In hindsight, I think my initial encounter with wildlife in Hawaii happened the first full day in our condo. I opened the patio door and a spunky gecko raced inside. By taking quick action, and what I thot was a little luck, I skillfully maneuvered it back on the deck. Done.

My mistaken belief, that we had kept the wildlife outside, was short lived. The next gecko I saw was on an interior wall, frozen in place like wallpaper. That is until I approached and it just vapourized. With quickness like that, it dawned on me that perhaps the previous day’s herding success might have been more luck than I initially estimated.

I didn’t particularly like the idea of sharing the condo with wildlife and it’s theoretically possible my ego was a little bruised after failing so completely on the second herding attempt. However, my mutterings about our “problem” were met with a yawn from my wife who declared that it was no big deal.

By the time I saw the third gecko, my enthusiasm for problem solving was beginning to wane. This one was much larger, frozen nearly ten feet high not six inches from a perfect place to hide underneath overlapping ceiling boards. It soon disappeared without a trace. Faced with the full gravity of the challenge and no idea how to win, I did the honourable thing and conceded that … it was no big deal and my wife was right.

The geckos turned out to be model house guests. They were rarely seen, made no demands, and came and went without a sound or a trace. Best company we ever had!

It finally occurred to me that I should be taking photos of the wily creatures. A wildlife photo in the condo didn’t seem right so I tried the deck. However, their quickness seemed to kick in about a milli-second before my camera’s focusing capability.

Near the end of our trip I saw a gecko on the gorgeous black and white rocks that lined the outside edge of our favourite beach. I managed to take this shot. Then, just like the geckos at our condo, it disappeared before I got a chance to get acquainted or get a better photo.