Pololu Beach is a popular spot for visitors and locals. The trail down to the beach can be bustling with people and the beach itself is often well-populated. But behind the beach, this trail through the trees always seems quiet. It leads to a gully that, in turn, guides the few who venture up there, to a bench overlooking Honokane Nui Valley. (Read about that here.)
Posted for Becky’s Squares with a theme of “Walking.” See more responses here.
A couple of days ago, I hiked south from Spencer Beach Park to Hapuna and back. My main reason for doing this was that I’d heard Hapuna State Park was closed because of a broken water line. People were still allowed to get in the water there, but not stay on the beach or gather anywhere – a sort of return to Covid restrictions. I wanted to see how much difference this made.
When I got down there, the beach wasn’t deserted, but was pretty quiet, especially for a Saturday afternoon. Normally, there would be large gatherings and barbecues. Mind you, the beach in front of Hapuna Resort, at the top of this photo, wasn’t especially crowded either. Perhaps it was just a slow weekend.
An A’ama Crab at the aptly named Crab Cove at Hawaii Tropical Bioreserve & Garden.
I found this toy watering can on the sand at Spencer Beach Park one early morning, as the full moon was setting, clearly been left behind by the previous day’s beach-goers.
A Black-crowned Night Heron is silhouetted as it hunts around sunset.
I saw this ship off the coast of North Kohala, but couldn’t immediately identify it because it was too far offshore. Luckily, it hung around and a couple of days later I saw it much closer and stopped to take photos.
The ship is the Nautilus and it’s an exploration vessel operated by the Ocean Exploration Trust and was engaged in research, sponsored by the National Geographic Society. They were studying marine mammal vocalization and local shark diversity and abundance around Hawaii.
For more information about the ship, go to https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/technology/vessels/nautilus/nautilus.html. For more information about the research project, go to https://nautiluslive.org/.
Wait a minute, I hear you say, isn’t that supposed to be swimming with dolphins? Usually yes, but in this case, I was walking along the coast when I noticed a splash in the water. Another followed and I quickly recognized the familiar shape and behavior of Spinner Dolphins.
For almost half an hour, I watched as a large pod of dolphins – at least 50 and possibly as many as 100 – cavorted offshore. We were all heading in the same direction and, in normal circumstances, dolphins would easily outpace me, but these were having fun. In addition to spinning, I saw a lot of other regular jumps. Sometimes the dolphins turned back the way they came or headed toward shore, surfing in the waves.
When I turned inland, to head back to my car, they were still in sight and still spinning and frolicking in the waves.
Posted for Jo’s Monday Walk. See more responses here.
This bench at Pu’uKohala looks north to the small boat harbor at Kawaihae and, beyond that towards Maui, obscured here by early morning clouds.
Graham's Island 