Wednesday, March 01, 2006
From Puuhonua o Honaunauto Muana Lani: February 28
Today we awoke to find another large cruise ship, the Norwegian Wind, anchored off Kailua. After an early breakfast we drove south about 10 miles to Keauhou, where we joined 4 other people on a zodiac-type vessel captained by a young man from Portland, OR. He led us northward at top speed, bouncing off the swells, stopping only to view several humpback whales spouting in the distance. We eventually made our way into Honaunau Bay, by the ancient “City of Refuge” (Puuhonua O Honaunau), where those who had transgressed against the strict laws of Hawaiian society were able find immunity from capital punishment if they had the stamina and wit to get there before the king’s agents could capture them. This bay had wonderful snorkeling, with extensive healthy coral, scores of species of brightly colored, bizarrely shaped fish, and several green sea turtles. I also saw a deep green Crown-of-Thorns starfish, a very large starfish that in other locations causes serious damage to coral polyps; here, apparently, the starfish population is stable and causes none of the problems associated with it in other parts of the Pacific.
After about an hour at this location, we were taken a mile north to Kealakekua Bay, an exceptionally well sheltered cove that is bordered by vertical cliffs whose walls plunge steeply into the sea, so that shallow corals grow within twenty feet of the water’s edge but fall off into steep coral walls. Only a hundred feet beyond the water’s edge, the water may be a thousand feet deep. This reef, too, swarmed with diverse fish of every imaginable combination of bright colors arrayed in unimaginable patterns, and here we saw a large octopus and watched as a large predaceous jack (a blue trevaly) rocketed through schools of slow-moving reef fish, looking for a meal. According to our guide, this bay had once been called Golden Bay by airplane pilots, who could see large schools of yellow tang in its waters. We snorkeled at the base of the British memorial to Capt. James Cook, who died here on February 14, 1779 in an altercation with native Hawaiians. I didn’t take my camera on the boat, but here’s a link to someone else’s photo of this site. Large fish are swimming within a foot or two of the base of this memorial.
As we returned by boat to Keauhou, we paused to watch a young humpback dive nearby. We thoroughly enjoyed snorkeling at the two sites reputed to offer the best coral and most rewarding snorkeling on the Big Island, and we all managed to hang on to our craft as it hurtled back to home base.
Back at the Castle Coral Reef, we ate lunch on the patio outside our window, facing the sea. A couple of green anoles entertained us.
After lunch, we drove north to an old Hawaiian fish pond within the borders of Kaloko-Honokohau National Historic Park, just south of the Kona Airport. The old Hawaiians practiced aquaculture in natural shoreline ponds, reinforcing their walls and placed wooden gratings at their outlets to the sea. Small fish could enter, but once they’d grown larger they couldn’t squeeze through the wood bars and were trapped in the pond, where they were kept until maturity for harvest. The National Park Service maintains this pond, which is an important spot for waterfowl, including the endangered Hawaiian Black-necked Stilt,, the only shorebird species to breed in Hawaii. All other Hawaiian shorebirds, including the abundant wandering tattler, are migrants who breed elsewhere. At this pond we got terrific views of several Hawaiian Black-necked Stilts, and I’ve included several photos of this charismatic and elegant bird. Here also we saw more yellow-billed cardinals, one of the few cardinal species in which there is no head crest. We also saw a mongoose feeding from a trash can. We’ve seen mongooses (mongeese?) almost every day since we arrived in Hawaii.
Leaving Honokohua, we drove still further northward across the arid lava-covered landscape, to the Muana Lani resort on the coast. Here we walked a long path to the beach and found another fish-pond. Here, at the outlet pool, we found two moray eels, a boxfish, and many other smaller fish. In the main pond, mullets were jumping. On some rocks in shallow ocean water a green sea turtle rested on some exposed rocks. On the irrigated lawns of the resort we saw more saffron finches, Japanese white-eyes, yellow-billed cardinals, and several chicken-like Gray Francolin. In the early evening, as we drove back to our condo in Kailua, we saw several feral goats browsing near a roadsite rest-stop. Feral goats, though admirably resourceful animals, are, like pigs, a major nemesis for Hawaii conservationists. By the time we’d finished strolling the resort beach area, we were fatigued and hungry, and ready for dinner and a nap. With that goal in mind, we returned to Kailua.
After about an hour at this location, we were taken a mile north to Kealakekua Bay, an exceptionally well sheltered cove that is bordered by vertical cliffs whose walls plunge steeply into the sea, so that shallow corals grow within twenty feet of the water’s edge but fall off into steep coral walls. Only a hundred feet beyond the water’s edge, the water may be a thousand feet deep. This reef, too, swarmed with diverse fish of every imaginable combination of bright colors arrayed in unimaginable patterns, and here we saw a large octopus and watched as a large predaceous jack (a blue trevaly) rocketed through schools of slow-moving reef fish, looking for a meal. According to our guide, this bay had once been called Golden Bay by airplane pilots, who could see large schools of yellow tang in its waters. We snorkeled at the base of the British memorial to Capt. James Cook, who died here on February 14, 1779 in an altercation with native Hawaiians. I didn’t take my camera on the boat, but here’s a link to someone else’s photo of this site. Large fish are swimming within a foot or two of the base of this memorial.
As we returned by boat to Keauhou, we paused to watch a young humpback dive nearby. We thoroughly enjoyed snorkeling at the two sites reputed to offer the best coral and most rewarding snorkeling on the Big Island, and we all managed to hang on to our craft as it hurtled back to home base.
Back at the Castle Coral Reef, we ate lunch on the patio outside our window, facing the sea. A couple of green anoles entertained us.
After lunch, we drove north to an old Hawaiian fish pond within the borders of Kaloko-Honokohau National Historic Park, just south of the Kona Airport. The old Hawaiians practiced aquaculture in natural shoreline ponds, reinforcing their walls and placed wooden gratings at their outlets to the sea. Small fish could enter, but once they’d grown larger they couldn’t squeeze through the wood bars and were trapped in the pond, where they were kept until maturity for harvest. The National Park Service maintains this pond, which is an important spot for waterfowl, including the endangered Hawaiian Black-necked Stilt,, the only shorebird species to breed in Hawaii. All other Hawaiian shorebirds, including the abundant wandering tattler, are migrants who breed elsewhere. At this pond we got terrific views of several Hawaiian Black-necked Stilts, and I’ve included several photos of this charismatic and elegant bird. Here also we saw more yellow-billed cardinals, one of the few cardinal species in which there is no head crest. We also saw a mongoose feeding from a trash can. We’ve seen mongooses (mongeese?) almost every day since we arrived in Hawaii.
Leaving Honokohua, we drove still further northward across the arid lava-covered landscape, to the Muana Lani resort on the coast. Here we walked a long path to the beach and found another fish-pond. Here, at the outlet pool, we found two moray eels, a boxfish, and many other smaller fish. In the main pond, mullets were jumping. On some rocks in shallow ocean water a green sea turtle rested on some exposed rocks. On the irrigated lawns of the resort we saw more saffron finches, Japanese white-eyes, yellow-billed cardinals, and several chicken-like Gray Francolin. In the early evening, as we drove back to our condo in Kailua, we saw several feral goats browsing near a roadsite rest-stop. Feral goats, though admirably resourceful animals, are, like pigs, a major nemesis for Hawaii conservationists. By the time we’d finished strolling the resort beach area, we were fatigued and hungry, and ready for dinner and a nap. With that goal in mind, we returned to Kailua.
# posted by Ken @ 2:06 AM 
