Recently, these two yachts were anchored off Mauna Kea Resort. I couldn’t make out the name of the blue boat but the other one is the Anawa, a Dutch built superyacht owned by a Brazilian billionaire. I confess my first thought on seeing this yacht was that it might be the ugliest boat I’d ever seen. Perhaps it was the angle. Perhaps not.
The Big Island’s weather is greatly influenced by northeast trade winds blowing up against Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa and dumping generous quantities of rain on the wet east side. Not much of this moisture reaches the much drier west side.
On a recent hiking trip to the saddle between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, I saw a visual example of what goes on. Cresting a hill, I saw a bank of cloud rolling in from the east. My hike was somewhere under that cloud. When I got closer to that wall of cloud, I could see it fading as it pushed to the west.
My hike started under gray skies, with some light rain, but on this day, the clouds did not keep building. Instead, they burned off somewhat so that it was dry and quite hot by the time I returned to my car, such is the fickle nature of Big Island weather.
A low pressure system northwest of Hawaii has drawn up a tropical moisture from the south, resulting in some wild weather, including much needed rain. Some of the cloud formations have been pretty impressive, too.
Posted for Bushboy’s Last on the Card photo challenge. See more responses here.
A look down onto the canopy of ferns along the trail to Thurston lava tube in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
I visited Hawaii Volcanoes National Park recently, with friends from the mainland, and towards the end of our visit we stopped by Thurston Lava Tube. These days the tube is known as Nāhuku, which means “the protuberances” in Hawaiian. There aren’t any protuberances in the tube these days, but it’s still fun to walk the dimly lit tube, imagining magma rushing through it, until the eruption stopped and the tube drained.
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Finding Gratitude, Giving Thanks.’ See more responses here.
At my age, waking up and seeing the sunrise is something to be grateful for!
On my way to work recently, this sunrise promised much, then faded, then regrouped with this vibrant display. Mauna Loa and Hualalai provide the backdrop.
On my flight to Maui last month, I got this layered look at the observatory which sits atop Haleakala.
Graham's Island 