The Halemaumau Trail in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park takes hikers from near the visitor center down to the floor of the summit crater of Kilauea Volcano. It mostly passes through trees and some lush tropical foliage, this being the wet side of the island. Part of the way down the trail eases through a channel between two walls of rock, which are covered in moss. It’s a quite beautiful passage and, in this harsh volcanic area, has a remarkably soft feeling to it.
For more information about Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, go to nps.gov/havo/.
The Hawi Wind Farm often shares its grounds with cattle or horses. It’s open pasture with no trees and on this day, a clump of cattle had wedged themselves into the narrow band of shade cast by one of the turbines.
There’s a good variety of fish at Two Step including raccoon butterflyfishes, seen here mingling with goatfishes and yellow tangs.
A barred filefish swims by with a startled look on its face, which is just their usual look.
Ki’i at Pu’uhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park, better known as Place of Refuge.
This week’s Friendly Friday challenge theme is ‘Anniversaries.’ See more responses here.
Often, on our wedding anniversary, my wife and I go to Hawaii Tropical Bioreserve and Garden (formerly Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden). This year the garden was shut, and still is, probably until tourists return to the islands. So a different anniversary is my birthday, which is not marked with candles on a cake, since that would be prohibitively expensive, but usually by a trip somewhere and a meal out. This year we went down to snorkel at Two Step and then had a wander around Pu’uhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park, otherwise known as Place of Refuge, which is right next door.
Two Step is a very popular snorkeling spot on Honaunau Bay, south of Captain Cook. This is a marine reserve so no fishing is allowed and the fish tend to be more numerous and mellow because of this. It’s a popular spot to see and swim with dolphins, though I haven’t done either of those things there. Currently, it’s not nearly as busy since there are very few tourists on the island and those that are here are diligently following quarantine rules (I’m trying to keep a straight face writing this!).
After our swim we made the short walk to Pu’uhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park. The park is on the south side of the bay and, at the moment, is fully open only on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. However, on the other days, pretty much everything else is accessible, it’s just that the parking lot and visitor center are closed. What this means is that there’s basically nobody there so our visit was quiet and uncrowded. The park is an important place in Hawaiian history, and the location is beautiful. What’s not to like?
Pluchea carolinensis is also known as sourbush and cure-for-all. This latter name probably comes from its medicinal use in its native range, which is the tropical Americas. It’s a member of the aster family – Asteraceae.
The plant was first reported in Hawaii in 1931 and on the Big Island in 1933. It’s believed to be an accidental introduction, possibly associated with shipping to Hawaii and within the islands. The onset of World War II prompted the plant’s spread through the Pacific, probably in military shipments.
On the Big Island it’s most often seen in drier coastal areas, but it can tolerate a variety of climates and conditions. These photos were taken on the Puna Coast Trail in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
For more information about Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, go to nps.gov/havo/.
This humpback whale art was painted in 2016 on a fence around the local car tow company, which is located in the heart of downtown. There’s also a whale tail farther down the fence.
This image has been on this wall for as long as I’ve lived here. It was getting very faded until recently when this vibrant new version appeared. It was only then that I noticed that the image is painted on some kind of canvas and attached to the wall.
For authentic street art it’s hard to beat Blake’s Corner, where a variety of ever-changing small bits of art can be found amongst a small patch of aloes and other plants, at the end of a covered walkway.
This week’s Friendly Friday challenge theme is ‘Street Art.’ See more responses here.
Here’s a tour of some of the street art in beautiful downtown Hawi. The actual walking tour would take you about the same amount of time as it will to read this post, since Hawi is not a big place. But, it being an arty community, there’s a fair bit of street art in a small area. As for graffiti, I posted a bit of that just the other day (here).
I posted about a mural in progress a while back (here). This is another mural on one of the solid fence sections that surround the concrete slab, all that’s left of the Hub Pub after it burned down.A mural on the side of Hawi Post Office, painted by local high school kids, which I previously posted in 2018 (here).
Places and things that have seen better days are likely to be vandalized or tagged with graffiti. On the North Kohala coast, there’s an old fishing shack with a couple of derelict vehicles nearby. At some time in the fairly recent past, the scene has been accessorized with a paint job. I think Noak Dom is the name of the graffiti artist who painted these.
