A lone fisherman tries his luck in the coastal waters off North Kohala.
Category Archives: Scenes
Highway Department mistakes
This is the highway intersection about a mile east of Kawaihae. It’s the junction of three roads, Kawaihae Road coming down from Waimea, Akoni Pule Highway from Hawi and North Kohala, and Queen Kaʻahumanu Highway (better known as ‘Queen K’) from Kailua Kona.
It’s always been a problematic junction because Kawaihae Road and Queen K are part of the main loop road around the island, but the right of way at this junction was the Kawaihae Road to North Kohala road. Traffic would get backed up on Queen K, particularly in the afternoon, and accidents were common. Compounding the problem was that the road from Kawaihae carried a lot of trucks coming to or from the port there.
So earlier this year a revision of the intersection was started. A right turn lane was added to Queen K, for traffic going up the hill to Waimea, and a right turn lane was added Akoni Pule Highway for people headed south. (There was already a left turn lane on Kawaihae Road for people going south.)
Don’t worry if this makes no sense, because it makes no sense. What was being set up seemed doomed to failure.
The problem was that the new right turn lane from Kawaihae onto Queen K was fitted with a yield sign. This meant traffic from Waimea, turning left onto Queen K had to give way to traffic heading up the hill, but had the right of way over traffic turning south.
The first accident happened before the intersection was finished. Someone failed to make this right turn and plowed into the guard rail opposite. Shortly after this, two cars collided in the middle of the junction. There were more near misses and accidents.
The yield sign was changed to a stop sign. This helped, but did nothing to stop the confusion of drivers coming down from Waimea. White poles were added to the lane divider for the right turn lane from Kawaihae. Bumps were placed in the other lane for traffic going up the hill. The accidents continued, as did the near misses.
These photos show that right turn lane coned off, as the powers that be have decided to take out the right turn lane. So what we have managed here is several months of work and adjustments has caused a bunch of accidents and near misses and now a good portion of that work is going to be undone and returned to its original unsatisfactory configuration. Your tax dollars at work!
It’s not been a great period for the highway department. A major project saw the main road north of Kailua Kona to the airport widened from two to four lanes. This was delayed for several months because plans given to the road construction company failed to include right turn lanes into Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park. The problem here was that it’s national historical park because there are a lot of Hawaiian artifacts in the area, so a new archeological study had to be carried out.
And my personal favorite was the construction of a new highway south from Kailua Kona, intended to relieve traffic congestion in that area. The new highway connected to a previously confusing and dangerous ‘Y’ layout, that became a four-way intersection complete with traffic lights. It was opened with much fanfare and the only issue was that people, tourists and locals alike, had no clue where they were supposed go because there was no signage showing which road went where. Yes, that’s an exaggeration. There was one sign, left over from the previous configuration of the intersection, that now directed people in the wrong direction.
And the moral of this story is that, if you visit the Big Island, please drive with caution.
Posted in response to this week’s Friendly Friday challenge on the theme of ‘Mistakes.’ See more responses here.
Ferns growing in lava
Ferns are one of the first plants to establish a foothold in lava flows. These ferns are on the northeast slope of Mauna Loa with Mauna Kea in the background.
Erckel’s francolin
There are three kinds of francolin in Hawaii, the grey francolin, black francolin, and Erckel’s francolin. All are introduced game birds. Of the three, the Erckel’s francolin is the largest. It’s native to North Africa and was brought to Hawaii in 1957. It’s distinguished, not just by its size, but by its bold markings and chestnut crown.
This one was at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. For more information about Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, go to nps.gov/havo/.
Abstracts: Lights on the water
When I went out to see the last lunar eclipse, I noticed these lights bobbing in the ocean just off the coast. My guess is that they belonged to people spear fishing, or possibly in kayaks or a small boat. Regardless, I liked the abstract patterns the lights made.
Three volcanoes at dawn
Three of the Big Island’s volcanoes – from left, Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa, and Hualalai – seen as daylight suffuses the sky.
Posted in response to this week’s Sunday Stills challenge on the theme of ‘Daylight.’ See more offerings here.
Road across the flow
I’ve posted about my January visit to Pohoiki here, here, and here. The reason I was able to make that visit is because the county finally put a temporary road over one of the flows that cut off that part of the island.
One of the features of lava flows is that they don’t uniformly erase everything in their path. Sometimes they flow around areas. Sometimes they stop and a new flow emerges to one side. Sometimes a flow blocks one side of an area and a different flow blocks the other side.
The 2018 Kilauea eruption was no different in this regard. Some houses escaped destruction, but became inaccessible by road. Pohoiki was one of those places, until the new road was completed.
Things move at a leisurely pace in Hawaii and one might think the delay in building the road was due to this, but in this case, the county had good reason to wait. The simple reason is that they had to wait for the lava to cool down. It took several months for the lava to cool enough to make it practical to build a road over the flow. Even then it would not have been safe to cut through the flow and build the road at its former level.
How quickly the lava cools depends on many things including hot hot it was to begin with and how deep the flow is. It can take many months before the lava at the heart of a flow cools down enough to solidify and not present a danger.
For those interested in what happened during that 2018 eruption, the PBS show, NOVA, broadcast an episode titled ‘Kīlauea: Hawaiʻi on Fire.’ It’s about 50 minutes long and has a bit of a dramatic ‘will anyone survive’ tone in places, but I found it very informative. It might be available at https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/, but if not you can see it here.
Mealtime for a pueo
Last week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme was ‘Flight’ and I posted photos of a pueo flying here. This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Wildlife’ (see more offerings here) and, in an audacious move, I’m posting photos of the same bird.
The photos were taken along Old Saddle Road. It’s a prime area to see pueo (Hawaiian short-eared owls) and when I drive this road, I’m something of a menace to other cars since I spend a good deal of time looking at the sky rather than the road. When I do spot a pueo I tend to veer suddenly onto the grassy verge. This is OK assuming there’s a grassy verge and not a deep channel caused by water runoff.
The day I saw this bird had been a good day indeed. Many pueo had been spotted, several photographed, and no accidents caused. Nearing the end of the prime spotting area, I noticed a bird flying over a pasture. I bumped onto the grass and stopped just in time to see the pueo disappear over a ridge. As I waited to see if it might reappear, I looked across the road and saw this pueo perched on a fence post directly across from where I parked. Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than smart.
I grabbed my camera, eased the window down, trying to make as little noise as possible, and took a few shots. I needn’t have worried. This pueo seemed quite attached to its spot, perched on a metal fence post. It wasn’t about to move just because someone across the road kept making clicking noises. As cars passed, the bird’s head swiveled to follow their progress, then returned to its surrounds. It kept looking down, sometimes leaning forward with a more intense stare.
Suddenly, the pueo plunged into the grass and disappeared from view. Moments later, it flew up again and landed back on the post. This time it wasn’t alone. Hanging from its beak was a mouse. It wasn’t dead, but its future looked bleak. The pueo juggled it briefly, working it into the right position. Then, in a couple of quick gulps, the mouse disappeared, only the tip of its tail hanging out of the pueo’s mouth. Moments later, that too was gone. The pueo hung around for a while longer before taking off to try its luck hunting from the air.
I was struck by the poise of this large bird, perched on a small metal post, while it scanned its surroundings and ate its meal. Look at those talons gripping the post. Not something I’d want around my head. The same goes for its beak.
I’m easily charmed by cute geckos and awed by giant humpbacks, but there’s a reason for the ‘wild’ in wildlife. It’s a critter eat critter world out there and sometimes it can be almost as dangerous as civilization.
Graham's Island 