Last night’s sunset in Waikiki was intense.The brilliant fireball dipped behind a crop of palm trees painting the sky a saturated orange. The sun is now dipping further west of Waikiki signaling the summer months are just around the corner. The beaches were once again void of tourists but small clusters of locals were enjoying the eerie silence that followed the shutdown of State.
As the world is gripped by the corona virus, life continues to drift slowly by in Hawaii. It is unnoticed if you don’t pay attention but signs of the pandemic hang all around us. Testing centers have appeared in many places such as the one near our condo as well as elsewhere around Honolulu. We are not seeing long lines but its still unnerving to know we still have a long way to go.
A sign offering Covid-19 testing at an urgent care center in Honolulu.
At the prompting of President Trump and local leaders, many are wearing some type of mask turning all of us into faceless bandits. Its not unusual to see many local and visiting Asians wearing some type of masks but we are now seeing everyone walk around like its Halloween. I’ve been wearing a keffiyeh around my head but its more fashion that protection. I wore that scarf over my face the other day and, to the laughter of the store clerk, I tried to run out with my purchase. It gave everyone a good and needed laugh as we are all on edge.
With Diamond Head in the background, a woman walks on Waikiki Beach wearing a surgical type mask.
Many stores are now limiting the number of people they are allowing in at one time. They’ve taped off six feet markets on the sidewalks near the entrances and inside the stores near the cashiers. With the exception of a few, we are all abiding by the new normal. The grocery stores are still void of toilet paper and some cleaning goods but most are restocking. The initial run on supplies seems to have dwindled but chilling news reports from around the globe are causing many to continue to hoard.
A woman stares at empty shelves inside Whole Foods in Honolulu.
We currently have a low infection count and a extremely but growing death rate. But they are not drastically increasing, yet. My friend who is a nurse does tell me not to get too hopeful as models are predicting a surge. Its hard to understand this as life is so beautiful in Hawaii.
But back to last night’s sunset. I stood on the opposite side of the rounded beach and couldn’t see the sun setting directly into the ocean. People stood on the other beach but everything seemed so far away. They seemed frozen in time watching the sun drift away. I aimed my “now-hardly-used-camera” and snapped a few shots, lining up all the elements to capture that sinking memory.