This sign greets visitors to Mo’okini heiau. The heiau dates back to the 11th or 12th Century when it was an important religious site where thousands of human sacrifices were carried out. A hazardous area indeed. I imagine there were many who would happily have risked climbing the walls in those days.
For more information about the Mo’okini heiau, go to bigislandhikes.com/mookini-heiau/.
A couple of yellow tang swim around rocks as the surface water ripples overhead.
When I last was up this way, a considerable while ago, this old farm cottage and its surrounds looked reasonably well kept. My most recent visit found it mostly hidden behind tall grass. When I drove up the dirt road that runs past this place, I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to turn around. The road obviously hadn’t had much use and the vegetation was taking over.
A pair of baby convict tang putter around in a shallow tide pool.
In my attempts to identify what I see in the water, I use John P. Hoover’s book The Ultimate Guide to Hawaiian Reef Fishes, Sea Turtles, Dolphins, Whales, and Seals. His website is hawaiisfishes.com.
As is the way so often, this old engine is now a lawn ornament at a gated community’s open space area.
Early evening sun illuminates ripples on the water.
Back in 2006, an earthquake off the west coast of the Big Island caused extensive damage. One of the casualties was this trail. Part of the cliff it traverses slid into the sea and the path was deemed unsafe. But this wasn’t just some local trail. It’s the Ala Kahakai trail, also known as the King’s Trail, which followed the coast from North Kohala all the way along the west and south coasts to the Puna District in the southeast of the island.
Just beyond this sign is a private gated community and specifically a very large, very expensive house (currently available for 10 or 11 million dollars – it’s been for sale for a while). The trail wasn’t popular with the home’s original owners, who put up a barbed wire barrier (well, I suspect they didn’t actually do the work).
Anyway, the trail has been temporarily closed for 10 years now and, as is the way around here, I suspect it will remain permanently temporarily closed. That is, until the next significant earthquake detaches another stretch of cliff and sends the big house sliding into the ocean. Then, who knows?
A tangle of curly branches forms a dense thicket along the shore near Kiholo Bay.
Graham's Island 