A little over a week from returning, and we’re still coming off of the high. It’s a rough landing, though: stuffy noses, strange ailments, backlogs of work and personal projects. But worth it, so worth it.
So, still a few days off from getting some of our pics up. But in the interim, a pic of the Retired One, but an infra-red rendering. Slow shutter speed, slow exposure. Shows you what he moves when he’s wrapping up a crossword.
Pop in IR
Aloha family and friends. I was trying to come up with something clever, a play on words with “monkey” and “monk seal”…but I failed. So sad. No dorky pun today! Aw…do I hear the sighs of sadness? Nope. I thought not. Anyway, we have moved from Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island to the Garden Isle of Kaua’i. So the last three weeks of our trip to Hawaii has begun. Today, we drove from our condo in Kapa’a to the very northwest end of the island. Kaua’i is called the Garden Isle for a reason…it’s green, lush and beautiful. We stopped to sample several beaches along the way. At Moloa’a Bay we encountered a Hawaiian Monk Seal sunning herself (Rosemary made a gender check when the seal rolled over). They are protected in the Islands and are to be left alone. So we snapped this pic and let her be.
(Viewing hint – Clicking on the pictures makes them big!)
Monk Seal enjoying the sun at Moloa'a Bay
After observing the seal, Rosemary had to fend off the amorous intentions of one of the studly hunks that hang out on the beach. Here she is pretending to like him…and you’ll have to admit, he’s quite a hunk (of what, we’ll never tell!).
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No, I’m not talking about James Dean’s first film based on the John Steinbeck novel. I’m talking about the Puna district of Hawaii. It’s on the easternmost tip of the Big Island and which truely does lie adjacient to Eden. On Wednesday we headed down from Volcanoes and just before Hilo, turned southeast. Puna contains wonderful jungles and upland forests along with harsh lava fields left by a 1960 eruption of Kilauea volcano. The landscape was described by Rosemary as looking like “Hell was once established there, but everyone left because it was too bleak!” However, at the very eastern tip of Hawaii, we found a wonderfully rugged and picturesque coastline. Since the winds blow out of the East, the air there has not touched anything but the Pacific Ocean for several weeks on it’s journey. It’s considered as pristine as any air in the world. We hiked out to the easternmost tip of land and took in the air with deep breaths. The air smelled wonderful with only a mild hint of sea salt. And the view was exquisite. (Viewing hint: Click on the photos to make them bigger. Click when they’re bigger and you get a full sized photo.)
Crashing surf at the eastern tip of Hawaii
The surf was so violently pummeling the shore that it was forming a thick soupy froth that was blown off the ocean and into the surrounding air. Mist covered us as we sat and enjoyed the show!
Rosemary watching the pounding surf at the eastern tip of Hawaii
One last gaze at the crash of the ocean, and we were on our way.
The power of the sea!
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We bid farewell to the sunny Kohala Coast on the Big Island of Hawaii and headed about 100 miles down the road to Volcanoes National Park yesterday. At an elevation of 4000 feet, the park gave us our first “cool” day in the last 6 weeks. There was fierce wind and a misty rain blowing in from the Hilo side of Hawaii. It felt refreshing, but it was obvious that our blood had thinned since we left Alaska in mid-January. This morning dawned cool, windy and clear. We started by viewing the spewing sulfer dioxide and ash coming from Halema’uma’u Crater. It’s been pretty active over the last few years and has resulted in a more or less permenant closure of part of the park road system.
Morning at the Halema'uma'u Crater.
The big event of the day was a 4 mile hike through the Kilauea Iki Crater. Its a very interesting hike which begins in a tropical forest, descends down a steep hillside into the bottom of the crater. Vegetation on the trail was thick jungle. Here’s a sampling.
Tropical views heading down into Kilauea Iki Crater
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Sigh…Sunday we pack up and leave Waikoloa Beach after a month of sun, surf and diving. We’re heading up to Volcanoes National Park for 5 days before returning to the beach in Kaua’i. Our granddaughter Sonya has been with us this past two weeks (she left Saturday night)…and she brought her parents Eric and Katya, too! She loves the beach and is pretty fearless. She can even fly!
Sonya Flies at Hapuna Beach, Kohala Coast, Hawaii
When she’s not flying or boogie boarding, she’s playing in the surf!
Sonya in the shallows
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Any of you who may get seasick by just looking at photos of the ocean…rejoice. The last dives on the Big Island have been completed. On the recommendation of our guides at Jack’s Diving Locker we decided to do an “Advanced Dive” for our last dive. They are much smaller groups, only 6 divers, and all have better skills than the divers on the regular dive boat. Steve was pleased to allowed to go with only 16 dives under his belt. Anyhow, both dives were “drift dives” where we are dropped off in one location and ride the underwater currents until low on air. Then we surface at a different location and get picked up by the boat. The first dive was at Pyramid Pinnicle and fittingly, here’s a picture of the Pyramid Butterfly fish.
