The Big Island, Part Four: Last Days

I miss Mexico already – the dry heat, the sunshine, the inexpensive shops and cafes - the wonderful fresh fruit and vegetables and the happy, friendly people - not that Hawaii doesn’t have friendly people - but it’s different. In Hilo it rains, off and on, most every day, often in torrents. It’s very hot and humid. We are inundated with pesky little fruit flies. On the positive side, the glorious birdsong is always present. The invasive, coqui frogs, which the locals hate so much, actually have a very melodic song - though I have heard they are deafening in full chorus. The flora flourishes in the rainy climate and so we are surrounded by stunning lushness in gargantuan proportions. There is so much to see and do here that it would take a long time to get bored.

The loud, but miniscule coqui frog



Parks like this abound in Hilo

Rainbow Falls - just on the outskirts of Hilo

Banyon captive -  a la "Lost" - seen any polar bears?

We rented a car again and went back to the Volcanoes National Park to do some hiking. We walked the four-mile Mauna Iki Trail which took us around the rim of a volcanic crater before descending into it. After crossing the solidified lava lake, we ascended the other side to the Thurston Lava Tube before returning to the trail head.

Trail head interpretive sign

Walking along the rim of the crater

Walking across the hardened lava "lake"

View of the crater from the trail head

Forested path along the rim

Where Pele lives

Path across the devestated lava "lake"

Eruption hole - notice how quickly nature re-asserts herself

Lava rock eruptions that look a lot like asphalt

Hopeful re-growth in a harsh environment

Ascending the slope of the crater

Entrance to the Lava Tube

Inside the tube - it continued another 350+ meters past the lighted area

Afterward, we drove 19 miles along Chain of Craters Road to the sea. To say it was spectacular would be a massive understatement as it descends thousands of feet through lush forest, craters, and lava fields before reaching a churning, windswept sea.

Driving down the "bench"

Hardened lava flows - Mauna Loa in the distance

Rough coastline

We had lunch at the Kealakomo Lookout where we could see the full extent of Mauna Loa to the north, the south point of the Big Island in the distance, the volcanic bench and rocky cliffs bordering the turquoise ocean tossing up huge plumes of spray, to the coiling lava beds obstructing the road to the east.

Coiling lava beds

End of the Road

An understatement


As we looked south, into the white caps tossed up by the strong winds, we imagined the new island of Lo’ihi rising up beneath the waves.

Looking out toward Lo'ihi

We learned the south coast used to be populated but, today, the only evidence of the inhabitants is the Pu’u Loa Petroglyphs. They can be viewed by walking half a mile across a slowly rejuvenating landscape in an area that is still considered a sacred place by the Hawaiian people.

Sign at the trail head

An ancient path winds itself into the landscape

Petroglyphs

Ritual of the umbilical cord (Pico)

Pico resting places

Desolate view from the petroglyph site

Back up the highway

On another day, we drove the back roads of Puna – the area to the south of Hilo and east of the Volcanoes National Park. Our motivation was to see the other side of the lava flow, which covered the road, and later, the village of Kalapana. It was a sad and desolate place, with only a few small homes remaining from the lava flow which obliterated almost 100 homes in 1990.



Kalapana devastation

A disappearing Kalapana house, circa 1990

Sad images


 We didn’t tarry, and continued eastward, along the coast, to see some spectacular waterfront and Tolkienesque scenery.

Tolkienesque scenery

Puna cove

At one little park, we were entertained by local surfers catching exuberant waves in a lava-rock encrusted cove, while families picnicked all around.

Surfing Hawaii

Wow!

Young surfers

Girls just want to have fun!

We also went back to Mauna Kea – this time in the evening - to take advantage of the star gazing program offered nightly from 6 – 10 pm. Our little car cried its way through the clouds to the Onizuku Visitor Station where, at 10, 000 feet, the mountain air was very dry and chilly. However, we were prepared with our warm fleeces, hats, gloves, socks and hiking shoes. First, we were shown a film about the creation and controversies surrounding the observatories at the summit of the dormant volcano. Then, we hiked up a cone close to the centre to marvel at the dying colours of the day, very clear in the shallow air.

Back at the centre, volunteers and guides were setting up telescopes for us to view the stars when darkness finally blanketed the area. In the meantime, we could watch films about the creation and destruction of the universe, the concept of time and the theories of Einstein, Hubble and Hawkings, among others.

