
On a calm morning, little wavelets wash ashore without all the commotion of their bigger relatives.

On a calm morning, little wavelets wash ashore without all the commotion of their bigger relatives.

Early one morning, I stopped to watch the setting full moon and liked how it illuminated this red buoy marking one side of the entrance channel to Kawaihae Harbor.

After a late day at work, I was driving down a hill on the way home when I saw the sun setting behind a line of palm trees. There was nowhere to pull over, so I rolled the window down, angled the car across the center line, got this photo, and then got back on track. I hasten to add that this didn’t occur on the main highway, but on the way down to it, with no other traffic in sight. I’m not that irresponsible. I think.

Yesterday, I stopped by Hawi Wind Farm on my way back from a walk because I’d seen this scene on the drive down. The rotor is, of course, not missing. It’s lying flat at the base of the turbine. And it wasn’t just one rotor in this position. A second turbine also had the rotor removed.
Ironically, it was a sunny day with virtually no wind but, because it was Sunday, no one was working. They’ll probably be back when the 40 mph winds and lashing rain kick in again, just to make the work challenging!
Posted in response to Bushboy’s Last on the Card photo challenge. See more responses here.

The coast road between North Kohala and Kawaihae is dotted with these no parking signs. There are virtually no houses along this road, so why the signs? Well, the views are lovely and in the winter, humpback whales frolic just off the coast. Who wouldn’t want to pull over.
Consequently, a 40 mph minimum speed limit is in place along this highway together with these signs. The net result is that people still crawl along taking in the view and pull over to watch whales wherever they please.
Posted in response to Becky’s October Squares challenge theme of ‘Past Squares – Circles and Squares.’ See more responses here.

A plane taking off from Upolu at the start of a flight to who knows where. That’s Maui in the background.
Posted in response to Becky’s October Squares challenge theme of ‘Past Squares – Words containing the word Light.’ See more responses here.

The late afternoon sun back lights clouds over Alenuihāhā Channel which separates the Big Island from Maui.
Posted in response to Becky’s October Squares challenge theme of ‘Past Squares – Sky.’ See more responses here.


I took the top photo on my way to work one early morning. It’s a tranquil scene (the reason I go down there) shot from the beach below Pu’ukohala Heiau in Kawaihae. The second photo was shot on my way home in mid-afternoon. It was taken from the same beach in roughly the same place and looking in roughly the same direction.
Astute observers will see past the similarities in the photos and notice something is missing. Hualalai Volcano has disappeared. Now, it’s not unreasonable to think that those puffy white clouds in the second photo have something to do with this, but that’s not really the case. True, they might mask the upper reaches of the volcano, but the whole thing? No, the culprit is the fuzzy band between the clouds and the land – vog!
The latest eruption of Kilauea Volcano, which began on September 29th, is churning out vog, which forms when volcanic gases interact with sunlight, air, moisture, and dust. Two days later, when these photos were taken, it was having a visible effect. I’d noticed the vog drifting up the west side of the island during the morning and by afternoon visibility was greatly reduced. But it’s not just visibility that’s affected. Vog is especially troublesome for people with breathing difficulties, but can also irritate the eyes and skin of just about anyone.
Posted in response to Becky’s October Squares challenge theme of ‘Past Squares – Time.’ See more responses here.