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Whales

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I have a lot to say about this trip. My friend Jess coordinated it among a few of her girlfriends, I recommended the company. It’s Dolphin Excursions based out of Waianae. It’s an hour ride out there, so my friend Caitlyn, Brian and I carpooled out there. It was a happy circumstance Brian was home for this!

So it doesn’t take long at all before we see a whale… and it’s a beautiful coastline to see (of course).

We start by seeing a couple of adults, and we see AN ADULT BREACH. It was the coolest thing (next to lava) I’ve experienced. Man, getting all that body out of the water that high? Just incredible. Mind you, the boat is rocking, and we’re moving, and we’re a bit away… so no pictures of that. But I do get a couple humps and tail flips.

But, it’s still really hard to get these things in focus… I’m moving in the boat, the whale is moving, it’s really bright so it’s hard to see… you can see where I’m going with this (excuses for blurry pics).

Next thing we get to see is a mom and baby… and the baby breaches! Not only does the baby breach, it breaches at least 4 times!!

Now, if you have ever tried capturing a whale breaching, you’ll know that A: You have NO IDEA where they’re going to breach B: You have no idea WHEN they are going to breach and C: You yourself are not stable. I cannot tell you how unbelievably hard this is for photography.

I took a lot of pictures and all of them are blurry. Disappointed in myself is an understatement. I knew I wasn’t nailing them… and so I kept trying and trying. Usually, I try to balance taking pictures and enjoying whatever activity I’m doing. Well, I definitely did not this time. It was all about the pictures…

I wish I had spent more time embracing the moment, especially after realizing just how hard it was. I guess I was kinda thinking we’d have one more good viewing opportunity, but we didn’t…

I would love love love to go again. I also got some camera setting tips from a facebook group I’m apart of (faster shutter speed… I already had it really high, but these guys go unbelievably fast)

I’m kicking myself for not getting a “perfect” picture… I’m kicking myself for not enjoying my time fully… it was an amazing experience, but I wish I handled it differently.

Fun facts: the baby’s dorsal fin is white, and they gain 1lb every 15mins.

Regardless, we had a great day out on the water. We did see a set of spinner dolphins, but obviously less of a highlight.

I really, really really want to go again. Who’s coming with me??

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Lulumahu Falls

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This hike was definitely challenging to navigate. A lot of reviews said that, but based on the map it looked pretty straight… the problem is it crosses the stream a couple (? Few?) times. There weren’t great markers and LOTS of stray paths. Some of the markers were the same colors and plant leaves… which left you questioning leaf or trail marker? There was one point we were hiking up a cliff face and my gut said it didn’t feel right because reviews had said their 8 year olds could handle it. I was right, and we backed down and found an alternative, much easier path.

Anyway, this was another nice walk through the jungle essentially… a really beautiful bamboo forest to start.

Eventually you get to the stream and trace it all the way up. This hike is NOT recommended during rain and I can see why… you can easily get trapped.

I ended up using my spikes toward the top, and I would highly suggest boots… we were crossing the stream a lot.

We made it there around 4pm on a Friday and there was hardly anyone there. We parked at this pull off off the highway… they were doing filming in the area so the parking was limited which could’ve kept it quieter. Also, you need to buy a pass for this hike… it’s limited to 100 a day or something. It was a whopping $2.50 and no one checked us for it, but I rather go with the integrity route.

It was a great hike, it took an hour and 15 minutes ish, 1.7 miles round trip, only 300 ft elevation. There were four other people there and they were swimming… I’ve heard bad things about the bacteria in these ponds, so I haven’t done it yet.

After this we made a stop at the Honolulu Museum of Art to pick up some pallet straps to reuse for this project. Stay tuned!

Finally, we stopped at La Casita restaurant to try to find some good pupusas. The pupusas were just OK, but the horchata was delicious and the empanada was as well. We would like to try their other food. This all started after a discussion about trying to find Arepa’s in Hawaii, which it turns out there aren’t any… so now we are pursuing (and succeeding!) at making them at home. I first tried arepa’s in Venezuela. They are delicious.

