Rainbow Shower Tree and Other Plants

The rainbow shower tree, my favorite.

The ends look like asparagus.

They look beautiful even when half dead on the ground.

A flower caught in a spider web.

Closeup of a naupaka flower.

Hibiscus flowers that I rescued from an over-zealously trimmed shrub. They do very well in just water!

Closeup of hibiscus with Easy Macro.

Waimea Stop

Waimea, a small town on the north end of Hawaii Island. It's up in the mountains, so the air is always crisper than Waikoloa or Kailua-Kona.

It also rains intermittently throughout the day, making for some of the most beautiful mountains you'll ever see.

The Waimea Homestead Farmers Market, on Saturday mornings.

Coconut carving.

The Parker Ranch, which visitors can enter freely. A huge swath of Waimea is owned by this family, and their family history is fascinating. Unlike the oft-told tales of a (white) newcomer coming to an island and taking its land away from the native dwellers, in the early 1800s John Palmer Parker landed on the Big Island and essentially married into a prominent Waimea family.

Their self-guided tour is worth looking into.

Horses on the ranch.

Animals Seen on the Big Island

  

Photos taken in August on the Big Island, Hawaii. 

A fish (angler fish?) washed up on the beach after a hurricane.

Sandpipers on a golf course.

A family of quails running away in Waimea.

Horses on Parker Ranch in Waimea.

Praying Mantis captured with Easy Macro lens.

 

A lizard on the beach, captured with Easy Macro.

Parrots at the Hilton in Waikoloa Village. They can sort of speak.

 

A huge cluster of these birds were fighting with this mongoose. 

A feral cat. I like how the cats on the Big Island have longer than average ears.

Fruit-shopping at Kona Farmer's Market

My annual visit to the farmer's market in Kailua-Kona.

  

This year, I was much more ambitious about what I purchased.

 

Salamanders blending in with the fruit.

 

 

Papaya, star fruit and chicko. The lady at the fruit stand was spectacularly unhelpful when I asked chicko tasted like: "It tastes like chicko."

It tastes like a cinnamon-laced persimmon.

 

Rambutan (the furry red balls), passion fruit (yellow balls), cherimoya (green fruit), papaya. 

 

The rambutans were the easiest to eat, and the most delicious.

The cherimoya was not ripe at all, and tasted absolutely horrible. Apparently it is supposed to taste like custard, and the seeds are truly poisonous!

The Dolphin Tour

 

A little bit off Kawaihae on the Big Island, Hawaii. The Ocean Sports dolphin tour is always excellent.

 

 

Mother and baby.

 Dolphin mid-spin.

Sea Turtle Sightings

 

When I visited the Big Island in August, it was right in the middle of two large hurricanes. The whole week I was there, the usually calm waves were terrifyingly large -- to the point where I didn't feel comfortable splashing about.

Got to hand it to the locals, though, they were having the time of their lives.

A turtle I spotted while snorkeling with Ocean Sports.

I also saw a bunch at another national park. Though I end up seeing around ten turtles every time I'm in Hawaii, each experience feels special.

 

Locals gathering little shrimp at the beach, although there is a sign that expressly says you cannot. I also saw people stepping into fish ponds.

  

An extreme closeup of a handful of sand.