KONA TRADES
Kohala
Hawai'i, the Big Island, 20 degrees north of the Equator, the southernmost of the Islands. The Northeast Trades bring clouds and abundant moisture to the Hilo side of the Island. But the enormous medial spine of the island, the twin towers of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, picks off almost all the moisture, leaving he Kona Coast a dry, nearly desert landscape. Kohala, the Kona Trades, brings a unique feel, a unique texture to the island's breezes...
Sunrise on the Kona Coast, Ke'oke'o, morning clouds over Mauna Kea, and the Great Spine of Hawai"i. Sunrise golds, yellows, with butter and canary halos are all in play on the bay's surface.
hikana
The near waters of the northwest coast. The spring storms have, more the most part, missed the Big Island; however, the weather is over there, across the Alenuihaha Channel. Maui is somewhere beneath and behind those clouds...
holoholokai
Returning at sunset, the horizon falling away. Kai now becomes Moana, the great sea beyond the horizon. Kohala is less energetic, the peace of nightfall setting in as I walk the beach, kahakai. The island fragrance is somehow more noticeable with the dropping breeze.
holoholokai, later...
Even with a cloudless sky there is something about sunset in the tropics... From its near-equinox position the sun's light seems to explode across the horizon, its colors manifest as though passed through a prism...
waikola sunset
There is something, maybe everything to be said about returning to the same place at different times, even on the same or successive days. There is something about this sky that draws me in, keeps me rooted, waiting...
evening moods
And here it comes....
The upper level becomes better defined. Thunderheads start to develop below.
The sky, away from the lowering sun, lights up, colors play.
Patience is not my long suit, but I am developing it...
evening Moods II
Another morning, another reality encountered. The sky is more vibrant than the day before, but the water less so; deeper gold, butterscotch and medallion shimmering between the gentle ripples on the bay's surface.
paua bay
Narrow bands of low black clouds, undersides variably illuminated by the setting sun... A hugely-textured evening sky. Even the normally raucous topical birds sit quietly in the trees and on the roof lines, it is a spectacular show.
'ele'ele
Lani, now the evening sky. There are low clouds on the western horizon, but otherwise nothing to detract from the enormous sky and the gathering night. Just the tiniest reflection of setting light on the water...
lani
Good evening... The last evening before leaving the Islands. It is a good evening. We come here perhaps too infrequently. There is a call on the Kohala, maybe not strong enough to call me back forever, but strong enough to make me want to return soon...
aloha ahiahi
Standing near the southernmost point in the fifty states, my gaze remains westward, toward the setting sun. The vast western Pacific is out there; my thoughts on the extraordinary navigational skills and courage that brought the First Peoples to the islands.
komohana
Standing at water's edge, in the moment. The breeze soft, felt. The birdsong falling with the night. The only sound now the meeting of land and sea as a new set of waves arrive .
I'll return to the Islands again. Until then...