Sidebar conversation related to this afternoon… Leading up to this, I was very reluctant to drive. Growing up, my mom was very fearful of driving, and even to this day my parents are very particular about parking and where they drive. So sometimes that creeps up on me… we were going to three spots I had never driven before, one I had to take a left and then another left on a busy throughway, one was in the city… and I was going to ask my friend to drive. But I know, if I keep doing that, I will scare myself into never driving anywhere. Well, long story short, I told my friend this before we left, and she encouraged me to drive, and I did and of course everything went fine… in fact incredibly smoothly. Both lefts, navigating this tiny parking lot, and driving the H1 through Honolulu. It was a great confidence/anti fear builder! Funny anecdote about the tiny parking lot in the art museum- I parked in the museum director’s spot (at 5pm on a Friday, mind you) and the parking attendant got SO UPSET. So I had to move immediately. Meanwhile, this parking lot is 5 spots big and there were 8 cars trying to park in it… We all agreed afterward that he had definitely been chewed out for not leaving that space open previously and couldn’t let it happen again. How about next time pick a bigger parking lot to execute this in? Or get permission? Strange… Hawaii is strange.

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Elysha and Dan Visit!

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Elysha and Dan were married in August, when I made a “quick” trip home for their wedding. They finally made it out here for their honeymoon. We started with takeout breakfast from our favorite place, Over Easy. Then we went and did the Pillbox Hike. I will say that I am way more comfortable, maybe even confident? With this hike now.

The LOVED this hike. Short and sweet, great rewarding views, a little bit of history.

They were happy to hit the beach for a bit after this. We went for a dip and just relaxed and talked in our chairs and on the towel with a couple beers. We saw turtles! Elysha loves them so I’m glad we did. They are off to Maui to finish their honeymoon today, but it was so nice to see them.

Backtracking a bit…On Thursday when they arrived I went to the airport to surprise them with a Lei greeting. I had enough information to track down which flight they were (airline and layover and date). But I wasn’t 100% sure… so I went to the airport and sat at the baggage claim I thought they’d be going to. I contemplated looking for their luggage and tried… but a lot of the bag tags were not easily read and I thought it might look sketchy. So I waited… and waited… and waited… and they weren’t coming… so I texted her a vague “are you here yet?” message and she replied she was waiting in the line to verify they didn’t have to quarantine… I didn’t even think they’d be in it! So they were pretty late getting their bag. Since the busy-ness of the baggage claim died down, I decided I’d try to find the luggage again. I found Elysha’s and held it hostage until they came. I think the stewardess thought I was trying to steal luggage. When they eventually came out they were so surprised! I also gave them a couple Hawaii brewed beers and chocolate covered macadamia nuts. Elysha tried to keep the lei until the next day, but the refrigerator was so cold it froze it on accident, oops!

The next day we went to dinner at 604 (not my favorite… it was an hour and fifteen minute wait, and I didn’t think the food or drinks were great). After that we went and they got a tour of the sub from Brian, at 8:00pm once he was done all his work. The timing ended up working out ok. So I was able to see them almost every day they were here! It was really awesome and made me feel a little homesick (although they live in Virginia now, so it’s not like I’d see them much anyway). It was just nice to see an old friend. They are off to Maui to finish up!

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Ulupa’u Crater Hike

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There is a crater on the Marine Corps base called Ulupa’u crater. It faces out toward the ocean, and inside is a setup for various training exercises. To use the hike there are a few logistics involved, including getting a key and radio and signing waivers. I tasked my friend Jess to coordinate this because I thought there was a chance I wouldn’t be able to. She did great!

We did it for sunrise. We set off in the dark.

We thought it might be tough to get everyone up in time, but we did! There was a bit of scrambling and a few steep parts. But you can see all of base and over to Lanikai.

There’s the golf course we played with my parents, and pyramid rock beach and North Beach.

We got to take our husbands.

You can kinda tell how steep it is here. There are ropes the whole way.

I would not want to do this when it was slippery! Thankfully we had perfect weather for it and it’s been dry.

It was certainly challenging and Brian and I were the last to get up, but we did! I unfortunately don’t have a selfie of just us, but he was there and I was thankful he went slowly with me. There were a TON of gnats through some of the higher elevation wooded parts… the noise was deafening trying to walk through them. We covered our mouths with shirts and ducked low, it helped…

I don’t know if I’d do this again. We’ll see. I’m glad to have gone at least once!

