Round the Island Tour v 2.0

I took Breanna to breakfast at Café Morey's this morning; it was the start to our day of touring the island. It is also about a 30 minute walk from where she lives so provides an alternate venue for breakfast after a walk around Lēʻahi. Breanna had Plain Pancakes & I had the Smoked Salmon & Avo Egg Benedict. While we waited for our meal to arrive we thumbed through the book, Driving & Discovering Hawaiʻi: Oʻahu; this book is what makes this tour Version 2.0.

The selfie corner.

Other than the fries, I liked the Smoked Salmon & Avo Egg Benedict.

There were some really aggressive House Sparrows (Passer domesticus) hopping inside Café Morey's; the windows swing wide open & allow the breezes to blow right through. It's almost like sitting outdoors. Even with us sitting at the table the House Sparrows would try to come up & steal food. When the couple behind us left, they swooped in to see what they could get before the wait staff came to clear the table. Fortunately, with COVID-19 clean-up protocols, the tables are disinfected between customers.

Scavenging at the newly vacated table.

I am sitting in the chair right next to this bird.

I had to park about a block away from Café Morey's because they have a small parking lot. As we were walking to the car I noticed one of the street trees; it was a false kou (Cordia sebestena). The reason I noticed it was because of the width of the planting strip that it was located in; it was about 1 foot wide. That is about 2 feet narrower than the current minimum width for the planting strip when the Citizen Foresters groups are assessing potential tree planting sites. We would not even give that strip a 1st look now. And if you look more closely at the tree you will see why, it's roots are being restricted by the planting area which is affecting its health; there are few branches & leaves.

We drove around the island counterclockwise; just like I did with Janice. Our 1st stop was the Lānaʻi lookout; it was such a calm day there was very little wave action on the Kaiwi Channel so we could easily see Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi, & Maui! We also saw Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in the channel spouting; just like when I was there with Janice. This time there were a few others who were also paying attention & watching the whales. We also stopped at Hālona Point (Blowhole) but because there was not much wave action it wasn't "blowing" like it was when Janice was here. then we headed up towards Waimānalo.

From Hālona Point looking across Kaiwi Channel.

We continued on our trip, driving through Kailua & Kāneʻohe. We passed the Heʻeia Fishpond & stopped to get the Sweet Lady of Waiahole at the Waiahole Poi Factory; but we did not see them pounding poi today. We continued on up the coast past Kualoa; Breanna thought she might like to return with her friends to do the movie tour at Kualoa Ranch. On the way to Haleʻiwa we passed by the famous surf break known as Pipeline where the 2nd day of the Billabong Pipemasters competition was taking place; it was packed with parked cars, drivers in cars looking for parking, & pedestrians not paying attention to moving cars. Auē!  Once in Haleiwa, we stopped at M. Matsumoto Shave Ice. Breanna had the Matsumoto's Combo with mochi balls & I had the Tropical Combo with adzuki & li hing powder; I forgot to take photos of our shave ice.

Adding the syrups to the Tropical Combo.

After Haleiwa we headed back to town down the center of the island. The last place on our tour was the Nuʻuanu Pali Lookout. When I pointed out to Breanna the places that we had seen earlier in the day she was amazed at how far we had traveled today; we weren't even seeing half of the distance we had driven along. 

Even with all the driving we did today, we were able to avoid overlapping all except 1 block of our previous travel route. That was near the end of our trip as we approached the condo to drop Breanna off. I think that was an efficient tour!

Speaking of whales, yesterday was the 1st day of the 2022 whale counting season. Because of COVID-19, only the regular observers were counting; volunteers are on hold as they assess the outbreak situation.
Data was collected at 45 sites in the main Hawaiian Islands; the highest count was 278 between 9 to 9:15 a.m. For Hawai;i Island, O'ahu, & Kaua'i there were 33 sites where data was collected; the highest number observed was 163 between 8:30 to 8:45 a.m. On Maui, which has the highest concentration of humpback whales in the main islands, data was collected at 12 sites; there were 122 whales seen between 9 to 9:15 a.m. I hope COVID-19 numbers drop enough that volunteers will again be allowed to assist with counting in February & March.

During the early evening news they had a piece about a warning siren going off in Hilo today. This is the siren that goes off to warn of incoming tsunami, hurricanes, or missiles from North Korea or other parts of the world. On the late evening news they said the maintenance people found evidence that there was a short that was caused by either a cockroach or a lizard getting fried! So calm down, no incoming missiles.

 

Our diverse population is the subject of another study; the University of Hawai'i Cancer Center is receiving a 5-year National Institutes for Health grant to develop an algorithm to predict how a person will respond to food & dietary patterns. They will be using advanced technological tools to aid in better understanding eating behaviors & the diet-disease relationship; they hope to develop dietary intervention programs. 

It looks like Kīlauea is going through another pause phase with lowered lava activity; it was looking rather cool & quiet today. Mauna Kea was also looking "cool" with a lot of snow still on the ground.

At 4:52 p.m.

At 4:52 p.m.

At 4:52 p.m.

Astronomy in Hawai'i employs over 1300 people & injects about $221 billion in to the economy; this is about the same amount that farming in the State generates. It is one of the few economic sectors not related to tourism or the military; it provides some diversification to our economy.

The Aix weather app forecast partly cloudy skies all day for Honolulu; it was accurate. For Kapaʻau, Aix forecast drizzles through mid-afternoon, followed by partly cloudy skies until late evening when the drizzles would return; Big Island Now forecast mostly sunny with isolated showers & a 20% chance of rain. The Honomū weather station did not record any precipitation all day. For Marysville, Aix forecast rain all day with the heatviest rain in the early evening; in the traffic cam photo it looked like the roadway was wet but it did not appear to be actively raining.

Kaimukī looking northerly at 8:24 a.m.

Waikīkī looking easterly at 4:48 p.m.

Kaimukī looking westerly at 4:50 p.m.

Honomū looking northerly at 4:50 p.m.

Marysville looking southerly at 4:51 p.m. HST.

The high surf has been decreasing below advisory levels on all shorelines. The north facing & west facing shorelines had the best conditions.

I donʻt do anything different but I occasionally get this error message.

Hilo Bay (E) at 4:47 p.m.

Waikīkī (S) at 4:48 p.m.

Banyans (W) at 4:49 p.m.

There were 2741 new cases of COVID-19 reported today, bringing the total known cases up to 217,775. There were also 7 new deaths reported, increasing the number of fatalities to 1180; currently there are 44,651 cases considered active. The 7-day new case average for the State is 2154; for Oʻahu the 7-day new case average is 1356.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Jennie, Sarah, & Kevin!