Humbled by Beauty - Again

On the same morning in early September, after seeing the night blooming cereus blooming high up on Haiku Road, I turned on Hana Highway heading towards Kahului.  

Rainbow over Hana Highway

There was a fantastic rainbow over the water so I just had to stop. 

Then I got back in the car, and the rainbow was even better further down the road, so I stopped again. 

Coming out of Maliko Gulch, the only major dip in the road between Kahului and Haiku, my car approached a bluff overlooking the ocean. There's a very safe pull-out here, clearly evidenced by well-worn tire tracks. 

The bluff was covered in night blooming cereus continuing downhill towards the ocean. These flowers are gorgeous, and the size of dinner plates! There's a sharp drop off though, so I didn't wander too far down. 

And there was still a rainbow over the ocean.

“You might only mean to get some groceries, but on your way you see something so grand, so terrible and beautiful, that you absorb your daily requirement of humility just by driving down the street.” – Barton Sutter* 

This quote expresses how I felt.  

Night blooming cereus on a bluff overlooking Maliko Gulch.

A trio of night blooming cereus flowers.

The buzzing of bees as they pollinate the night blooming cereus
in the early morning. This is a normal sized bee, so you can imagine how huge the flowers are!

By this time, the rainbow had faded, but the glory of the flowers remained.
I spent several minutes inhaling the beauty of the cereus flowers, knowing they would fade all too soon. Then got back in the car and headed towards Paia.

Approaching Paia from Haiku, the night blooming cereus was like a flower lei decorating the mauka (mountain) side of the highway.

It was a triple night blooming cereus morning, first on Haiku Road, then the bluff over Maliko Gulch, then approaching Paia. Since then, I've been told there is night blooming cereus at Rainbow Park on Baldwin Avenue (about 2-3 miles inland from Paia) and on telephone poles near Wailuku Elementary School. 

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*Found this quote in National Geographic Traveler, August/Sept 2012 p. 52. Quote cited from “Cold Comfort – Life at The Top of the Map.”