|
Ancient Hawaiians had a fully oral culture, passing down stories, songs, and traditions directly from generation to generation, and for a large part, maintain that oral tradition today. One drawback to maintaining a largely oral culture is all that is lost due to the changing of time and the evolution of culture and introduction of new influences. Since the arrival of Captain Cook in the Hawaiian Islands in the 1700s, much has changed. Hawaiians are no longer predominantly an oral culture, and much of what was not preserved and documented after 1700 has been lost due to various factors such as the outlawing of religious practices and the practice of speaking English only prior to the Hawaiian Renaissance in the 1970s. "Talking story" connects back to these Ancient Hawaiian cultural protocols and was the chosen method of sharing knowledge throughout the tribes; primarily passing values and beliefs, such as the importance of the 'āina (land) and kai (sea) and ohana (family). Today we spent the day talking story with a local Thai mermaid off the coast of Waianae. Thai mermaids are a rare (especially in Hawaiian waters), but incredibly photogenic subject.            This image shows a split view of a pod of spinner dolphins near shore. Stenella longirostris. 
Hawaiian Spinner Dolphins have been known to travel the oceans of the Hawaiian Island Chain in very large groups. A mega pod consists of overwhelming amounts of these highly social beings traveling in numbers nearing 200 individuals. Although this day's particular pod was a bit shy of that (maybe 50+), it was still the type of experience that could force you to question your existence. Or question how amazing it is to share the earth with these godlike creatures.       Little something (14ft wingspan) we ran into yesterday...... Manta birostris. This was my first free dive with a Manta Ray.     
   Spinners dolphins are found in oceans around the world. However, the Hawaiian Spinner Dolphin is unique to Hawaiian Island Chain.  .
Motu (n) - "a little island made up of nothing but coral and it's derivatives - sand, limestone boulders etc - that have been bulldozed from the mother reef during storm waves and strong swells". Here are a couple images from a short day trip out to a local motu off the coast of one of the main islands of the Tuamotu archipelago or what is commonly known as French Polynesia.        Below is a collection of images from the Hawaiian islands, captured during the month of July 2011.             |
