Punaluu
March, 2012
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Contact me (garya at this domain) if you want the really good image
Much as we enjoyed the volcanoes,
we were getting tired of all the rain.
So we were extra cheery as we headed downhill and southwest out of the park.
In short order we were in dry lava flows,
and shortly after we reached the coast,
we stopped at a place called Punaluu.
Dona's nephew Ram Papish had recommended we stop there,
as it has a nice black-sand beach
where green turtles often haul out for a rest.
Yeah, right.
I'm always hesitant to get too excited about seeing any kind of bird or animal,
as they have a habit of not showing up.
The few times I've seen turtles it has been while diving or sailing,
and then only for brief encounters.
We drove up to the beach, and it was pretty amazing.
Black sand, black rocks, and right there lying on the beach,
a green sea turtle!
You're not supposed to get too close to them --
they're resting.
So we took pictures with the bird lens.
I don't quite understand why they pull up on the beach to rest.
Well, I understand the need to rest,
but I've seen these guys and gals way the heck out in the ocean,
and there's no place to rest there.
So how do they do that?
And since they can travel all over the oceans,
why do they need to pull up on a beach to rest when they're in Hawaii?
Is Hawaii just some special place they have to visit,
like it is for most Americans,
or is there more to it than that?
Anyway, the sand was really nice -- very fine, fun to walk in barefoot.
We wandered around the tidepools surrounding the beach
and had fun looking at the fish trapped in them,
the crabs,
the coral,
and more turtles.
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| Resting Green Sea Turtle |
S/he looks tired to me! |
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| Coming Up to Check Things Out |
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| Punaluu from the surrounding lava flow |
Dona on our lunch rock |
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| Wandering Tattler |
One of the cool things about Hawaii is the flowers.
It seems they are everywhere,
and one of the more common ones is the Plumeria,
the flower used to make leis.
The weird thing about them is that they grow on trees
(that part's not too weird)
but when they are blooming,
there aren't any leaves on the tree.
So we often saw what looked like a dead / dormant tree
covered with flowers.
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| Buttercup Vine |
There was also this cool tree / shrub called the Coral Bean.
The flower looks like some kind of anemonae,
but before the flowers burst out, the pod that holds them looks like a bean pod.
