Massive Waves

The Full Moon (Feb.) brought huge swells and stunning displays of wave action to Laupahoehoe Beach Park as the waves hit and plumed and waterfalled over the lava rocks that form the shoreline.

Through conversations with local people over the course of the 11 days I spent at the park, I learned about the various currents and elemental forces that often combine to cause huge rogue waves to form and sweep through the park.  The picnic tables in the main gathering area are now bolted to the concrete floor to keep them from being carried off by the huge waves that can occur here.  

My guidance was to stay down in park the night of the Full Moon, even after hearing from a local man (who left) that the waves were running high enough, that in years past, the old-timers would have closed the park with these same conditions.  I spent a rather uneasy night on full alert.  The next morning I went around and tried photograph the massive waves that were crashing in in a cyclic rhythm.  

I also went to the display boards and read the stories posted about the 1946 Tsunami that wiped out the local school and claimed the lives of 24 students and teachers.  Having experienced for myself the extreme unease I felt just knowing high water COULD come, filled me with great compassion for all the people who went through the actual experience of that 1946 tsunami - the victims, the survivors and the families of the local community. 

Evidently after the first wave came in, some of the kids went out on the grassy area, enthralled by the sight of coral and fish left behind wriggling on the land.  They’d never seen anything like it!  The next wave swept them out to sea.  The teachers cottages perched at the water's edge and most school buildings were also destroyed and swept away.

Just before I left the park and even though it was low tide, I was finally able to catch a video of the massive waves that were continuing build up as they increased in force and magnitude. 

The voices you here towards the end of the video are people yelling for us to get back away from the edge.  Below you can see how the water had come up beyond where we standing during the night and left debris as evidence of its visit.  

Here you can see the debris on the lawn.  The car in the far background is the one I was attempting to sleep in while hearing big waves booming and thundering.  One wave that erupted at high tide during the night actually touched the building in the upper lefthand corner of the photo!

The POWER of the various natural elemental forces at work here on the Big Island of Hawaii is immense and humbling when experienced up close and personal.  It inspires great respect for Mama Earth and her ability to reshape herself.  My night of wondering how far the waves would come up gave me great compassion for all the people in the world who are being affected in different ways by this current dimensional shift we're in.  It's causing the Earth to reconfigure herself, big time!!!