Monday, August 2, 2021. Remembering

 Itʻs been awhile... Without that sense of urgency to relay news or updates about the works of Pelehonuamea, life seems to ease into quotidian routine.  Iʻve been reading, searching and researching, scribbling, trying to maintain my composure (mostly successfully, I think) in the faces of (un)social media frenzies and what-la.  It can be maddening.  But.  I have my walks to Keanakākoʻi in the Park, short trips to town for supplies and visits with a few friends, and household putterings.

And, the turning of a decade calendar sometimes helps put things in perspective.

sunkissed light breezes

afloat on a turquoise sea

seventy years on

Perspective...Before, when hiking, backpacking and being OutThere were matters sometimes taken for granted, these days, with physical decline, weʻre grateful for the assistance of friends.  Still CanGo, but with different modes of transport.  Many gratitudes to the moanaohana, and to hk, for sharing the day.

We were above the reef at Kaʻūpūlehu, gazing into 14 feet of water, entranced by the color:  Maniniʻōwali Blue.  The patches of white on the shore are beaches at Kūkiʻo, the puʻu on the horizon, Kuili.

The sentimentalist in me likes to track important days and events:  

1981 to Mokuʻāweoweo with VG and JS, having chocolate cake at sunset while admiring Hānaiakamalama; 

1991 at sea onboard the Farnella, volunteering to help map the Exclusive Economic Zone and ocean floor between Kauō (Laysan) and Kānemilohaʻi (Kure).  Because we were crossing and recrossing the International Date Line, I had two birthdays that year, but with a total of 16 actual birthday hours;

2001 dinner with longtime friends at the then Alan Wongʻs at Huālalai Resort, and having the pleasure of seeing Māhealani rise over Hualālai;

2011 riding waʻa at Kūkio to Maniniʻōwali, and eating fried ʻūʻū (menpachi) for dinner at Kukuiʻohiwai;

2021 see above

What a life!

Whilst poking around and googling, I came across and remembered the photography of Greg Vaughn.

Greg Vaughn Photography

Another favorite place Back In The Day was Luahinewai.  Photo below is pre-house, taken by him in July 1986.  The access road is visible upper left, the ʻalā trail over 1800 Hualālai ʻaʻā, lower left, and those magical waters, home of a moʻo who sometimes wears blue.  The beach is a mix of ʻiliʻili, waterworn wavetumbled pebbles, formed as ʻaʻā fractured shattered exploded when it met the Pacific, as well as black sand and coral.

Trees at lower edge of the pool are kou, kiawe, and hinahina, and bright green naupaka kahakai surrounds the bases of niu.  Since then, the shoreline has been armored with additional mass dense plantings of naupaka, so access to the pool is severely inhibited.

Luahinewai is a wahi pana, a noted cultural place.  Though we donʻt know what the pool and environs looked like in 1791, Keōua and retinue stopped there on his way to meet his fate at the dedication of heiau Puʻukoholā (some say Puʻukohola), built by Kamehameha to ensure his dominion over pae ʻāina Hawaiʻi (archipelago of Hawaiʻi).

In Deshaʻs "Kamehameha and His Warrior Kekūhaupiʻo", Chapter 12  Puʻukohola Heiau, Page 309:

Always something to mull, muse, consider...

Something else caught my eye on Greg Vaughnʻs website.  Back in The Day, Waipiʻo was a favorite walk in for the day place.  

First, in July 1986:  The ZigZag Trail on paliface, the primary access by foot to Waimanu, the next valley over.  The peninsula of ʻĀinahou formed during a landslide.  The next peninsula, past Waimanu, is Laupāhoehoe Nui of Hāmākua.  The third and most distant point is at Niuliʻi in North Kohala.

Note the greens of pali, with just a hint of light tan.

Then in April 2006:  The same view, but...The light tans have dramatically increased, and the ZigZag Trail is becoming indistinct.  Invasive species.  The tan on the pali is fountaingrass, the scourge of the lavalands in South Kohala and North Kona.  Really REALLY bad...  It was, as far as we know, introduced as an ornamental in North Kona in about 1910.  And now... I see it growing on the Laupāhoehoe Gulch roadcut on the highway between Hilo and Honokaʻa.  Auē!!!

The past few days weʻve heard and seen news of the BIG range fire by Waimea.  Most of it fueled by fountaingrass (those clumps below), wicked strong winds, as well as the extremely dry conditions over there.  Below by nap  on Saturday afternoon

And yesterday, lr flew over from Maui.  Maunakea, Maunaloa behind, and the smoke...

Just in case you wonder what The Big Deal is with Invasive Species...

Circling back to Volcano...Sometimes I get caught up in activities, somewhat random, but to me of interest.  Like capturing USGS HVO webcam images at sunset time up Mokuʻāweoweo on Maunaloa.

Best just to scroll down...

Above, at 1901p, the shadow of the mauna cast on atmospheric haze...

And now for some Randomalia:

I mentioned our native naupaka kahakai (beach naupaka) surrounding niu at Luahinewai.  Up here we have two other, endemic, species of naupaka, photos by sm.  Huahekili uka is endemic to dry uplands on Kīlauea.  Leaves are thick and leathery.

And, by R. Alex Anderson, from his delight "Haole Hula" found at huapala.org, something we never tire of, with aloha, again, to hk:

The lovely blue of sky and the sapphire of ocean

The flashing white of clouds and of waves foaming crest

The many shades of green from the plain to the mountain

With all the brightest hues of the rainbow we're blest

at Koholālele, June 25, 2021

The blues of pōpōhau (snowballs, or hydrangea) in the yard...

Below, just-opened pods of ʻōhiʻa.  Seeds liʻiliʻi await scattering by the wind.

And, The Point of Today.  Three years ago today, lest we forget, we experienced the last of 62 lūʻōniu (see below), collapses of the floor of Kaluapele at 1155a.

Memories seem so short these days.  But for some of us, hulihia, those catastrophic events, are indelibly etched in our memory.  And Iʻm always reminded, shared then by jpj, of pūʻiwa, that "stupefaction on account of wonder".

The Before / After from HVO:

And finally, from N. Deligne of HVO, on July 30, 2021.  Pelehonuamea resting.  

A peek of Maunaloa slope at the left horizon, and the swell of Uēkahuna with damaged and abandoned Jaggar Museum and Hawaiian Volcano Observatory on the rim.

We shall see...

please Please PLEASE:  If you havenʻt been vaccinated, GO!!!  And wear a mask and socially distance, and...

As always, with aloha,

BobbyC

maniniowali@gmail.com