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I found the above ruins while visiting Kona in Hawaii.  It was a church built in 1861 by the Rev. John D. Paris near  Kahaluu-Keauhou on the island of Kona in Hawaii.  The church was built on the temple used by the natives as a place to worship their gods.  The previous site was  Ohi'amukumuku Heiau .  Heiau, in Hawaiian, means temple or place of worship.  Amukumuku was a warrior that was dishonoured because of his practices in ceremonial battle; the word later came to mean deceitful. The original temple was built prior to 1776 but was fully restored that year as the temple for the war god Kaili as the tribe prepared to go to battle with the natives of Maui.  It was not unusual for human sacrifices to be offered at these locations. The church building and pastor brought Christianity to the region and building on the original site would irradicate any visible heritage left over from the old ways.  The building itself was made of lava rocks (basalt).  The mortar came from coral that

Photographed on Oahu at the Polynesian Cultural Center Before humans showed up, Hawaii had exactly 1 native species of lizard.  That's not too surprising, given that Hawaii is almost 2500 km from the nearest continent.  It is understandable how birds and fish could make the trip, and even some mammals (1 bat and 1 seal species), but many terrestrial lifeforms could not survive the crossing, save mankind. There is one species of lizard endemic to Hawaii, the Azure-tailed skink (click here to see more), which is now largely extinct.  The species was thought to be extinct but has since been rediscovered along ocean cliffs on Hamakua. This happened in 2017. Since our arrival, the number of established breeding lizard populations has gone from 1 to 19 and counting.  You can see the list of non-endemic lizards in the image below.  I have seen three of these species. I saw at least three individuals of the brown anole and a few of the gold dust day gecko (click here to see my blog on that

The banded coral shrimp, sometimes called the banded cleaner shrimp, is a small, colourful crustacean that lives in warm waters around the world and can be found in popular diving places such as Hawaii and the Caribbean.  They form mutualistic relationships with numerous fish species that allow them to clean them of ectoparasites.  The shrimp are rarely found alone and work in groups, setting up cleaning stations where vertebrates may come and be relieved of burdensome invertebrates. What I found even more interesting was that these cleaner shrimp will also remove dead tissue from injuries that facilitates healing in the wounded fish.  The shrimp will willingly inspect all outward parts of the host fish and will also examine the gills, mouth, and oral cavities.  They will remove food stuck in the mouth as well, functioning somewhat like a living toothpick. The cleaner shrimp tend to be nocturnal, hiding in darkened areas (often coral) until evening when they emerge to feed.  They are p

A windy day at the bow of the Ruby Princess It was a formal evening aboard the Ruby Princess and I wanted to take some photos of my wife, Kathryn.  I have many of her, so I thought that today would be good to do something different.   It was windy out, and the charging ship increased the relative wind speed to near gale proportions.  As we approached the front of the craft, her hair started to fly wildly all about.  This was the place. On manual exposure mode with a low ISO, I set my 24-70 mm lens to its highest focal length and its lowest aperture (f/4).  The day's brightness required that I shoot at 1/600th of a second, too fast for the external flash I was using.  So I turned on the high-speed-synch (HSS) feature on my camera so the flash would fire continuously through the exposure. Given the blustery nature of the day, I knew that a single photo wouldn't be enough.  I took quite a few shots; you can see some of them on either side of the central image.  Of them all, one tu

A worker cleaning the Grand Hall at 3:00 in the morning I salute the hard working men and women of the cruise line industry.  They come from all over the world, each one looking to find work, possibly a career, and to help both themselves and their families have better lives.  It isn't easy, and many have to work long hours and are isolated from the passengers and passenger-areas aboard the ships.  They don't partake of the luxuries experienced by the guests and have a limited amount of free time.  But most of them wouldn't trade it for any other job they have ever had. I was photographing the Grand Hall aboard the Ruby Princess early in the morning before the place was crowded with guests.  While there, I met a gentleman cleaning floors and took some shots of him, asking permission first.  I also got quite a few photos of the hall itself without people; I used my 14-30 mm ultra-wide angle lens on a full-frame camera to get the three-story plaza in my viewfinder. As a teach

Lori with the first known baseball (left) and a Polynesian warrior (right) When the Polynesians arrived in Hawaii around 1200 AD, little did they know that they would soon be credited with the invention of baseball.   Besides chickens, the natives brought breadfruit plants with them.  The fruit grows to be quite large, up to 6 kg, but harvested early, the small fruit is hard and fits conveniently in your hand.  This was only one component of what was needed to complete the tools needed for the sport. The second component was, of course, the bat.  The Polynesian boy is shown holding a traditional  Niho Lei-o-Mano war club carved from Kao trees.  Popular for its ability to dissuade uninvited suitors from visiting daughters, it also had the ability to launch a hand-sized breadfruit a considerable distance.  It didn't take long before the breadfruit (bf) ball and club bat became well acquainted. Catching the bf ball was somewhat difficult; the course rind could cut up your hand should