Category Archives: Activities

Jade color

Kayaks on the beach in Hawaii
A sign in Hawi, Hawaii

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Monthly Color Challenge: Jade.’ See more responses here. I think these photos are in the ballpark.

At the top is a selection of colorful kayaks available for rent on the beach at ʻAnaehoʻomalu Bay. The one on the left looks jade to me, maybe a couple of others, too.

The middle photo is a sign at a business in Hawi.

Finally, this building in Kapaau, housing L&L Hawaiian Barbecue and other businesses, has some jade as well as a multitude of other colors.

L&L BBQ building in Kapaau, Hawaii

Any wave is better than no wave

Surfers ride a small wave off Hawaii

A couple of surfers ride a small wave off the South Kohala coast. The west coast of the Big Island isn’t the best place for surfing, but this winter the northwest swells have had more of a westerly component than usual, so we have had one high surf warning after another. I suspect absenteeism has been high at many businesses!

It’s BIG

The landing area for Big Island Gravity Skydivers

Another view from Upolu, this time of a portion of the airport. But why is there an area of long grass, blowing in the wind, with the letters B I G mowed into it?

The reason is that this is where Big Island Gravity, a local skydiving operation, is based. This area is where the skydivers touch down after their jumps. A couple of days later, and the grass had been mowed again. The letters were still visible, but the long grass was gone.

For more information about Big Island Gravity, go to http://skydivebig.com/.

Posted in response to this month’s Becky’s Squares challenge theme of ‘Odd.’ See more responses here.

Home away from home

An old couch and bathtub abandoned on the coast of Hawaii

Who wouldn’t want to relax here a while on the couch before taking a soak in the tub? Alas, the tub wasn’t hooked up and sitting on that sofa might be an unpleasant experience. Truth is, these were dumped here by someone. It happens more often than one would like to think it does, and this area is a favorite spot for it, possibly because no one lives around here.

The tub disappeared quite quickly. I suspect someone took it to use as a cattle drinking trough, but it could have gone for other uses. A bit of effort by the person who dumped it could easily have made this connection without the eyesore interim. The couch, however, just sat there.

Recently, I was walking along the coast here, after not visiting for a week or two, and I noticed another pile of trash next to an existing one. A bit farther on was an old boat filled with tires. It’s getting worse, I thought. But I saw that the dirt road had been graded and, on a subsequent visit, saw cleared areas, and the boat and sofa were gone. This wasn’t a surge in dumping, but the start of a cleanup effort. So a big hooray to whoever is responsible.

Posted in response to this month’s Becky’s Squares challenge theme of ‘Odd.’ See more responses here.

Some Hawaii wildlife

A palila sits in a tree in Hawaii

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Wildlife.’ See more responses here. I thought I’d go with a couple of photos from the air, on land, and in the ocean.

First up, a couple of native Hawaiian birds, a palila above and a pueo below.

A pueo sits on a post in Hawaii
Wild goats rest on a trail in Hawaii

Next, a group of goats blocking a trail in South Kona, above, and a wild pig snaffles a mango and runs off with its prize, below.

A wild pig runs off with a mango in Hawaii
Spinner dolphins in the waters off Hawaii

Finally, a pod of spinner dolphins that I encountered in the wild while snorkeling. This scene was made more poignant for me by having recently seen dolphins in a small pool doing their thing for tourists at one of the resorts here. I couldn’t bring myself to take a photo of that.

Spinner dolphins in the waters off Hawaii