Clouds over the ʻAlenuihāhā Channel, between the Big Island and Maui, cast strong shadows on the waters below.
Tag Archives: Kohala
Kohala Ranch
This is an aerial view of Kohala Ranch on the left and Kohala Estates on the right. The main road, Akoni Pule Highway, runs across the photo just above the coastline. The dark strip running across near the top of the land is Kohala Mountain Road, the darkness being the trees which line much of the road.
Kohala Ranch is a gated community which spans the space between these two roads. Near the bottom, houses are built on lots of one to three acres. Midway up the hill are five acre lots, and toward the top are bigger lots of 10 and 20 acres. The community has access to both roads. The top of the community gets more rainfall, and more wind, than the lower sections. Kohala Estates connects only to the bottom road.
Communities such as these are fairly common on the Big Island. Some are gated, some not, but most cater to people moving to the island from elsewhere since the property prices tend toward the upper end of the market.
Horses with a view
I used to see these four horses frequently when I went for walks. They’re still around, but not as accessible as before. This pasture has been sold and is now used to grow Hawaiian heirloom sugarcane for use by a rum micro-distillery.
Another thing that’s changed is that the brown grass has been greened up by the last two hurricanes, both of which have dumped a good deal of rain, but generated very little in terms of wind, at least around here.
Egrets and turbines
Today marks the 1,000th post on this blog. To mark the occasion I looked for a suitably appropriate subject and couldn’t find anything! So instead I chose this photo since it featured a couple of subjects I must have seen a thousand times.
I pass the turbines at Hawi Wind Farm on my way to the part of the coast where I regularly walk. And I’ve seen an awful lot of cattle/horse/sheep/goat/lawn mower egrets since they are omnipresent. Plus I have a soft spot for them.
In this photo, a flock of egrets is on a mission to get from one pasture to another one. They aren’t the most graceful of flyers, but en masse I find they make a very pleasing sight.
Bench overlooking Honokane Nui Valley
I’ve posted a photo of this bench and view before, but when I took this walk beyond Pololu a few months ago the bench was in bad shape. One of the legs had rotted out and if I wanted to sit, it had to be on one end and with care.
So last time I hiked up that way I took a tape measure, planning to assess the damage and work out what was needed to fix the bench. However, when I got there I found someone had beaten me to it. And unlike my repair idea, they had wisely decided to discard the previous bench frame and replace it with a plastic one.
While it might be somewhat less aesthetically pleasing, the plastic frame should last a lot longer than its predecessor. It’s also securely anchored with metal rods so the bench should be around for a good long time. Something to look forward to next time I make the hike.
Sunrise over Kohala Mountains
The rising sun begins to illuminate scrubby terrain on the dry side of the Kohala Mountains.
An old abandoned anchor
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Objects over 100 years old.’ (See more responses here.)
I can’t say for certain that this anchor and chain is more than 100 years old, but it almost certainly is. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, North Kohala was the center of the sugar industry with many plantations and several mills. This anchor likely dates from that time. It’s located in the bay where sugar used to be loaded onto ships.
I suspect the anchor isn’t lost from a ship, since it’s located in shallow water close to shore, with the chain leading out to deeper water – the opposite arrangement of how a ship would normally anchor. Instead, I think the anchor and chain were part of an offshore anchoring system used at the harbor. A ship would drop its anchor from the bow in deep water and attach to the anchoring system from the stern. This would keep the ship fairly stable and make the transfer of cargo, from small boats, easier.
After the sugar industry shut down, a lot of buildings and equipment were abandoned, and in the water, the anchoring system was left to rust.
Rainbows on the water
During a recent swim, I was lucky enough to see this gorgeous double rainbow. I took several photos and this one is actually a composite. In the best rainbow photo the water looked a bit flat, but in photos that gave a glimpse below the water’s surface the rainbow wasn’t as good. So I combined the best of both and it came out pretty good I think, especially given my rudimentary skills in my Photoshop Elements.
Graham's Island 