But is this proper in all circumstances? For instance, I spell the Big Island’s name as “Hawaiʻi” but I feel the State name is properly spelled “Hawaii,” and I generally use the English orthography for the adjective “Hawaiian.” In some cases (e.g. “Pu'uhonua O Hōnaunau National Historical Park”) the orthography is part of an official name, so is essential to use, but in some instances it may not be and I use it anyway.
You may criticize me for being inconsistent and/or pedantic, but as is true with all my blog posts, this is written for me. I want to remember how these local place names should be pronounced.
I’m writing this post in real-time, on our first day back, as opposed to the “daily” posts dated in the previous week. My normal procedure is to write separate posts for each day after I get back from a vacation and date them as if they’d been written on the morning after that day so they will sort correctly, and for narrative sanity.
That usually works well. But in the case of writing about our May 2019 trip to Hawaiʻi, I feel compelled to write about my overall impressions before diving into the daily narrative (or after, depending on how you read this blog). And I also want to be sure to touch on the overriding themes, like gray Jeeps, mynas, spooky goats, and tall mountains, and thought this might be the best way to do it.
It’s perhaps over dramatic to call this a “trip of a lifetime.” But that description applies in some ways. Ever since I remember learning that somewhere out there was a place thousands of miles away from anywhere else, in the middle of the hugest ocean on Earth, I told myself that I’d go there some day. That’s a life-long aspiration right there, and I think it’s a common one for most of us: to go somewhere exotic where our cares, the constraints we all live by, and even the hardness of life might not apply (don’t they just eat fruit off the trees on those islands?).
Since that childhood aspiration, life went along at the pace we’re all used to, and Sarah and I went to the American Southwest, to London, to Paris, to Yosemite, to Yellowstone, to Mexico, to the Everglades … and most recently to Virginia! But we decided in early 2018 that it was time to do it and go to Hawaiʻi, and we started making plans. Speaking of life, that was around the time that we learned that my father had been diagnosed with cancer and given a limited time to live. Did this factor in our decision that it was time to actually make that trip we’d always been dreaming of? Maybe and maybe not. But note that our two most significant trips (this and Southwest 1989) were right after the loss of a parent.
Of course we planned this logically. What we most wanted to see there was Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. We knew that a trip to Hawaiʻi would not please us if we did not go to the volcanoes, and so going to the Big Island had to be on the itinerary. And we soon realized that that alone would be our kind of trip. We could go directly to the Big Island and have enough to do there to fill the whole vacation; we could leave Oʻahu, Maui, etc. for some possible other time. If we did just those islands we would be left hanging, but if went to Hawaiʻi itself then we could approach the level of having been there and done that.
So in mid-2018 we’d settled on a destination and we soon got a guidebook (“Hawaii, the Big Island Revealed,” by Andrew Doughty, we loved it), and settled on a date: mid-Spring 2019. This would be after the crowded Winter season, before the kids got out of school and families appeared everywhere, and would be good for our vacation schedules, including Dave’s. When we asked him if he wanted to come with us he said, “Do not even think about going to Hawaiʻi without me!!!”
This narrowed things down a lot, but there were still some big questions such as Kailua-Kona or Hilo, hotel or bed-and-breakfast, one place or a planned circuit … and then other bits fell into place. I was on the phone with a Hampton Inn about a summer thing we were going to and they said, “Stay on the phone for a special offer!” So I did. They (Hilton Grand Vacations) asked me if I’d ever dreamed about a get-away vacation to (one of a set of) exotic places, and one of the places they named was Kailua-Kona. So I stayed on the phone even longer and they realized they had a sucker on the line and made me an offer, and I went for it.
The fact is that I’d been doing some research and realized that the package hotel room price they were offering me was better than we could do piecing together reservations ourselves. And the free(!) rental car they were offering with it would allow us to get around to all the places we wanted to see (the Big Island is the size of Connecticut and Rhode Island put together). Resort fees and further Hilton points (Hampton Inn was part of the Hilton family at that time, see below if you want more boring details) were also part of the package, but that was beside the point for me. So I gave them my credit card information.
We did not book specific dates at that time. There was some later talk about delaying the trip, but my Dad insisted that we take our vacation as we had planned. We finally decided to go for it and set the dates with the hotel (Hilton Waikoloa Village in Hawaiʻi’s South Kohala District, May 10 to May 17), and then got plane tickets (arriving back May 18 early). In another dollop of serendipity, Hawaiian Airlines started non-stop flights from Boston to Honolulu in April 2019 and so we were some of their first customers, at a non-outrageous price.
