A satin pothos (Scindapsus pictus) climbs a tree in Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden. While rampant in tropical climates, this plant is quite popular as a houseplant elsewhere. It’s poisonous to dogs and cats though, so that’s something to consider.
For more information about Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden, go to htbg.com.
One last photo from my trip to see the firehose of lava from Kilauea Volcano gushing into the sea. I tried a few longer exposures and I particularly like the effect of this one. More lava photos here.
For more information about Kilauea Volcano and it current eruption, go to hvo.wr.usgs.gov/activity/kilaueastatus.php.
While I always prefer to take smaller, winding roads, such roads taken are not without pitfalls.
The last mile of the journey to Mo’okini Heiau in North Kohala is an uneven dirt road studded with rocks. When the road is dry it can be navigated by almost all vehicles (I saw a smart car there once!). However, care is needed, particularly regarding clearance. Almost every time I walk the road, I see fresh scrapes on the rocks. With rainy weather, the road becomes the territory of 4-wheel drives and jacked-up suspensions.
On this day, the puddles that often form on the road had become lakes. This truck had passed me earlier and when I saw it returning I ducked behind a bank to do a little whale watching and avoid the wave of spray that would surely accompany anything driving through the lake. A few minutes passed. I realized I hadn’t registered the truck passing. It had gone very quiet. So I wandered out to the road again and saw the truck marooned. They’d made it through on the way out, but weren’t so lucky on the way back.
The truck was a 4×4 but not with extra clearance. I think their problem was that the lake was deeper at the far end (in the photo). On the way out, they’d no doubt barreled into the water and their momentum had carried them to shallower waters and out. On the way back, the same approach would have propelled them toward the deep end. I suspect a bow wave built up, slowed them, and allowed water to penetrate parts of the truck that responded unfavorably.
The two young local men seemed quite cheerful. They waded through the muddy water, tried to coax life into the truck. One was on the phone (a miracle to have service there). After they insisted they had everything under control, I walked past on the high bank alongside the road, then turned and took this photo. When I returned a half hour or more later, the truck and its occupants were gone.
Brant geese are rare visitors to Hawaii so it was nice to see this one puttering in the shallows at Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park, north of Kona. The rock it’s about to bump into is a Hawaiian green sea turtle. There were probably about a dozen of them there, either resting on the sand or bumping along the reef close to shore.
I’m pretty sure this is an oncidium orchid, though I’m not sure which one. There are 400 or so to choose from and I haven’t yet been able to identify it positively. I love seeing the different orchids, but haven’t started down the slippery slope of trying to grow them – yet!
This one was at the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden north of Hilo on the east side of the Big Island. For more information about Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden, go to htbg.com.
A gold dust day gecko rests on a deep pink heliconia flower.
Palm trees silhouetted against a Kohala sunset.
Returning to my truck after a walk, I happened to notice this little gecko scuttling into the shadows. I got down on hands and knees to see where it had gone and it moved farther under the truck. I went around the truck, back on hands and knees, and saw it shoot off in the opposite direction. Then I went to the front of the truck, hands and knees again, and wondered where it had gone.
It took me a while to discover it’s hiding place. As the top photo shows, the gecko hadn’t picked a great spot. I waggled my hand at it, but it didn’t budge. So I got up, found a stick, and, back on hands and knees again, reached in and tapped the ground behind it until it shot out and around the other side of the tire. I got up, walked around to usher it away and it promptly scurried back to the inside of the tire.
We repeated this little dance two or three times. I wasn’t getting anywhere and the young mourning gecko clearly believed it had found a really safe hideout. My knees were sore and I figured this kind of activity was probably what Darwin was thinking of. So I got in the truck, fired it up, waited a minute or two, and slowly reversed. Then I pulled forward, stopped and got out.
The little guy had survived so I thought I’d take a photo. Right about then a young woman approached with two boisterous dogs and asked if I could suggest a good place to exercise them. The dogs were getting plenty of exercise right there, barking continuously, and jumping up and down. I cast concerned looks at where they were landing as I gave her a few tips.
When she headed out of the parking lot with her charges, I bent down and saw that the little gecko had survived the canine cacophony and was still anchored in the same spot. I took the second photo and then the gecko headed off toward the low concrete tire stop and eventually disappeared underneath.
Graham's Island 