Author: islanddave

June 5, 2019

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Two Step – Honaunau Bay

Two Step is a popular snorkeling cove south of Captain Cook. A 20 minute drive from my hideaway. The name comes from the 2 levels you sit on to put your gear on then slip into the water. Fun, not crowded, a small beach with a shallow tide pool children were playing in. The day I was there the ocean was calm, plenty of fish and coral. Plan on a return when I’m back on this side again.

Photos of the evening sky from my lanai, Captain Cook apartment.

June 6, 2019

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My sister Sharon arrives early afternoon today. From Kona airport we’ll travel across the island to Hilo for a week then return to this side to stay at a place near the ocean south of Kailua.

House of Honu, Orchard Land Estates, 15 minute drive southeast of Hilo.
Looking toward the driveway.

June 8, 2019

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The Garden was created through the untiring efforts of one man, Dan J. Lutkenhouse, who discovered Onomea Valley in 1977 while vacationing with his wife, Pauline. Mr. Lutkenhouse purchased the 17-acre parcel for its seclusion and beauty, without knowing exactly what to do with it. Quickly abandoning ideas for a commercial venture which would destroy the natural environment, he decided instead to establish a botanical garden to preserve the valley and its beauty forever.
Mr. Lutkenhouse sold his 40-year-old trucking business in San Francisco and moved to the island of Hawaii in order to devote himself full time to the development of the Garden.
Every day for eight years, Pauline would pack Dan a brown bag lunch and he would disappear into the jungle, returning at night dirty and tired, but happy. During that time Dan, his assistant Terry Takiue, and two helpers worked with cane knives, sickles, picks, shovels, and a chain saw clearing paths through the jungle. All the work was done by hand to avoid disturbing the natural environment or destroying valuable plants and tree roots. The men kept a slow and easy pace, so as not to suffer heat stroke or dehydration in the steamy jungle. The work would continue seven days a week until the Garden opened to the public in 1984.

http://www.htbg.com/index.html

Late afternoon we decide to take a trip to the ocean and Isaac Hale Park. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Hale_Beach_Park

August 2018 lava flow cut off 2 roads to the park.

June 10, 2019

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The Star of the Sea Painted Church in Kalapana, Hawai’i was built in 1927-1928 under the direction of the Belgian Catholic missionary priest Father Evarist Gielen, who painted the upper section of the church interior.
  • White plumeria

Star of the Sea Painted Church Overview

  • Known for its trompe l’oeil murals
  • Small Catholic church was built in 1928
  • First priest of this church was Father Damien, known for his services on Molokai’i
  • Church was originally located near Kalapana, but was in danger of being overrun by a lava flow, so in 1990 it was moved to its present location along Highway 130 (above Kaimu)
One of many tide pools along Hilo Bay, here for the early afternoon followed by a street tour of upper Hilo neighborhoods.

June 12, 2019

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Mauna Kea – White Mountain (13,803 feet above sea level)
– the highest point in the state of Hawaii. Most of the volcano is underwater, and when measured from its oceanic base, Mauna Kea is the tallest volcano in the world, measuring over 10,000 m (33,000 ft) in height. Mauna Kea is about a million years old, and has thus passed the most active shield stage of life hundreds of thousands of years ago. In its current post-shield state, its lava is more viscous, resulting in a steeper profile.
One of the many banyan trees growing along Banyan Drive a tree-lined street at the shoreline of Hilo, Hawaii. It is known as the “Hilo Walk of Fame” for the banyan trees planted by celebrities. These trees have withstood several tsunamis that have devastated the town on the Big Island of Hawaii. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banyan_Drive

The Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle, known as “Honu,” symbolizes good luck, endurance and long life. Turtles can show up as a person’s guardian spirit, known as “Aumakua.” When lost, turtles are excellent navigators and often find their way home. (KD, not to worry!)

Tomorrow we leave Hilo traveling to the other side of Mauna Kei and to the town of Kailua-Kona. It was nice to spend this week with my sister exploring Hilo and surroundings, now on to a new Big Island adventure together!

June 13, 2019

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Today is the move from the windward side of the Big Island to the leeward, dry side and Kailua-Kona. The 2 hour, 93 mile drive passing in the valley between Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea will end at Nahale (“forest”) Place and our host Chandra’s ground level apartment. Our base for the second week of Sharon’s vacation. Stopping along the way at Kona Airport to change cars from the low mileage Dodge van to a Chevrolet Cruz. Arriving mid-afternoon, unpack before out to a local restaurant -Quinn’s Almost by the Sea. Restful night, air conditioning! Crowing roosters and barking dogs left behind! And a week of new adventures on the other side….of the Big Island!

  • Street side
  • garden
  • “Back Yard” patio from under the mango tree
  • Mango’s

June 14, 2019

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Breakfast – coffee, yogurt and fresh fruit: mountain apple, watermelon, papaya, mango, banana and pineapple.
Honaunau Bay in South Kona –
Imagine you had just broken the sacred laws, the kapu, and the only punishment was death. Your only chance of survival is to elude your pursuers and reach the Pu’uhonua, a place of refuge . https://www.nps.gov/puho/index.htm
  • Sharon – in the Place of Refuge
  • ‘Āle’ale’a Heiau
  • The Great Wall – L shaped, 12′ high, 18′ wide, 965′ long
    (photo doesn’t represent it’s size!)
Yellow tang – Keone’ele Cove, Honaunau Bay (only ali’i, hereditary nobles, could land their canoes here).
Noni is sometimes called a “starvation fruit” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morinda_citrifolia

Hikiau Heiau, located on Kealakekua Bay, in South Kona, was a luakini temple where human and animal blood was used as sacrifice by the Ancient Hawaiians.

Sitting on the south end of the bay it is associated with funeral rites. The large platform made of volcanic rock was said to be over 16 feet high, 250 feet long, and 100 feet wide. It has been established to be the first place that Hawaiians have sustained contact with Western outsiders. Cook’s journals claimed when he landed there were four villages with eighty houses each with several thousand native Hawaiian villagers living along the three miles of shoreline.

A monument to Captain Cook lies across the bay from the heiau.