South Point

Stacey and I finally got a chance to get down to South Point this past saturday. It's a really neat drive to the very southern tip of the Big Island, which also happens to be the southernmost tip of the united states. Once you reach the end, assuming you have an off-road vehicle, you can take one of many old dirt roads back to the north along the coastline.

Most of the roads are extremely steep in some areas, and a few times we had to turn around and try a different route. On a few occasions we had to go through some spots that really had the truck at an angle. I knew Stace was getting a little nervous when she slowly put her seatbelt on.

Once we reached Green Sands beach, we parked and hiked down the cliff to the water. There were a few other people on the beach, as well as one other dog that River ran around with a bit.

The wind is really strong on this side of the island, with the trade winds blowing constantly. The sand would sometimes blow right up the face of the cliff and make it impossible to open your eyes. At times it was uncomfortable because of this. Here is River dealing with the sandstorm.

This beach is really pretty neat, especially with the view from the top of the cliff. At first glance its almost hard to find Stace in this picture because she looks so small.

I will put up another post soon about the cliff jumping we did off the cliffs at southpoint. It was really a blast, and we got some pretty good pictures.

Pics from the Hike

This is image is taken from the beach, and its zoomed in pretty good. We were standing at the extreme opposite end of the beach when I took this picture, and the beach is about a 1/2 mile long. If you look closely you can see the zig-zag line on the hillside. That's what's called the Z trail, and we hiked to the top. It was a SUPER steep trail. You definitely need to be in shape to attempt hiking it.

An awesome view of the valley from one of the switchbacks on the Z trail.

A rest stop.

Carl did the hike bare-footed. He would do everything with no shoes if he could. He loves being in Hawaii because he's been to restaurants, the grocery store, and pretty much all over town with no shoes on, and no one has given him any problems. Actually, we always see other people with no shoes and sometimes not even a shirt. He's in paradise.

Waipi'o Valley

On Saturday Carl, River and I went hiking at the most beautiful and magical place I've ever been. Its called Waipi'o Valley, and everyone needs to go there. You have to have a 4WD vehicle to get down there because (1)the road down into the valley is SUPER steep and 1 lane, (2) once in the valley the roads are not paved and are full of potholes and mini lakes, and (3) you have to drive through rivers, literally.

The photos in this post are only of the valley. We'll put up pics of the beach and the hike we did tomorrow or so.

Here's Carl checking a water hole before we went through.

This is one of the river's we had to drive through. Most of the tourists that go to Waipi'o have rental cars and can't make it down the steep drive into the valley, so they park their car at the top of the hill and hike down. When we drove through this river, and a few others, we had several people look at us like, "Do you seriously think you're going to make it through that?" I was never worried about getting stuck because I knew Carl wouldn't go through something he wasn't positive that we could make it through.

This is one of the waterfalls at the back of the valley. The mountain you see wraps all the way around the valley, but the road stops and the only way to get to the other valleys and rainforests along the coast is by foot. Carl and I had a Saint Paddy's Day party to get to later that night, so we were only able to do a mini-hike. But let me tell you, it was intense. We summited the cliff in the picture, and it was absolutely breathtaking, but rather difficult. There is another valley a 7.7 mile walk from Waipi'o that we're making plans to hike to and camp out at. It is completely uninhabited and has waterfalls and fresh water streams all throughout. We hear its unbelievable, and we can't wait to go.

There were several homes in the valley, which we were pretty surprised about. If you could see the road you have to go down to get there, you'd never believe that people live there. We did some research when we got home and found out that Waipi'o Valley used to be a bustling mecca of Hawaii. All of the Princes and elite of Hawaii had homes there, and much of the farming was done there as well. There was a school, a post office, a restaurant, a hotel, and a jail. Then, in the 40s, a huge tsunami hit Hawaii and completely wiped out the valley. It wasn't until very recently that people began moving back, and from what we hear they don't really care for tourists. We were pretty uncomfortable most of the time we were driving through the valley, for one because of the condition of the roads, but also because we felt like we were driving through people's property and someone was surely going to come out with a shotgun and run us off. Then we remembered we were in Hawaii not Texas, and our fears shifted to someone coming out with a koa wood club with shark teeth strung along the outside. As it turned out, though, everyone we came across was super nice and didn't seem to care that we were there at all.

New Traditions

Carl and I started a new tradition. At the Bubba Gump's restaurant there is a bench with Forrest's shoes in front that have the backs cut out so you can stick your feet in. We decided we're going to take everyone's picture there that comes to visit us and hang it up/post it on our blog. Who will be next?

