A nice reader, James from Maui, sent in this photo to share in the signs of Hawaii series. James took this photo at the Kahanu botanical garden near Hana that is home to the Hale O Piilani heiau. Mahalo, James, for sharing your photo!
I wonder if the sign in James’ photo is the cousin to the following sign that Andy and I found on the Big Island.
When I originally posted the above photo, we had an entertaining conversation in the comments about the dangers of coconuts. You can see that post and read the comments here. Honestly, I’m torn between laughing at the novelty of the signs and heeding the warning very seriously.
I’ve never been injured by a falling coconut, thankfully. I have seen a parked car that had been hit and dented by a fallen coconut. So, how dangerous do you think falling coconuts are?
Sheila Beal
3 comments
Good question. After seeing many, many coconut palms and their coconuts on the islands of Guam Hawaii, and other tropical islands all over the Pacific, I’ve seen the damage one of these things can make falling from up to 100 feet. A parked Honda is no competition. Consider what would happen if your head was clobbered by one of these things! And the coconuts aren’t the only problem. Falling fronds can also do some damage.
By the way, the second sign is posted NOT on a coconut palm but on a Morinda citrifolia aka “Noni” tree. Those fruits don’t hurt too much when they hit you. They smell bad, but that’s about it.
I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve linked to this neat post from my coconuts Squidoo page.
I saw someone on Twitter post another one of these signs last week. Haven’t seen one myself, but we did see one that said “Caution: Men in Trees” or something like that. Sorry, no picture, though.
It was when folks were up in the palm trees doing some trimming and things. It was fascinating to see, really, but leaves and branches were falling everywhere. I thought I saw a video of it somewhere online (was it here?).
Hate to say it but the sign is on a Coconut tree (probably a Samoan strain) and is next to the Noni tree or possibly the Autograph tree. Hope it doesn’t sound anal on the correction but this sign looks like the one right down the road from where I live.
Mahalo and Shootz