Hawaiian Adventure

It's our last day. How do we want to spend it? Well, we wanted to start it off at Ahalanui Pool. The tide was extremely high then and we feared it might be cold for our last visit. Fortunately, it was just right. Not at it's hottest, but neither was it cold. Being a week day, it wasn't especially crowded, either. Wendy and I swam around the pool looking at fish and chatting with the other visitors. Or maybe it was chatting with the fish and looking at the visitors. Whichever it was, we had fun.

Cameron has been improving his swimming consistently every time. Today he was swimming far better than when we first arrived. I'm very proud of him. He has really done well.

Kalapana

After breakfast we decided to see about visiting the other end of Kalapana Road, just so we could say we had been to both ends. The road ends near Kehena Beach, so we packed our satchel with goodies and hit the road.

The junction of 130 (Pahoa Kalapana Rd.) and 137 (Kapoho Kalapana Rd.) is very close to where the lava began. We turned off towards Kalapana at the appropriate place (The End of The Road) to see how far we could go. The lava was pretty wild most places. You could see that the flow was more than six feet thick most places, and it took on these wild shapes. There were signs everywhere that it was private property on both sides of the road and no trespassing was allowed. On the way back we saw someone working a large jack hammer trying to break up the lava and make a small piece of the land useful again. It was so thick and so hard and there was so much of it that it looked like a monumental task.

After Kalapana we decided to spend a little while at Kehena Beach. We decided on one hour but ended up spending three. We really hated to leave. After that we came home and began the task of sorting, packing and cleaning. There are many reasons why we hate to leave.

Monday, November 26^th, 2007

We started our day at our place on Kupono. Wendy and I wandered around trying to imagine where we would put the house and how we would change things. It's unfortunate that the lot was essentially clear cut, but we're glad there is a buffer in the front and back that is still the old forest. We just wish it were larger. Ohi'a trees grow slowly and it won't be possible to replace them.

The middle of the property is stripped bare, with no buffer between us and the neighbors on either side. The side next to the road has approximately 100 feet of buffer, and the far side of the canyon is untouched. That means we'll have to build up the sides with something, either native deciduous trees or palms. Or maybe we'll do deciduous trees on the short side and palms on the long side. We'll come up with something good, I'm sure.

The last thing we did (or I did, actually) was find reasonable places for the orchids and take a few last pictures. Unfortunately I couldn't find any places in the trees that I could reach, so I tried to find good spots along the driveway. It was raining hard so I was getting soaked, but that was OK. Wendy and Cameron had gone on a short erand. When they got back I did a final round of photographs and said good-bye to the place.

We were hoping that Kehena would be a little less crowded on a Monday morning, and we were right. It was much more relaxing. We settled into our usual corner of sand and let Cameron run free. Of course, Cameron found some new friends as he often does. This time they were my age instead of his. They are local farmers with a 70 acre ranch on Opihikao Road. They sell produce at the farmers' market on Sundays, under the name of "The Banana Boys". Kelly took a liking to Cameron and those two were playing "smash ball", a variant of paddle ball where Cameron would make up new rules whenever he saw fit. Kelly was very patient with Cameron, and Cameron, I'm sure, tried to talk Kelly's ear off.

Big Island Brokers

Our last stop for the day was to visit with our favorite island residents, Heather and Suzanne. We poked our noses in and said hello for a while. They are such great people. I'm so glad we know them. They really help us out, too. We had a few tools that we didn't want to take back with us but we didn't want to throw away. Things like a hammer, machete, string and marking tape. They let us drop them off with them until we return. How nice is that?

Sunday, November 25^th, 2007

Farmers' Market

We started off our day with a trip to the Sunday Farmers' Market. We weren't looking as hard this time, except for orchids for our place. Last week there was a gentleman selling really beautiful orchids off the back of his truck for $5.00 each, and we hoped to find him again. Well, we did, and here was the result.

Tomorrow we'll find somewhere to plant the orchids and hope they grow.

Chain of Craters

One of the places we wanted to explore was Chain of Craters Road in Volcano National Park. Our pass was good for one more day, today, so we figured now was the time to do it. We had wanted to see molten lava, but a recent earthquake shifted the flow of lava to another area so that was out of the question. But Chain of Craters was still high on our list because of the petroglyphs and the recent (if not currently molten) lava flows.

