A small boat leaves Kawaihae Small Boat Harbor early in the morning. It was likely headed out on a fishing expedition. I don’t know how they fared, but it was a fine start to the day regardless.
Off to the fishing grounds
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Tag Archives: Kawaihae
Calm
An early morning scene at Spencer Beach Park near Kawaihae.
Mongoose by the water
Mongoose are everywhere including at the beach. This one was scurrying across the sand at Pelekane Beach, Kawaihae.
View of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa
There’s still a bit of snow on top of both Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea. Every time it looks like it’s going to disappear, a new dusting bolsters the coverage.
This view is from Kohala Mountain Road. The dark strip snaking through the center of the photo is housing alongside Kawaihae Road, which goes down to the coast. These houses are part of the town of Waimea, which sits in the saddle between Mauna Kea and Kohala Mountain. This part of Waimea is known as the dryside because it receives significantly less rainfall than areas on the east side of the saddle, which is known, correctly, as the wetside.
Pelekane Beach changes
I’ve posted a fair number of photos taken on early morning walks in the vicinity of Pelekane Beach, between Kawaihae harbor and Puʻukoholā Heiau National Historic Site. During the winter months, I haven’t stopped there because it’s still dark when I go by, but recently I had an opportunity to visit in the now lighter early morning.
I parked my car in my usual spot and was about to get out and walk along the beach when I realized that there was no beach. Where I usually walked was now water. I got out and saw that the lagoon behind the beach now extended into the back of the beach. Not only that, but the beach was radically different. Instead on being gently sloping sand it was now marked with steep slopes and small sandy cliffs.
I think the dramatic changes are probably due to the storms and downpours that pounded the area this past winter. The good news is that it’s still a great spot for an early morning walk!
Night sky
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Out of this World.’ See more responses here.
Having managed to miss all the recent big astronomical events, such as the green comet and the conjunction of Jupiter and Venus, I’ve dipped into my archive for a few other worldly photos.
The first two are of the moon, first rising, then setting. The third is a view of the night sky with distant stars peeping through a typically cloudy North Kohala night.
You can’t get there from here
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!
Well red
This month’s Sunday Stills Color Challenge is ‘Red.’ See more responses here. A variety of subjects for this one!
Graham's Island 