A Beautiful and Sublime Sunday Funday in Lower Puna, Big Island Hawai'i - And a Valentine's Day Homage to My Beloved

Warm greetings all. 🙏💚

Yesterday, Sunday, or as it's known here in Lower Puna, Sunday Funday, was a deeply Beautiful and superlatively Sublime day spent with my darling, @kai-sunrise. This post is also a homage to her, so you'll see her a fair number of photos of her as well. The early part of the day we each did our own thing, getting various thing done that we had wanted complete, me doing my Hive duties, and her working on one of her upcoming workshops.

When we got together in the afternoon, we decided to go to Secret Beach for a while, as neither of us had been there for a good bit of time. The trail down to Secret Beach is at the beginning of one of the amazing and beautiful tree tunnels that punctuate the Red Road, down on the coast in Lower Puna, on the Eastern tip of the Big Island of Hawai'i. I took several photos from the road, down to the beach, at the beach, and back up again. So much beauty everywhere.

As you go down the trail to the beach, Pandanus tectorius - hala (Hawaiian), screw pine (the leaves grow in a spiral) - begin to dominate the landscape. Forests of them are remarkable and otherworldly to behold.

Secret Beach is a small (actually two beaches if you count the beach on the other side of the ridge) lava pebble beach that is visited mostly by locals. While this beach does not have sand, it does have tide pools with communities of coral and a good diversity of fish, many quite colorful. We swam in one of the pools for a short bit (it was later in the afternoon, so it was getting chilly, especially with wind), getting a closer look a the myriad life with goggles.

We stayed for maybe an hour and a half, then made our way back up to the car. I took a few more photos on the walk back up to the road. I got some great shots of the sun behind the hala trees, and a few more of the magical ones up by the road.

As we were driving from Secret Beach to The Lawn, Kaï wanted to stop on the side of the road, next to the ocean, to dance for a few minutes. I got a goodly number of shots of her while she danced, and also another beautiful dance of sun and clouds.

When we arrived at The Lawn (part of the local community Sunday Funday circuit - a large grassy area with trees, next to the ocean, and in front of Seaview), the park was full with people enjoying themselves. There's always a drum circle and dancing, as well as food vendors (which are more new), lots of people talking and playing, and even fire/poi spinners. We talked and connected with people, played, and danced until dark. I also got some fantastic shots of exquisite sunset clouds.

We left soon after it got dark, ending another Beautiful and Sublime Sunday in Lower Puna. Thank you all for sharing some of its radiance with me! 🙏 💚