Puako 1 August 2021

Welcome to the Apocalypse?

So far, a tsunami warning (we are staying in a Tsunami Evacuation Zone) and a wildfire.

Neither threatens us. The warning was withdrawn within the hour it was issued. The fire and its smoke are well south of us and unlikely to affect us. But it's plenty windy today, and the drought is intense.

Conclusion: we are safe.

To the south of us, an empty lot that serves as a beach access – nobody there today! – and as a bit of jungle with lots of horizontal tree trunks to climb on.

Out in front of us, ocean, Kawaihae Bay, and the North Kohala Mountains. Very windy today, and lots of white caps all day long. We'll await calmer waters before venturing out.

Behind the houses mauka of the road, a solid, impenetrable red brown mass of smoke. Very occasionally we could smell it; luckily, the same onshore wind that made the ocean uninviting kept the smoke pall above us.