Once we entered the park we drove around Kilauea Iki to get to Chain of Craters Road. Perhaps it was not the most direct route but it was not too bad. All the way down there were these mammoth sized craters, most with recent (that is, within the last 30 years) lava flows. We stopped at one and walked around. The different textures were quite striking. They ranged from sharp and extremely rough a'a lava to smooth and even glossy pahoehoe. The a'a lava was light and crunchy, like it had been sputtered out like ceiling texture. The pahoehoe lava was much more dense and smooth, like it had flowed like water.

We followed the road all the way down to the ocean, stopping first at the petroglyphs. The hike to the petroglyphs was short, only 0.7 miles, but it was hot and dry and Cameron found it a bit tiring. Wendy and I really liked the petroglyphs though. There weren't many, but they were really cool looking.

Our next stop was the ocean. The colors were almost unbelievable, the black of the coast, the deep blue of the ocean and the pale blue of the sky. I tried to capture it in photographs but they really don't do the scene justice. We found the sea bridge and watched the waves crash against that for a while. Wendy found a sea turtle as it surfaced, but neither Cameron nor I saw it. Then later Cameron found the same turtle and we all saw it.

Afterwards we all walked down the road to where the road used to be. This is where the lava flowed over the road to the sea. It was quite amazing to see how much lava had covered the road. The shear volume of material was enormous. We walked out on the flow area for a ways, and it looked like it stretched out for miles. That was really cool. (We found the "Nene Crossing" sign on the way back home.)

Kehena was really crowded this time, with the usual Sunday musical crew and all of their groupies. It was almost standing room only. We found ourselves a corner though and settled in for the show. Cameron found his friends though and was running all over the place, so that was good. It was a peaceful Sunday afternoon.

Saturday, November 24^th, 2007

Onekahakaha Beach Park

This morning we thought we'd start the day by getting some work done. We had the parts, or so we thought, to string a 5/16", 1600 pound test cable across the entrances to our property to keep dumpers out. We don't want random people using our lot as a garbage dump, especially the canyon. Well, it turned out that we had most of the pieces but not all of them, so we headed back to the hardware store. But they didn't have the right pieces either so we had to fake it a bit and cobble something up. Truthfully, somebody could get past it without trying too hard if they wanted to. Oh well.

Well, we found another string of beaches today. Wendy is really good at finding places to visit and she found a good one this time. We hadn't visited any of the Hilo beaches before and Wendy found a recommendation for Onekahakaha Beach, which is just behind the airport. We drove up there after we were done with lunch, not knowing whether it was going to be any good or not. It turns out to be a pretty nice beach!

By "nice" I mean that it is well sheltered from the pounding surf, there's a fair amount of sand, and it's separated into a hand-full of shallow pools where kids can play. It has low concrete walls the parents can sit on while watching the kiddies, picnic areas with benches (some areas are covered), fresh water showers, and it's pretty good sized. There's even a life guard station. Cameron headed straight for the water, of course, while Wendy and I watched from our seats on a nearby wall.

There was a nice Hawaiian lady sitting next to us on the wall with her little baby boy, only two months old. She's a very friendly sort and quickly struck up a conversation with us. Her name is Colleen and she's from Oahu. She came to the Big Island with her family (husband and four kids) to visit her grandmother. Her husband's name is Maune, and he's a tall, strong looking Hawaiian with a relaxed, easy smile. I don't remember the kids' names, but they were 2, 4 and 6 years old and 2 months, the oldest two were girls. They were a lovely family.

It seems like there's hardly anything more we can tell about this place, except that we love it and keep coming back. This evening it was far busier than we've ever seen it, though. The parking lot was full and there were lots of people in the water. Cameron is getting down right confident with the noodles now. He was boldly swimming around with them, following me everywhere just a few feet behind. He's pretty fast now, too. He can keep up with me at normal speeds, which I think is pretty good.

