KoolBak wrote:Was this some time ago? See those cool monks frequently but as they are protected / endangered, the agencies show up within MINUTES anywhere on the navigable portion of the island and cordon them off....this started about 15 or so years ago.
Did you hike Kalalau? Wild up there.....
The real problem these last 15 years or so, and getting progressively worse, are the damn wild pigs....destructive, dangerous and damn hard to kill - feds promote their killing....open season 24/7...damn good eating. This one dude I know has the fences lining his 300 foot driveway completely lined with skulls....bizarre....
It was back in 2003. Conservation/NOAA or whoever would only show up during the day...they had no control at night. Actually, if I remember right, when Monk seals came ashore at the Salt Ponds--the lifeguard on duty would have to cordon the area so humans couldn't be within 100 feet or so, but I always saw stupid tourists sneak through the barrier to touch a resting seal and grab a cheap photo. That's another thing the tourists don't understand is that if a thousand pound seal wanted to have its way with you, he would probably tear your arm out of its socket!
I hiked Kalalau with some Japanese Buddhist Nuns (I don't know if that's what you call them, but that's what I called them). Only one of them could speak English and they invited me to go to the canyon with them, so I did. It was gorgeous! Just like the Grand Canyon!
I got stuck on Napali because the stupid bus system quit running at 5pm and I didn't make it to the bus stop until about 6pm. So I was stranded on North Shore without my gear! Just my didjeridoo.
I tried sleeping on the beach, but every fifteen minutes (like clockwork) you could watch rainclouds forming just off the shore and then the rain would swoop in for a brief, but heavy down pour. I could set my watch to it, I was quite fascinated by the weather system on North Shore.
Then as I was watching the clouds form at night by the light of a fullmoon, something on the coast caught my eye.
It was in the direction of the wet caves that I could see what looked like balls of fire (that's as close as I could describe it) They looked like campfires that were moving, and I just thought it was party goers by the caves. Then, I noticed a yellowish-orange glow just perhaps one or two hundred feet away from me. I thought that that was perhaps someone lighting a fire on the beach, but the more I observed the fiery "thing", the more I could make out it's form.
It stood like a Hawaiian dressed in orange and red flowered or feathered cape and headdress (would that be a chief or Kahuna?)



The man just stood there and stared off towards the incoming rain showers. I couldn't believe my eyes! This man was glowing like a fire!

This image is the closest I could find to my experience, but the man didn't have a spear or a torch or a stupid looking gourd head. He just looked like a Hawaiian man who was glowing with a yellowish-orange glow and he didn't move an inch and never looked at me...he just stared out at the ocean waiting for the next set of rain clouds to come into shore.
I thought about walking over to him, but I was actually kind of scared so I left the beach and went back into town (I don't remember the name of that town, but it is the one at the end of the bus line on the North Shore).
My sister-in-law who lives on Oahu also had a similar experience. My brother asked me if I had any "strange" experiences on the road in Hawaii, and I didn't want to talk about it. But, he encouraged me to tell him anyway...and then he told me of his wife's experience.