Tag Archives: Hawi

Downtown Hawi

Downtown Hawi, Hawaii

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!

Aloha Man store in Hawi, Hawaii

Jade color

Kayaks on the beach in Hawaii
A sign in Hawi, Hawaii

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Monthly Color Challenge: Jade.’ See more responses here. I think these photos are in the ballpark.

At the top is a selection of colorful kayaks available for rent on the beach at ʻAnaehoʻomalu Bay. The one on the left looks jade to me, maybe a couple of others, too.

The middle photo is a sign at a business in Hawi.

Finally, this building in Kapaau, housing L&L Hawaiian Barbecue and other businesses, has some jade as well as a multitude of other colors.

L&L BBQ building in Kapaau, Hawaii

It’s bright, it’s white, it’s Sunday Stills

Surf rushes ashore at Upolu, Hawaii
A cattle egret waits in a fountain
The turbines of Hawi wind farm with Mauna Kea in the background

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

In the top photo, frothy surf barrels ashore at Upolu in North Kohala. Below that, a cattle egret surveys the scene in the middle of a water fountain. The third photo shows turbines at Hawi Wind Farm against a backdrop of snowy Mauna Kea. And the bottom photo features a bee collecting on a Maiapilo flower.

A bee forages on a Maiapilo flower

Heavy rain

Heavy rain falls in Hawaii

We had some strange weather here a week or so ago when a very wet system hung around the island for several day. One of the results was that we would get some sudden downpours such as this one.

Rainbow over Gloomville

A rainbow over North Kohala, Hawaii
A rainbow over North Kohala, Hawaii

Where I live, in Hawi, it rains 50 or so inches a year. Just down the coast a few miles the rainfall drops to 20 inches a year. So it’s not unusual to be driving from sunny climes and encountering grey skies nearer home. My wife and I refer to this as returning to Gloomville.

These photos were taken on my way home from work. It had been a regular sunny drive up the coast until I got to the hill up towards Hawi. Then I noticed the wall of cloud ahead, illuminated by a bold, but short portion of rainbow. I pulled over and snapped the second photo.

Moments later the rainbow had extended itself to form a bright arc over the cloud covering Hawi. That’s the top photo, and as much of the rainbow as I could capture with my camera.

Ironically, for reasons that are as clear as the skies above Hawi, Weather Underground has a strong tendency to report the weather in Hawi as ‘dry conditions will continue.’ This includes when it can be seen to be teeming down outside the window. The theory in this household is that the weather station reporting this information is either in someone’s carport or it’s operated by someone from the Hawi Chamber of Commerce!

One of our rotors is missing

A wind turbine at Hawi Wind Farm has its rotor removed for maintenance

Yesterday, I stopped by Hawi Wind Farm on my way back from a walk because I’d seen this scene on the drive down. The rotor is, of course, not missing. It’s lying flat at the base of the turbine. And it wasn’t just one rotor in this position. A second turbine also had the rotor removed.

Ironically, it was a sunny day with virtually no wind but, because it was Sunday, no one was working. They’ll probably be back when the 40 mph winds and lashing rain kick in again, just to make the work challenging!

Posted in response to Bushboy’s Last on the Card photo challenge. See more responses here.

Rainbow over Hawi

A rainbow in North Kohala

I was driving home late one afternoon, when I saw a rainbow forming in front of the gloom enveloping Hawi. I thought about stopping, but at that point, getting a photo would have likely involved the camera getting wet and the results being not that great. I kept going.

But as I neared Hawi, the rainbow strengthened and the precipitation diminished and I was compelled to turn onto the road to Upolu Airport, pull over, and snap some photos of what was a lovely, bright rainbow, with a faint but definite echo just above it.

Hawi mural

A colorful mural in Hawi, Hawaii

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

I was going to take a photo of a now completed mural-in-progess I used in a previous challenge (here), but it was rather obscured by a food wagon and some other items being stored in the corner of an open square. Instead, I took this photo, of one of the several other murals surrounding that square, which is the site of a former restaurant that burned down a few years ago.