Punalu’u is the first town you come to as you approach the north shore of Oahu from the east side of the island. It is also the subject of one of my favorite Hawaiian songs, Punalu’u by Uluwehi Guerrero. When you listen to the song, the instrumental introduction does not give a clue as to what to expect but pay attention: Uluwehi’s falsetto is stunning. The photo above, which I took on Easter Day, 2009, as a friend and I took the long way to the Honolulu Airport so we could have lunch at a shrimp truck before catching our flight to Hilo, shows an enormous hala tree on the beach at Punalu’u.
