by Stephanie on April 19th, 2008 at 11:56 am

If jealousy is a sin, then I’m a sinner. Wonderful photos Jeremiah. Glad you enjoyed your time away. Thanks for the link as well.

Now, get back to work!

Posted by Paul Chaney on April 19th, 2008 at 12:06 pm

It looks as if you enjoyed your time in Hawaii

Those are some nice pics especially the one with the turtle tracks. Thanks for the taking the time to hang out with us at the Highway Inn and giving advice on our various situations.

If you are ever back in town be sure to look us up so we can show you the nightlife of Honolulu :0.

Off to enjoy the beach.

Chris
http://www.techustle.com

Posted by chris on April 19th, 2008 at 1:00 pm

Stephanie, these photos are from my camera onboard my Nokia N95 cell phone.

Thanks everyone for all the kind comments.

Paul, no, I don’t want to get back to work, I’m still quite sluggish.

Posted by jeremiah_owyang on April 19th, 2008 at 1:57 pm

it’s been really quiet. glad you’re well rested and back. just ease back into it.

Posted by nick mun on April 19th, 2008 at 3:50 pm

Take your time, wade into the waters — paddle out to the third break when you’re ready. Mahalo for sharing my home with your readers, am glad you found a spot on Oahu that treated you and your wife well - and gave you the momentary peace that you needed.

Aloha,
NEENZ

Posted by NEENZ on April 19th, 2008 at 3:58 pm

[...] I was really impressed. Who knew that you could take such great photos with a Nokia camera phone. read more | digg [...]

Posted by Amazing Pictures of Paradise With a Camera Phone | White Sands Digital on April 19th, 2008 at 8:33 pm

Great stuff! As everyone is on the topic of camera phones, anyone looking for a camera phone should try the SonyEricsson K800i or higher.

Posted by sanjay on April 19th, 2008 at 11:23 pm

Awesome pictures! I am looking at N95 in a new light.

Miss your tweets. Was just wondering where you have gone..hope you are feeling recharged!

Posted by jacq on April 20th, 2008 at 6:17 am

Thanks for sharing the awesome photos! Hawaii is a wondrous place. Sounds like you’re well rested. Welcome back!

Posted by Connie Bensen on April 20th, 2008 at 6:20 am

Glad to see that Giovannis Original White Shrimp Truck is still there. Had been there in 2005

http://www.flickr.com/photos/injelea/2154641917/in/set-1138438/

Posted by Frank Hamm on April 20th, 2008 at 7:08 am

Welcome back Jeremiah! Pictures look amazing…definitely putting Hawaii on my list of vacation spots.

Posted by Sonny Gill on April 20th, 2008 at 10:00 am

Love the pix Jeremiah,

Of course now I’m wishing I got the N95 on the last upgrade… thought I’d keep using the old fashioned SLR for photography and the phone for internet/calls. But your shots really stand up. Great job. Welcome back.

Posted by Paul Grant on April 20th, 2008 at 12:50 pm

You should trade Gigi’s Rentals vacation time for a web site update. I am sure you could pull out some made HTML skills and give that site a little refresh.

Posted by Michael Barber on April 20th, 2008 at 10:22 pm

Genius! I’m a strategist too and also took my first vacation in ages a few weeks ago and hit Ohau and Maui. North Shore completely rocks, though only if you’re into complete remoteness, and surfer style… And it is 27hrs if you’re flying from the UK. Great skills.

Posted by Gareth Wesley on April 21st, 2008 at 3:53 am

Wow, what a nice relaxing set of pix and storyline. Almost makes you wonder if technological immersion is really so great after all…but it really IS, because without it nobody else could enjoy your pix!

Posted by Joe Hunkins on April 21st, 2008 at 1:03 pm

It’s actually Banzai Pipeline like the kamikaze, not the plant. Also, I think you may have been staying at my Mom’s friend’s house if the beach in your pictures are indicative of where you stayed. Your photos and descriptions make me miss home…

Posted by Kalani Perry on April 21st, 2008 at 2:34 pm

Loved your pictures!

Posted by Debbie Petras on April 21st, 2008 at 4:20 pm

Awesome pictures!!

Posted by Stan on April 22nd, 2008 at 12:37 am

Posted by marble on April 22nd, 2008 at 2:23 am

[...] Cell phone cameras are really getting good. [...]

Posted by Who Needs a DSLR? : S E I B U O N E on April 22nd, 2008 at 4:49 am

Giovanni’s…. Love that place and like Frank, I am happy to see it is still there (I enjoyed their shrimps back in 1999). Welcome back.

Posted by Joe Lima on April 22nd, 2008 at 8:23 am

Joe

Thanks
I wanted the spicy ones, but my wife and I were splitting a plate, she didn’t want one.

Plus the menu said “no refunds for spicy shrimp” so I figured it would really light the butt on fire.

Posted by jeremiah_owyang on April 22nd, 2008 at 11:07 am

Nice pictures but they took long to load on my computer Looks like you had a very beautiful vacation.

Posted by Clara on April 22nd, 2008 at 3:38 pm

Wonderful photos …
Didn’t realize you had a n95. I got one about 3 weeks ago. Have been happy except for a few technical glitches- not quite as bad as a colleague - but perhaps a case study of social media and tech support/customer support and listening .. story is unfolding
http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2008/04/thinking-about.html

Posted by Beth Kanter on April 22nd, 2008 at 8:01 pm

Gorgeous photos! I’m dying for a vacation The color of the water are amaaaazing. Thanks for sharing!