Star gazing

When it was completely dark, two of the guides, using laser pointers, drew our attention to various stars, planets and constellations. We looked through the powerful telescopes to see the rings of Saturn and stars so close you could almost imagine their planets. The sky was so clear it seemed we could see infinity and it was only the cold that drove us back to our cars to make the descent back to Hilo.

Following the weather here is interesting. Because the Hawaiian Islands sit in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, they are affected by the trade winds that blow from east to west and vary in intensity, based on the position of the Pacific High. As a result, the eastern sides of the Hawaiian Islands are constantly exposed, while the western sides are protected. Additionally, when the strong trades blow, the channels between the islands experience a strong funneling effect - combined with high seas when the wind-waves piggy-back on the ocean swell.


Getting to Maui from Hilo can be challenging until the trades have calmed down. Hilo is the only anchorage on the east side of the Big Island and it is in the middle. The next anchorage is 70 miles on the eastern side of the northern tip and only has room for a couple of boats. From there, it is another 40+ miles across the Alenuihaha Channel to a leeward anchorage on Maui. Although there have been breaks in the strong winds over the last couple of weeks, they haven’t been long enough to make this a pleasant passage. However, according to Passage Weather and other sources, over the next few days the Pacific High will move down toward Hawaii and bring calmer conditions. Our plan is to leave Hilo tomorrow, skip the northern anchorage, and sail directly to Maui. It should take us about 24 hours to get there and we hope to stay for a few days before continuing on to Honolulu.


Although we have spent most of our time here touring around we have also had the chance to do some socializing with the other cruisers here. We’ve had potlucks and Happy Hours at the picnic table and we’ve also gone out to dinner together. We’ve tried more local beers and watched movies we’ve traded with each other.

Cruising line-up, Radio Bay



Barbara, Craig, Doug, Frank, John, Danielle, a couple from Berkley, John's brother, Skip and Jim

Johannica & Jan from Witte Raaf celebrate the crossing with us

Skip on Dolphin and Jane off Midnight Blue in the background

Jim, from Victoria, aboard Orinoco

The Dutch ship, Witte Raaf

Doug discovers a different Mauna Loa!

We've also had a chance to get some work done on the boat. 

Cleaning up the auto pilot and the helm



We will have many happy memories of our time here.

The cruise ship comes in every Tuesday

The Big Island, Part Three: Mauna Kea and Kailua-Kona

Our third foray into the island took us across the waist of the Big Island along the Saddle Road. For many years this road was difficult to traverse by anything other than a 4X4, but recent upgrades have made this a very efficient road to travel in a rental car. We left Hilo early in the morning because we wanted to reach Mauna Kea, the highest Hawai’in mountain - an inactive volcano, ringed with observatories, at 13,796 feet - before the clouds obliterated the views and made driving difficult.

Summit of Mauna Kea looking south

We climbed from sea level to the Onizuka Visitor Information Centre at 9200 feet in just under 2 hours.

Visitor Centre

On the way up we must have passed through several climate zones as the landscape changed from the lush gardens around the sea, into forests, old lava beds and undulating pastureland.

Until the last few miles there was very little feeling of climbing a great height as the slope of the land is very gradual. Just at the turn off to the Visitor Centre we could look back and see miles and miles of prairie-like grassland broken up with giant bouquets of lava rock, old volcanic cone heads, with scattered clusters of cattle.

The road up from the saddle was twisty, steep and narrow in places and I could feel my heart rate accelerating with the altitude. By the time we reached the centre (the farthest you can go without a 4X4), I was experiencing shortness of breath and a bit of nausea. Doug, with his fighter-pilot blood, felt fine.

The original Hawai’ins view Mauna Kea as sacred. They call it “the place between heaven and earth” and believe it is where their original god created humans. The volcanic goddess, Pele’s, sister, Poliahu, resides there and many rituals have taken place over the years. There is a little lake near the summit where the people have placed their baby’s umbilical cords to protect them as they grow. Royalty went to the top to commune with the gods. When you are there and feel the mountain air, there is no doubt in your mind it is a special place.

It was chilly up there and our light clothes were inappropriate. (In fact, it snows on occasion and locals flock up to slide and board when it happens.) We quickly scuttled to the info centre where we found displays explaining the various stellar observatories found at the top, as well as details about the geology, history, flora and fauna of the area. On certain nights, the centre offers star gazing through some pretty serious telescopes we saw put away for the day. There was also a little gift shop. We contented ourselves with watching a short film about the summit and observatories and browsing the displays. If we were more suitably dressed, we could have taken several short hikes around the centre and even taken a tour of the summit. However, once again, we were pressed for time, so opted to continue along to the western coast.

