"Big Island" Hawaii - Day 5: Christmas Day on Waikoloa Beach

Today was perhaps the laziest day we've had so far.  After much discussion, we decided to stay close to home today. Time for the beach!

And so, I woke early, went out for my customary walk to Starbucks to retrieve two Lattes, made some Christmas calls and then headed out to Waikoloa Beach, a short walk from our rented condo.

And there we stayed, for most of the day.  While we were there Naomi and I paid another visit to the turtles the girls saw yesterday. There they were, swimming among shallow coral reefs about 100 yards off the beach.


<--Hilary enjoying the sun, and a good book

The turtles were huge, well over three feet across. You could swim within inches of them as they gently fed near the coral reef among scores of tropical fish, The great sea turtles are so graceful under water, an incredible sight.

<--Naomi, cooling down. It was hot today!


In the meantime, Rebecca found two friends whose families, she discovered happily, were holidaying here on the Island. Mara has been a school friend since she was in elementary school. Aria lives in Seattle, however, both Rebecca and Mara knew her from the summer camp they both attended last year. We left Rebecca with her friends and headed back to the condo to get ready for dinner.

<--Small ponds not far from the ocean, between the beach and the Marriott Hotel.. These lovely ponds, formed naturally from lava, do not communicate directly with the ocean but rise and fall with the tide.  Brimming with life, the salinity is lower than the ocean, which give rise to several unique animal and floral species that can live in these conditions.

Tropical plants growing outside the Marriott

On returning to our condo, however, I had another goal in mind, a visit before sunset to a petroglyph park we had walked past on the way to the beach
today.

View of the lava bed from inside the gated complex where our rented condo is located-->

And so, with Rebecca still with her friends on the beach and Hilary and Noami relaxing at home, I set out again.

What an interesting place.  Like the beach, it is only a few steps away from our condo, along a path known as the King's Trail.  The trail, which was about thirty miles long at one time, connected villages in the South Kohala area.

<--Part of the King's Trail. The stones marking out the sides of the trail helped to keep donkeys from straying off the path.

Carefully preserved remnants of the trail, carved through the lava bed covering the region,  can be found at the entrance to the King's Market, a modern mall that complements the Queen's mall across the street that I walk to in the morning to get my morning latte.  As I started walking along this disty, rough trail, I felt I was being transported back in time. I could not help but wonder about the travelers who have walked this trail for centuries.

Evidence of these travellers remain to this day, in 'C' shaped stone walls that were erected centuries ago as protection from the trade winds. Easily viable from the King's Trail, these structures were less than three feet high.   A sort of 'motel 6', perhaps?  They  complemented natural caves formed out of lava domes, also found nearby.  One wondered how much protection they would really have in a severe storm. These Hawaiians were pretty tough people.

But what was really remarkable were the petroglyphs.  At first I saw only one or two.  Then, as I walked farther along more came into view, until suddenly I was surrounded by literally thousands of stone carvings etched out of solid lava.   These messages clearly meant something to their creators. If only I could understand what they mean.











Though one can speculate, the true meaning of many of the symbols carved into the lava may never be fully known.

<--Cave shelter. At the entrance are hundreds of petroglyphs. Click on the photo to enlarge. 

There are literally thousands of human figures, long rectangles, circles within circles, and small deep holes and many other images etched into the lava bed.  How the holes are used are actually known as part of a custom that is very specific to this lava field.  When a baby was born, the "piko", or umbilical cord, was taken to the lava field.  There, a hole would be carved into the rock and the piko inserted.  It would then be covered with a stone.  If the piko was still there the next day, it was a sign that the child would have a long life.

Click on the photo to enlarge-->

<--Image of a male figure, with "piko" holes set into the stone.  Many holes indicated a large family.  One could imagine Hawaiians coming year after year to this lava bed to perform this ritual as each child was born.

Walking through the petroglyph field, among the many messages hidden these symbols, was a timeless walk through history.  They felt as if they had always been there. Almost certainly some of these carvings were there long before white men came to these islands. They were there at a time when Hawaiian kings ruled these lands, and life was very different from what it is today.   It made me wonder what will future generations think of the history we write now?  Will they feel the same sense of awe and mystery as we feel when walking among these silent stones?  More importantly, what are the stories we will pass to our decedents? 