Pyramid Butterfly
During our surface interval between dives, we headed out to sea and spied a pod of Spotted Dolphins. After gobbling down some fruit, a pastry and a small sandwich, we headed back to the reef. The second dive was a drift dive past Kaiwi Washrock. A nice relaxing dive. Below are a few more scenes from the day.
Underwater Scene - Kona Coast
Bulletnosed Parrotfish
Finally a Moorish Idol that's more or less in focus!
Next stop…Volcanoes National Park. Then on to Kaua’i. Aloha!
Yellow Margin Moray eyeing his next meal!
Another dive at Pu’uhonau O Honaunau, the Place of Refuge. In earlier times, a Hawaiian who broke taboo was hunted mercilessly and many times killed. If he could reach the Place of Refuge, the priests would cleanse him and he could return to society. Anyhow, it’s a nice place to do a shore dive. During the dive, we found a very large and particularly plump Yellow Margin Moray. Here he is checking out his next meal !We also spotted an elusive juvenile Black Surgeonfish also known as a Chevron Tang. He was hiding in a little hole in the coral. I snapped this pic, then had to do some adjusting with the computer in order to get a good view of him in the shadows.
Chevron Tang (AKA juvenile Black Surgeonfish
Finally, seemingly floating in space, not moving at all was this pair of Raccoon Butterfly fish. They are named for the little stripe above the eye and are often times seen in fairly large schools just floating.
Raccoon Butterfly Fish Hanging Out
So, until next time…Aloha
Hard to top swimming with the dolphins. No…I didn’t do it on the second dive day. But I did get a close drive-by from a giant manta ray. These creatures are huge, very graceful and believe it or not, survive on plankton. They must eat a ton!
Manta Ray Drive-by
Not to be topped by the manta, this undulated moray eel stuck his snout up out of his little cave. I don’t think he liked the flash very much. And he bobbed and weaved to keep me from getting good focus. Oh, well. This will have to do.
Moray Eel
And finally, not to be ignored was this little Dragon Wrasse. He was only about 3-4 inches long and swam pretty fast. This was the best I could do. Note that he looks more like a leaf or twig than a fish. Probably helps when you’re not too big.
Or more accurately, swimmin’ with da dolphins…or even more accurately, swimmin’ with da Hawaiian Spinner Dolphins. Steve was excited to get back into the water and do a little SCUBA diving on the Big Island. After the first of two dives for the day, the dive crew from Jack’s Diving Locker along with the SCUBA divers were treated to a great view of several pods of Spinner Dolphins. We scrambled to get on our snorkeling gear and jumped into the water to swim with the dolphins. It was an incredible adventure as we floated on the surface watching literally hundreds of dolphins milling around below us. They would surface for air, sometimes within just a few feet of me, then drift on back down to their resting positions. With the dolphins in mind, we anchored for our second dive in an area where the crew hoped the large animals would cruise. And they did! Here they are on a close swim-by during our second dive.
Spinner Dolphin Mugging!
Steve was very excited to share the deep blue sea with these magnificent creatures. If you could see his face, you’d see his eyes bugging out!
Steve Swimming with the Spinner Dolphins
All in all, well worth the price of admission. What a great experience. Here’s one last pic of Steve cruising the ocean floor.
Headin' on down to the bottom
On Wednesday, Lisa and Jon wanted to visit one of the most beautiful beaches in the South Kohala region. So early (you know, before 9AM) we left the condo and drove up the road to Mauna Kea beach. It was a beautiful morning for posing on the beach.
Four Happy Beach-goers
Everybody was busy playing in the water or lazing on the sand. There was a west swell and by 11AM the lifeguards closed with beach due to strong rip tides and currents. Actually, they only closed the water, so we were still able to stroll the beach. I had heard that Hawaii doesn’t do anything to discourage their wild animals from sharing the beach with humans, and during my walk, I came across a rare Hawaiian Fox. See the picture below:
Rare Hawaiian Fox
So just what does this have to do with the 11 Honu day? Well, the surf got rougher and rougher and it was obvious that no one should be in the surf. And the water was so stirred up that snorkeling would be ridiculous, even in a protected spot like ‘Anaeho’omalu Bay. So after lunch at back at the condo, we decided to walk the beach south of A-Bay to see if we could spy any Honu (Green Sea Turtles). Read more »
Hawaii - 2010 | Eric W | 
March 8, 2010 8:09 pm | 
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