After an hour or so we went home to Hapu'u Street. We had tortellini with parmesan cheese for dinner, and that was pretty good. Cameron wrote his four sentences about the day, and they were really good sentences! He's keeping a journal about our visit to Hawaii, writing four sentences every day about things that happened or things he liked. He got them done pretty quickly so we had some time to do a few addition problems before getting ready for bed. He does pretty darned well, too. We were adding three digit numbers with carries, and he was doing them correctly with little or no help. Not bad for a young man in kindergarten!

Friday, November 23^rd, 2007

Not exactly a lazy day, we stirred a bit late again before we went to Ahalanui. This time we took two sets of diving masks and snorkels. Wendy's idea, she was hoping Cameron would use one and feel more comfortable in the water. Well, the mask was too large for Cameron's face so that didn't work. But to our surprise we saw a lot of fish in the pool, much more than what we thought there would be. Without the masks we could only see a few of the small, yellow striped fish that would nibble on our legs. With the masks we could see hundreds of fish around the pool. Between the two of us, Wendy and I counted at least ten unique species and possibly more. All but two of the species were brightly colored and beautiful. We even saw eels, grey with bright yellow leopard spots. What fun! Next time we'll find a mask that fits Cameron so he can enjoy it too.

We saw two types of yellow and black tiger striped fish (the little ones would nibble on our legs), two types of silver fish (one small, one very large), two types of butterfly fish (Wendy will give me the real name later), a light gray fish with green stripes, a dark gray fish with purple dots, at least one type of gobie and possibly two, two eels (both the same species), and we can't remember what else.

We got home from the pool a little before lunch time, so we had something to eat before going out again. Since the real purpose of our visit was to work on the property, we headed out to a local hardware store to pick up marking tape and a machete, then to a plant nursery, then to our lot on Kupono. My intent was to cut a path through the vegetation along the property line and take some better measurements.

To our good luck our next door neighbor, Bob (Swanson?), was there, and he had a lot of useful things to tell us about the property lines. So, he and Wendy had a wonderful chat while I cut my way through the forest and Cameron entertained himself nearby. With Bob's help we found the corner markers and string that runs down the property lines. Wendy also got lots of good opinions and advice about home construction and who knows what else. They had a good time. It was a very productive day.

By the way, the property line down the north side looks like it's right around 435 feet to the canyon. That's very good news. So, if my earlier measurement of 280 feet on the south side is correct, we have about 1.64 acres of more-or-less usable land between the canyon and the street. We're not yet sure how to make the best use of the property's unique features -- we're still working on that. The north east corner has the best view of the canyon, but (unfortunately) that would also give us the longest driveway. Kupono is a very quiet street and we have about 100 feet of forest between the cleared portion of the lot and the street, so street noise won't be a problem no matter what we do. We'll have plenty of privacy, too.

The last thing we did was take measurements of the two driveways and swing back by the hardware store. It's important to keep the driveway chained to prevent people from dumping trash on our lot. We don't want to come back to find dead cars or other trash dumped on our property. We bought some pretty sturdy cable -- 5/16" inch, 1600 lb test. It should keep all but the most determined people out. We'll put it up tomorrow.

Thursday, November 22^nd, 2007

Today we slept a little late and went to Kehena Beach instead of Ahalanui. It was raining when we left but we figured we'd swing by our place on Kupono and drop some things off. If it was still raining by the time we hit the beach we'd move on to Ahalanui. At Ahalanui we'd still get wet but at least we'd be warm.

When we arrived it was clear enough that we decided to stay. There were few people there, at least initially, which was nice. The weather was cool and cloudy but still comfortable. Wendy and I parked ourselves at the far end while Cameron got right down to the business of playing in the sand. In a while I also started playing in the sand. I dug a trench and buried myself in the sand. Cameron and Wendy soon joined in, shoveling sand on me wherever I was exposed. The wet sand started out cool, but it quickly warmed even though it was still wet. We had fun piling sand on me in different shapes. We were all laughing pretty hard.

After lunch on the beach we played around in the water a bit, mostly to clean the sand off of our skin. That black sand is very fine and gets everywhere. Sometimes it's hard to get off, but it's very pretty and very soft.

Cameron and I decided to make a hole and line it with rocks, so it would hold water and not collapse when the waves came. We picked out a spot next to a large sunken rock, dug a hole and began gathering rocks. We carefully packed the rocks around the edges of the hole and filled the gaps with smaller rocks. Cameron decided that it needed sand, so we also put sand around the inside. The water is rough enough that it will be gone with the next tide, but we had fun.