<--the entrance to our rented condo





I arrived back home to find my girls getting ready for dinner.  I quickly changed and together we went to a lovely Thai restaurant nearby and finished off the day sending out last minute Christmas greetings and watching "Sherlock Holmes" on DVD at home tonight.  So far, it's been a great holiday. I have a feeling that tomorrow, however, will be a highlight of our trip. At last, we're journeying into Hawaii Volcano National Park.

"Big Island" Hawaii - Day 4: Christmas Eve in Hawi

Nativity scene outside the Catholic Church in  Kapaau (Hawi), where I cycled to this afternoon-->

It's Christmas Eve today, and so to our Christian friends and my family, we wish you a VERY merry Christmas.

We're definitely not having a 'white' Christmas here in Hawaii. But I hear snow in Vancouver may be on the way by the time we come home next week, so perhaps we'll postpone that nostalgic encounter.

<--early morning, just after sunrise outside our rented condo in Waikoloa Beach

In the meantime, we returned our rather costly car to the rental company last night, grateful that we had wheels for the past three days.  So today, no car. But it's no problem, really.

After arriving home after an early morning walk to Starbucks to bring home lattes for Hilary and I, (a holiday ritual),  the girls headed to Waikoloa beach today, a short walk from the condo, for a day in the sun.

And I headed north, retracing our drive the night before to  Kapaau (Hawi), using the only wheels available to us now... my rented Cannondale bike.

For the first time of our stay in Hawaii, it was a sun-filled day. And HOT.  I drained five water bottles filled with electrolyte for my three and a half hour, 95 km return ride.

My route, recorded by my bike's GPS unit. Click on the image to enlarge-->

<--For more details, click here . 

What a ride!  No wonder the highway between Kona and Hawi was chosen to be the route for the annual Kona World Championship Ironman competition.  The scenery was spectacular. When you are riding at 30 kph, the world around appears to be a much different place than travelling in a car.

We visited this park, the site of an ancient Hawaiian village on the beach, on Day 2 of our visit-->

<--note how lush and green this area is compared to the previous photo, taken less than twenty miles away. 


There's time to savor the countryside, take photos, and see details that are often missed when whizzing along at 80kpm in a car.

Many of the older homes on the Island, dating back to surgar cane and coffee plantation days, still have tin roofs. You can imagine what that must sound like in the middle of the night during a heavy rain storm!-->

And then there's the wonderful feeling of conquering a hill, then flying down it at breakneck speed to the next one. 

The Big Island is especially interesting in that although it is only 97 miles long and 80 miles wide, it has eleven geographically distinct micro-climates, ranging from desert-like areas to tropical rain-forest, to occasional snow at the top of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa.  I passed through at least three.

Wind turbines on Upolu Point, just outside of Hawi-->

Electricity on the Island is expensive, making solar and wind power attractive.  Apparently, Upolu Point is one of the best places in the US to build a wind farm. Wind blows constantly there, about 70 percent of the time.  Completed in 2006, these turbines create 10.6 Megawatts of electricity.  Combined, wind power contributes about seven percent the island's energy needs. Other electricity sources, including geothermal energy (20%) and solar energy make up about 35% of Hawaii's energy needs. The rest, which Hawaii is trying to become less dependent on, comes from imported petroleum.

<--Sign at the entrance of the village of Hawi

Unfortunately, I had a late start, leaving at 12:30 PM, the hottest time of the day. But I made it to Hawi, part of North Kohala, with just enough time to wolf down a cinnamon bun at the local coffee shop, fill my water bottles with Gatorade, and head back home before sunset.












I made it just ten minutes before Hilary and the girls arrived home, and well before the sun went down.  It was a nice feeling of accomplishment. I've now cycled the entire Kona Ironman bike route, stretching from Kona to Waikoloa (which I did two days ago), and on to Hawi, my destination today.

In the meantime, Hilary and the girls had their own adventures on Waikoloa Beach.  Amazingly, they told me that there was absolutely no need for us to have traveled to Kona to visit that lonesome turtle yesterday.  There were several right on the beach where they were today, a short walk from our condo!  

