Fishing tournament

This morning, we drove down to the south coast to the Punalu'u black sand beach.  It was a busy place with a community-organized, catch-and-release, fishing tournament for kids taking place.  It was fun to see lots of kids fishing with simple bamboo poles.  This was the first time since Covid that the tournament had taken place, so it was the first opportunity for many of the little kids to participate.

They put up tents with tables and chairs for a big lunch after the tournament, with live entertainment and prizes.  It was great seeing the local kids so engaged in activities around the water.

Sea turtles in the middle of the beach

Canoe club

Canoe clubs are quite active all over the island.  Early morning seems the best time to canoe in the ocean.  I walked past the nearest canoe club this morning (before 8) and saw a crew getting ready to head out into Keahou Bay.

The local canoe club

This crew just moved the double canoe onto transport wheels and is rolling it to the boat ramp

Maneuvering down the boat ramp

Another double canoe coming in

A shift change of crew on the above double canoe

Another beach closure

This morning, I walked to Kahalu'u Beach to see what was happening there.  It has been closed a couple of times over the last week or two, due to high waves and dangerous conditions.  Today it was closed again, but the ocean conditions didn't look too bad.

Instead, the problem was debris in the parking lot.  A powerful wave deposited sand and rocks across much of the parking lot overnight recently.  They need some heavy equipment to remove the debris.  

Beach day at last

We finally spent some time on one of the local beaches.  Here, old lava flows are interspersed with sandy beaches.  

I like walking along the trails and looking for birds or looking in tidepools for fish.

One of my favorite birds, the Pacific golden plover

This park features educational displays regarding what was carried to the islands by canoe and how early settlers navigated.  The star compass was a mental tool that was used for navigation.

A large model of a star compass

Some of my favorite houses around the star compass are east, west, and bird.

Hikina means east in Hawaiian.  The image denotes sun rising in the east.

Komohana means west in Hawaiian.  The image denotes sun setting in the west.

Manu means bird in Hawaiian.  There are birds in each quadrant of the star compass.

Aloha!