Sad, sad puppy

This is what River looks like when we leave. We try to take her with us as much as we can, but during the day its way too hot in the truck for her if we need to go inside somewhere.

Road Trip

Stacey and I decided to take a road trip on Saturday because it was such a nice day. Originally our plans were to head up to Waimea to the farmer's market, and then come home. But we decided to do a little exploring instead. Wouldn't you believe the camera ran out of batteries before we even made it to Waimea?

The first several pictures are during the drive north. Most of them aren't very good because we were taking them while moving, through the windshield, etc.. But they are better than nothing, I guess.

The drive up was spectacular. It rained on us a few times, and it really made the sky pretty. Everything is green when you start to head north on the island. This part of the island gets the most rain. This stretch of coastline, called the Kohala Coast, is some of the prettiest coastline Hawaii has to offer. One of the spots up hear is called Kiholo Bay, and it is one of the spots that we are most anxious to see. It supposedly has good surf periodically as well, but we heard an interesting story recently that makes me wonder if it is worth checking out. One of our friends is currently studying for her helicopter pilot's license. She was flying earlier in the week over Kiholo and spotted a large tiger shark between 12 and 15ft long. They hovered directly over it and got a good look at it. The scary thing was that there were some snorklers nearby that had no idea! Honestly, I think this happens alot and people just don't realize it. Sharks are more afraid of humans than humans really know. It would take a freak event for that shark to bother those people. Nevermind what you see on Good Morning America about those spearfisherman killing that tiger shark. I don't believe they were in harms way, they just killed it for fun. When the media got ahold of it, it became a "life or death situation."

Off to the left you can see the coastline where Kiholo and several other bays are located.

This is the town of Waimea. We drove around a bit and saw the farmer's market, which was great. All Hawaiian grown and local handmade things for sale at a great price. We also checked out the school that Stacey will start at in the fall. It was very small and neat looking. She is very excited about it.

This is the part of the trip where the camera runs out of batteries. We have already began planning another trip to take more pictures. The next few pics I got were with my phone, so the quality isn't great. But it will give you a good idea of what we saw. This pic is from up on the highway leaving town. There are some incredible homes up here with spectacular views. When I say incredible homes, I mean mostly the view and location. Most of the homes would be between the $100k to $350k back in Texas. The greatest part about Waimea is the elevation and weather. In this pic we are at around 3000ft. The temp is in the low 70's, and if you look to the left you see Mauna Kea with it's peak covered in snow. And if you look right you see the pacific ocean. There are rolling green hills with cows on them everywhere. And the Parker Ranch is spectacular, and has alot of great history.

In this pic you can barely make out the snow covered peak and observatory of Mauna Kea. It looks like clouds, but most of the white you see at the peak is snow. With the naked eye you can see it perfectly, as well as the observatory. But this is a phone camera pic and it is tough to see. Pictures cannot do it justice anyway. Nor can words.

So we decide to head up to Hawi (pronounced "Ha-Vee"). Hawi is the northern tip of the Big Island. This area is mostly local Hawaiian and very much resembles what Kona used to look like. We ended up taking an old dirt road back to this point that had a lighthouse on it. When we got there we realized that a large Northeast swell was hitting the island, and the surf was REALLY good. There were several guys out, and the waves were easily overhead. It looked really fun, but I had brought only my board and no trunks to get in with. We moved along the coast a short distance and found some guys being towed into huge waves with jetskis. At this spot the surf was 10 -15ft. These next few pics are some of those waves. Its impossible to tell how big they are with no one to show the scale, but they were some of the biggest waves I have ever seen.

The expression is "overhead" or "double-overhead" which means the top of the wave is over the head of a surfer standing up on his board. Double overhead means there is enough room for two people to stand up stacked one on the other. These waves were easily double overhead.

We travelled along further to this beach that is a long hike down. It was incredible, and there was a freshwater lake down there that River really enjoyed. After spending some time here, we decided it was time to head back. We are already thinking about when we will come back to these spots again.

I think you can click on most of these pictures and get a larger view, but I am not sure. Try it. Also, don't hesitate to leave a comment at the bottom of these posts if you like what you see! Or even if you don't!

Honaunau Pt. 2

Like I stated in the previous post, Honaunau is a really unique spot on the Big Island. While walking around and checking things out, one can really get caught up in imagining some of the things that took place here. Besides it's stunning beauty, the history is incredible.

Hawaii once had a system of extensive laws, or "kapu." Some of the laws were as follows:

• no man and women could eat together, nor could their food even be prepared in the same place
• members of the lower class could not walk on, or even LOOK AT the same walking trails as the higher class
• commoners could not speak to a chief, or "Ali'i," nor could their shadow fall across an Ali'i's shadow.