Our next stop for the day was Ahalanui Pool. It had started to rain heavily when we left Kehena Beach, so a soak in the warm waters of Ahalanui seemed in order. We thought we would just stay a few minutes, but we ended up staying for two hours. It was especially nice today. There were a few more people than usual, but the water was warm and we felt cold. Cameron got even better about floating with the noodles.

Thanksgiving Dinner

Finally, at 5:00 PM we went to Thanksgiving Dinner at the house of a friend of a friend. Our friend Heather ("Watch Out, Birdie!") was having dinner at a friends house, Terry and Dawn, and she invited us along. They have a beautiful house, with ohi'a floors and an enormous koa table. It's a really fabulous house. We were also joined by John, John and Jonathan, Suzanne, Heather (of course), her two sons (Christopher, the cute one, and Taylor), Todd and Brynn. The meal was delicious and the company was great.

Cameron went up stairs to watch a movie while the rest of us talked. We watched Kermit's Swamp Years. We started out watching Finding Nemo, but that turned out to be pretty scary for him. Even Kermit's Swamp Years has its scary parts. Fake violence or no, it's still scary. Nevertheless, Cameron and I spent most of the time together while Mommy talked with the grown-ups.

Wednesday, November 21^st, 2007

Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Farm

Once again we started our day at Ahalanui Pool. The water was nice and warm, although not quite as warm as some days have been. Cameron is getting better with the noodles. He let me tow him around the pool with him hanging onto one end of a noodle and me on the other. That's a whole lot better than even just a few days earlier when he had to hold onto my hand or he'd get into a near panic. I'm proud of him (for many reasons). He's a good little man.

Palace Theater

We cut our time in the pool a little short so we could catch a native Hawaiian culture presentation in Hilo. Wendy really wanted to catch some hula dancing and Cameron and I were looking forward to it too. The show was inexpensive, only $10 for the three of us, and turned out to be really interesting. They have a show every Wednesday. This show was special though, because they were celebrating the release of a new CD and the 60^th birthday of the artist. So, in addition to the delightful cultural presentation we also got a little food and birthday cake.

The show featured native Hawaiian stories, songs and hula dances, a bit of audience participation, and video interviews with some of the more interesting Hawaiian elder citizens who are trying to share and preserve Hawaiian culture. One topic was lei construction, and what went on behind it. For example, the maker of the lei should ask, through chants, for a blessing upon entering and leaving the forest. Or a young man might make a lei on his way to visit his girlfriend, but upon arrival he should give it to the girl's grandmother. If the boy is well liked by the grandmother then he has a much better chance of winning the girl.

Shopping in Hilo

After the show we walked around Hilo to do a little window shopping. We also stopped in to the NOAA Mokupapapa exhibit for a quick visit. Virginia was there, as before, and we had a wonderful chat with her. She is very friendly and fun to be with. Cameron loves the place so he had a great time while we talked with Virginia. On our way out Virginia gave us some cool maps of the Hawaiian Islands to take home with us.

Hilo Zoo

After shopping in Hilo we drove to the Pana'ewa Rain Forest Zoo and Gardens. We weren't expecting much, but once we got there we were very surprised at what there was to see. There was a white tiger, numerous Macaws and parrots, many species of palm tree and the grounds were immaculate. It was quite beautiful and well worth a visit. Cameron was quite fascinated with everything, too.

One thing that was especially interesting to me was that we saw the world's smallest hummingbird. If I remember correctly it happens to be indigenous (I believe) to Hawaii. In any case, it was a cute little critter. At first I thought it was a bee hovering around me. I got ready to shoo it away when I discovered it wasn't a bee after all, but this little tiny humming bird! As soon as I moved it even dodged and weaved like a bee. It was tough to photograph because it moved so fast, so I shot a bunch and hoped one came out.

We weren't sure whether we'd be able to catch them before they closed, but we also made a stop to the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Farm. They were open, at least the gift shop was, but the factory had closed so we couldn't show Cameron how they process the nuts and turn them into candies. However, we did pick up some goodies to bring home, some for us and some for our friends, so it wasn't a wasted trip!

