Old Hawai'i
Apr. 25th, 2012 10:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tiggymalvern
Cultural stuff! Yes, we did some of that too while we were in Hawai'i, and didn't spend the entire time mountain trekking, swimming underwater or drinking the local organic rum and vodka cocktails by the pool.
There are several major petroglyph sites on the Big Island. One of the main ones is in Volcanoes National Park; another site is just north of Kona. There was so much to do in Volcanoes that we skipped the site there, and went to the Puako Petroglyph Archaeological Preserve instead. The petroglyphs are centuries old, and that's about all anyone knows about them. By the time Europeans arrived in Hawai'i and started asking questions, the native Hawai'ians had no idea why they had been carved or what they meant.
The vast majority of the petroglyphs come in stick figure people shapes.
Some of them are carrying things - sticks, spears, bows?
Some of them have too many legs to be convincingly human!
Some are definitely not human - a squid or octopus type thing? Or were the ancient Hawai'ians secret worshippers of the FSM and His Noodly Tentacles?
A stick figure, and something that looks more like one of the Pac-Man ghosts.
There seemed to be more than a hint of the graffiti culture about the petroglyphs, with much overlap and little respect for the hard work of artists gone before.
The stunning (and sunny!) site of the petroglyphs, on flat lava flows below the slopes of a distant volcano.
Gray francolins wandering along the roadside. Like almost all the sea level birds, they're not natives.
To get to the petroglyph site, we drove through a golf course. Golf courses in Hawai'i seem to be favoured sites for those cute but nasty little Asiatic mongeese. What this one had actually seen coming was a pair of golf carts.
Pu'ukohola Heiau National Historic Site. This site holds the remains of the last temple built on Hawai'i. It was constructed in 1790-1 on the orders of King Kamehameha I, who was soon to become the first king to rule over all the Hawai'ian islands. Along with almost all the other temple sites, it was destroyed by his son, who eschewed the old Hawai'an religion.
A rebuilt wooden structure on the temple approach. That nice little cove down the hill behind it with the sandy beach is famous for its black-tipped reef sharks, which love to hang out in the shallow water there. You can stand on the hillside and watch their dorsal fins sticking out of the water. There are signs strongly discouraging people from going paddling.
Oddly enough, just 200 yards further along the coast is Spencer Beach, one of Hawai'i's most famous and popular swimming beaches. Why the sharks all congregate in the one cove and don't stray to the next, only the sharks know.
The vegetation in this part of Hawai'i, which is officially a desert, is rather different from the Hilo side!
Another day, another old temple site, this one a 45 minute drive south of Kona. This site is entirely reconstructed, since everything here was wooden, and destroyed by the son of the first king. Luckily, the first Europeans to arrive had described and drawn it well enough that it could be reproduced reasonably faithfully. Oh, wait, if the Europeans hadn't come and converted people to Christianity, the son might not have destroyed everything.
Anyway, Pu'uhona o Honaunau, or the City of Refuge. Built alongside one of the royal grounds, anyone who broke the kapu (religious laws) could escape execution if they made it to the city of refuge. It sounds like a very generous concept, until you take into account that the kapu included infractions such as a commoner letting their shadow fall upon royal grounds, or women eating certain fish.
Ki'i statues were guardians of the place of refuge.
A konane stone, for playing a game a bit like solitaire.
A green turtle, digging a nest on the beach in the cove. This particular beach is roped off for the turtles, no people allowed.
Another turtle in the edge of the surf.
Saffron finches. Another non-native bird, inevitably, but among the prettiest little things you could hope to see anywhere.
We went to Pu'uhona o Honaunau in the late aftenoon as recommended, because the site looks at its best towards sunset with rich colours and long shadows. Unfortunately, that day was one of the many when cloud banks to the west out at sea considerably diminished the sunset. It still looked dramatic though.
The next cove along from Pu'uhona o Honaunau is not roped off for the turtles, and is one of the best snorkelling sites on the island. Informally known as Two Steps, because of the rocky ledges you walk down to get in the water, it is one of the most amazing snorkelling sites I have seen anywhere in the world. The reef varies from too shallow to swim over to much deeper sections, with an amazing variety and density of fish, swimming turtles, and the biggest parrotfish I have ever seen. We spent a very lazy afternoon there in the sun before our temple visit. It was a gorgeous combination.