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Sailing to the Mokes

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Backstory- Jess and I have been picking up trash on Lanikai about once a week. One week we encountered a family there who started a conversation with us and has a whole sifter to use to sift out microplastics, so we bonded over the beach cleanup. Anyway, turns out they have a sailboat and have offered to take us out on it. (Also turns out, Pat is a retired firefighter).

The mokes have been sitting there tempting me every morning… so many people will kayak or stand up paddle board out there, but it’s a little far beyond my risk tolerance. Let me tell you… the sailboat method was the best.

The day we went there was little to no wind, and it was the most leisurely, relaxing sail I’ve ever had. It was beautiful to see Lanikai from the ocean, and we were sailing next to turtles. I didn’t know what to expect, so these are only phone photos (I didn’t risk my big camera). I actually wasn’t even sure I was going to go, because I was nervous about the whole thing, but I took a risk and Pat was really kind and assuring.

The waves actually come in around both sides of the island to crash together in front of a beach. It looks a little daunting, but the boat was so stable and we did fine. We did spend a good 5 minutes watching all the kayaking tourists tip over, and I definitively decided I will not take a kayak out there.

Then we hiked around the back side and got to what is called the queens bath. It’s about 6ft deep. We jumped in! And just beyond is a smaller pool. You have to be careful where you put your hands, there are a lot of sea urchins in all the crevices!

Apparently the thing to do is relax and watch the waves break, sometimes they’ll break over the queens bath wall.

We didn’t spend too long here, but we could’ve. We made our way back through the washing machine waves (which ended up pouring down on us because they crashed!)

Jess attempted to learn some of the sailing things but I had no interest so I just sat along for the ride. This couple is very nice. He worked in LA as a firefighter and they are renting a small place out here and property managing for a house right on the beach. It’s great when great people meet great people! Afterward we hung at the beach with more of their friends, who turned out to be Air Force. They really want a tour of a sub… so in turn we get a tour of their… plane? Ha. But they fly the really huge ones. So that’s cool! Brian had to work all day. It seems par for the course… I wish I could go more into details but I can’t. Maybe one day.

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USS Missouri and USS Arizona

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Brian booked us tickets to go see the Arizona memorial. You have to reserve them well in advance and they release the tickets at two intervals prior to the date… I don’t know it’s very confusing… but Brian picked this past Saturday at 1pm so we went.

We started by visiting the USS Utah remains. It’s less talked about and on the other side of Ford Island. I’m not even sure many people go there. We have base access so we made a stop before heading to the Missouri. Not much left of it.

Then we headed to the USS Missouri. It was the last served battleship (I didn’t realize that we only have destroyers now. More agile apparently). It was the host of the surrender of the Japanese after WWII.

We think that’s part of why it was picked to be a living memorial… you can see the start and end of WWII from the same place. Pretty unique. (The USS Arizona memorial is just barely peaking out past the poles in the water.)

Supposedly the little green missile pictured below weighed 2,000lbs… I didn’t test it.

A museum ranger asked us where we were from, and we told him Brian was stationed here on a sub. He replied “Ah, well have fun seeing what a real warship looks like”. To which Brian later told me “this is no warship, it’s a cruise ship” (As evidence by the DONUT shop, pictured and his equivalent role’s stateroom which looks like a normal size room)

There was a display of letters the Kamikaze pilots wrote to their families when they knew they were going on their final suicide mission. Those were very, very, very sad.

The USS Oklahoma memorial is right outside the USS Missouri, also a lesser talked about memorial.

This is the view of the USS Arizona memorial from the USS Missouri, but you actually have to go back across the bridge to catch the boat to go to the memorial itself.

You can see parts of the wreckage above water. We did also see oil. One of these things is not like the other…

The boat gives you a half hour there to explore, which I thought was the right amount of time but some people seemingly thought was too much. There’s a movie to watch at an outdoor seating area before you go (used to be indoor, but, COVID). The movie was very good.

There is so much to explore at Pearl Harbor, but Brian narrowed it down to these 4 things for this day. I think we chose wisely, because it was really cool to go explore the USS Missouri and then stand over the equivalent (sunken) warship at the USS Arizona memorial. It was nice to have that perspective before standing over it.

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Hawaii Tropical Gardens and Waipio Valley Lookout

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Back in 1980 something this guy from California decided to buy a bunch of land. He then thought it was too pretty to keep to himself so he turned it into a public garden. If only everyone was that benevolent! It was a short 1.4 mile loop, but after the fast paced day we had yesterday we took our time meandering.