The Saddle Road on the western side of Mauna Kea is well paved, but very narrow and, in many places only a single lane, so we took our time descending. We were rewarded with spectacular views of the sun-dappled landscape far to the south and north where the land seems to just drop into the water.



We arrived at Kailua-Kona, but continued south along the coast highway as far as the village of Captain Cook to view the famous bay there and his monument. The area along here is very steep with houses and gardens literally precariously perched along the cliff sides.

On the coast we arrived at Kealakekua Bay State Historical Park thinking we could park the car and walk to the monument. Unfortunately, we could not figure out how to do it so, instead, took a quick look at the beautiful bay which was busy with many kayak outfitters.

Captain Cook Monument across the bay

Apparently there is good anchorage here, but it was hard to tell from the shore. I could see the monument in the distance and thought about the circumstances that had brought about the death of Cook.

Captain James Cook

Cook first arrived at the Big Island during the four-month Feast of Lono, god of agriculture, when all warlike activities were suspended. Consequently, the people were in a friendly and receptive mood. Some stories say the Hawai’ins thought Cook might actually BE the god Lono and, when you realize he was the first white man they had seen, combined with his otherworldly ships, it was no wonder. At any rate, they feted him, many gifts were exchanged, and the sailors had a field day with the women who would apparently sleep with them for nails (Cook had to make sure his ships weren’t torn apart by his over-eager men!).

After provisioning, Cook continued on his journey, but encountered a storm which brought down one of his ship's masts. He returned to the Big Island, but this time his reception was not as welcoming. As he repairs were made to his ship, relations with the locals went from bad to worse, culminating with the theft of one of the longboats. Cook conspired to hold the local chief aboard his ship until the boat was returned – a ploy he had used successfully several times before. Unfortunately it backfired and, as Cook was enticing the chief aboard the boat, there was a skirmish. In the scuffle, he shot one of the warriors which set off a rampage. Within minutes Cook and his escort were beaten and clubbed to death by the mob.

To say the least, everyone was horrified by what had happened. To make amends, the Hawai’ins wanted to give Cook a burial worthy of one of their kings. Unfortunately, that included carving up the body and placing the parts at various secret locations to keep away bad spirits. You can imagine what the British officers thought about that! They demanded his body back so they could give it a proper burial at sea and apparently, everyone had to compromise, because only parts of Cook could be recovered.

What makes this story even more significant for me is that I had an ancestor who was on one of Cook's ships. Joseph Coleman, born in Surrey, England, in 1751, was signed aboard the Discovery in 1776.  During the journey he became Quartermaster and attained the rank of Petty Officer.  He was aboard when Cook was killed.  Interestingly, George Vancouver and William Bligh were also present on that journey.  I have my Dad to thank for this information.  He wrote a novel based Joseph Coleman's adventurous life at sea, not only on Cook's voyages, but also aboard with Bligh during the infamous mutiny on the Bounty.

After all the morning’s adventures we were VERY hungry and thirsty and, lo and behold, our guidebook indicated there was a micro brewery with a restaurant in Kailua-Kona! If we could have flown there I don’t think we could have got to the Kona Brewing Company fast enough!

We had salad, shrimp toast and pizza along with Fire Rock Pale Ale for Doug and a Lavaman Red Ale for me. Wow!



On tap at the Kona Brewing Company

We sat out on a large patio surrounded by lush plant life.

The place was packed. As we left we stopped off at the growlie and bought a little brown jug of Castaway IPA to share with sailing friends later.

An unfortunate name for beer thirsty sailors

Later we drove along the Kona waterfront lined with cafes and restaurants. The place is geared to tourists and we saw many of them exploring the town and shoreline. Doug wanted to get to the marine store we heard was at the marina at Honokohau Harbour to buy some varnish and see what stock they had. We were disappointed to find there were few sailboat supplies as they mostly catered to fishing boats. We didn’t find what we were looking for but were, however, able to buy a Hawai’in flag courtesy flag. The marina itself is all stern tying and filled with fish boats. We only saw a handful of masts.

Hawai'in Flag

It was getting late again and we still had to traverse the Saddle Road to get back to Ka’sala. We left the west coast at about 4pm and, as we headed back up the mountain, we were soon engulfed in the clouds and we had to pick our way along the narrow road watching out for invisible cows. :)

We burst into sunny skies at the highest point, then descended again into clouds and rain before finding our snug berth on Ka’sala again.