Category Archives: Places

Trouble boiling?

A sign at Boiling Pots in Hilo, Hawaii

I was in Hilo yesterday, and I visited a few places I hadn’t been to in a while. One was Boiling Pots, part of Hilo’s Wailuku River State Park. It’s a beautiful spot, but the river can be dangerous when it’s roaring, so it’s plastered with warning signs.

As you can see, the signs don’t impress everyone. In truth, this group was probably perfectly safe. The river was as low as I’ve seen it. It’s been dry all over the island and the forecast for the day was more of the same. But it’s not the rain in Hilo that causes the river to run, it’s what’s happening on the slopes of Mauna Kea. And while the forecast was good, forecasts can be wrong, as I think we’ve all experienced. But people will be people.

Frankly, the signs at Boiling Pots are something of an eyesore, but the county has to try and cover itself. If those folks did get swept away, their next of kin would likely lawyer up and hold responsible anyone and everyone, except for those who should have known better.

The Numbers Game #87

A Nutmeg Mannikin snacking on cane grass seeds.

The idea of The Numbers Game is to enter a number into the search bar of your computer and then post a selection of the photos that turn up. This week’s number is 209. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.

A very small flowery flounder
A very young Flowery Flounder, just a couple of inches long.
A pueo or Hawaiian short-eared owl sits on a post
A wide-eyed Pueo.
Yellow boat on blue water.
A green anole on a ti plant
A Green Anole looking down.
A red ginger curving up.
A showy yellow hibiscus.

Timber

A view of Pololu Valley in Hawaii
Layers of trees fill Pololu Valley.

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Trees.’ See more responses here.

A Rainbow shower tree in Hawaii
Flowers of a Rainbow Shower tree.
Jacaranda flowers in Hawaii
Jacarandas put on a show every year.
Avocados growing in Hawaii
With Avocado trees it’s the fruit that everyone likes.
Palm trees at Lapakahi in Hawaii
It’s Hawaii. Of course there are palm trees!

Another Sonoran Carpenter Bee

A male Sonoran Carpenter bee in Hawaii

I recently posted (here) phone photos of a female carpenter bee heading for home. Last week, I returned with my camera to see what they were up to, and I was very happy to see this male bee visiting the same home as the one in the previous post.

Male bees are a lovely orange/brown and are smaller than the females, but still pretty big. Another way they differ is that, while female bees have a stinger but rarely use them, male bees don’t have a stinger at all.

I’ve seen a few male bees before, but this is the first time I’ve been able to get photos.

A male Sonoran Carpenter bee in Hawaii

New boat hoist, or is it?

The new boat hoist at Mahukona, Hawaii

This is the boat launch hoist at Mahukona. I’ve posted about this before, being buried by high surf (here), when it was in bad shape (here), after it was removed (here), and the dramatic signs on the new boat hoist (here).

I was going to post this photo, taken on March 10, 2024, to show the new hoist, but thought I’d wait to get a photo of a boat actually being launched. A blessing ceremony was held on April 4, 2024, which was front page news in the local monthly newspaper. But in the ensuing year and a half I’ve not seen any boat launched. For some time now the only difference in the scene is that the wire and hook have been removed. Not going to be launching boats without that.

I don’t know what’s happened, not being on social media and the like, but I’ve heard that the Army Corps of Engineers nixed the operation. A clue as to why that might be can be seen in the photo. The parking lot is a patchwork of patches over patches, where water regularly fountains up through the cracks.

I’ve no idea what will happen next with this, but it’s Hawaii, so it won’t happen soon.