A week on the Big Island of Hawai’i sounds like a lot of time but it
hardly scratches the surface. If you
thoroughly research the possibilities and schedule your time carefully, you
might leave with the satisfaction of having done all that you planned. For those who, like me, show up on the island
with only vague ideas about what to do the week goes by quickly with many
options quickly considered but not fulfilled.
My trip to the Big Island was more of a windfall than a plan. Friends rented a house in Kona and invited
others to join them. The dates were
about one month into my retirement so Maggie and I quickly accepted the
invitation. She was interested in
snorkeling. I had my sights set on
visiting the Mauna Kea Observatory.
Anything else was left to chance, interest and the dynamics of the group
with whom we were sharing the house.
In the end our activities were a combination of group and individual
efforts. At the house we talked, laughed
and enjoyed the leisure of comfortable and pleasant accommodations. We ate at the Ba Le Vietnamese Sandwich Shop and
Bakery in the strip mall next to the grocery store that we frequented and
also lunched at the Kona Brewery. My first attempt at snorkeling was part of a
group excursion to Kalalu’u Bay, probably the most accessible public beach in
the Kona-Kailua area. It did not go well.
I had a mask and snorkel from the rental house but it did not seal well over
to my mustache. The equipment rental
place on the beach gave me some petroleum jelly but that was only limited
help. Surf was rough and the area
crowded. I got a small glimpse of
snorkeling’s attractions—I saw tropical fish and coral—but I was mostly
concerned with keeping water out of my mask and not sucking it in through my
snorkel. I did not last long in the
water. Once out of the water, I wanted
out of the mid-day sun. We retreated to
the Vietnamese restaurant for lunch.
Later that day, four of us took off for Mauna Kea Observatory. Once we were north of Kailua, we had the Mamaloha
Highway largely to ourselves on a clear afternoon. The white observatory domes were visible
along Mauna Kea’s ridge not long after leaving town. The Saddle Road leading
across the island was equally uncrowded and nicely paved. The saddle between the island’s two great
volcanos, Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, was covered by a cloud bank that turned the
clear day into overcast and occasional drizzle. We turned off the Saddle Road on John A. Burns
Way, a narrow, curvy two lane and climbed out of the cloud bank up to the Mauna
Kea Visitor Information Center which sits at 9,200 feet. We did not attempt the far more primitive
road to the peak at 14,000 feet. We
arrived around 5:30 which gave us a time to hike to a nearby saddle to view the
sunset before the stargazing party began around 7:00 pm.
The evening was clear but with a waxing gibbous moon much of the visible
star field was washed out. Still, plenty
of stars were visible. Volunteers set up
a variety of telescopes. The party began
with volunteers describing the night sky above—what we could see and what we
could not see and other items of astronomical interest. They had pointer lights that beamed into the
sky to point out stars and constellations.
After their talk, we could look through the telescopes where a volunteer
would explain the image and make any needed adjustment to the instrument. Most
of the scopes were barrel-like Cassegrain
reflecting scopes but one was a refractor. I got a nice view of a binary star (a larger
yellow star paired with a smaller but much hotter blue star), saw the
star-forming nebula in Orion, viewed Jupiter and three of its moons, and had a
dramatic close-up view of the moon. My
binoculars also gave me some nice views, especially of the Pleiades which were
otherwise small to my eye. The night was
cold and brought back memories of many winter nights looking through my cheap
refractor. The ride back to Kailua was
very dark.
One of my favorite things to do when I visit someplace new is to learn its
history. Guidebooks at the hous provided
some history but I learned even more when Maggie and I drove south to Pu’uhone O Hoananu National Historic Park,
the Place of Refuge. This was a site reserved
for royals but part of it also served as a place where one could obtain absolution
for violating a taboo. In Old Hawai’i, laws
or kapu (taboos) governed every aspect of society. The penalty for breaking these laws was certain
death. The only option was to elude your
pursuers and reach the nearest puuhonua, or place of refuge. The site has preserved or restored the great
walls of dark volcanic stone, the same stone that lines this entire portion of
Hawaiian coast. The park map provides an
informative self-guided tour of restored structures and cultural artifacts. Along the way we watched a sea turtle feeding
in the shallows. Away from the historic area is a very nice picnic area that
faces a rocky shore where waves crash over lava formations that turn into
immense waterfalls as the waves recede.
Tidepools provided a nice foreground for a dramatic sunset. On the ride back to Kailua, we spotted a
narrow, primitive looking road with a hand painted sign for the Old Hawaiian
Coffee Company. We did not take that
road, opting instead to look for food which we found farther along on a side
street in Kealakekua.
While we were at the Place of Refuge we saw people snorkeling in the
adjacent Honaunau Bay. It was less
crowded than Kahalu’u Bay in town so we decided to try snorkeling there on the
following day. I rented a mask with less
lip and would fit tighter, I hoped. I
was wrong. I did not get a good
seal. I might have been able to manage
that if my snorkel didn’t draw water when I breathed. I
traded snorkels with Maggie which took care of my problem but now she was stuck
with it.
This time I was in the water longer and had a chance to look around
more. Fish were everywhere. The bottom was coral, sand and lava rock. I also felt uneasy in that environment. Maybe it was my uncertain gear combined with my
lack of experience in ocean water. I was
cold, too. I pulled out, gave Maggie the
good snorkel and watched from the shore as she floated out some distance. For a while I watched a sea turtle feeding on
algae in a tidal pool, bobbing about as waves surged back and forth over it. Maggie was out for almost an hour and was the
last snorkeler to come out of the water that afternoon. She and reported seeing a wide variety of
fish (and vice-versa), much coral and the drop-off into the ocean depths
beyond.
We were back on the highway early enough to follow the road into the Old Hawaiian Coffee Company. The road is paved but has been repaired so
often that it looks like a patchwork of potholes. About 100 meters from the highway we came
upon a house and were met by a young man who gave us a quick tour of the
place. He showed us coffee trees that
had just flowered and were now producing beans.
Inside we saw the processing and roasting equipment. The belt-driven wooden wheels and equipment are
original from 1909 when the farm was established. The only modification is the electric motor
that replaced the gasoline engine that powered the drive.
History was also on our last day’s itinerary. We visited a heritage site on Kahalu’u Bay
where a former hotel/resort complex is being removed to restore a historically
significant heiau
complex. Students from the Kamehameha
Schools, which owns the land and previously leased it for hotels, are restoring
some of the sites as part of a long term project. The security guard at the entrance gave us
some background on the site and its history.
Most notably, a defeated chief was captured and sacrificed here.
The day ended at the Hulihe’e Palace which
was a summer residence of the island governors under successive Kamehamehas
during the 19th century. As
palaces go, it’s a modest affair—only six rooms—but it is well-preserved and
staffed by very informative docents, members of the Daughters of Hawai’i. The photographs and artifacts illustrate
Hawaiians’ growing fascination with British manners, customs and dress. So much so that I am surprised that Hawai’i
ended up as an American territory rather than a British colony. The Brits did manage to get their flag
incorporated into the Hawaiian flag,
though.
And then our week was done. So
much to see and do. So little time.
