Monday, February 27, 2006
North Shore Oahu: February 23
Today we drove north on H-3 and northeast along the North Shore on Rt. 83 to Waimea Falls. We passed through Oahu’s prime surfing region, including the Bonzai Pipeline. When we were here 15 years ago, we stopped here in early January with Lynn’s parents. On that day an international surfing competition had been cancelled because the waves were taller than 40 feet and competition officials were concerned about losing spectators from the bleachers at the rear of the beach who might be carried away by a giant wave. We did see a couple of people surfing on those giant waves: they were dwarfed by the immense waves, mere spots on an enormous wall of water. Today the waves were smaller and for miles the road was lined by the cars of the surf addicts and their admirers.
We went up to Waimea Falls, management of which had recently been assumed by the Hawaii Audubon Society. This sanctuary has one of the most wonderful botanical gardens I’ve ever seen. It’s not as elegant and orderly as Kew Gardens but it’s extremely impressisve. It’s specialty is the flora of tropical Pacific islands, and it has large sections devoted to the plants of many of the major Pacific island groups, as well as sections organized by taxonomic group (for example, a large area was devoted to Hibiscus evolution and domestication). There were also major sections devoted to ethnobotany and Pacific island agriculture, as well as archeaological remains of ancient Hawaiian villages and reconstructed huts and gardens. My botany colleague, Kristen, could easily spend an entire day or more viewing the plantings. The garden lies within a steep-sided river canyon, in an area of high rainfall and lush natural vegetation, and the plantings are arranged along the banks of a river. At the end of the river is a small but lovely waterfall. In one of the pools we saw a Hawaiian Moorhen, a colorful federally endangered species. We also saw Brazilian cardinals, an introduced species naturalized now in many parts of the state.
Leaving Waimea Falls, we drove up a hilly road to an open meadow overlooking the Pacific. On this hilltop was an ancient Hawaiian sacred site, Pu'u o mahuka Heiau, where sacrifices were offered to the gods and, some speculate, fire signalas exchanged with communities on Kauai, visible on the horizon. Flocks of common waxbills fed on the lawns.
Next we drove through the north tip of Oahu along Rt. 83, passing through an area of wetlands converted to shrimp-farming. In one wet cattle pasture I saw a Hawaiian coot, another endemic species. There were also many cattle egrets in this area, immigrants or imports from Africa. A federal wildlife refuge on the NE shore of Oahu was closed to protect breeding sites for the Hawaiian Black-necked Stilt, an endangered endemic Hawaiian species which I’d seen on Maui during our previous trip. We drove past the Polynesian Cultural Center and the nearby Brigham Young campus, past dramatic Chinaman’s Hat, through Kaneohe and Kailua to Rt. 72, which we followed around the southeast tip of Oahu, past Koko crater and Diamond Head and back into Waikiki. It was an interesting day marred only slightly by several misinterpretations of Hawaiian road signage (which is bizarre, to say the least). It’s also interesting to consider that Oahu has three interstate highways. Go figure! [Hawaiian place names are worth discussion, but I don’t have time for that now. You can get a sense of the issue from the following observation: on Rt 72, approaching Waikiki, we saw a street name that had 6 consecutive vowels. To be fair, the English versions of these names omit the glottal stops, which function as consonants. For example, Hawaii should really be spelled Hawai’i if one is trying to indicate pronunciation .]
We went up to Waimea Falls, management of which had recently been assumed by the Hawaii Audubon Society. This sanctuary has one of the most wonderful botanical gardens I’ve ever seen. It’s not as elegant and orderly as Kew Gardens but it’s extremely impressisve. It’s specialty is the flora of tropical Pacific islands, and it has large sections devoted to the plants of many of the major Pacific island groups, as well as sections organized by taxonomic group (for example, a large area was devoted to Hibiscus evolution and domestication). There were also major sections devoted to ethnobotany and Pacific island agriculture, as well as archeaological remains of ancient Hawaiian villages and reconstructed huts and gardens. My botany colleague, Kristen, could easily spend an entire day or more viewing the plantings. The garden lies within a steep-sided river canyon, in an area of high rainfall and lush natural vegetation, and the plantings are arranged along the banks of a river. At the end of the river is a small but lovely waterfall. In one of the pools we saw a Hawaiian Moorhen, a colorful federally endangered species. We also saw Brazilian cardinals, an introduced species naturalized now in many parts of the state.
Leaving Waimea Falls, we drove up a hilly road to an open meadow overlooking the Pacific. On this hilltop was an ancient Hawaiian sacred site, Pu'u o mahuka Heiau, where sacrifices were offered to the gods and, some speculate, fire signalas exchanged with communities on Kauai, visible on the horizon. Flocks of common waxbills fed on the lawns.
Next we drove through the north tip of Oahu along Rt. 83, passing through an area of wetlands converted to shrimp-farming. In one wet cattle pasture I saw a Hawaiian coot, another endemic species. There were also many cattle egrets in this area, immigrants or imports from Africa. A federal wildlife refuge on the NE shore of Oahu was closed to protect breeding sites for the Hawaiian Black-necked Stilt, an endangered endemic Hawaiian species which I’d seen on Maui during our previous trip. We drove past the Polynesian Cultural Center and the nearby Brigham Young campus, past dramatic Chinaman’s Hat, through Kaneohe and Kailua to Rt. 72, which we followed around the southeast tip of Oahu, past Koko crater and Diamond Head and back into Waikiki. It was an interesting day marred only slightly by several misinterpretations of Hawaiian road signage (which is bizarre, to say the least). It’s also interesting to consider that Oahu has three interstate highways. Go figure! [Hawaiian place names are worth discussion, but I don’t have time for that now. You can get a sense of the issue from the following observation: on Rt 72, approaching Waikiki, we saw a street name that had 6 consecutive vowels. To be fair, the English versions of these names omit the glottal stops, which function as consonants. For example, Hawaii should really be spelled Hawai’i if one is trying to indicate pronunciation .]
# posted by Ken @ 1:34 AM 
