A couple of surfers ride a small wave off the South Kohala coast. The west coast of the Big Island isn’t the best place for surfing, but this winter the northwest swells have had more of a westerly component than usual, so we have had one high surf warning after another. I suspect absenteeism has been high at many businesses!
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Meaningful Memories.’ See more responses here.
This seemed like an opportune time to revisit my first visit to Hawaii, back in 2010. My wife and I stayed in a vacation rental near Captain Cook, overlooking Kealakekua Bay. The sky was hazy with vog from Kilauea Volcano, but the place was awash with colorful flowers. Just down the road was the Painted Church and at the foot of the hill, Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park celebrates Hawaiian culture and history with its wooden ki’i and towering palms.
We traveled the whole island from the black sand beach at Pololu (even if we had to pass the carcass of a dead whale twice) to the black sand beach at Punalu’u, dotted with resting green turtles, and rocky surrounds. There were waterfalls big and small, and roads lined with tropical foliage leading to the active lava flow at that time.
There, signs warned that flowing lava is dangerous (who knew?), but we were still able to get within 10 feet of oozing tongues of red, and saw small fires still burning in nearby brush.
There was even a house for sale: ‘Buy now before it burns!’ We didn’t, though that house still stands while others, much farther from that scene, have since been consumed by subsequent flows.
It was this visit that prompted us to return permanently two years later. Hawaii isn’t paradise – it has its pros and cons like any place – but we haven’t regretted the move and are looking forward to the next 10 years.
One of the beaches at Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park reveals that several people have passed this way, but none recently. I like that a lot.
Who wouldn’t want to relax here a while on the couch before taking a soak in the tub? Alas, the tub wasn’t hooked up and sitting on that sofa might be an unpleasant experience. Truth is, these were dumped here by someone. It happens more often than one would like to think it does, and this area is a favorite spot for it, possibly because no one lives around here.
The tub disappeared quite quickly. I suspect someone took it to use as a cattle drinking trough, but it could have gone for other uses. A bit of effort by the person who dumped it could easily have made this connection without the eyesore interim. The couch, however, just sat there.
Recently, I was walking along the coast here, after not visiting for a week or two, and I noticed another pile of trash next to an existing one. A bit farther on was an old boat filled with tires. It’s getting worse, I thought. But I saw that the dirt road had been graded and, on a subsequent visit, saw cleared areas, and the boat and sofa were gone. This wasn’t a surge in dumping, but the start of a cleanup effort. So a big hooray to whoever is responsible.
Posted in response to this month’s Becky’s Squares challenge theme of ‘Odd.’ See more responses here.
A good while ago, I posted photos of smoky skies around Kawaihae, which were the result of a large brush fire up the hill from there. I intended to follow up with more photos and then forgot, which is nothing unusual.
Here are a few more photos from that time, taken from Spencer Beach Park. The smoke in the air resulted in golden light on the waters, which is the one and only time I’ve seen that in my 10 years here.
Posted in response to this month’s Becky’s Squares challenge theme of ‘Odd.’ See more responses here.
A scene shortly after sunset. Nothing odd about this, but having recently seen a couple of shows about art thefts and scams, this photo brought to mind the paintings of Mark Rothko. The odd thing is those paintings are worth millions and this photo, not so much.
Posted in response to this month’s Becky’s Squares challenge theme of ‘Odd.’ See more responses here. Also posted in response to the current Friendly Friday challenge theme of ‘Searching for Serenity.’ See more responses here.
I found this scene on a recent walk. Somewhere a child is crying.
Posted in response to this month’s Becky’s Squares challenge theme of ‘Odd.’ See more responses here.
I don’t often take photos of people, but this couple, on the shore at ʻAnaehoʻomalu Bay, caught my eye, as they did of pretty much everyone else at the beach at that time. It would have been hard to miss them.
They started out on the end of a rock wall that juts out from the beach, putting them squarely in everyone’s line of sight. Then, after I’d moved on, they moved on too and ended up squarely in my photos of the actual sunset.
The reason for their odd behavior can be seen in the photos – that little tripod with the camera on top. They were videoing themselves, of course. They’re probably highly paid influencers, social media stars, or well known edgy artists. I don’t know, being ignorant of all those things, but since they were performing on a public beach, I had no qualms about taking photos. I wish them well and I was smiling through the the whole thing. I noticed other people were, too.
If these had been photos of me and my wife, you would know that we are very close to the end of times. It’s hard for me to imagine a less likely scenario. Which is probably why I labeled the photos ‘Sunset poser couple.”
Posted in response to this month’s Becky’s Squares challenge theme of ‘Odd.’ See more responses here.
Graham's Island 