ABOUT DIAMOND HEAD

From Worldometer (new  COVID-19 deaths yesterday):

         DAY  USA  WORLD    Brazil    India    South Africa

2020

June     9     1093     4732         1185        246       82

July    22      1205     7128         1293      1120     572

Aug    12      1504     6556        1242        835     130

Sept     9      1208      6222       1136       1168       82

Oct     21      1225      6849         571        703       85

Nov    25       2304    12025        620        518      118

Dec    30       3880    14748       1224       299      465

2021

Jan     14       4142      15512       1151         189     712

Feb      3       4005    14265       1209       107      398

Mar      2       1989     9490        1726       110      194

April     6        906    11787         4211       631       37

May     4        853     13667        3025      3786     59 

June    1        287    10637         2346      3205      95

 July    7         251      8440        1595        817      411

Aug     4         656    10120        1118        532      423 

Sept   22      2228      9326          839       279     124

Oct      6       2102      8255          543       315       59

Nov    3        1436      7830         186        458       23

Dec     1       1633      8475          266        477       28

2022

Jan     7        2025      6729         148         285     140

Feb     2        2990   12012          946        991      175

Mar     2        1778     7756          335         173       28 

Apr     1          439      4056         290          52       12

May    5          225      2404         151            ?        64

June    2         216      1413         130           10        31

July    6          316      1627         335           35       12 

Aug    4          311       2138         258          70         ?

Sep    1           272       1732         174            ?         ?

Oct     6          281       1305         119            9         ?

Nov    3          167         980           16            ?         ?

        25            88         985           71             3        ?  

Dec    3          149       1029         131            3         ?

          8          194       1320         104             6       86

        15           147       1295         124             4         ?

        22          289       1637         165             9         ? 

        28          296       1768         337            2         ?

Jan    4          346       1534         207             ?         ?

         5           220       1611          183             ?         ? 

       12            270       1470         128             ?         ?

       19            225       1775         480             ?         ?

        26           351       1361           92             1         7

Feb    1           221       1261         126              ?         ?

          8          329        999          50             2         ?

        15           211         999         132             1         ?

        22          177       1016         312              1         ? 

Mar   1          119         618           81              1         ?

Summary:

• Most new deaths yesterday.
• #1  Germany  135
• #2  USA  119
• #3  Brazil  81
• #5  Japan  67
• #6  Taiwan  40
• World  618 
• Most new cases yesterday.
• #1  Germany 24,875
• #2  Brazil  14,706
• #3  Japan  14,524
• #7  USA  9,706

But daily numbers are spotty.  So here are some weekly totals.

• Deaths in the past 7 days. (per million population in parentheses)
• #1  Brazil  1018 (5)
• #2  USA  980 (3)
• #3  Germany  595 (7)
• #19  Australia  38 (2)
• World  5385  (0.1....but many countries don't even bother to report accurately, so this number is not close to being realistic)
• New Cases in the past 7 days. (per million population in parentheses)
• #1  Germany  125,034 (1491)
• #2  USA  100,031 (299)
• #3  Taiwan  88,774 (3716)
• #14  Australia  8,883 (341)
• World 841,777  (105)
• I include Australia, as our next trip beginning Sunday is to Sydney.  About new cases in the past 7 days, we will stop through the following sites in magenta on our cruise back to Honolulu.  Note how prominently they are positioned for cyclone season, to be highlighted at the end of this posting.
• #1    Austria  4392
• #2    Taiwan  3716
• #5    New Zealand  1588
• #6    Germany  1491
• #16  Japan  699
• #26  Australia  341
• #28  USA  299
• #61  Samoa  64
• #76  New Caledonia  17
• #81  Fiji  14

Looking back at the table above, you would think that the pandemic is over.  There are now more seasonal flu deaths/day than covid.  So for all practical purposes, there does not seem to be any reason to prolong this state of anxiety.  

Unfortunately, not unlike Japan and several countries of the Orient that in the first year or two escaped getting too many cases, then during the past few months completely reversed the picture by leading the world in new cases and deaths, something similar has happened to my seniors' community.  

• We almost totally escaped getting infected during the first three years, except for a couple of minor outbreaks.  

• 
  However, we have during the past month joined the Japan/South Korea/Taiwan group by suddenly becoming maybe the world epicenter....in terms of cases/capita.  It's disarming to walk past those apartments with these scary signs on the doors of those so infected.  However, I don't think any resident has actually died, which is remarkable, as the average age here must be in the mid-80s.  Why this is happening is alarming because just about every resident and staff member here has had all five shots, including the Omicron booster.
• Won't mention any numbers, but my fear is that I am a few days away from leaving Hawaii for my trip to Australia, from where I catch a 53-day cruise back to Honolulu.  We can't board the ship if we are infected, and we don't have any cruise insurance.  
• We won't know our fate until the day before departure from Sydney when we take a covid test.

With that uncertainty, I today post on Diamond Head.

The iconic image of Hawaii is Diamond Head, shown on  my masthead.  I've had numerous postings about this extinct volcano, although maybe dormant might be more accurate.  Here is the story of this landmark.

• Located just at the outskirts of Waikiki and a little more than two miles from the University of Hawaii Manoa Campus.
• A walk to the top, 12 years ago.
• I've had a hundred bentos at the Diamond Head lookout.  Here is one of 8 years ago. And two years later where I talk about the Amelia Earhart rock monument.

I live on Oahu, said to have formed 3-4 million years ago.  

• Diamond Head is probably not even 500,000 years old, perhaps as young as 200,000, and is known to Hawaiians as Leahi, mainly because the summit resembles the forehead (lae) of the ahi fish.
• However in 1825 British sailors found sparkling volcanic calcite crystals in the sand and mistook them for diamonds.  So a new name, Diamond Head.
• 
  Thus came the second Hawaiian name, Kaimana Hila.  Kaimana means diamond, while hila is a hill.  
• Charles King in 1916 composed Kaimana Hila, and as many Hawaiian songs tended to feature this term near the end, until this moment, I thought kaimana hila was something like "here is now the end of the music."

So I took an outing to Diamond Head.  I first stopped by Hawaii's Favorite Kitchens (left of Rainbow Drive) to pick up a rotisserie chicken bento, and by mistake got a lot of macaroni salad.  Then drove up to the view spot.

My bento:

I have quite a view from where I was enjoying my meal.

A few feet from where I was parked is the Amelia Earhart rock memorial, and looking mauka (toward the mountain), you can see the top of Diamond Head, which is 560 feet high.

You can of course drive to the other side of this crater and walk up.  A healthy climb, and I think visitors now need to made an advance reservation.  Parking costs $10 and there is an entrance fee of $5/person.  I went in 2011 and took this photo.

There are two ocean storms  in the region where our Seabourn Odyssey will go.  Cyclone Judy (right) was a Category 5, and has dropped to a 4, but caused havoc on Vanuatu.  Cyclone Kevin will strengthen to at least Category 3, and will follow the same path over Vanuatu.

Our Seabourn Odyssey will leave Cairns on March 27, visit New Caledonia, then go on to Fiji, followed by Samoa.

One final video, for we will begin our trip in Australia.

-