Last August we reported the first verified sighting of Red-footed boobies at Molokini. During the 20 years prior to that the only large seabirds that we had seen roosting on Molokini were Great frigatebirds, so it was very exciting to see the Redfoots. They stayed for about two weeks and then were gone. The frigatebirds too left for the winter. …
Is it true that the Navy is planning to detonate old ordnance in the Molokini Marine Life Conservation District in July 2020? The record shows how devastating this was after detonations at Molokini in the 1970s and 1980s.
Molokini Marine Life Conservation District has been a protected sanctuary for marine life for over 43 years. It is open to anyone lucky enough to have a boat or kayak or outrigger canoe. No anchoring is allowed. A permit is required to operate a commercial vessel there. And all visitors, snorkelers, and divers must read and sign a 300-word acknowledgment …
Keawakapu Artificial Reef Was Begun With Junked Cars, Parts Of Which Can Still Be Seen by Divers
If not for automobiles, a popular artificial reef in waters off of Kihei, Maui would not exist. If you’ve been to the Keawakapu artificial reef, you know that this site is made up of about 2,000 automobile tire modules. These modules were constructed by putting 8 tires next to each other on edge and setting them in a concrete base. …
Red-footed Boobies at Molokini Islet – First Verified Sighting
The beautiful coral-red feet and legs were tricky to see from the boat, but through the camera lens we could make them out. Our captain, Andy Schwanke, had spotted a group of large white birds perched on a shrub on the inner slope of Molokini about a hundred feet above sea level. They were Red-footed boobies (Sula sula) and they …
Ahupua‘a signs now installed in South Maui
Have you seen the beautiful new ahupua‘a signs appearing along South Maui roadways (South Kihei Road, Pi‘ilani Hwy and Mokulele Hwy) during the last six months? These are not the plain state or county signs telling drivers to do this/don’t do that, but handsome signs in rich colors with Hawaiian words and pictures of plants and animals from the land …
A hundred years ago people in Hawai’i were tweeting about this reef near Maui
It is almost unheard of for a coral reef to have made it into the media a hundred years ago. So few people snorkeled or dived back then that the underwater world, especially corals, was not often in the news. That a Hawai‘i reef did show up in the media so long ago shows just how special that reef was …
Molokini’s Father, Pu‘u hele, No Longer Watches Over Her
Molokini Islet Molokini is a crescent-shaped islet a few miles off the southwest coast of Maui. Possibly the earliest written account of legends relating to the origin of Molokini Islet was by Jos. K. Kahele Jr. in the mid-1800s. It was later translated into English and published posthumously by A. Fornander in 1919. Kahele tells of a young lizard goddess …
Molokini’s Mother, Pu‘u o kali, Still Watches Over Her
Pu‘u o kali If you’ve lived in Kihei for any length of time you’ve undoubtedly noticed the lone red-dirt cinder cone more than half-way up the slope toward Kula. During 30 years of living in Kihei, I had passed this reddish hill surrounded by acres of kiawe trees almost every day. But it took several scorching hikes, a map, and a …
Identifying A Mystery Bottle from a Sunken WWII wreck off Makena, Maui
During WWII the Kihei-Makena coastline of Maui was an important training area for U.S. Marines headed to the Pacific. The sandy beaches were good for practicing beach assaults with amphibious tractors (AMTRACS) which were also known as LVTs (Landing Vehicles Tracked). For unknown reasons, some of these vehicles ended up submerged in relatively shallow water (60-80 feet), and are now some of our favorite …
Part Two – Juvenile Blacklip Butterflyfish (Chaetodon kleinii)
Swarming divers and turtles in competition for food Strength in numbers is not a phrase that applies to the recent settlement of estimated millions of Blacklip Butterflyfish (Chaetodon kleinii) at Molokini and off the south coast of Maui. This many fish compete mightily for the limited amount of available food. We didn’t realize how serious the competition was until we had …
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