Muddy waters

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Muddy waters, from flash flooding, advance into the blue Pacific Ocean

Sunday Stills Monthly Color Challenge is ‘Cobalt Blue.’ See more responses here.

I had a post all lined up, until I was called into work yesterday to do some clean up after flash floods swept through several places, including where I work. On the drive down, I came on this scene.

The cobalt blue waters of the Pacific were being overrun by muddy waters swept into the sea by flooding. I’ve never seen such a sharp line before and, as I watched, I could see it moving forward, to the north. On that coast, the current generally runs in that direction, and a swell from the south was probably helping it along too.

The muddy waters entered the sea down by Kawaihae and when I first saw them, they’d almost reached Lapakahi, a distance of around 12 miles. When I returned home, about three hours later, the brown water had moved up off Kapaa Park, another two and a half miles north.

It will take a day or two for the ocean to clear again, as the waters mingle or are eased away by offshore currents. In the meantime, Kawaihae is digging itself out from the copious amounts of mud left behind by the floodwaters.

Also posted for Becky’s Squares: Move Forward, Reconstruct, Renew, and/or are Burgeoning. See more responses here.

Muddy waters, from flash flooding, advance into the blue Pacific Ocean

Renewing renewable energy

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Wind turbines at Hawi Wind Farm, Hawaii, together with new blades waiting to be installed

Wind turbines are a good source of renewable energy around here, given how much the wind blows. But sometimes those turbines wear out and need renewing. Here, new blades lie next to a couple of turbines, waiting for installation.

This is part of a recent burst of repair and improvements going on at the Hawi Wind Farm, I think because of an extension to its power purchase agreement with Hawaiian Electric Co..

Posted for Becky’s Squares: Move Forward, Reconstruct, Renew, and/or are Burgeoning. See more responses here.

Motoring moray

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A Dwarf Moray Eel swims in the waters off Hawaii

I saw this Dwarf Moray Eel moving forward at a good clip. Then it spotted me, gave me a look, turned around, and headed right back where it came from. Just its head peeked out as it waited for me to move along and leave it to go its own way.

A Dwarf Moray Eel in the waters off Hawaii

Posted for Becky’s Squares: Move Forward, Reconstruct, Renew, and/or are Burgeoning. See more responses here.

The Numbers Game #20

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Moving forward. Having second thoughts!

The idea of The Numbers Game is to enter a number into the search bar of your computer and then post a selection of the photos that turn up. This week’s number is 141. Captions are on the photos.

You can see more responses here.

Also posted for Becky’s Squares: Move Forward, Reconstruct, Renew, and/or are Burgeoning. See more responses here.

An Hawaii Amakihi in a Mamane tree.
A green anole on a Ti leaf.
A White-lined Sphinx Moth.
A bee working hard in a Mamane flower.
A Praying Mantis hoping the photographer gets lost.
A Katydid says hi.

Hunkered down

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A baby Gray Francolin seeks cover in Hawaii

I was watching a pair of Gray Francolins and their four chicks when something spooked them. The parents ran away. The chicks, still too small to cover ground quickly, dived for cover. Three disappeared into a clump of grass, but the fourth ended up under the overhang of a large rock. That’s the one in this photo.

Like any young bird, it instinctively knew to find cover, remain still, and make no noise. I watched it for a while and the only movement it made during that time was, if I moved, it briefly opened its eyes. I think of all newborns and youngsters as a species renewing itself and moving forward.

Posted for Becky’s Squares: Move Forward, Reconstruct, Renew, and/or are Burgeoning. See more responses here.

Not moving forward

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Cars wait on the road into Kawaihae Hawaii as a traffic accident is cleared

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Groups of Any Kind.’ See more responses here.

One day last week, late in the afternoon, the driver of a dump truck carrying asphalt, lost control of his vehicle on the road into Kawaihae. He careened across the road, into a guard rail, and overturned, spilling the asphalt onto the highway.

No one was hurt, but the highway was closed in both directions. This is the highway I take to go to and from work. I’d heard about the accident before I set off for home, but there were conflicting versions about whether one lane was closed or both.

Cars wait on the road into Kawaihae Hawaii as a traffic accident is cleared

It wasn’t long before I was in a line of backed up traffic, but even then it wasn’t clear whether the highway was closed or not, since a fair number of vehicles kept coming from the opposite direction. However, the longer I was in the line, the more clear it became that these vehicles were driven by people turning around and getting out of the jam. Some of these were likely people who were headed to Kawaihae for some reason that wasn’t urgent. Others were surely those who lived up where I do who figured it would be quicker to take the long way home. I’ve done that before (here) for a brush fire, and once stuck it out for an overturned semi (here).

This time, I decided to wait it out with my group of fellow delayed travelers. It was interesting to watch what people did. Some got out of their cars and chatted. Others took the exit to Spencer Beach Park for a more relaxing wait. Still others waited, gave up, and turned around to seek alternatives. A few cars did just that only a few minutes before a retrieval vehicle with the damaged dump truck aboard, passed by. Shortly thereafter, traffic started moving through from the other side of the holdup. Then it was our turn.

Cars wait on the road into Kawaihae Hawaii as a traffic accident is cleared

The backups were quickly cleared and I got home two hours after I left work. Had I turned around as soon as I saw the backup, I might have been home in 90 minutes. My normal commute is about 30 minutes. But I wasn’t too put out. Back home, I was still able to relax with a nice glass of wine. The dump truck driver, who caused the delay, probably wishes he’d done that too. He was arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence of an intoxicant!

Also posted for Becky’s Squares: Move Forward, Reconstruct, Renew, and/or are Burgeoning. See more responses here.