Near the end of a hike to Papakōlea Beach, better known as Green Sand Beach, there’s this old sign. I think it reads, ‘Welcome to Mahana Bay green sand beach. Please do not take the sand. There is only so much and if everybody that came here takes it, well! soon there will be none. Thank you.’
What I liked was that the only parts that could reasonably be read were, ‘Welcome’ and ‘Thank you.’ The rest I had to decipher with the help of Photoshop when I got home.
The bright red to magenta flowers of the ornamental ground cover Aptenia cordifolia stand out against its green leaves. The plant is also known as heartleaf iceplant, baby sun rose, and rock rose. Adding further contrast is a black and white leafcutter bee.
This old thermometer is still firmly affixed to the concrete block wall of a farm building on the side of Pu’u Wa’awa’a. I like how the rusting metal seems almost to be part of the texture of the wall.
Another response to the last edition of the WordPress photo challenge with a theme of ‘All time favorites.’
I never get tired of watching turtles and I like photographing them in the water, which can produce all kinds of effects. This photo looks like it’s had some kind of filter applied, but it hasn’t.
The front of the Hawaii Electric Building in Honolulu features these decorated columns.
Posted in response to this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge ‘Twisted.’
A photo of some colored lava rocks. But wait. Why are there tiny fish among those rocks? No, they’re not skittering about on minuscule legs, a living proof of evolutionary theory. Instead, they’re swimming in very shallow, very clear water near the edge of a freshwater-fed pool, just inland from Akahu Kaimu Bay, south of Waikoloa Resort.
On my last hike along that stretch of coast, I stopped here for a refreshing dip. The entry to the pool was over these somewhat rough lava rocks. While I was feeling my way across them, these little fish seemed greatly interested in my feet, which suggests life in the pool must be very dull indeed.
Posted in response to this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge ‘Liquid.’
Something fishy indeed. Little fish milling around in one of the Golden Pools of Keawaiki, and looking for all the world as though they’re in a painting..
Exploring tide pools one day, I found this unfortunate floating blenny. It was quite large, for a blenny, and in a small pool. The weather had been calm for a few days, without much ocean swell. I think the fish was trapped in the pool and, without fresh seawater reaching it, the pool had become stale and oxygen starved.
The macabre essence of the scene contrasted with its painterly quality, enhanced by the blenny’s coloration and the delicate creamy shells in the pool.
Updated 6-20-18
I’ve since learned that the ‘delicate creamy shells’ in the pool are actually a type of seaweed, Padina japonica. I’m also not sure about my oxygen starvation theory either since blennies are notoriously adept as jumping from pool to pool. Two things are unchanged however: the blenny is still dead and I still like the painterly quality.
Graham's Island 