The time got closer and closer, and unfortunately my Dad got worse and worse. My final talk with him was on the Sunday before we left, in which we acknowledged our love for each other and said goodbye. And then he passed away early Thursday morning, the day before we were to leave. He’d traveled all over the world and we had to keep up with him.
Now you should go back and read the daily blogs, starting with our departure on Friday, May 10. But wait! What I wanted to talk about first was not so much a narrative preamble, as I’ve been doing above, but a catalog of my strongest impressions. I’ve gotten some pretty strong impressions from our vacations in beautiful natural areas, but this perhaps topped them all. Let me try to organize my thoughts into categories…
Climate/Mountains/Altitude
Hawaiʻi is the Southernmost, youngest, and largest, of the Hawaiʻian Islands. These islands were formed as the Hawaiʻi-Emperor seamount chain has passed to the Northwest over a hotspot in the Earth’s mantle; and on the youngest island, some of the volcanoes formed by the hotspot are still active. The five above-ground volcanoes on the Big Island dominate the landscape, and though the youngest and the centerpiece of Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, Kīlauea, erupted in late Spring 2018, none were erupting while we were there.
But wow, did those mountains dominate in so many ways! When we flew in I was sure that was the largest, Mauna Loa, that was filling up seemingly half of the sky, looming over us. But this was only Hualālai. Geez, how do I describe this place?
Down on the coast, especially the Kona coast, temperatures were in the 80s and 70s day and night, and the wind, while sometimes stiff, was never threatening. But unless you hugged the coast you were always going up or down (or both) and wind could suddenly take over, or clouds could close you in, or rain could suddenly fall in a mist, or persistently, or insistently and as hard as a New England Northeaster. Weather there at the same time was amazingly consistent and could change remarkably, based on the whims of the mountains and the wind.
And the mountains each had their characters. These characters were set in stone, but you realized that this was all young stone. The huge Mauna Loa (supposedly the largest mountain in the world in mass) ripped a gash in the firmament, and split the Northeast trades, rendering them into swirling mists and a stream of clouds that covered its Western neighbor, Hualālai (8271 feet). We could usually see the top of Mauna Loa when the sightlines were right, but the swirling mass of clouds it formed coalesced around Hualālai, forming a thick cover, and we only saw the top of that mountain a couple of times.
Up to the North was Kohala (5479 feet), the oldest of the mountains on the Big Island but by no means the least significant. This was perhaps the district of the island we loved the most, and Kohala provided the spookiest fogs and swirlingest mists, and the greenest pastures and hollows.
The most majestic is Mauna Kea, the White Mountain. Both Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa are close to 14,000 feet, and the Saddle Road between them, which we drove over several times, goes up to 6632 feet. This is almost twice the height of Mt. Greylock, the highest point in Massachusetts; and note that these mountains are all surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, as opposed to mountain ranges that start at an already high elevation. The two have very different profiles however, Mauna Kea almost seeming craggy at points, and Mauna Loa gradually rising and rising and rising into the stratosphere.
And on a Southern flank of Mauna Loa is the one you really want to watch out for, Kīlauea, one of the most active volcanoes in the world. Hard to see this as a mountain unto itself, but you know it is, especially when you see the caldera.
And when we were driving up the Kohala coast or down the Saddle Road, and the weather was right, you could see a sixth volcano, Haleakalā on Maui, around 80 miles to the North over the ocean. Haleakalā usually wore a skirt of clouds and towered up above them, making an otherworldly sight when you gazed North through the blue over the water. And I swear once I even saw Mauna Kahalawai, the East Maui mountain chain.
And speaking of otherworldly, at times you could see right up to the top of Mauna Kea when the cloud cover and sightlines allowed it, and up there is a cluster of the billion-dollar telescopes that photograph the cosmos. On one day the clouds were a little low and gray and threatening, probably holding a lot of rain. And then the golden sun shone through thousands of feet above and lit up the silver telescopes at the very top of the mountain, up above the clouds. It was a glowing vision of a city of jewels floating above the gray clouds of the Earthly dominion. No description or picture could document that sight in full, or tell you how uplifting this was, seeing it through the windshield of our rental Hyundai Elantra while we cruised along the lower slopes of the mountain.
