Here’s a view of part of the golf course at the Westin Hapuna Beach Resort on the Kohala coast. Besides the usual trees and bunkers to challenge golfers, there’s a generous sprinkling of goats. I liked the pastoral feel of this photo, but if I were a golfer and my ball came to rest within a club’s length of some of these goats, I’d be inclined to drop a new ball a safe distance away.
This is the time of year when juvenile threadfin jacks can sometimes be seen in inland waters. I’ve been on the lookout for them since May, but haven’t seen any. This doesn’t mean they’re not there; so small and shimmery, they’re easy to miss in murky shallow water.
Last week, my vigilance was rewarded. While the water wasn’t too clear, the swell was low so I headed among the rocks near the shore and saw my first threadfin of the year. I took the bottom photo which, while not great, does show the shallow area it tends to inhabit and the sun filtering through that water.
Next day, I went back to the same spot but didn’t see the fish. So I turned and headed out toward deeper water and almost bumped into it coming the other way. I quickly snapped the top photo as it went by, not sure if it was even in the frame, before it disappeared into the shallows.
In the past, these juveniles have stuck around for several weeks, so I’ll hopefully get to see this one a few more times. Ultimately, it will head out to deep water and grow up to be a stocky four-footer living up to 200 feet down.
When I was last at the Golden Pools of Keawaiki, I encountered this metallic skink skittering along the water’s edge and then clambering up over the lava. I’m always impressed by creatures that live in such a harsh environment.
On a recent hike at Pu’u Wa’awa’a, I was ambling along one of the trails when I heard squeals and a commotion in the grass a few feet off to the side. A mongoose shot out from cover hotly pursued by a second one. They took off down the trail, away from me, before vanishing into the undergrowth on the other side.
A couple of minutes later, this one reemerged, trotting away on the trail before it turned suddenly and gave me this look. I don’t think my presence had registered earlier, so it must have been a bit surprised to see me. Don’t know what happened to the other one, but since I didn’t hear any horrendous screeching, I suspect it got away.
For more information about Pu’u Wa’awa’a and its trails, go to puuwaawaa.org.
On an early morning hike at Pu’u Wa’awa’a, I saw this wild pig on the hillside above me. It was busy rooting around in the dirt, hence the brown snout. Wild pigs can do an enormous amount of damage in their foraging. The photo at right shows one of many areas alongside the trail that has been dug up by pigs. These areas are susceptible to erosion when it rains.
I was glad the pig was a ways up the hill as the other damage they can do is to people who get too close. Given the size of this one, I suspect I’d have come off second best.
There are seasons in Hawaii. Summer is hotter, and wetter on the dry side of the Big Island. But let’s be honest, there are many people who live through freezing winters and boiling summers, sun-free winters and sun-seared summers. They believe Hawaii has summer year-round, and not just any summer, but a pleasant summer where it’s warm and sunny but not inhospitably so.
For those people, and in response to this week’s Sunday Stills challenge on the theme of ‘Summer,’ I give you a typical summer shot of people getting ready to go snorkeling, or just exiting the water. The photo was taken at Two Step, next door to Pu’uhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park — in February. Bwahahahahahaha.
For more information about Pu’uhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park, visit https://www.nps.gov/puho/index.htm.
See more Sunday Stills responses here.
While on a hike south of Pu’uhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park, I saw this pair of large orange sulphur butterflies. They were flying around, joined together, before settling on this seed pod. I assume they were mating, though this discrete view is the only one I had of them.
To see what was going on on the other side would have involved thrashing around in some nasty-looking brush. This would have added to the usual assortment of lacerations that I seem to acquire on a daily basis, and would undoubtedly have caused the butterflies to take to the air again. So I let them be.
Near the end of a hike to Papakōlea Beach, better known as Green Sand Beach, there’s this old sign. I think it reads, ‘Welcome to Mahana Bay green sand beach. Please do not take the sand. There is only so much and if everybody that came here takes it, well! soon there will be none. Thank you.’
What I liked was that the only parts that could reasonably be read were, ‘Welcome’ and ‘Thank you.’ The rest I had to decipher with the help of Photoshop when I got home.
Graham's Island 