Category Archives: Scenes

Waipi’o Valley

Waipio Valley

Waipio Hi'ilawe FallsThis week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Bucket List Images.’ (See more responses here.) Since I don’t have a bucket list that posed something of a problem for me, so I plumped for this image of Waipi’o Valley, since I might never see this view again.

Waipi’o is a valley on the northeastern slopes of Kohala Mountain. The valley is about one mile wide at the mouth and about six miles deep with walls that are around 2,000 feet high. It’s accessed by a steep, one-lane road that’s for four-wheel-drive vehicles only. On the left of the top photo, and in the second photo, is Hi’ilawe Falls which tumbles almost 1,500 feet into the valley.

Waipi’o means ‘curved water’ in Hawaiian and the valley is known as the “Valley of Kings.” It was the home of Hawaiian royalty until the 15th century and was a stronghold of King Kamehameha, who united the Hawaiian islands under one leader. In its heyday, the valley was home to somewhere between 4,000 and 10,000 people.

Those numbers dropped over time, but the valley remained well-populated until 1946 when a magnitude 8.6 earthquake in the Aleutian Islands triggered a massive Pacific-wide tsunami with waves ranging from 45–130 ft. high. Waipi’o Valley was hit by this tsunami, and though no-one was killed, most of the structures in the valley were destroyed. Today, the population is around 50 residents, though many more visit on a daily basis.

Signs: Ironman advice

Signs-Ironman advice

During last month’s Ironman race, these cyclists had committed some sort of misdemeanor, probably following too close, on their way to Hawi, and had been pulled over to serve a 5-minute penalty. But what I liked about this scene was the sign in the background reading ‘Exertion plus perspiration equals inspiration.’ I suspect many of the Ironman participants might have thought the sign should have read ‘Exertion plus perspiration equals pain.’

Incidentally, that bright neon sign was a source of great community consternation when it went up. Some locals thought it was OK. Others thought it was a blight on the community and a sign of the impending apocalypse. It’s been in place a few months now and the hubbub seems to have subsided. I have to say though that the neon colors are still as garish as they ever were.

Propellor by South Point boat launch

Propellor by South Point boat launch

The South Point boat launch, on the southern tip of the island, is found in a small notch in the coastline. This old propeller marks one side of this small bay. Its size shows its not from a boat that would be able to use the ramp. More likely, it’s a souvenir from the wreck of a bigger boat that met its fate in these waters.

Vireya rhododendron

Vireya Rhododendron

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Thankful.’ (See more responses here.) I mulled a few options but decided to plump for this photo. It’s a vireya rhododendron at Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden and I chose this for two reasons. First is that I’m thankful to be able to visit the gardens on a regular basis. There’s always something new to see there. I can happily spend an hour or two wandering around, peering into flowers, and snapping photos of geckos clambering over this, that, and the other.

The second reason is that I feel fortunate to see gorgeous flowers, such as this vireya rhododendron, on a frequent basis. Some I find in a garden setting and some are just blooming roadside. There’s so much variety on the Big Island that a drive of just a few miles can take me to a different climate zone and a whole new world of plants and animals.

For more information about Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden, go to htbg.com.

Monk seal resting in a tide pool

Monk seal resting with fish

Monk seal restingMonk seals are endangered and only a handful regularly live in the waters around the Big Island. The seal in these photos is one of these and I’m lucky enough to see him on a regular if not always frequent basis. When I do see him, it’s not unusual for him to be submerged in a tide pool as he was on this day.

Sometimes, when there’s been rain, the tide pool will be brown with runoff and all I see is this body with its head submerged. When I first saw this, I wondered if the seal had drowned, but since a monk seal can hold it’s breath for 20 minutes or more I know that’s not what’s going on.

What I like on this occasion, was the little fish (seen above) swimming around the seal’s head and through his whiskers. I like to think it was wondering what the heck this giant lump was that had suddenly taken up most of the space in its pool.