Spencer Beach Park, near Kawaihae, is a popular spot for families. With protected water, sand, shade, and facilities it’s got most everything little kids need. On weekends it can get crowded, but during the week it’s usually possible to find a quite spot.
The park is right next door to Puʻukoholā Heiau National Historic Site so it’s possible to visit both places from one parking spot.
These sheep kept me under observation during a hike on Pu’u Wa’awa’a, and since I didn’t change course, they remained unperturbed and undisturbed.
Shoals of yellow tang are the most visible fish on the reefs. Their bright yellow color means that they’re often easily seen from shore. The smaller silvery fish are juveniles, though I don’t know which kind of fish they are. But it’s fun to see them darting around in the shallows and, as seen in nature documentaries on TV, turning en masse from one direction to another when I approach.
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Home.’ See more offerings here.
Here in Hawaii, home is where the termites are, and if nothing is done about them, they will literally eat you out of house and home. So every few years most houses get tented and filled with poisonous gas. Best not to be home at the time. The house stays tented overnight to give the gas time to seep into all the nooks and crannies. Next day, the tent is removed and the homeowner is supposedly guaranteed a few more years of termite-free living.
This was a neighbor’s house, and every time I see a tented house like this, I think of circuses.
Green anoles often look a bit rough on the top of their noses, but this one was particularly rough and white in that area. In addition, while it has assumed brown coloration, a patch of green refused to go away. One or both of these conditions might be related to shedding, but it could be something entirely different.
This week’s Friendly Friday challenge theme is ‘In Transit.’ See more responses here.
Here in Hawaii, tourism is our number one industry. In normal years, more than 30,000 visitors arrive in Hawaii every day. Currently, the number of daily arrivals is around 1,500. In this topsy-turvy world that precipitous decline is a good thing.
In the U.S., states don’t have the authority to regulate flights; that’s a federal matter. But Hawaii was able to require that people arriving in the state had to quarantine for 14 days. This effectively killed tourism. Why visit Hawaii for two weeks if you have to spend every day of that visit confined to your hotel room? This 14-day quarantine even applied to inter-island travel. Because of these restrictions, Hawaii has had a very low infection rate and very few deaths. Here on the Big Island, there have been less than 100 cases and zero deaths. Next week, the inter-island quarantine requirement will be lifted, but it will be retained until at least the end of July for visitors from out of state and abroad.
So the reason for the similar-looking photos? The top one is from a previous year and shows one of a procession of planes landing at Kona airport. The photo below shows a recent photo of a plane flying overhead, which was noteworthy because it was unusual. The planes aren’t there. The skies are quiet. Currently, the daily number of passenger flights arriving at Kona airport can be counted on one hand. The number of visitors is in the 20s or 30s. When and if those numbers return to previous levels is anybody’s guess.
A view of Mauna Kea from the Pu’u O’o Trail off of Saddle Road, with a couple of telescopes peaking up at the top.
Time for an eye test as in spot the flowery flounder. I don’t think this one is too hard. Not like the last flounder I saw which settled on a sandy bottom, churned up a bunch of sand, and disappeared beneath it leaving only a tiny, inconspicuous bit of tail identifying where it was.
Graham's Island 