We spent the day on January 25 at Lydgate Park, always a lovely place to enjoy the water and aquatic life in a safe snorkeling/swimming area. It is just as well we chose that day, because two days later a dead 56-foot-long, 120,000-pound endangered sperm whale washed on the shore of Lydgate Beach. Ceremonial customs and public safety prompted closure of the park, which as of January 30th still is closed. Meanwhile the University of Hawai'i Health and Stranding Lab have began a preliminary investigation into the whale's death.
We also re-visited Grove Farm outside of Lihue, so Laura could see some of the island history. The German immigrant, Hermann A. Widemann (1822–1899), started one of the first sugar plantations in Hawaii in 1854. Removing a large grove of kukui trees, Wildeman began his home and farm, which then was called the Grove Farm.
Widemann leased Grove Farm to his farm manager George Norton Wilcox (1839–1933) in November 1864, and moved to Honolulu to work in the capital as a Supreme Court judge. Wilcox would later buy the plantation, where it remained in his family for over 100 years. He built the lovely buildings, and also engineered an irrigation system to bring water from the mountains to the lower elevations to change his arid farm into a thriving sugar plantation. The tour (donated $20/person to the non-profit restoring this portion of the Farm) takes about 2.5 hours and is quite informative and entertaining. Bill was our tour docent, and he was very knowledgeable.
Friday the 27th found us traveling to Waimea Canyon. This vast eroded canyon rises from the sea at Waimea and up to over 4000 feet at its highest lookout point. Sweeping views back to the sea at Waimea, many lovely waterfalls, followed by other majestic views down to the southern sea filled the day.
On Saturday the 28th, we visited the Kilauea Lighthouse followed by a drive through Princeville to locate the nesting Albatrosses on Kaweonui Road. This was a birding day, and thoroughly lovely!
Lighthouse images:
Laura also saw whales off the Lighthouse, and caught several tail slaps, including this one, likely a juvenile.
Then, the Princeville Albatrosses:
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