Geckos, Vistas, Malasadas, and Tourist Morons (13 FEB 2009)

Aloha again,

on our drive to the new house, we ran into this fella:


Bakery Gecko (feasting on crumbs, but not ours):



And this fella:


Bakery Birdz (also feasting on crumbs, but also not ours):



Malasadas - a Portugese delicacy that Hawaii, thankfully, has wholeheartedly adopted. We stop for some and show you the 'flavas'. We also point out why you just might want to arrive here via Mustang instead of a Megabus. And then a little Hawaiian vocabulary and some steel guitar and other sweet sounds:



Then a stop at a volcanic (a.k.a. black) sand beach. It is always very beautiful here, even on a relatively blustery day like today:


And may we suggest being mindful of 'the high waterline'? Here, it's just three Hawaiian guys fishing, so in this case, no worries:


However, in this particular and very beautiful place you ALWAYS encounter at least a dozen completely imbecil tourons (tourist-morons) perfectly epitomizing numbnut touron behavior and thus automatically justifying the application of the 'touron' label to them as they blatantly and repeatedly and in open daylight continue to violate a very important Hawaiian State Law (though common sense behavior - showing the honu a little pono - would obviously omit the need for such a law at all). Normally, we wind up engaging in a little 'did you see that sign' (though signage is very poor) educational pursuit here - like the time a hideous tourist came mere inches from PETTING a resting AND endangered sea turtle! Hrrmpfff! Yes, people really do this, we're not making it up. have a look at these two disrespectful fools (yes, indeed, that's the turtle right there by her right knee):


On today's visit, Camilla actually ended up in a minor shouting match with an exceptionally obnoxious and immensely bitchy female touron (yes, you guessed it, one of the ones in video below), who - in spite of (yes, pun intended) - having just been informed of the turtle protection laws, regulations, and general guidelines relating to these increasingly rare animals on the EPA's Endangered and/or Threatened Species lists, defiantly continued to pester this animal - in an altogether entitled fashion - with husband and camera in tow. Awful, just awful, what tourons will do! Please do your best to never to be an ugly touron



Whomever the particular officials are who are in charge of Punalu'u Black Sand Beach - and it's local wildlife - we intend to find out WHY they do not have more and better signs posted all over the place and a group of UH volunteers (majoring in Environmental Science or Marine Biology) handing out fliers and educating tourons on arrival - and not hesitating to give out fines to those who still just can't comprehend the 'no' part of 'no'. For years, every random visit we have made here (every year or two) has been one overt case of turtle harassment after another. We're so sick of watching this scene that we'll either have to stop coming or see something done about it. And we don't even LIVE here. We just care that the wildlife we see here today will also care to show up here tomorrow (in some cases, a particular beach may be the animal's last option, due to development and all sorts of other variables messing up their habitat).

Should you find this issue worthwhile of a litrtle more reading, more details can be found here:
http://hawaii.gov/dlnr/dar/marine_mammals.html

Specifically this paragraph:

"Q. How close can I get to whales, dolphins, seals and turtles?
A. Except for humpback whales (see above), there is no law specifying the minimum distance people can approach a marine mammal or sea turtle. However, getting close to these animals may constitute a federal or state violation if the animal is disturbed or if your action has the potential to disturb its natural behavioral patterns. NOAA and DLNR recommend, for your safety and the animals' protection, that everyone stay at least 150 feet from all marine mammals and sea turtles. If maintaining this distance isn't possible, keep safety in mind and move away from the animal as carefully as possible, avoiding sudden movements and other actions that might disturb the animal. For wildlife viewers, please enjoy from a distance - use binoculars and telephoto lenses to get the best views without disturbing the wildlife".

Etiology: when your 'tourist' behaves like a 'moron', then you've got a 'touron'.
Please, please never be a touron - EVEN for that once-in-a-lifetime PERFECT photograph!

Malama ka'aina. Please show da honu dakine pono.
Kepani & Kamila