Lanai

We just got back from Lana'i. Would you like to see some pictures?



After this, we only have one more Hawaiian island to visit (Moloka'i) before we've seen all of the inhabited ones (unless you count Niihau, which is generally off limits, but Guy wants to go). Small and rather undeveloped, Lana'i is not a popular destination but we've had it on the to-do list for years.



These pictures are from Fisherman's Trail, near Hulopo'e Beach, on Manele Bay, where there is a Four Seasons, which is where we stayed.



I thought I took some pictures of the resort, but apparently not. Or, only with my phone. Well, it was nice. But I guess it's gonna be shuttered soon, for a year, for renovations. Manele Bay has some of the best snorkeling I've evern done in Hawaii. I saw lots of colorful fish.



I woke up for the sunrise every day.



It looked like this.





We rented a jeep for Lanai's backroads (most of the roads are backroads).



Hurricane Ana cruised by 100 miles south the day before we arrived. Roads were muddy.



We made the most of it. This is part of the Kanepuu Preserve, a remnant patch of dry lowland forest.



After that, the road passes through Keahi a Kawelo, the Garden of the Gods, a moonscape on the island's north.



The vegetation seems relatively sparse here for Hawaii, even for a dry region.











Off in the other direction, we visited Shipwreck Beach.



Named for the wreck of an unnamed concrete-built oil tanker purposefully run aground on the reefs here by the U.S. military as a cheap way of disposing of it.



Crazy, huh? I'm glad we don't dispose of things like this so much anymore.





The beach itself was nice, and there are some ancient Hawaiian petroglyphs nearby, but we didn't see them.



We always stop at cemeteries.







Like Kauai, Lanai has been extensively planted with Cook Island Pine (Araucaria columnaris). I read 1) this is part of reforestation effort (since the island was extensively cleared for pineapple crop production?), and 2) this has been going on since the early 1900s.



There are no signs of Lanai's pineapple past. The pineapple plants grown here only lived for a few years, I was told.





A rather dark roadside shot, I have no where else to put:



And a farewell shot.

Beach Day

This is our last day on the island. I have some stray pictures to put up when I get home. We're beginning to feel Kauai is like a second home for us. We've stayed at the same resort four times since 2003. We even looked at some condos. I don't know how that would work for me, without having any of my own garden space. We're years away from buying anything here, if ever, so the concern is not immediate. I often feel a kind of tropical over-load when we're here for a week, but I'm not really having that now. In fact, I feel like gardening.

Anyway, yesterday was a beach day. We went to Molokea just south of Kilauea (the town in Kauai, not the volcano on the Big Island) looking for tidepools. We weren't the only people there, but we were close to being the only people there.
















This beach was too rocky and rough for my meager swimming skills. I spent most of my beach time in the shallow waters off Kapa’a, rarely going out farther than I could stand up if I needed to--a meaningless insurance policy, I know how unpredictable the ocean can be. Still, no harm has come to me.

Na 'Āina Kai Botanical Garden

We saw many nice things in this garden, but I am not prepared to deliver any kind of organized presentation. If you have specific questions, I might be able to help you in the comments. Otherwise, please visit the garden's website.

















I'm always quite enchanted by "vines" on trees. At home I have climbing Rosa 'Moonlight' in my Ceanothus and passionvines in my Tibouchina. Of course this look, with Philodendron, wouldn't work in San Francisco.



It already seems like we have every manner of palm in the Bay Area (the palm map takes a few minutes to fully load), but I suppose we aren't quite there yet.











I also enjoyed touring this garden's extensive hardwood plantation.





Topping the trees thickens the trunks.





Apparently, this baby albatross hangs out in this spot all day long, waiting for his parents to get home from work, hundreds of miles away, quite indifferent to all the human visitors passing by. I used my camera to zoom in, of course.



Solandra maxima. Rarely seen in San Francisco but this woody climbs redwoods and eucalyptus in Golden Gate Park. (More common seen in Southern California where it's a-not-too-uncommon landscaping plant.)



Cotton. California grows enormous quantities of cotton. Ridiculous! Agriculture claims most of the state's water (subsidized, of course) while the rest of us live in perpetual drought.







Cotton is a mallow, in case you didn't know.



I had no idea there was another Monstera besides M. deliciosa. This is M. acuminata. I think it's kinda creepy.



I wish I'd taken more (better) pictures of it.



Strongylodon macrobotrys. I think the Logees catalog is the closest I've ever gotten to this plant before now. The vine covered the entire swing-gazebo, but there were only a few flowers.



I'm not sure what this vine is but it had as much flower as leaf.



From the other side, with flash.



The only plant I really want: Plectranthus ambonicus. A succulent-leafed, extremely fragrant oregano. Not a great looker, but I WANT SOME.