Park yourself here

The coast at Punalu’u Black Sand Beach Park in Hawaii — Punaluu Black Sand Beach Park, on the southern coast of the island, not only has a black sand beach, but also turtles like the one in the photo. OK, it looks like a rock, but it’s there!

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘State and local parks.’ See more responses here.

Sifting through a ton of park photos, it was the island’s beach parks that came out on top. It’s possible to get in the water at all of these, though some require more caution than others.

The beach at Hapuna Beach State Park in Hawaii — Hapuna Beach State Recreation Area offers a long and wide sandy beach.

The coast at Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park in Hawaii — Hapuna Beach State Recreation Area offers a long and wide sandy beach.

A view of View of Whittington Beach Park in Hawaii — Not all beach parks have beaches. Whittington Beach Park on the south end of the island is one of those though it’s still possible to get in the water.

The coast at Lapakahi State Historical Park in Hawaii — Not all beach parks have beaches. Whittington Beach Park on the south end of the island is one of those though it’s still possible to get in the water.

There’s a buzz

Bees at hive entrance at Hapuna Resort in Hawaii

I was wandering around behind Hapuna Beach when I stumbled upon these hives. The smaller one wasn’t active, but the other was abuzz with activity. I love watching the bees coming and going, but it makes skin crawl thinking about being inside a hive!

Royal Palms

Royal Palms (Roystonea regia) are impressive trees. They grow up to 70 feet high, and are always upright. Their gray trunks are topped by a crown of leaves and, unlike Coconut Palms, they’re not going to drop bombs on your head while taking the top photo.

There goes my morning walk

Flash floods create a new pathway to the ocean at Pelekane Beach in Kawaihae, Hawaii

When I have time on my way to work, I like to stop in Kawaihae and go for an early morning walk. A favorite is to drive to Pelekane Beach and walk to Spencer Beach Park. Those days are gone! The flash floods from a few weeks back took care of that.

For starters, the road is still closed. I can see piles of dirt and debris through the locked access gates. But even if I could access the road, half of Pelekane Beach is gone too. The floods whooshed through the lagoon behind the beach and took a huge amount of sand with it. So now there’s no lagoon, half a beach, and a lot of trees in the bay.

It may be that the powers that be will bring in some sand to restore the former beach. That’s what’s happened at nearby Hapuna Beach, which also lost a section of its sand. In the meantime I will have to explore some new options.

Ridges

The boat ramp at Kawaihae small boat harbor.

The Numbers Game #29

Not a chocolate bar, but a mud-covered car. How did it get that way? Original post here.

The idea of The Numbers Game is to enter a number into the search bar of your computer and then post a selection of the photos that turn up. This week’s number is 150. Apart from the top photo, it’s all about plants this week. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.