There is a legend about how the two rocks got there… it was said a tribe was being attacked, so a couple sacrificed themselves to protect the village. The next day these two rocks appeared outside the bay and the boats wrecked on them.

I gauged four hours for this but it took maybe two… so we made an impromptu decision to drive up to Waipio Valley lookout (an hour and 15 minute drive)

We did get to “see” a whale (see that tiny white splash? ha.)

Finally we headed to the airport! We got there early enough to hop on an earlier flight back to Honolulu, which we were all very thankful for. We ended up home almost two hours earlier than planned. I was very thankful for the low key last day… my lungs were sore from the day before. Surprisingly, Monday, they had recouped a great deal and I was very impressed/happy with my recovery!

Captured a couple great shots from the air, too. Hello Diamondhead and Waikiki!

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Kamana Caves and Waterfall

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Our AirBnB reminded me of my Aunt Linda’s cabin except Hawaii style… perfect place to call home base.

Kaumana caves were recommended to Jess by a friend. We worked our way back up to Hilo and to the caves in the morning.

I was wondering what would be so special compared to Thurston Lava Tube, but it turns out it was soooo cool! There were two caves, one left and one right. That hole looks small, I might’ve had to duck to get through but it was such a long cave that it’s a lot bigger than it looks.

The inside had fascinating geological features… really smooth rock from water flow and really uneven loose rock from lava flow. Eventually the cave opens up from the top and it’s so pretty! Those things hanging down are roots.

It opened up again a little further down, and we chose to exit that way back through the park above the cave so we didn’t have to climb over loose rock again. The trail was not cleared… but having pants made it relatively easy to get back.

Next stop, rainbow falls! There is sometimes a rainbow due to the mist, but we didn’t see on that day. It’s pretty much viewable from the parking lot so thankfully not a lot of walking.

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Green Sands Beach

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Lava rock contains numerous varieties of rocks and minerals, one of which is ovaline. If the the conditions are just right, nature breaks down the rocks and leaves just the green tinted ovaline behind creating a green sand beach.

This was an adventure I regret taking for multiple reasons, and maybe I’ll post the details for a different day or save this for my offline life…but we essentially hiked 2.5 miles to get there just barely before sunset. We did not walk all the way down to the beach.

I ended up traveling 14.5 miles on foot total that day and I have the battle wounds to prove it (looking at you huge blisters).

Once we got back from this we went to see the lava again. Talk about tired! I can also say I’ve truly visited the southernmost point in the US (Florida Keys, you lie!!)

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Volcanoes National Park

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Saturday morning was spent exploring volcano’s national park. I had heard during my first trip to Big Island you could spend days here… and it’s absolutely true. We started with the Kilauea Iki Trail and Crater Rim Trail, which is a trail that brings you around the crater rim and down into the floor of a (hopefully) inactive crater. We went counter clockwise as advised by reviews, so we went along the rim of the crater and toward the back. It’s mostly wooded and had some peek a boo spots of the crater.

To give you an idea of how huge this is, you can see two tiny people if you use a magnifying glass in the next picture.

So we journey our way down to the crater floor, crossed it, and then made our way back up to the rim.

We eventually made our way back up the other side and through the jungle again to get to the Thurston Lava Tube. A lava tube is formed when the top and bottom layers of lava cool enough to harden but the middle keeps flowing. Eventually the middle drains out and leaves a tube.

Next we took a drive down chain of craters road, which is exactly as it sounds… a road with craters on the left and right. We stopped at a couple craters, one I showed them a tree casting (when a tree gets surrounded by lava it turns to ash but not before leaving a mold).

We ended up with a Mustang rental car… 10/10 do not recommend. But it makes for photogenic photos! Here we’re still on chain of craters road approaching the sea. The surroundings are all lava rocks.

Here you can see strips of newer lava over miles of old lava flows.

Our final destination was the coast where we saw a sea arch.

We saw all different type of lava flow geometric patterns along the way.

We also saw an oasis popping up and a nene, the Hawaii state bird.

We decided we had time to take a walk to the Petroglyphs (a stop along the way we bypassed). They were really neat.

We could’ve spent a whole other day exploring around volcanoes… but instead we went back to our AirBnB and relaxed for a short few minutes and then went on our way to another adventure.

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