| Pictures of Pohoiki |
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Pohoiki
is pronounced Poh-hiki. I don't know where that other "O" came from but
it is silent these days. It is the only place to launch a boat in all
of Puna and is the place where you will find all the surfers as well as
sunbathers on the pier.
The boat launch and pier are part of Isaac Hale (pronounced Ha-lay) County Park and this is Isaac's house. The house is supposed to be a private residence and there are signs to that effect all over the place but Isaac is an old Hawaiian and is related to every Hawaiian on the island I think. So there are always "relatives" around, on, or in the house. One more probably wouldn't make a difference. |
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The Heated Pool
If you walk down the beach a ways and follow the ancient path into the vegetation, you will come upon this marvelous little bathing pool carved right out of the lava as if made by Pele as a gift to man. You find the most astounding thing when you enter. The water is warm! This gives you a clue as to just how close the volcanic action of Puna is to the surface in this area. As you can see the pool is occupied. The kids love it. You have to come on a day that isn't so nice if you want it more for yourself I think. |
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The Boat Launch
This is where you slide your boat in and out of the water. But as you can see you have to watch out for all the swimmers who find this the best make shift beach and general sun tan area. The suntanning is generally done on the massive concrete pier to the left. As you can see there is a nice bay here to trap the sands being blown and carried by the currents that are moving in the same direction we are looking here. |
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Big Day at Pohoiki
This was a Tuesday in March but I had to park down the road a ways because the place was poppin. I stood at the end of the pier to shoot this showing the road into the Park. Pohoiki is a pretty friendly place and you can always seem to find someone in your age bracket if you want to hang out and chat a bit. It has more of an Hawaiian flavor to it than other water places around so I guess this is as close as you are going to get to seeing what the old time spirit of aloha was like. |
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Surf Puna
Pohiki is the place where the surfers bring their boards and spend the day on the water to catch a wave or two. Today was a 1 to 3 foot day I think so most were just out on their boards chatting it up and catching rays. On a good (surfing) day, a wave can catch them and bring them virtually right up the boat ramp if they choose to ride it that far. Anyhow if it seems like there are more cars than people at Pohoiki, the rest of the people are out on the water. |