Friday, Mar 7, 2008

Aloha from Laniakea Beach

I had honu duty this morning. When the other volunteer and I got there, there weren't any honu on the beach and that was a first for me. So we just stood in the shade and watched the people watching the honu swimming around in the surf. If there are people at the water's edge, the honu won't come out, so we finally had to put the red rope out in an arc so they would have a clear space to climb onto the beach. But before we did that, I managed to get a few shots of one honu swimming around.

It's so fun watching the expressions on the people whey they first see the turtles, and then when one is coming or going, everyone gets so excited. The whole time I was there this morning there were only two honu on the beach, and one didn't stay very long.



Before this big guy decided to leave, I managed to get a bunch of good shots, but I'll bore you with only this one.

And there he goes, back into his playground.

The other volunteer that was on early-shift duty with me is from NJ, and she's almost done with a 7 week stay on Oahu. We seemed to get along really well, so when we were getting ready to leave I asked her if she would like to stop in Haleiwa for a "shave ice". Haleiwa is a small, historic town not too far from the turtle beach. There are a bunch of galleries, shops & restaurants there, and many places that make shave ice. But this one "general store" has the best. Shave ice is like a snow cone, but the ice is shaved instead of like it is in a snowcone. You can get up to three different flavors and you can get a scoop of home-made vanilla ice-cream in the bottom if you want. Is that even something one would have to think about? Very yummy.

This is Maryann with her shave ice.

After leaving Haleiwa, I stopped at the Dole Plantation for the first time since arriving here. I didn't get a pineapple ice cream because I had already had my treat, but I wandered around the shop and the grounds and got a few pictures.

There were a couple of these sign posts, but I thought this one was particularly interesting with the Antarctica arrow. I guess that's just in case one is getting tired of the 80 degree weather and feels the need to experience a change in climate for a while.