Urban Honolulu

Traffic reflected in a downtown building in Honolulu, Hawaii — Traffic, which can be brutal, reflected in the glass front of a downtown building.

Yesterday I posted a small town response to this week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme of ‘Urban.’ See more responses here. It wasn’t until after that post went live that it occurred to me I could have used photos from my jaunt to Honolulu a few years back. It’s not the Big Island, but in Hawaii, Honolulu is by far the largest urban area.

When I got home, I had a look to see what photos I could use and came up with these images. The entire population of Hawi could fit comfortably into one of those skyscrapers.

The American Savings Bank Tower in Honolulu, Hawaii — The concrete face of the American Savings Bank Tower

A downtown building seen from the State Capitol Building in Honolulu, Hawaii — The concrete face of the American Savings Bank Tower

The 1820 Mission Memorial building in Honolulu, Hawaii — The 1820 Mission Memorial building

Downtown Hawi

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Urban.’ See more responses here.

North Kohala is mostly rural, so in this part of the world Hawi and Kapaau are the only urban centers and pretty small ones at that.

The top photo shows downtown Hawi on a moderately busy day. Some days, the traffic and crush of visitors can make it almost impassible. Downtown is mostly shops and restaurants, though there’s a small local grocery store and, of course, real estate agents.

One kind of store you don’t get in most downtowns is Hawi’s Aloha Man which features items made in Hawaii. There’s even a hammock just out of sight to the left of the store, in case walking the two blocks of downtown is too much for you!

Goldring Surgeonfishes

The ring around the eyes of these fish, which gives them their name, also gives them a look of perpetual surprise.

Early morning paddlers

Canoe racers practice in the early morning light in Hawaii

Canoe paddling is very popular in Hawaii, both for exercise and for racing. These boats were out in the early morning, on calm water and under a pastel sky.

Hen and chicks

This hen and her brood of chicks were foraging on shore at Honokohau Harbor. Most places in Hawaii have a generous number of hens and roosters wandering free, with Kaui particularly notorious for its abundance of roaming poultry.

Signs: Gone fishin’ and divin’ and …

Honokohau Harbor, on the north end of Kailua Kona, is home to a good number of small boats, many of which are used for a variety of tour activities from deep sea fishing to whale watching, to snorkeling. Signs on shore advertise what tours are available on the different boats.

In addition, smaller boats are trailered in and out each day, and launched on one of the two boat ramps at the harbor.

Trash, but not what it looks like

Piles of trash, part of a cleanup operation, on the Big Island, Hawaii

A while back, I posted here about some items dumped near the coast at Upolu. I was appalled by this until I realized that appearance of more junk was not related to more dumping, but rather to a cleanup operation uncovering areas of garbage that had long since been covered by vegetation.

This scene shows that, while there’s still work to be done, a large quantity of garbage has already been hauled away. Kudos to those responsible.

Wandering Tattler in a tree

A Wandering Tattler takes off from a tree in Hawaii

I saw this Wandering Tattler at Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park and realized that I’d never seen one in a tree before. Usually I see them wandering over the rocks in search of food. I’m not sure what this one was up to, but it took off not long after I saw it, probably heading for the shoreline.

Graham's Island

Life on the Big Island of Hawaii