Big guns and bananas

Hawaii has lots of tropical fruit and lots of big guns aimed at the sky.   When we took the tour up the Na Pali our guide pointed out the army base and mentioned that at times the coast is closed down while they do "practices" with "submarines" and that they have big cables under the sea bed to listen for incoming enemy vessels.

The same afternoon we were at Poipu Beach and a penetrating siren went off.  All the tourists kept sitting on their towels in the sun, wondering whether a tsunami was coming.  Natasha went over to the lifeguard tower and asked them what it meant - they told her to look in the front of the Hawaii phone book but that the siren was going off as a test but could mean:  tsunami, missile launch or hurricane..  Natasha raised her eyebrows a few times about the missile launch / missile attack.  We are confused about the missiles but I learned all about tsunami evacuation plans from the phone book.

The Tsunami Evacuation plan for our area, from the phone book.

 And from the beach warnings:

Ke'e beach warnings.  The Dangers of an adventurous life?

There was a lot of rain today and a constant heavy rain is now falling.  It is so heavy that Frost says he can't go to sleep because it is too noisy - but its still warm and very restful to the rest of us.

We had some thunderstorms just a short while ago and I see that parts of Kauai are under flash flood warning until tomorrow morning.   Just before dark Mum, Natasha and I went down to Brenneckes to boogie board.  The sea was warm despite the rain and we enjoyed catching the waves up the beach and getting all sandy.  Although it may still be gloomy tomorrow, we are planning on swimming and hanging around in the hot tub.

More thunder and flickering.  The rain is lashing the leaves of the ornamental ginger.

I almost ended this post without the reference to bananas!

We drove up the North Shore today and visited some fruit stands and had a huge breakfast at Tutu Soup Hale along the way.   While we stopped at Banana Joes, my favorite picture is of this small fruit stand near Kapa'a where I bought 8 guavas for $2.  The woman selling them said she grew them in her yard.  Wren decided he likes guavas, longans (eyeball fruit) and rambutans.  I like them too but am not so fond of soursop.

The fruit stand at Kapa'a near Tutu Soup Hale.