Big Island Brokers

Our final stop for the day was to Big Island Brokers to see if we could catch Heather for a chat. This time we were lucky and she was there. She gave us directions to the Thanksgiving bash tomorrow, and we chatted about every little thing. We do like her very much. She and Suzanne are simply wonderful people, delightful to be with. You couldn't ask for better people than they.

Tuesday, November 20^th, 2007

Mauna Kea

Today we drove up Mauna Kea. We didn't actually go to the top though, only to the visitor center at 9,200 feet. To go to the top would have taken us up another 4,600 feet to 13,796 feet of altitude. We probably would have been OK doing it, but the Park Service doesn't recommend going to the top with people who are under 16 years of age or without four-wheel drive vehicles. We had planned to stop at the visitor center, so we were fine.

The air was down right chilly when we got out. I had a compass and thermometer with me, and the temperature read 50 degrees. It was very cloudy and occasionally raining, so we went inside and watched movies. They had lots of good little movies about the telescopes, the history of the observatory and Hawaiian culture and attitudes about the mountain. To the Hawaiians the mountain is sacred. The priests and chiefs would make the climb to the summit to conduct sacred rituals for themselves and for the people, to bring them in touch with their gods.

The cloud cover was very thick, especially when we first arrived, so we weren't sure whether we were going to be doing any star gazing or not. In fact, we were pretty sure we weren't, but we'd already made the drive so we thought we should hang around anyway just in case. Sure enough, about half an hour after sun down the clouds dropped below the 9,000 foot mark and we had mostly cloud free viewing for a while. The moon was up though, so between the scattered clouds that remained and the bright half moon above us, viewing conditions were less than ideal. Just the same we got to see the moon in one of the big telescopes, and Jupiter with three of its moons. There were a few other goodies like a visual binary star, but not lots. The trip was worth it just the same.

A discussion broke out between a few of us, about red shifted galaxies and what could be causing the red shift. It was interesting to hear the different points of view on the matter. The discussion was really more about the philosophy of science rather than the science itself. We discussed things like whether we could really trust some of our assumptions about cosmology or not. It was a deep discussion, but mostly in the sense of needing to wear Wellington boots rather than deep in the sense of subtle or profound.

Monday, November 19^th, 2007

Volcano Art Center Nature Walk

Well, today we skipped the pool and the beach, and went for the mountain instead. Wendy wanted to do a nature walk up near the volcano, so we packed our lunches and hit the road. The walk is a guided walk that started at 9:30 AM at the Volcano Art Center, in the village of Volcano, near Volcano National Park. (Does anyone notice a pattern here?) The VAC is a 7+ acre preserve that teaches (among other things) Hawaiian culture and arts, including a bit about the original condition of the land.

The best part for me was that I could ask knowledgeable people for recommendations on trees and other plants to use, and where to get them. Several people there, notably Amanda and J.J., were especially helpful. Amanda gave me species to consider and names to contact about finding them. J.J. was our tour guide, and he also gave some good comments.

Lava Tubes

Since we were so close to Volcano National Park we made this our day to visit. Our first stop was the lava tubes. They are these big, horizontal hole in the ground left over from some rather spectacular lava flows. The tubes are around 15 feet high and about the same across. They are only a few hundred feet long with fairly easy access. One is well lit with electric lighting, the other is still in its original condition. We brought a flashlight so we visited both.

Cameron had a good time in both tubes, but he was a little cautious about the tube with no lighting. He liked holding the flashlight though.

Kilauea Iki

From the tubes we went to Kiluea Iki, a rather large caldera that is now pretty dormant. It's a 1.1 mile hike from the rim to the floor, which we did. Cameron had fun finding several holes along the path where cold air came out from the ground. The trail took us through some very lush fern forests. Having just taken the nature walk at VAC we could see where ginger and other invasive species were moving in.

At the bottom the lush fern forest suddenly gave way to this dry, barren basalt flat. We could see steam rising from cracks in the ground in a few places, but there wasn't much else to see. That doesn't mean it was uninteresting, just that there wasn't a lot of variety. We wandered a short distance across the floor of the caldera, exploring what there was to see. Just like on the trail, Cameron found himself a small vent to examine.

