Category Archives: Places

Super blood wolf moon

blood moon over hawi

blood moonThe recent lunar eclipse occurred last Sunday evening here in Hawaii. When the moon rose at 6:02 p.m. (five minutes before sunset) the eclipse was already well underway. Where I was watching, the sky was hazy so the moon wasn’t very clear. It then disappeared into a bank of clouds and I considered heading for home. But the cloud bank wasn’t huge and was drifting away from the area I was watching.

Sure enough, a little before 7 p.m., the now fully-eclipsed moon slid above the clouds into a beautiful starlit night. I took some photos where I’d set up, down by the coast, and then headed into Hawi to see what it looked like there.

Above is a view from downtown Hawi (not exactly hopping at 7:20 on Sunday night). The second photo is the moon soon after it rose above the clouds before the sky was fully dark. Below is the night sky with the moon in the bottom left and Orion at the top right.

Why the grand name for this eclipse? The moon was closer to the Earth than normal so it seemed bigger and brighter than usual, which is known as a supermoon. Because this was a total eclipse it gave the moon a red tint, which is known as a blood moon. And January’s full moon is sometimes called a wolf moon. Voila – a super blood wolf moon.

Posted in response to this week’s Sunday Stills challenge on the theme of ‘Night,’ (See more responses here.) and this week’s Friendly Friday challenge on the theme of ‘Coral-ish colors.’ (See more responses here.)

blood moon and orion

Ghostly tree

ghostly tree

The last time I visited the Palila Forest Discovery Trail, on the southwest slopes of Mauna Kea, I didn’t see too many birds, but did enjoy looking down on the cloud layer covering the lowlands between Mauna Kea and Hualalai.

This tree sat on the slope of Mauna Kea at the point where the top of the clouds swirled around it, giving it a very ghostly appearance.

Hawaiian Dredging Building, Honolulu

hawaiian dredging building honolulu

hawaiian dredging building honolulu windowThis week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Window.’ (See more responses here.) I thought I’d post some photos from my trip to Honolulu last year since the city is full of interesting buildings and is window rich.

This one is the Hawaiian Dredging Building. It was built in 1929 for the Pacific Commercial Advertiser, which later became The Honolulu Advertiser. That newspaper ceased publication on June 6, 2010 when it was merged with The Honolulu Star-Bulletin and became The Honolulu Star-Advertiser. For most of its history the building was known as the News Building or the Advertiser Building.

The Hawaiian Dredging Construction Co. purchased the building in 2016 and, following an extensive renovation, made it the company’s headquarters and renamed it the Hawaiian Dredging Building. The distinctive mosaic window above the entrance is a notable feature of the building.

hawaiian dredging building honolulu front

Kings’ Trail

kings trail ala loa

kings trail straightThe Kings’ Trail, is more properly known as the Ala Kahakai Trail (shoreline trail) or the Ala Loa Trail (long trail). The trail was created in the 1800s and stretched 175 miles from Upolu, at the northern tip of the island, down the west coast and up the south coast, to Kalapana in the southeast corner.

It passed through 220 ahupuaʽa, which were land divisions stretching from the ocean to the mountains. This meant that each ahupuaʽa contained the necessary resources to sustain its inhabitants.

These days, some sections of the trail are open for hiking, but others cross private land. The goal is to reopen as much of the trail as possible to public use. These photos are of parts of the trail passing down the Kohala coast. In many places the trail is ramrod straight to make passage easier, though the surface is often uneven.

Posted in response to this week’s Friendly Friday challenge on the theme of ‘Pathways.’ See more responses here.

kings trail

C-17 Globemaster

c-17 globemaster

Kekaha Kai State Park, north of Kailua Kona, is a pretty park with some excellent beaches. It’s also right under the flight path for aircraft heading to Kona International Airport (officially known as Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keahole).

What this means is that a steady stream of jets, on final approach to the airport, pass overhead, and not that far overhead either. It’s not the quietest park in the state.

While most of the aircraft are operated by the usual airlines, a few military planes pepper the skies. This one is a C-17 Globemaster, a military transport plane. It was arriving from Oahu, delivering firefighting equipment for the military’s Pohakuloa Training Area.

c-17 globemaster details