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.’
The sun slides from behind a cloud into the water at Kaloko-Honokohau Historical Park.
A pair of Brown Boobies skim over the water off the coast of North Kohala.
An old tree stump snagged in a rocky shore on the South Kohala coast.
I liked these shapes I saw on the surface of the water in one of the Mauna Lani fishponds on the South Kohala coast.
Recently, I was walking around the fishponds at Mauna Lani when I came to a small cafe that was closed. I walked to the back of it, hoping for views to the fishpond behind. What I found was a couple of people staring up into a tree where a lot of loud squawking was going on.
When the people moved on, I spotted the source of the noise. It was the nest of a Black-crowned Night Heron, high up in the tree, and occupied by an adult bird and two chicks. The two chicks, as might be expected, were the source of all the noise, demanding food and jabbing their dangerous-looking beaks at the parent. Eventually, the adult bird moved out of the nest to nearby branch. The chicks tried to follow, but weren’t agile enough to do so without risking falling from the tree.
I took a few photos, but the tangle of branches made it difficult to know if the birds were in shot, let alone in focus. So I was happy to get this photo, which captures something of the scene. When I saw it, for some reason the expression that popped into my head was, ‘a face only a mother could love!’
Beach Naupaka (Scaevola sericea or Scaevola taccada) is relatively common here, often seen in coastal areas because of its salt tolerance. Dwarf Naupaka (Scaevola coriacea), on the other hand, is on the federal endangered list. It used to be seen on all the main islands, but these days it’s only seen on Maui and then not in many places. The flowers of Dwarf Naupaka are a little different and the leaves are considerably smaller, just one to two inches in length.
These endemic plants were spotted alongside one of the fishponds at Mauna Lani, on the South Kohala coast, by a friend who knows a lot about native plants. When he told me about them, I headed down to take a look and get some photos. I agreed with his identification and got a confirmation on Hawaii Plant ID.
It’s likely that the plants by the fishpond aren’t naturally occurring, but were deliberately planted, though by who or why is not clear. Still, it’s encouraging that at least one small pocket of these extremely rare plants still exists on the island.
I saw these fish in a small bay where the waves were rolling in and liked the effect.
Graham's Island 