The writer.
Read on rkdarnell.com. What would I attempt to do if I knew I could not fail? This is a challenge my mother presented to me at different times in life. Happily, I’m coming up with some answers. First, I would write more, and aim to see that work through publication. And beyond that, I would spend more time traveling, capturing scenic beauty, and producing more nature documentaries.
Stay tuned for new virtual getaways coming soon.
You may recall me expressing interest in packaging “Rare Air” differently, in a longer form. I’m excited to dig into this as 2021 progresses. With luck, something worth seeing will show up here before too long. Meanwhile, I hope you’ll enjoy the unedited scene debuting here today, which is something of a magical moment on its own.
Meet our octopus friend!
Here are some notes from my journal on 10 July, 2017, the day this footage was recorded. “So long as nothing threatening presents itself, one can easily experience sheer bravado, even while visiting a world where we are so foreign. A half mile off the coast of St. John with mostly just ocean to the east and south, and Tortola a couple of miles away to the north, we were very exposed to all the natural life of the deep, dark sea. But as we swam from just around the tip of the south side to the north along the…
"Best snorkeling experience of our week"
If I had ever experienced a close encounter with a squid before July 9, 2017, I don’t remember it. And on the other hand, the visitation recorded in the video featured here is something I will probably never forget. On this trip, I had a new underwater housing for my Sony DSC-RX100 camera, and I didn’t yet have much experience attempting to frame subjects with it. That’s one factor; another is the ocean’s current. I suppose I probably was also at least a little taken aback by the steady gaze of 20 creatures who seemed quite interested in watching me.
I had this private beach all to myself for a minute, a few years ago.
Scene from our visit to Brown Bay on July 7, 2017, two months before the onset of Hurricane Irma.
With this installment, the Rare Air encapsulation of our July, 2018, trip to Hawaii’s Big Island is now complete. May the artifacts from those memorable days and nights dance around in our collective consciousness forever. It was an exotic continuation of our adventures started in 2012, when we first set out to explore America and its National Parks together with our kids. The “trip of a lifetime” for Beth and me, it played out beautifully, ending with us all coming home to Asheville… as Amelia and Riley readied for their high school senior and freshmen years, respectively.