Sunday, March 3, 2024

Refuge

A place of refuge, Puuhonua O Honaunau National Historic Park, is a wonderful place to visit.  Anyone who reached this place in ancient times (by land or by sea) was offered protection and redemption.  The setting is very peaceful.






This game table suggests life here was not all chores


Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Another day, another beach

It pays to poke around and discover things that are nearby and not insanely crowded.  This morning, we drove to a beach that I found after walking to it from another beach.  It is a fairly new state park and offers lots of shade and a peaceful place to hang out.


Although it is not really a swimming beach, except for little kids in keiki pools, there were a number of surfers enjoying themselves.

On top of that, the park has a lovely historic trail to a native plant garden and features a giant star compass that represents how Polynesians navigated to Hawaii.




Part of the park is habitat for the endangered Hawaiian stilt, and we saw several in the ponds.





Sunday, February 25, 2024

House guest

Yesterday, we had some unexpected house guests.  After leaving the front door open for a few minutes, two red-crested cardinals flew into the house.  I managed to herd the first one outside pretty quickly in the south end of the house, but the second one turned north and ended up flying around and bumping into several windows.  I almost caught it, then it flew up into the loft space above the entryway where it stayed for about 10 minutes.  It was pretty tired.  When it left the loft, I was able to grab it with a towel and release it into the vegetation outside.  

As it was recovering, it permitted me to take a close-up photo.  This is another introduced species, native to from South America.

Saturday, February 24, 2024

For the birds

We regularly encounter an enormous variety of bird species.  Most don't really belong here, but were introduced.  Some migrate here.  I have the utmost respect for the migrants that fly here nonstop from the mainland.

One migrant species that winters here is the Pacific golden plover (10 inches).  Adults breed in the arctic and then migrate here in August.  In winter plumage they aren't quite as spectacular as in their breeding plumage, but they are definitely amazing birds.


Another migrant is the ruddy turnstone (9 inches).  It also migrates here from the arctic.

This morning, we encountered a cute little bird (about 6 inches) that we had never seen before, the rosy-/peach-faced lovebird.  This import is native to SW Africa.






Sunday, February 18, 2024

Something for plant lovers

This island has beautiful flowers, in many areas.  Some places require watering regimes, while other locations receive enough rain to keep the flowers blooming.  Here is some of what I saw today.

Orchid

Orchid

Plumeria (also known as frangipani)

Double Hibiscus

Hibiscus

Bougainvillea

Bougainvillea

Stop and smell the flowers (or at least take the time to look at them)!

Thursday, February 15, 2024

Kawi and the north shore

This morning, we drove up the north Kohala coast to the town of Hawi and the area nearby.  Historically, this area was important in supporting nearby sugar plantations.  Many old buildings remain, but have been repurposed.  The old hotel/brothel is now Bamboo restaurant with gallery space in the old rooms upstairs.  We ate lunch at Bamboo. The food is excellent, with a local flair.

Nearby, a gorgeous mural of a native woman holding two parrotfish is evocative of Paul Gauguin's Tahitian period.

King Kamehameha I was born nearby, and a statue celebrates him.

This area has lots of restaurants, art galleries and shops.  We saw some beautiful pieces including a hand-painted silk image of jellyfish laminated onto a surfboard.

We spent a great day with Hawaiian friends.

Mahalo!


Friday, February 9, 2024

South Point

Not just the point farthest south in the state of Hawaii, South Point is the point farthest south in the US.  It is a beautiful site that teems with energy, from the wind and waves that pound the place.

It is an historical site, that is used to deep-sea fish from land, and surprisingly to jump off the cliff.

Despite posted warnings, and recent death from this activity, people continue to jump.  Yesterday we saw 2 jumpers.  The first one looked like he had done it before, and scrambled up the clunky assemblage of ladders back to the top of the cliff.

However, the second jumper had a heck of a time navigating the ladders.  It requires a great deal of upper-body strength and he looked scared out of his wits several times on his upward journey.

Just after the jump



Faced with the trickiest part--the long chain that links the ladders


Finally on the top ladder and able to relax a bit