Here's the girl's story, told by Naomi:
Today we decided that we would not spend the whole day in the air conditioned stuffy car.  Instead, mom, Becca and I went to the beach while dad went for a ride in the baking heat (coming back very very sweaty and disgusting :).   Note from Dad:  so THAT's why everyone was so anxious for me to be the first into the shower!!!  :-)))

We had a lot of fun at the beach. When we got there, we went on a hunt for three chairs in the shade...it was too hot in the sun. Eventually, mom got this brilliant idea of going out on a kayak to cool down. We were on the kayak out on the water for about half an hour which, since it is us, is pretty good. After the short but pleasant kayak trip, we went back to our chairs and read for a little bit. Then, I got super bored and asked mom and Becca if they wanted to play cards. Fortunately for me, they agreed and played cuncan (Grandma and Grandpa, is that how you spell 'cuncan'?).

After a few rounds, with Becca winning two, me winning three and mom winning one, Becca and I left mom and went snorkeling. We saw a few small bright coloured, shy fish (not like the fish you see in Lilo and Stich).

Concluding our day at the beach, mom, Becca and I found out that there were turtles at the beach!!! Becca stayed behind and read as mom and I walked down to find the turtles. 

Two of them were chilling on the shore and was posing for pictures as another one was swimming in the ocean coming into shore.




Then, mom and I walked back to Becca and then mom and Becca left me and went to see the turtles again.

At the end of our pleasant yet short day at the beach, we went back to the condos, showered off, and then went for dinner at a delicious Japanese restaurant. After our dinner, we went to the grocery store and rented a hilarious movie called 'Grown Ups'. Now we are settling down and slowly getting ready for bed. 


Tomorrow we are going to have another relaxing day and then on Sunday (I think) we are going on a full day volcano and waterfall tour!


Goodnight. We are sad to see our holiday coming to a close, Naomi

"Big Island" Hawaii - Day 3: Searching for turtles and kings

 Well, Naomi was right. We didn't see the volcanoes today.  Instead, we drove south, searching for the storied Green Turtles of Big Island.

Our first destination (after a strong Starbucks coffee to jolt us out of bed), was south of Kona, to Kahaluu Beach, a state park reputed to be famous for snorkeling and turtles sunning themselves on the beach.  The drive took us up into the hills overlooking Kona, with brief but magnificent vistas of the island below and the ocean beyond.  Then we descended down Mamalahoa Highway, and then part of Kauakini Highway, and finally approached the park via Kamehameha III Highway.  See a pattern here?  Unlike British Columbia, or any other state in the US that I know of, virtually every place name on the Big Island has traditional names.  No doubt there are others, but the only place that had a western influence was "Captain Cook", a coffee growing region south of Kona that was named after, well, Captain Cook. Nearby is Kealakekua Bay, where Cook met an untimely end at the hands of the Hawaiians in 1779.  The Hawaiian names took getting used to... I don't dare say I can pronounce them correctly.  Hilary's often correcting my goofy pronunciation of ENGLISH words that I read somewhere but never learned how to say them properly, so I guess that's no surprise.

The crowded little park at Kahahuu Beach wasn't anything to write about, but sure enough, in the middle of a hoard of kids playing and families out in the water snorkeling, was a single lonely green turtle sunning himself (I'm guessing it's a "him") sleepily on a rock. Just one.  Perhaps the others were out playing in the water?  Though you could walk right up to the fellow, I dared not touch him for fear of being slapped with a $25,000 Hawaiian state fine for doing just that. And sure enough, just behind me, sitting on a chair, was a volunteer citizen "turtle keeper" (guard??), watching my every move. I took a picture and gingerly backed away.

That single Chelonioidean encounter pretty much satisfied our quest for turtles. So, with lunch approaching, we headed back up the mountain Mamalahoa Highway (highway 10),  to Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park, also known as a "place of refuge".  Apparently, it, too, is home to sea turtles. But, now that we had actually seen one, of more interest to me at least, was this site's place in Hawaiian history.  What we didn't realize when we set out on today's journey was what a beautiful place it was.

The picnic area overlooked a vast black beach made of smooth volcanic stone that stretched into the water.  Interspersed in the rock were tidal pools brimming with sea life.

