I have always wanted to be a hero, you know front of the newspaper hero, probably from being a paper boy and seeing all those front pages.
It was a beautiful blue Kona morning, I’m sitting on my lanai (porch) at my condo next to La’aloa Beach (White Sands Beach or Magic Sands). I’m looking way out at sea and I see a head bobbing all around, I believed it to be a swimmer in distress, maybe a triathlete. By the way how come you are “on the ocean” in a boat but we look out “to the “sea” from the shore?
So, I’ve got my zoom lens trying to get a focus on him (pre-autofocus), I assumed it was a guy. Way back in the 80’s some triathletes would come into town months ahead of the Ironman to train and acclimate. So, what do I do? I jump up and dial 911, ta da ta da, hero time.
Firetrucks and ambulances fill the sky with the sounds of sirens. I run down to the beach expecting to be photographed by WHT (West Hawaii Today) the local paper. Just about the time I hit the sand where all the officials were standing, the lifeguard walks up with something large in his hands.
He is looking right at me as he hands the EMT a wet coconut. Yep, it was a coconut floating in on the ocean waves. Well it was a long long time before I went back to the beach next door.
Happy Coconut Hump!