We hiked out of Kilauea Iki and moved on to look at the big caldera. It is huge and stained with sulfur, along the walls and on the floor. In fact, there were places along one of the trails where you could see smears of elemental sulfur next to smaller vents. Occasionally you could catch a small whiff of it on the wind. It was hard to imagine what the caldera would have looked like full of molten lava. It must have been quite spectacular. We wanted to see where the volcano is currently erupting but a recent earth quake shifted the flow and the new area is considered dangerous and inaccessible.

Punalu'u Black Sand Beach

After driving around Kilauea for a while, we headed further west to Punalu'u Black Sand Beach. It was a nice beach, but it was raining most of the short time we were there so we soon moved on.

Kealakekua

We continued our sojourn to the west, passing through the district of Ka'u. It was lovely grasslands with beautiful views of the ocean, sparsely populated, and cattle country. It was just the sort of place where you could be alone and raise cattle, if that's what you wanted to do. I think we passed through one or (at most) two small towns along the way. They seemed really nice, though. We even passed by the southern-most bar in the US. Isn't that something to write home about!

Occasionally we got hit with the most torrential rain. It was good that there was almost no traffic on the road, because it was very hard to see. The rain came down in sheets. But, ten minutes after it cleared the ground looked like it had seen nothing more than a mere sprinkle.

After more than an hour of driving we finally made it to the district of Kona. The character of the land changed from grassy range to being a bit steeper and drier, with many ohi'a trees. There was also this enormous view of the western ocean, too. This was about 3:00 or 4:00 in the afternoon so the sun wasn't setting yet, but we could tell when it did go down it was going to look spectacular.

Our treat for having driven all the way to Kona was to eat at a small (but locally cherished) Japanese restaurant. We both had the triple tempura plate, which included three kinds of tempura, fried ahi tuna, miso soup, rice, ahi sashimi, and a few other goodies. Cameron had a grilled cheese sandwich and most of my tempura. We were done in time to catch the last few rays of a beautiful sunset before we headed for home.

Sunday, November 18^th, 2007

It's becoming our morning routine to start our day by swimming in Ahalanui Pool. Once again we grabbed our goodies and headed for the hot pond, hoping this time it would actually be hot. To our delight, it was nice and hot! It felt like a hot bath, only a hot bath with a sandy bottom, in a tropical setting, and with pretty little fishes nibbling at our knees. Cameron used the noodles again, and I towed him around the pool. The water is over my head most places so I got a good workout out of it. Wendy parked herself in the hottest spot in the pool and relaxed. It was good all around.

Farmers' Market

After a good long visit to Ahalanui we came home, cleaned up, and headed for the local farmers' market. There they have lots of produce and other local products. Some of it is radical hippy stuff, but lots of it useful and interesting. It happens every Sunday from 8AM until 2PM. We stocked up on fruit and grabbed some red sugar cane. I'll plant the sugar cane on our property before we go. I want to plant some orchids there too. (They'll be tied to trees rather than being placed in the ground.)

Our last adventure for the day was to head for Kehena Beach. Kehena Beach is a quiet little beach, except for Sundays. This time it was bustling. There were lots of people there playing drums and other instruments. There was even someone playing a trumpet ... badly, but he was playing.

Cameron's friends, Daniel, Christopher and Terrin were there, and they got busy tearing up the beach right away. At first Cameron was afraid of the water (it knocked him around a bit the other day) but watching his friends have fun quickly made him more bold. Before long he was running through the surf and laughing like the best of them.

Here is a photo of Cameron on the edge of the surf.

Saturday, November 17^th, 2007

This morning we took our time getting up. We ate breakfast -- raisin bran and some fruit -- then put on our swim suits and headed for Ahalanui Pool. We hoped to time it a little better with the tides. We were not disappointed at all. The water was very warm, almost hot in places, and we really enjoyed ourselves. Cameron held on to a pair of foam noodles while I towed him around the pond. He was very reluctant, at least for a while, to let me get far away or even to let go of my hand. But eventually he understood that he was safe as long as he did what we asked, and then he relaxed a little.

