Maks

It's been awhile since I last posted, so here we go. I have a lot to share, so this may end up in separate postings. Enjoy!

I got a call on friday about a last minute camping trip to Makalawena Beach. It was an instant "yes" because this is one of our favorite places on the Big Island. This was our third trip here, and this time we managed to avoid any mishaps that would leave us without a camera. Stacey, Alan, River and I rode together in my truck. The road down from the highway to the beach is extremely rough, and only half of it should even be called a road. The only way to get down is in 4X4 low, moving about 2mph most of the time. Stacey chose to walk with River because she has a tendancy to get motion sickness with all the rocking back and forth.

Unfortunately (or fortunately for some), there are a few choice pieces of furniture ripe for picking along the part of the road near the highway.

When we reached the end of the road, we were greeted by this view.

After looking around for a bit, we began to set up camp. Alan and I were assigned to a large tent that neither of us knew how to construct. After fumbling around aimlessly for awhile, we decided to check and see if the tent came with any instructions. After a little instruction, we got it up.

Afterwards Alan and I decided to climb this awesome tree and watch everyone else work.

After everybody had their tents set up, we headed down the coast to a little nicer, sandy beach just a bit south. I drove the truck with all the beach toys in it, and the rest of the crew walked.

Several different spots along this beach hold freshwater (brackish) ponds no more than 50 yards from the beach. The water seeps through the rock and comes down from the volcano. It is really cool and feels great.

Here is Mike with his dog Jack, and River taking a dip.

To make a long story short, we spent the day at the beach doing lots of fun stuff, which I will share with you in a future post. Around sundown we headed back to camp to cook dinner.

Stacey and I snuck off to fish for a bit and see if we could catch some dinner. I ended up losing the first fish, but soon after we landed this Blue-fin Trevally, or Omilu. A local told me that they are great to eat, but after seeing how much food we had for dinner we decided to save it for sunday brunch.

This fish was really beautiful, especially right after we caught it. And it later tasted pretty good, too!

After dinner we gathered around the fire and talked story for awhile. Slowly but surely everyone made their way to their sleeping spots, anxious for another day at the beach.