Wild Bamboo Orchids...again...

This will be the second time I have posted about the bamboo orchids that grow wild in Puna Hawaii, but they are so prevalent and so pretty! I just get a tickle out of seeing fields of these lovely "exotic" flowers growing wild :)

They seem to prefer more open land and land that has good drainage, I have seen them happily growing in basically lava rock. There is quite a variety as well, some are almost completely white, a few have the entire neck in purple and occasionally you find a color variation, like more blue to the purple or more red. And they are available for purchase through http://gardenexotica.com/products.htm

Red Hibiscus...

Some times you see something so intense it just grabs and holds your attention...the red of this Hibiscus was so striking against the deep green of the Hawaiian jungle that I just had to take a shot :) This Hibiscus lives in Fern Acres, a subdivision in the Puna District of the Big Island of Hawaii.

Wild Bamboo Orchids in Leilani Estates Hawaii...

This gorgeous Bamboo Orchid is growing wild (And thriving!) alongside the roadway in Leilani Estates (Hawaii/Big Island/Puna District). It always amazes me what we consider "wildflowers" in Hawaii :)

Sea Cave...

This is the beginning of a sea cave developing off the shore line in Lower Puna, the pink color on the rocks is a algae growth and it is especially preferred by the local variety of Opihi, a edible mollusk that is a tradition Luau food in Hawaii.

In The Curl...

This is the view from one of my favorite beach parks located at the end of a subdivision named Hawaiian Shores in the Puna District...for some reason the weather is almost always grand in this area and you can stand right on the cliff walls over the ocean & feel the ground shake from the waves crashing onto the rocky shore below.

Oftentimes you can see whales just off shore as the ocean deepens pretty quickly here. But you never see surfers taking advantage of the gorgeous curls as the coast line is incredibly treacherous with lots of partially hidden rocks.

But the Opihi (edible mussels) love the constant wash of water and they are abundant, probably because they are fairly protected from being over harvested due to the danger of getting to them!

This is a closer view of the curl just starting to barrel, check out that reflection (maybe it is bubbles? Or maybe it is a leviathan coming up from the deep ;))

Very fun afternoon, great place to grab lunch & 30 minutes for a perspective break...& lovely at sunset as you get the reflected sunset colors on the ocean clouds, & a nice fresh trade wind usually comes in at dusk. You could almost imagine you can hear the whales singing to each other...

I'm a Rock, I'm a Rock, I'm a Rock...

Can you see him? It's a little Kama'ana crab pretending to be a rock! He does a pretty good job of it to!

If you still cant see him...he is just to the left of the center, right at the tip of the large light grey stone...you can just see his pincers folded up in front of him.

I took this photo with my zoom in pretty bright light, I wasn't sure I even caught this guy until I got the camera home and put the photos up on the computer. He is a little smaller than a ladies palm.

This was taken at Punas' Warm ponds, a sheltered inlet where the natural volcanic thermal action warms the ocean water just enough to take the chill off, completely delightful!