Hilo

We were having difficulty with the car, though. The idiot lights were lighting up like a Christmas tree for no reason we knew of. At odd moments the speedometer would drop to zero then everything would go back to normal. We thought we would talk with the rental company (Thrifty) about it. They offered to exchange it for another car and we agreed. After a second breakfast -- scrambled eggs with cheese, papaya, banana and the like -- we packed a lunch and headed for Hilo. Along the way we picked up a young couple, a local and a pretty, young Dutch girl who were on their way to Kona. She was returning to Holland at 9:00 in the evening and she still had a long ways to go. We dropped them off at the junction to Mountain View (Rt. 11) and continued on our way.

We filled the tank with gas in Hilo, and to our surprise the engine check light went out and the malfunctions stopped. We puzzled over this, not sure what to do, but since we were already within spitting distance of the rental place we exchanged the car (another Dodge Caliber) anyway. The new one sounded much healthier.

Harvest Fest

It was about 1:00 by now, and we wanted to visit a local event that we had seen. It was called Harvest Fest and it was sponsored by a local charter school to raise money. It was fun, full of families with kids. We bought tickets so Cameron could play some of the games. We also picked up a few cookies made by the local moms. Delicious, by the way. No disappointment there. Cameron won a few prizes with the toad races and balloon dart throw game. Wendy had a lovely massage and we met some new friends. Our new friends are Petra and John. They run a bed and breakfast in Leilani called Hale Makamae Bed & Breakfast (808-965-7015). Petra and Wendy talked about schools and children, John and I talked about sailing and work. Eventually we also had dinner there, a lovely collection of Hawaiian dishes, then came home.

Friday, November 16^th, 2007

Isaac Hale

Our first activity of the day was to get up early (easy to do since our bodies are still on Eastern Standard Time) and watch the sun rise over Isaac Hale Park. We got there right around sun-up, but the sun was behind a cloud just barely peeking above the horizon so we didn't miss anything. Cameron took some great pictures, of which this is probably his best.

We went to Ahalanui Pool, as we did yesterday, but the water was cold! We could barely find any warm spots at all. Even the vent was cool. I asked a local what affected the temperature; he smiled and pointed at the ocean. "The tides?" I asked. He nodded agreement. We stayed and played anyway, but we weren't as reluctant to leave when the time came. We figured out that when the tide is coming in it pushes the water back into the rocks, which makes the pool cold, but when the tide is going out the hot water comes out of the rocks and warms the pool.

Hilo

After breakfast we drove up to Hilo. It's a short trip, about 30 minutes or so, and we wanted to see the NOAA visitor's center there. The center is small but it has movies and a few displays of working equipment like seismometers. Oh, and lots of literature. Cameron especially likes a Mark Trail cartoon that features red and blue lens 3D glasses, and talks about the history of NOAA. The focus topics were mostly typhoons and tsunamis. Powerful stuff.

Our second stop was the Mokupapapa Discovery Center just down the street. It is also run by NOAA. This little center has several displays on the northern Hawaiian reefs, such as Pearl and Hermes Atolls. It also sports a display of a remote manipulator arm, such as are used in deep sea operations. There's a mock-up of a submersible control room, a theater, and detailed displays of atoll anatomy. It was very interesting.

On the way back to the car we stopped by a small farmers' market and bought some fruit. The lady there was very nice to us. We purchased some apple bananas, avocados, papaya, green beans, and I don't remember what else. At the same time she was giving us lychees, oranges and extra bananas and papaya. She was a very friendly, very nice lady. The avocados were really fantastic, too, some of the best I remember having.

Akaka Falls

Next we drove up to Akaka Falls. It's a few miles north of Hilo in one of the wetter parts of the island. We followed a short trail to the falls. The path was easy, although part of the trail was blocked off due to construction. The falls were beautiful. The Akaka Falls itself is 442 feet tall, and spectacular to look at. There is a second water fall there, Kahuna Falls, that is also very pretty. Kahuna itself would be worth the trip, but Akaka is even better.

On the way down from the falls we stopped at a little town and poked our noses in a few shops. There wasn't much there, but we bought a little food at a bakery and Wendy got a shaved ice at an ice cream parlor. We were tired by then so we decided to head for Kehena beach.

