A very busy few days. Trying to be diligent and perhaps with any luck penetrate the beach fortress that is Mauna Kea, we set out earlier and earlier each day. But there are some things that I will not forsake in the quest to get to that particular beach - and that is a good lunch (dutifully made by yours truly) and Starbucks vente black ice tea. If I had to forsake that, it is not worth going. Every morning we are dutifully turned away at Mauna Kea. To the point when we ask how early we must be there the entry time keeps getting earlier by a 1/2 hour. But as luck will have it each morning we have ended up at 69 beach. Winds are raging around us and for some reason 69 is perfectly calm and with shade. It doesn't get any better. For 2 years we have dutifully gone to 69 always with huge waves. I read about the snorkeling but could never get there because of the currents associated with the waves. The last two mornings have been calm and perfect snorkeling weather. We all enjoyed squid, turtles and Kyr even saw an octupus! It had been such a delightful beach. We have been so lucky!
After several hours spent in snorkeling spendor we try to do an afternoon outing . Yesterday we did the saddle road between 2 volcanos and in the span of less than an hour dropped from 87 to 50 degrees. The landscape on the saddle road ( crosses the island) is like a moonscape. It is surreal in its elevation and bleakness. The American military have a base near the top and it is beyond desolate. Apparently it was incredibly strategic during WWII, but god knows what important nefarious activity occurs now. The thing that was so incredibly disturbing was the complete death of all vegetation surrounding the military base. Admittedly it is just very dwarf scrub trees, but they are numerous and definitively dead. The only hopeful thing I could come up with is perhaps a brush fire?
We arrived in Hilo to find it even more decrepit than before. Will the economic crush never end? The market was even very paltry. Joop bought two beautiful island bouquets that are elevating our surroundings here at Morning Fire and we bought lots of papaya and tomatoes. But really it was almost depressing. We made the big faux pas of trying to get a snack at a restaurant. It was an exercise in futility.
Today after our beach sojourn we hiked Pololu valley. So beautiful as you can see in the windswept beach photos.
Tonight the boys made a tropical meal with local papayas, pineapples and chicken. It was delish.
The opening photos are of the horses here at morning fire. They love their morning apples and gallop up.
5 comments:
Sleep must come easily after such rich, full days. I think I know what we're doing next spring break. Sounds so great. You all look so healthy and happy.
Sounds like you are very busy and it looks so beautiful there.
It's 9:30 right now and the little girls are still asleep. I think the walk along the river gathering "beautiful" little rocks and the 3 hours at the Wildlife Park must have really tired them out.
It's "snaining" here this morning so you can imagine how lucky you are to be on the Big Island.
I'm glad we're going to make cookies today as it doesn't look like it would be much fun outdoors.
I dont get Mauna Kea...what is it and who is turning you away and whatfor??
Mauna Kea is a picture perfect beach with both close snorkeling and boogie boarding, but they only have room for 40 cars in the parking lot (the nearby hotel controls this). I guess its the attempts from the hotel to keep the riff raff (us) from accessing a public beach while still maintaining the public illusion.
What happened to the daily blog?
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