Category Archives: Activities

Still temporarily closed

This sign has been in place, near the Old Coastguard Station in North Kohala, since I moved here. That was 12 years ago. But the sign was put in place six years earlier than that, after an earthquake caused the cliff, traversed by the trail, to slide into the sea.

The trail is the Ala Kahakai trail, a modern rendition of the network of trails used by the early Hawaiians. 175 miles long, it stretches from the northern tip of the island, down the west coast, and along the south coast through Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. Segments of the trail are open to the public; other parts cross private property and are not yet accessible.

This ‘temporarily closed’ segment crosses the cliff frontage of a gated community. Rerouting the trail will require the cooperation of community residents impacted by moving the trail. This hasn’t happened yet.

I reckon the most likely change in this situation, that I might see in my lifetime, is that the sign will fall down. Replacing it could take several years!

The Numbers Game #35

A gold dust day gecko drinks from a bird of paradise flower. — A Gold Dust Day Gecko drinks from a Bird of Paradise flower.

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 156. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.

A sailboat passing Kohanaiki Beach Park.

Getting to work

A Giant Porcupinefish is serviced by a cleaner wrasse in the waters off Hawaii

A Giant Porcupinefish waits patiently while a Hawaiian Cleaner Wrasse gets to work. Cleaner wrasses remove dead tissue, parasites and mucus from fish of all sizes that visit their cleaning stations. Watch out for those spines!

Incoming

A skydiver comes in to land at Upolu Airport in Hawaii

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Reunited.’ See more responses here.

Just the one this week, a skydiver about to be reunited with solid land, hopefully not too abruptly.

Perplexed Peppered Moray

A Peppered Moray Eel in the waters off Hawaii

On a recent swim, I saw this Peppered Moray Eel zipping towards me in fairly shallow water. My response was to start taking photos. The eel’s response was to stop dead, raise its head up, and give me a decidedly unimpressed look.

We held our positions for a short while and then I edged off to one side and the eel did the same, before deciding enough was enough and scooting to sanctuary under a large rock.

The Numbers Game #34

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 155. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.