Posted by Jessica Owyang on April 24th, 2008 at 8:20 pm

Great photos…

Posted by Elliott Ng on April 25th, 2008 at 7:57 am

Bah! Where’s the jellied eals, chip shops and cockle stalls? This has nothing on a beach resort in the UK.

Which reminds me - when might you next be coming to the UK for a visit? Any plans to share the social media sh-message to us Londoners?

Posted by kenobi on April 25th, 2008 at 8:24 am

Wow… I want to go there!

Posted by John on April 25th, 2008 at 8:51 am

Kenobi
No plans as of yet, hope to come to UK soon.

Posted by Jeremiah Owyang on April 25th, 2008 at 9:06 am

[...] guy and twitter’ @jowyang got back from vacation he got more hits and comments on his vacation photos than I get in, well maybe ever. My network isn’t nearly as big. Unless one of the super users [...]

Posted by New Word Of Mouth » Anatomy of a Failed Launch on May 1st, 2008 at 9:53 am

Amazing photos. Shame that the N95’s type of noise reduction turns photos into watercolor paintings. If they would have chosen to use a Gaussian instead of a Median filter, the photos would have looked more natural at full size.

Posted by abubasim on June 11th, 2008 at 8:14 pm

Huh, absolutely tops ! Did you take this pics with a cell phone? ? ? Are you kidding? I want a N95 too. I will never take my oldish, 1 pound sony camera with me on a holiday again -
Greetings, Mario

Posted by Mario on June 12th, 2008 at 10:33 am

Although I’m a SonyEricsson fan, i should admit that N95 is a very sharp shooter….

Posted by HappyKhan on June 13th, 2008 at 1:54 am

[...] took a few weeks off from doing this digest, after my Hawaii vacation, but am now back in the groove. If anyone wants to contribute to this on an ongoing weekly basis as [...]

Posted by Weekly Digest of the Social Networking Space: June 18, 2008 on June 18th, 2008 at 6:25 am

Posted by Weekly Digest of the Social Networking Space: June 25, 2008 on June 25th, 2008 at 2:08 am

[...] See my pics from Hawaii, also using my onboard cell phone camera, Nokia [...]

Posted by Silicon Valley Sightings: Half Moon Bay, the Beach in the Backyard on June 28th, 2008 at 7:22 am

Jeremiah

Thank you for writing about how much you enjoyed staying at Gigi’s condo at Pat’s at Punaluu. I own two second floor units in the R Cottage– Lou Lu and Pukana La. This spring I put in sliding doors so the the condos can also be rented as a double unit. Gigi has added some new pictures of them to the web site.

The location is a treasure that we like to share. Your comments and beautiful pictures describe what we offer.

Also, when I attended Taipei American School a long time ago, one of my good friends was Lily Oh Yang. Her family came to Taiwan in 1949 with Chiang Kai Shek. The last time that I saw her she worked for the National Institute for Health (NIH)in Washingon.

Again, thanks for sharing information about Gigi’s vacation rentals.

Claudia

Claudia Chaille

Posted by Claudia Chaille on July 17th, 2008 at 4:31 pm

Claudia, you found this? Great, we can’t wait to come back.

Be sure to let Gigi know.

Posted by jeremiah_owyang on July 17th, 2008 at 5:03 pm

Thanks

Gigi is delighted.

Posted by Claudia Chaille on July 18th, 2008 at 2:31 pm

Aloha Gigi!

Posted by jeremiah_owyang on July 18th, 2008 at 3:59 pm

Damn, these are gorgeous! You make me miss the tropics where I once lived and that I have so loved.

I was just about to get my new iPhone, but the N95 is tempting for the photo quality. Is two phones ridiculous? Er…I guess I could just use my fancy digital SLR instead.

Posted by Shara on July 18th, 2008 at 4:30 pm

Wow. Beautiful!

Posted by Brian on September 26th, 2008 at 3:00 am

As of today: 1/15/09, you need another vacation.
Who knows, maybe a little bug got in their ear about this very fact.
Happy Thursday.
-jen

Posted by Jen Harris on January 15th, 2009 at 11:32 am

oh you’re right –im going back in a few weeks

Posted by jeremiah_owyang on January 15th, 2009 at 11:46 am

WOW,it’s been 8 years since I’ve been to Hawaii…and with it being single digits right now…these photos make me want to pack it up. Truly paradise on earth hey? Thanks for sharing and hope you can enjoy many more!

Duong Sheahan

Posted by Duong Sheahan on January 24th, 2009 at 9:01 am

Next time you go back, be sure to hike the Napali post. My family and I were in Hawaii last April and loved it.

http://flickr.com/photos/alexa627/2451466152/in/set-72157604791396059/

Posted by Alexa on January 24th, 2009 at 7:08 pm

Came across your blog since I was looking for reviews on Gigi’s Paradise cottages, specifically the one that you might have stayed in. I was wondering if you might tell us your honest opinion of the unit (cottage A4) - was it clean, comfy. Some of the reviews I have read regarding the complex (Pat’s at Punaluu) have not been complimentary, i.e. sewer smell in the parking lot, dirty units, etc. The pictures on Gigi’s website tell a different story though. We aren’t necessarily expecting the Four Seasons here but it would be nice to know that the cottage is clean and comfortable.

Thanks for your input.

Posted by Emily on March 13th, 2009 at 5:14 pm

Emily

Going to Hawaii isn’t about standing in the condo. With that said, the condo was nicely decorated, clean, but the bathroom and kitchen were a bit outdated. There were no funny smells, yet the place is a bit older.

I recently went to Maui, and stayed in a more modern condo –but it was far more dense, and didn’t have that beachhouse feel.

Posted by jeremiah_owyang on March 14th, 2009 at 5:09 am