Author Archives: Graham

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About Graham

I take photos when I'm out and about, recording life on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Coast Guard ship

I saw this Coast Guard ship outside Kawaihae harbor. Here, it was hauling out one of the buoys marking the entrance to the harbor for inspection and maintenance. Buoys like this are commonly seen in coastal areas, in the vicinity of ports. They help guide ships into harbor, marking safe, deep channels or shoals to be avoided.

From shore, these buoys look like little green and red floats, but anyone who has ever been in a small boat being swept toward a buoy by a surging current knows better. Up close, they’re a big chunk of metal that you run into at your peril. In the photo to the right, the figure next to the buoy being hauled aboard gives some idea of the scale.

Hawi Christmas lights

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Holiday Decor.’ See more offerings here.

This theme forced me outside after dark, something of a rarity these days. As usual, when I walked into Hawi, I thought, ‘I should do this more often.’

Here are a couple of the downtown buildings illuminated for the season. In truth, this was pretty much it for holiday trappings, but it’s still a good deal more than at my house!

Also posted, belatedly, in response to the last Friendly Friday challenge theme of 2019, ‘Christmas Preparations.’ See more responses here.

Spinner dolphins

Not long after I moved to Hawaii I was lucky enough to swim with a large pod of dolphins. They hung around the bay where I was for most of the day and, when I was in the water, swam around me with some curiosity. Back then I didn’t have a waterproof camera so didn’t get any photos.

Since then, I’ve seen dolphins from shore, but never got to swim with them again until recently. Then I encountered them twice within a couple of weeks. The first time I caught the tail end of a pod heading south along the coast. The second time I saw them a bit earlier, also heading south at speed and with purpose.

The water was murky so I didn’t get good photos, but since this is the first in-the-water photo of any kind that I’ve got of dolphins, I thought I’d post it anyway. Even though the pod passed without interacting with me, it was still a great moment to see them whizzing by with such grace and power.

Passion vine butterfly at rest

I saw this passion vine butterfly resting one windy late-afternoon. It didn’t seem in any rush to head off into the wind again so I got some decent photos. What I like about the photos is that I was close enough to get clear images of the butterfly’s labial palps, the white appendages sticking up on either side of the proboscis. These palps are covered with hairs that are believed to allow the butterfly to sense whether something is edible or not.

Divers down

It’s always a bit strange to come across divers when I’m snorkeling. For starters, there’s the stream of bubbles. Then there’s these large creatures with splashes of color and shiny tanks.

I’m not sure these two even knew I was floating above them. I took my photos and left them to their explorations.