And here we are on Big Island of Hawaii. We’re staying on the Kona side – the dry side, north on the Kohala coast in the Waikoloa Resort Area. Being made of lava, and a lot of that lava recently arrived, what rain that does fall on this side vanishes pretty fast. The lava sucks it up and it runs down toward the ocean, where, at certain areas, fresh water re-appears in ponds and springs. Waikoloa is one of those places. The ancient Hawaiians used and expanded the fresh and brackish ponds to farm fish, as well as access the water for their own use. So, even though we are out in the Kohala Lava Desert, we have a lovely leafy green oasis to enjoy.
The bay here is usually called A Bay. I think even the locals get tired of folding their tongue around the full name ‘Anaehoomalu Bay’. The sign on the highway for the turn-off to the beach is about 18” high and 7’ long! But, it is a nice beach – a big curving crescent of golden sand. The south end is rockier and more treed. And there are a couple of places where you are almost guaranteed to see these guys:
Just a snoozin’ in the sun!
Since we’ve been here the weather has generally been hot and sunny, especially here in the north. Windy, which is not uncommon (some call the resort area WaikaBlowa, after all!) But just before we arrived there had been a long stretch of very high winds, which had warnings and beach closings in place. The beach at A Bay backs onto a series of fresh water fish ponds that are an historic sight. When we were there there was evidence of just how high the waves have been:
The white stuff in the above picture is a pile of sandbags. The picture is looking towards land from the beach, across the pond to the houses on the far side. The sandbags are to keep the sand (and the salt water) out of the ponds. Even though it was late afternoon the sand was, in places, still very wet where the high tide had passed over it. Of course, where there’s a will, there’s a way:
If there’s a scrap of shade – I’ll find it!
All in all, a lovely afternoon at the beach.
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