Kehena beach is this lovely little beach tucked into an out-of-the-way corner of the lower part of Puna. You'd drive right past it if you didn't know it was there. The only thing to mark its existence is a slight indentation in the road where you can park your car. Oh, that and the fact that there are usually a few cars parked there. The beach is clothing optional, so you have to be prepared for that. People of all shapes, sizes and ages enjoy the beautiful black sand. It's situated in hidden alcove, and it's only accessible down a steep trail. The trail is passable enough, but it does require some minor caution.

The beach itself is well worth any effort to find, though. It is small, protected and enclosed on both sides by steep and jagged rock cliffs. The waves are rough and pound away without ceasing. It's not a good beach for swimming because of the waves, but the sand is soft and fine, and the whole place is quiet and peaceful. Everyone seems to treat it with some reverence. You don't hear much talking, although occasionally someone will break out a guitar or wooden flute. You do see people reading or meditating. I've never seen the beach crowded, but I've never seen it empty, either. Apparently it's especially popular on Sundays, but I haven't been there for that myself.

One young lady was swimming in the waves. She was muscular and seemed at home in the water, but we watched to be sure she made it back safely. A young man tried to swim and got pounded a few times before he crawled out of the ocean. A little later, another gentleman was standing near the water line when an especially large wave hit him and knocked him over. He wasn't hurt or anything, just surprised. We were all laughing, him most of all. There was also a youngish woman who was skipping and frolicking at the water's edge. She was clearly having a good time.

Cameron was totally enjoying himself in the sand. He found a friend about his age and the two of them were building all kinds of things out of rocks and sand. I would gather up a bunch of smooth stones, all different sizes, and they would turn them into bridges and buildings, sometimes into roads. They were totally absorbed in it. On the way home we passed Cameron's friend and his family on the road. They were on foot so we gave them a ride up Opihikao Road. It was him, his mother and brother. It was a little packed, but it was a short drive and didn't take us out of our way at all.

Thursday, November 15^th, 2007

This morning we went to Ahalanui Pool, and the water was wonderfully warm. After wandering around in the pool for a bit, Wendy found a spot where the water came out of the rocks almost hot. You could feel the water rushing upwards in a warm draft. The water was coming out too fast to be caused by convection alone. It had to be gravity fed. The water was too deep for Cameron, well over his head, so he clung to my arm while I towed him around the pool. The water was warm and very clear. Only a few people were there the whole time. It was fabulous.

Big Island Brokers

Next stop was Big Island Brokers to visit with Heather and Suzanne. They are wonderful people and good friends. We brought them some goodies from the mainland. Heather was up in Hilo on business, so we missed her, but we spent a little time with Suzanne and caught up on the latest happenings. We were very glad to hear business is going well for them even though much of the national real estate market is down. Heather has been busy, busy, busy! with all the people shopping for homes.

Malama Market

Of course we had to do a little grocery shopping, so we headed off to Malama Market. It's just down the road a ways from Heather's office. We went for the regular foods, except that we found some sushi in the deli. We like sushi so we snagged some hoping to enjoy it for lunch. We also grabbed water, mayonnaise, a little fruit, bread, luncheon meat, and I don't recall what else.

We also spent some time in a little shop next door that sells curios, island clothing, pictures and souvenirs. I picked up my dolphin figures there. Cameron picked out one of them and I picked out the other. Every trip to Hawaii I bring home a dolphin carving. My first trip to Maui in 1994 I brought home a black coral dolphin necklace that I used to wear. Then a pair of small cast metal dolphins and the tradition has held.

Lava Tree

After lunch we went to Lava Tree State Park. (By the way, the sushi was a bit strange. It was made from cooked tuna in a recipe that is apparently popular with the locals.) The park is small but gorgeous. The initial landing area is this open space with a pair of trails that take you into the park. But the open space is surrounded by this canopy formed by enormous trees. They are really immense. I tried to photograph them but it was nearly impossible to capture their scale in a photograph.

We followed one of the trails around the park. It turns out the trail is pretty much a big loop that leads you past these tall, hollow spires of basalt that formed when molten lava flowed up against a cool, wet tree. Many of the spires were taller than me, and any where from two to eight feet in diameter. They were kind of surreal to look at. The park was well maintained and relaxing to wander around in.