Tag Archives: Kailua Kona

International takeoff

Japan Airlines plane tail

Japan Airlines planeKona airport is officially called the Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keahole.

Ellison Onizuka was an astronaut from Kealakekua, Hawaii, who died in the destruction of the Space Shuttle Challenger. Kona is the district and Keahole the place name for the actual location (Keahole Point) of the airport. And International? Well that’s largely due to the aircraft in these photos.

Japan Airlines (JAL) began flying to Kona from Tokyo in 1996, but suspended service in 2010. With no international flights coming in, the feds shut up shop, and that’s the way it stayed until the end of 2016. At that point, Hawaiian Airlines began service to Tokyo three times a week and a new Federal Inspection Service facility opened at the airport to accommodate the needs of the government. But the icing on the cake occurred in September of last year when JAL resumed daily flights to Kona. And in December of this year, Air Canada will begin seasonal nonstop flights from Vancouver. Très internationale!

These photos are of the outgoing JAL flight preparing to take off on the return journey to Japan. I took the top photo because it made me think of a shark cruising by.

Japan Airlines plane takeoff

Black sand, white pole holders

Fishing pole holders Kona coastKona coast surgeKona coast lava

Between Kailua Kona Airport and Kekaha Kai State Park is a stretch of coastline heavy on lava and aircraft coming in to land, but light on vegetation and people.

There’s a fair smattering of black sand to be found in little coves and one proper black sand beach at Makole’a (below).

In several places, white plastic tubes can be seen wedged or cemented in to the lava (above). They’re fishing pole holders and are a common sight on most of the island’s coastline.

And then there are the usual features of old lava flows by the ocean including blow holes and fractured lava tubes where the ocean surges in and out again (right).

Kona coast black sand beach Makole'a

Signs: Drive very carefully

Signs-Speed limitRecently, these two new speed limit signs appeared, alongside the main road, not far from where I live. Nothing too remarkable about that, you may say, but it is odd. The first sign gives the speed limit as 45 miles per hour, but the second sign mandates a minimum speed of 40 miles per hour. Seems like a prime area for tickets to be handed out. I can’t imagine anyone getting very far without breaching one of those two limits.

As it happens, about a quarter mile before this pair of signs, there’s another pair that have been there a long time. Those signs, which mark the departure from a more residential area to a largely uninhabited stretch of road, mandate a speed limit of 55 miles per hour, with the same minimum speed of 40 miles per hour.

So why would the county want people to speed up to 55 only to put the brakes on a few hundred yards down the road? They don’t. They just put up the wrong sign. It was gone a few days later.

This isn’t the first time the Hawaii County Department of Public Works has had a sign problem. In late 2016, a major new road project, the Mamalahoa Highway Bypass, south of Kailua-Kona, was completed. Where this new road joined the existing Mamalahoa Highway, a dangerous Y-shaped junction became a fully-signaled, four-road intersection.

Most people were thrilled with the new, safer setup, but not all. People unfamiliar with the area were perplexed. They didn’t know where to go because the major new highway intersection didn’t come with any signs. If that sounds like it must be an exaggeration, it is a bit. There was one sign, on the old road, that had not been removed during the project. Unfortunately, because of the intersection’s redesign, the directions it gave were wrong. It indicated the main highway went straight ahead, but that now sent traffic plunging down a steep, winding road into a populous residential area.

As with our local sign, after a few days the old highway sign disappeared and a week or so later proper signage was erected for the new intersection.

Planes landing at Kailua-Kona Airport

Plane landing at Kailua-Kona airport

Hawaii has the reputation of being a tropical paradise, but arriving at Kailua-Kona Airport looks anything but. The final approach to the airport comes over the 1801 Huʻehuʻe lava flow from Hualali volcano. This flow is still quite barren with next to no vegetation. For first-time visitors, touching down on actual tarmac can come as something of a relief.

Exiting the plane, it will most likely be hot, but sunny? Not so much, especially if touchdown is after noon. Typically, clouds roll in during the morning and vog (volcanic smog, caused by pollutants from Kilauea Volcano) settles over the area. The appearance, seen in these photos, is sometimes called ‘concrete skies.’ Not a bad description.

Plane landing at Kailua-Kona

Kona airport

A couple of photos from a recent too-early foray to Kona airport. Above, passengers ooze out of the crowded toothpaste-tube-with-engines that is the modern passenger jet. The airport is still relatively small and open (though ongoing improvements will likely eradicate much of that charm) and, yes, many of those passengers are wearing shorts and a shirt at 6 a.m..

Below is one of the airport’s boarding areas. Busy during the day, at this hour only a few still-sleepy people mill about waiting for the restaurant to open and the first plane of the day to arrive.

Memo to self: It doesn’t matter how early you get up, it doesn’t matter how fast you drive, and it doesn’t matter what time you get to the airport. Until TSA starts work you’re not going anywhere.

In response to WPC ‘A face in the crowd.’

Signs: Water shortage

In Kailua Kona, this electronic sign flashes “Emergency Water Restriction” and “Stop Sprinkler Use.”In Kailua Kona, this electronic sign flashes “Emergency Water Restriction” and “Stop Sprinkler Use.”

I was in Kailua Kona recently when I saw this electronic sign flashing “Emergency Water Restriction” and “Stop Sprinkler Use.” The irony, of course, was that I saw the sign during the kind of tropical downpour that washes cars, trees, and houses away. The road I was on was a shallow river. Entering one store, I had to wade through water lapping at my calves.

Kona’s water supply has been in trouble for several weeks now, but it’s nothing to do with rainfall. The water supply comes from wells and several of the pumps have broken down. Most of the pumps are different so each has its own unique spare parts. The one, brand new, spare pump available proved to be defective.

How was such a situation allowed to happen? Well, that’s a good question and people in high places are concerned. Serious questions are being asked. New procedures are being drawn up. Those responsible will be held to account. Just kidding on that last one. That’s not really how things work here.

 

Kona lava tube

The lava tube north of Kailua Kona Airport.The lava tube north of Kailua Kona Airport.

Probably the most visited lava tube on the Big Island is Thurston Lava Tube in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. However, the most easily accessible might be one just a couple of miles north of the airport at Kailua Kona.

Just off the main highway, it’s not unusual to see a line of vehicles pulled over and people scrambling over the lava. There’s a well worn path leading down to the entrance of the tube and enough headroom to make access easy. However, it’s worth noting that there are piles of rock strewn around from ceiling collapses and the whole area looks crumbly. I certainly wouldn’t want to be down there during an earthquake. Enter at your own risk!