There are several major petroglyph sites on the Big Island. One of the main ones is in Volcanoes National Park; another site is just north of Kona. There was so much to do in Volcanoes that we skipped the site there, and went to the Puako Petroglyph Archaeological Preserve instead. The petroglyphs are centuries old, and that's about all anyone knows about them. By the time Europeans arrived in Hawai'i and started asking questions, the native Hawai'ians had no idea why they had been carved or what they meant.
The vast majority of the petroglyphs come in stick figure people shapes.
Some of them are carrying things - sticks, spears, bows?
Some of them have too many legs to be convincingly human!
Some are definitely not human - a squid or octopus type thing? Or were the ancient Hawai'ians secret worshippers of the FSM and His Noodly Tentacles?
A stick figure, and something that looks more like one of the Pac-Man ghosts.
There seemed to be more than a hint of the graffiti culture about the petroglyphs, with much overlap and little respect for the hard work of artists gone before.
The stunning (and sunny!) site of the petroglyphs, on flat lava flows below the slopes of a distant volcano.
Gray francolins wandering along the roadside. Like almost all the sea level birds, they're not natives.
To get to the petroglyph site, we drove through a golf course. Golf courses in Hawai'i seem to be favoured sites for those cute but nasty little Asiatic mongeese. What this one had actually seen coming was a pair of golf carts.
Pu'ukohola Heiau National Historic Site. This site holds the remains of the last temple built on Hawai'i. It was constructed in 1790-1 on the orders of King Kamehameha I, who was soon to become the first king to rule over all the Hawai'ian islands. Along with almost all the other temple sites, it was destroyed by his son, who eschewed the old Hawai'an religion.
A rebuilt wooden structure on the temple approach. That nice little cove down the hill behind it with the sandy beach is famous for its black-tipped reef sharks, which love to hang out in the shallow water there. You can stand on the hillside and watch their dorsal fins sticking out of the water. There are signs strongly discouraging people from going paddling.
Oddly enough, just 200 yards further along the coast is Spencer Beach, one of Hawai'i's most famous and popular swimming beaches. Why the sharks all congregate in the one cove and don't stray to the next, only the sharks know.
The vegetation in this part of Hawai'i, which is officially a desert, is rather different from the Hilo side!
Another day, another old temple site, this one a 45 minute drive south of Kona. This site is entirely reconstructed, since everything here was wooden, and destroyed by the son of the first king. Luckily, the first Europeans to arrive had described and drawn it well enough that it could be reproduced reasonably faithfully. Oh, wait, if the Europeans hadn't come and converted people to Christianity, the son might not have destroyed everything.
Anyway, Pu'uhona o Honaunau, or the City of Refuge. Built alongside one of the royal grounds, anyone who broke the kapu (religious laws) could escape execution if they made it to the city of refuge. It sounds like a very generous concept, until you take into account that the kapu included infractions such as a commoner letting their shadow fall upon royal grounds, or women eating certain fish.
Ki'i statues were guardians of the place of refuge.
A konane stone, for playing a game a bit like solitaire.
A green turtle, digging a nest on the beach in the cove. This particular beach is roped off for the turtles, no people allowed.
Another turtle in the edge of the surf.
Saffron finches. Another non-native bird, inevitably, but among the prettiest little things you could hope to see anywhere.
We went to Pu'uhona o Honaunau in the late aftenoon as recommended, because the site looks at its best towards sunset with rich colours and long shadows. Unfortunately, that day was one of the many when cloud banks to the west out at sea considerably diminished the sunset. It still looked dramatic though.
The next cove along from Pu'uhona o Honaunau is not roped off for the turtles, and is one of the best snorkelling sites on the island. Informally known as Two Steps, because of the rocky ledges you walk down to get in the water, it is one of the most amazing snorkelling sites I have seen anywhere in the world. The reef varies from too shallow to swim over to much deeper sections, with an amazing variety and density of fish, swimming turtles, and the biggest parrotfish I have ever seen. We spent a very lazy afternoon there in the sun before our temple visit. It was a gorgeous combination.
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no subject
Date: 2012-04-27 01:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-27 03:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-28 11:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-27 02:00 pm (UTC)I really like these pictures. Especially OMG THE TURTLES. So cute.
So you can snorkle close to sharks, or is that somewhere else entirely?
no subject
Date: 2012-04-27 03:28 pm (UTC)The snorkelling spot was somewhere else entirely, but there's no reason you couldn't snorkel from Spencer Beach - just don't swim too far to the right!