These are just a few, but you get the idea. The penalty for breaking this kapu was almost always death. You had a choice, either by fire, club, spear, or strangulation. Hawaiians believed that the Gods would not tolerate misbehaivor, and punishment came in the form of earthquakes, lava eruptions, tidal waves, etc.. So they were quick to exterminate any law breaking citizens. Sometimes, if the crime was bad enough, the criminals ENTIRE family was executed. Horrible, huh?

So what makes this place such a historic one is the fact that it was considered a "home-base" if you will. If a lawbreaker could make his way to this place of refuge before his pursuers could catch him, he was FREE! Here the "kahuna pule" (priest) would mandate certain rituals. After the escapee satisfied everything, he was free to leave, and the Gods would have forgiven him. Defeated warriors could also come here to await the victor of a battle. They could then pledge their allegiance to whoever won and live out their lives in peace.

This re-constructed thatched structure called Hale-o-Keawe ws originally a mausoleum, containing the bones of 23 chiefs. Bones were thought to contain supernatural power, or mana, and therefore ensured that the Place of Refuge would remain sacred. The wall you see to the left of the structure is called the Great Wall. It was built in the 1500's, ans is 1000ft long, 10 ft. high and 17ft thick in most places. It separated the Pu'uhonua and the Ali'i's palace grounds. The wall was made from un-cut lava rocks and no mortar, which I found amazing.

Around the structure are several hand carved statues of Gods, which are really cool looking and must have taken a long time and a skilled hand to create. There is also a large rock nearby that has a neat story. Supposedly one of King Kamehameha's wives (his favorite one) escaped to the Place of Refuge by swimming across the bay after an argument. She hid under this rock until he found her a little while later, and soon after they apologized and made up. The bay is beautiful, and it may be hard to tell from the picture, but it is full of tropical fish like these Yellow Tang. In this picture there are 5 or 6 of them swimming around.

Along the shore there are several places where you can see fresh water trickling into the bay. I am not sure exactly where it comes from, but supposedly this was one of the factors for choosing this area, because of its supply of fresh water. There is even a small freshwater pond full of freshwater fish a mere 25 yards from the ocean. Not sure how they got there, but they are there.This place really has some beautiful palm trees that seem to grow on top of solid lava rock. It is definitely one of the prettiest places we have been to on the Big Island yet.

Pu'uhonua o Honaunau

While my mom was in town we decided to do some looking around. We stopped at this place, which is a short distance south of Kona, near Capt. Cook. It's a state park, and it has some really great history that I will share with you in another post. But the place was beautiful. When you walk up, there are several little stops with hand carved figures and things, and a recording of what took place here over the last several hundred years.
This will give you an idea of what the Big Island looks like. Notice the small volcano to the left (Hualalai, where we live) and the two larger ones, Mauna Kea on top and Mauna Loa below it. There is also a gecko on the wall just above the island.

This place is well maintained, and all of the sand is raked everyday. It is absolutely beautiful.

There are several replicas of ancient Hawaiian homes on the property. It is amazing what they used to construct out of wood and palm fronds.

They are all open to the weather for the most part, which allows that nice breeze to come in and keep you cool.

This is where Stacey and I live. We like it. A little cluttered, though. (just kidding!)

Next post will be about the history of this spot, and why they call it the "Place of Refuge."

Pine Trees

Well we finally got to spend some more time at the beach. Pine Trees is a great little beach a little north of town that you have to travel down a ROUGH 4WD road about a mile from the pavement to get to. Supposedly this is one of the most consistent spots for waves near Kona. Notice all of the surfers out to the left in this picture.

It seems that Stacey is an aspiring photographer, as she snapped this awesome pic of the sun behind this old tree.

This is the first chance I have had to use my shortboard in Hawaii. I'm about to put the fins back on my board in this pic after taking them off for the flight over.

The Big Island, as well as the other islands, gets the best swell during the winter time. Today the surf was 3 to 5 ft, which is a great size for people with moderate experience (like me). These two guys were getting alot of waves. Most everyone in the lineup was very friendly, which is great. Some spots in Hawaii are fiercley guarded by the locals, and Haoles like myself are not always welcome. But Pine Trees seems like a great spot with a friendly vibe.

This is the view up the beach with all the trucks parked along the shore. The only things we don't like about this spot are the "no overnight camping" rule, as well as the "no dogs" rule. Apparently you can get a permit to camp out, but dogs are not welcome period. Kind of a bummer for River. But there are other beaches that she can go to.

Hope you enjoy!