The air was warm and slightly humid, despite overcast skies, perfect for exploring-->

 <--Hilary, in the distance, looking out over the surf's edge

Rebecca-->

<--Naomi

Satisfied with lunch and a such a beautiful walk, we set out to view the Palace Grounds and the Puʻuhonua O Hōnaunau, the Place of Refuge.

Separating the two areas of the park is the Great Wall, up to ten feet high and seventeen feet thick, and built of stones packed so tightly that morter was not needed to hold them together.  The stone wall remains here to this day, together with reconstructed artifacts and 'tiki', tall wooden figures that silently stand guard over the site.

Hilary and Rebecca walking into the Palace grounds from the Puʻuhonua O Hōnaunau-->

The Palace grounds were kapu, or strictly forbidden to anyone other than royalty. Only royalty could enter inside the great wall.  Certain death would befall a commoner who stepped foot, or even allowed his shadow to be cast inside the walls. Thankfully, the rules have relaxed a bit now. Today, one can see a reconstructed Hale O Keawe heiau, or Hawaiian temple, which was originally built by a Kona chief named Kanuha in the mid 16th century.


<--Two ki'i, or wooden images standing guard over Keone'ele Cove, 

The Hale o Keawe temple once kept the bones of Chief Keawe, who ruled in the late 1700's, and 22 other chiefs -->

<--Fishing canoe, kept within the Palace grounds.

Keone'ele Cove, part of the Palace Grounds. Only royalty were allowed to bring their canoes here-->

<--A ki'i, near the canoe hut

Drying tea leaves inside the Palace grounds-->

Outside the Great Wall was the place of refuge.  It was called this because up to the early 19th century, Hawaiians who broke one of the ancient laws, or kapu, were able to avoid death by seeking this place of refuge, called a puʻuhonua.  Some sources I read suggested that a priest could then absolve the offender, allowing him to leave. However, others suggest that this place could often be the place he (or she) would spend the rest of their lives. During times of battle, this place also allowed refuge for defeated warriors and non-combatants.

The Ka'ahumanu Stone-->

Legend has it that Queen Ka'ahumanu, the favorite wife of King Kamehameha I (the same king whose statue we saw yesterday), had a fight with her husband. As a result, she swam a great distance to the place of refuge, the pu'uhonua, and hid under this stone from her husband for a long time. He came looking for her, and her dog barked, revealing her hiding place. The king and queen made peace after their fight, and went home together

<--the back side of the Ka'ahumanu Stone, with a cavern inside that looks just large enough for someone to hide there.

I could have lingered for hours, but not surprisingly the rest of the family were ready to move on after we completed our walk.  It was good that we did, because no sooner had we started driving up the hill back towards Kona when we were hit with a torrential downpour - the third in three days, all occurring about the same time in the afternoon.  The rain was warm, however, and passed quickly.

We stopped in Kailua for yogurt ice cream at a little shop that has become a favorite ever since Hilary and Rebecca visited here last year.  Walking along the sidewalk, it was evident that the downpour that had hit us on the mountain had just stopped only minutes before our arrival.

The kid's favorite frozen yogurt shop on Big Island-->

<--Hilary, checking out one of the many art galleries in Kailua









 

Carefully balanced stones standing on the beach, found along our walk towards the farmer's market-->

We wandered through the farmer's market, with makeshift tents covering a wide variety of native fruit and hand crafts, before returning home.

Fresh coconuts and citrus fruit at the market-->

This was our last day with $300/day economy car, so we decided to make the best of it.  After a brief interlude for the kids to chat with their friends on Facebook (what would we do without the Internet??), we headed back to the northern tip of the Island, for dinner once again at the Bamboo restaurant.

Once again, wonderful food, attentive, friendly service and the casual Hawaiian atmosphere of this unique restaurant made it a very memorable evening.










And so, we finally made it back to our condo at Waikola Beach, and time for me to turn in to bed.  Tomorrow, we're having a relaxing morning. I'll likely do an early morning bike ride towards Hawi, approximately 30 miles (48 km) up the coast.  Hilary will likely head for the gym across the driveway from our condo.  Then, weather permitting, we're planning to spend most of the day on the beach here at Waikoloa.