JANUARY 2018

JANUARY ON KAUAI - SPACE, FAUNA, FLORA

                The New Year came in with a whimper as we were both under the flu influence.  No party.  Did catch the new moon.  And since January had two full moons, the second was considered a blue moon on January 31.  But since there was an eclipse, too, I got a shot of it as a blood moon!  We hadn’t bothered to set the alarm because we were due for thunderstorms all night (ie, clouds).  But Gil happened to get up and Voila!  There she was.

 New Year New moon

Super Blue Blood Moon  3:45am January 31

Ballistic Missiles and Rain

                Speaking of thunderstorms, we had our fair share of disaster warnings while the rest of the country was buried in snow or mud.  By now everyone has seen the hoax or fumble or goof or fake alert we got in Hawaii.  Gil and I kissed each other goodbye and then went to Costco to get groceries.  It only took 40 minutes for the follow-up never mind alert.  We remembered the County Civil Defense Alert from January 2011 that told everyone “the sky is falling.” 

                Given all that, I was slightly surprised that people here were really distressed over the missile warning.  We have a nuclear siren that practices on the first of the month (right after the tsunami siren), it did not go off.  So, I guess the numbnuts in the White House bantering about his button being bigger played a large part in the fear factor.  We also have the real Pacific Missile Range over on the west side that could be a target.  While they do conduct underwater sonic testing that kills marine animals that have the gift/curse of echo locution (whales and dolphins), the facility is very good at denial and/or siting the fallout as “acceptable collateral damage.”  

                In any case, it’s been a good life for us – if it were to blip off the screen there are worse ways to go.  Alohaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.  

Missile incoming

Never mind

                 But as life does go on, we are still in for our winter deluge and frequent flash flood warnings (sometimes even on bright sun shiny days).

Flash flood warnings usually mean the road is closed to Hanalei.  You don't want to be on the wrong side from your home.  

But when the clouds break, oh my!  Four miles away, that is a lot of water

ANINI BEACH

                The days are getting longer, thank goodness.  Gil’s paddling is confined to the river due to the big winter waves on the north shore but he has been doing one man races and fun runs on the east side, happy to be out of the flu blues.  I’ve made it to Anini a couple times in a neoprene shirt; the 74°water is chilly.  Clarity varies but the fish are just so darn cute.

Big male honu 

               I saw nine turtles this day, little ones, medium to large females and this big ol’ male (yeah, you can tell by the tail, he hooks it under the female carapace while mating so she doesn’t slip away like a watermelon seed).

The clouds rolled in, time to head in

Rainbow from shore

                A couple weeks later I forgot the camera and swam with two small eagle rays in super clear water.  When I went back a couple weeks after that it wasn’t quite so clear but found one of them! 

Spotted Eagle Ray 

They can be up to 10 feet’ across but this guy was more like 24” tip to tip

                Coming back in I spotted the largest Gurnard I have ever seen, over 12.”  He was hunting – using his fins to scratch up the sand. 

Oriental Flying Gurnard 

The Hawaiian name is pinau (pee-now) that also means dragonfly

Just enjoying the light playing around in the shallow shore water, this little flounder swam under me.  He stopped dead-still to do his I’m invisible trick.

Water/sand

Panther Flounder - about 8” - now that is good camo

MOLI Report
               So I reported two Albatross nests at Spindrift last post.  Not likely they would both make it due to not enough adults to incubate two, let alone feed them if hatched.  (Last year second chick hatched but starved).  I made a run to see who, what, where, when. Sadly the first mate had to abandon the egg or starve.  Second mate, with the help of male, has a healthy chick.  Sas thing to witness the strange anomaly every year.




Second mate hatched, should grow into healthy bird

SUNSET AT THE REFUGE

                I got a fun message to join volunteers at Kilauea Point Wildlife Refuge for a “weed and feed.”  We went in after the public access closed and removed vines out of the naupaka before the Wedgetail Shearwater birds return to burrow and nest on the hillsides.  I get a kick out of working on the other side of the fence – this time literally.

                While I saw two whale spouts on my way in, I didn’t have time to look for them non-stop. It was beautiful to watch the sky and water late in the day between the vine challenges. 

The male boobies were being sent off by female nest makers for materials to add

                After weeding, there was the "feed," a lovely spread of cheese, crackers, etc. and non-alcoholic cocktails prepared for us by refuge staff and nibbled while they collected up the green waste along the fence.

Fabulous rays

All creatures, great and small.