The approach to Kona Airport passes over barren lava fields and I often feel for people who must look down from the plane and wonder what the heck happened to the beautiful, tropical Hawaii they were looking forward to visiting. I know I felt that way on my first visit.
It was nice to get out of work earlier than expected yesterday. What wasn’t nice was to be five minutes into my return home and finding this scene.
This is the northern end of the Queen Ka’ahumanu Highway, the main coastal highway north of Kailua Kona. There aren’t a lot of alternative routes on the island, so this blocked road would have converted my 20 miles, 25-minute commute to three times the distance and at least a 90-minute drive over slower roads.
I was about to do just that, when I noticed the shipping container had already been moved off to the side of the road. I figured it must have been empty for them to be able to do that, which was probably the reason it blew over in the strong winds we had yesterday.
I’d been stopped for 10 minutes before a couple of police cars arrived. I watched for a while and then walked down to see how long they thought the road would be closed. As I approached, I saw the container’s trailer being bounced back onto its wheels. Typically, I got no useful information about how long the road would be blocked, but by the time I returned to my car, the trailer and two semi-trucks had driven off. All that remained was for the container to be removed. I decided to stick around.
The container retrieval truck, with its flashy green arms, was maneuvered into place and the rescue operation began. It took three tries before the container was successfully snagged and hauled aboard the truck, but once it was, traffic started to flow quickly and I was on my way again after a delay of not much longer than half an hour.
I was very glad I decided to wait it out, though my happiness was rattled when, about five miles farther on, I saw blue lights flashing and traffic slowed. Luckily, it was just a couple of trees blocking one lane and I didn’t even have to stop.
The high winds are supposed to diminish today and I’ll be happy to see them go!
Another of the neon signs at the Harbor House restaurant in Kailua Kona. I like this one for the chair and the setting sun, but not for the beer I have to say!
I saw this anole down at Honokohau Harbor in Kailua Kona. It was asserting its rights to a patch of territory there, though it didn’t look particularly promising as far as harboring much in the way of food. It’s also an area that tends to be thick with house sparrows, hanging around to snag leftover French fries at the Harbor House restaurant, which is where these photos were taken from.
The Harbor House restaurant sits on the shore next to Honokohau Harbor in Kailua Kona. The restaurant is open to the outdoors and has a wall of mirrors behind the serving counter. This is one reflection I saw in that wall.
One doesn’t have to make much effort to see whether a cruise ship is in town. It’s impossible to miss. The ship dwarfs the downtown buildings.
I’m used to seeing a cruise ship at Kailua Kona on Wednesdays, but this was a Sunday so it took me a bit by surprise. The Wednesday ships are operated by Norwegian Cruise Lines. This one was the Celebrity Eclipse operated by Celebrity Cruises. The ‘X’ on the funnel and stern is the company logo, don’t ask me ‘Y.’
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.
Kona Brewing is a local brewery, founded in 1994. They’ve changed hands a couple of times since then, most recently being hived off to PV Brewing Partners by previous owners, Craft Brew Alliance, so that entity could be swallowed by beer giant Anheuser-Busch. PV Brewing Partners is based in Kansas City, which is probably not the first place to spring to mind when thinking of white sand beaches and surfing.
But never mind. The point is that their beer is pretty good and their Castaway IPA is generally my beer of choice when I’m out and about, which isn’t often. And, like all beer companies, they have neon signs which they distribute to stores, bars, and restaurants. These are a couple of the signs.
I prefer the top one. When I look at the red and green one, I always think the creature is an alligator, something to do with the head being the wrong shape and the lack of toes. In the top version, the gecko is more recognizable and the addition of the islands makes it a winner with me!
Graham's Island 