I was driving the mountain road from Waimea to Hawi one day and came upon this scene. This house had appeared in what had previously been a pasture. Subsequent trips revealed that someone was building a foundation alongside for the house to be set upon. I suspect this building will ultimately be an ohana, a second dwelling for guests and relatives. A larger, more splendid structure will likely be built somewhere in front of this building to take advantage of the tremendous views.
Category Archives: Scenes
Signs: Temporary closure
Back in 2006, an earthquake off the west coast of the Big Island caused extensive damage. One of the casualties was this trail. Part of the cliff it traverses slid into the sea and the path was deemed unsafe. But this wasn’t just some local trail. It’s the Ala Kahakai trail, also known as the King’s Trail, which followed the coast from North Kohala all the way along the west and south coasts to the Puna District in the southeast of the island.
Just beyond this sign is a private gated community and specifically a very large, very expensive house (currently available for 10 or 11 million dollars – it’s been for sale for a while). The trail wasn’t popular with the home’s original owners, who put up a barbed wire barrier (well, I suspect they didn’t actually do the work).
Anyway, the trail has been temporarily closed for 10 years now and, as is the way around here, I suspect it will remain permanently temporarily closed. That is, until the next significant earthquake detaches another stretch of cliff and sends the big house sliding into the ocean. Then, who knows?
Takeoff
A small plane gathers speed on a hot runway. No birds were harmed in the making of this photo – the plane was airborne long before it got there.
Abstracts: Kiholo branches
A tangle of curly branches forms a dense thicket along the shore near Kiholo Bay.
Kamehameha Day parade
Following up yesterday’s post about Kamehameha Day, here are a couple of photos from the parade.
King Kamehameha’s statue
Yesterday was Kamehameha Day, celebrating Kamehameha 1, the king who first united the Hawaiian Islands under one leader. In North Kohala this involved a parade featuring representatives of all the islands and ceremonies during which the king’s statue in Kapaau is draped with leis.
The statue in Kapaau was commissioned in 1878 for display in Honolulu. But the ship transporting it from Europe caught fire and sank off of the Falkland Islands. A replacement statue was ordered, but before it was delivered, the original turned up. It had been salvaged and sold to a junk dealer in Port Stanley. There, it was recognized by a British ship’s captain who bought it and took it to Honolulu. The statue was in poor condition after its time in the sea and some rough treatment during its salvage and subsequent transport.
In the end, the Hawaiian government decided to erect the replacement statue in Honolulu since it was in better shape. The original was restored and sent to Kohala, which is where Kamehameha 1 was born. Unlike the statue in Honolulu, which features gold gilt, the Kohala statue is painted, a local preference which persists to this day.
Better Days: Hakalau Plantation Company
This is one of two remaining warehouses of the old Hakalau Plantation Company at Hakalau Point. This was one of several sugarcane plantations that dominated the Big Island. The sugar mill was located nearby, in the gulch at the mouth of the river. The mill was wiped out in a tsunami in 1946 and swiftly rebuilt in the exact same place!
The mill finally closed in 1974 and now the plantation company property is up for development. Hawaii County is mulling a proposal to buy this property and preserve the site. This process will likely go on for months, possibly years. At this stage, it could go either way. One thing is certain, similar situations will continue to crop up on the Big Island: there’s a lot of coastline and most of it is prime development real estate.
For more information about Hakalau and the Hakalau Plantation Company, go to hakalauhome.com.
Sun on the water
Afternoon sun illuminates the ocean off the North Kohala coast.
Graham's Island 