I’m the the world’s worst fisherman with total catches counted on one hand and the price for those fish, in terms of lost tackle, etc., coming in around $100 a pound. However, a lot of people on the Big Island fish, especially when the moon is right, whenever that is.
This man was fishing on a calm, warm early-evening. It’s an idyllic-looking scene, but I wasn’t tempted to join him.
A tide pool shimmers with greens and golds.
Bristle-thighed curlew (Numenius tahitiensis) isn’t the most flattering bird name I’ve ever heard. In Hawaii it’s called Kioea, which sounds nicer. In May, these curlews migrate to Alaska (a jaunt of 2480 miles) to breed. They return to Hawaii (and other Pacific islands) in July and August. Since this particular bird was still around at the end of May, it may not be making the trip north this year.
For more information about bristle-thighed curlews, go to dlnr.hawaii.gov/wildlife/files/2013/09/Fact-Sheet-Bristle-thighed_Curlew.pdf.
Sunset silhouettes a tree on the Kohala coast.
This little dome is where simulated Mars missions take place. Currently there’s a crew of six living in the dome on a 365-day mission, the longest such experiment to date. The previous crew lived in the dome for eight months.
The dome, at around 8,000 foot on the north side of Mauna Loa, is situated a little way off the Mauna Loa Observatory road. In the photo below it can be seen about ¾ of the way up in the center.
For an interesting article on the Mars simulation mission and its context in history see newyorker.com/magazine/2015/04/20/moving-to-mars. For information about the current, and former, missions, see hi-seas.org.
Helmet urchins feed on algae at the water’s edge where they move about on little tube legs. I can’t claim to have witnessed any such activity, but for creatures that apparently just sit there, I find them quite cheerful and entertaining. Perhaps I should get out more.
To identify this, I used John P. Hoover’s book Hawai‘i’s Sea Creatures: A Guide to Hawai‘i’s Marine Invertebrates. His website is hawaiisfishes.com.
I like seeing how light reflects off wet rocks at the water’s edge.
I was taking one of my regular walks along the coast when, for some reason, I noticed this rock that I must have walked past a hundred times or more. This time, something about the light and shadows suggested the profile of a sitting dog and I immediately dubbed it guard dog rock. Now when I pass it, that’s all I can think of, as if it has always held that significance for me.
Graham's Island 