And on our second to last day we were driving down the Belt Road from Waimea and suddenly realized we could see them all. Ok, maybe we couldn’t see them all, but here’s what we could see: Kohala lurking behind us, Mauna Kea towering to our left, Mauna Loa drifting up into the sky in front of us, Hualālai shrouded by clouds just to its right, and Haleakalā across the sea to our right. And the late-afternoon light on them all was beautiful. This was one of the most magical moments of the trip.
Fauna and Flora
We saw lots of animals, flowers, and trees on the trip. Many of them, especially the flowers and trees, were unknown to us and so didn’t stick in our minds the way they should. But here are some of the ones that did.
- Mynas – It’s astounding how ubiquitous these birds are, all over the Island. They’re an invasive species in the starling family but are really handsome and show a lot of character. Hundreds (thousands?) of them, possibly from far away, would gather and roost on the roof and inside of the Ocean Tower every night. We could see them from our balcony, coming from up the coast and from inland in twos and threes to join the mob of birds that must be up/in there already. And they had sentinels; one or two older birds would be on the rail of the roof, chirping them all home, maybe ticking them off on a clipboard.
- The Nēnē is endemic to Hawaiʻi, a 500,000 year-old offshoot of the goose family that is threatened, and we were eager to see them. Unfortunately, Sarah and I only saw one (Dave saw others from the car), and it was while we were walking around our resort on our first full day there! We of course thought that we’d see others but that was the only one.
- We also saw many, many English Sparrows, a good number of Saffron Finches around our hotel, and dove-like birds that seemed to be all over the island. We also saw one owl out in the pastures up the mountain and some weird ducks on the seacoast. We didn’t see any Hawaiʻian hawks, though I’m sure some saw us.
- Fish – Jeez, did we see (and eat) a lot of fish! There was a weird assortment in the canal at the hotel, including barracudas, carp, and quite a variety. And we saw a panoply of tropical fish in the lagoon and especially when we snorkeled. If I do some research I might be able to name a few of the species.
- Other marine life - We also saw several green sea turtles in the lagoon at the Resort, and though we tried to avoid them (they’re endangered), some of them were very curious and appeared out of the mist right above or below us. We also saw tiny periwinkles and muscles growing on the lava in the sea. And when we went snorkeling the fish were outlined against many, many different kinds of corals and sea urchins. We also saw some seaweed; the most common sort was remarkably like the kind of rock weed we see in New England, though not as shaggy.
- Goats – We may have seen more feral goats than any other mammal. On one trail, they had us surrounded and kind of spooked! On the roads, they were on the verge everywhere, down on the coast and up on the mountain.
- There were plenty of other mammals too: cows, horses, sheep, and domestic goats were on the farms. We were surprised to see lots of mongooses, scavenging around the hotel.
- We were also surprised at the number of feral cats we saw, all around the coastal sections of the island. We were not really looking forward to meeting a feral pig, but did see one dead on the side of the road. OR maybe he was just sleeping.
- We were delighted to see the ʻōhiʻa lehua tree all over, though not at higher elevations. This is one of those trees that has a legend. I like trees, especially legendary ones.
- But my favorite tree was the monkeypod tree (also spelled “monkey pod”), which can grow to incredible heights and breadths, shading a whole ecosystem. I could have stood next to some of the ones I saw for days, trying to communicate with them. We also saw some great mango and banyan trees on the trip.
- Oooh, I can’t forget to mention the chickens. They were so ubiquitous that they seemed to have their own culture. In most places where you see chickens “running free,” you can tell which household they actually belong to. Many of the ones we saw were totally wild though, they were red junglefowl, the genetic predecessor to domestic chickens. They perched where they wanted and you gave them a wide berth.
- And I can’t forget the geckos. They were everywhere (at sea level that is), in cracks of buildings, on leaves, nestling in rocks, etc., though they would have preferred that we didn’t see them. And many of them were very colorful, though they were all small.
Resorts/Money/Restaurants
I’m sure that social scientists could write a library of books about, e.g., the Hilton Waikoloa Resort and its compatriots. Resorts were all around us on the Kohala coast and were scattered throughout the rest of the Island, especially down in South Kona. We’ve heard and seen evidence that most of the people who go to them don’t wander far, maybe to the beaches or golf courses near there. The Resort tries to keep them there and milk them for money.
OMG, it’s all about the upsell and many people are complicit with this. Do you want a room upgrade, a special spot on the beach, guaranteed reservations at the spa or the restaurant, or bizarre beach toys that cost a bundle and your kids are yelling for? They gave you a “free” rental car but you had to park in their lot and they charged you $30/day for that, when there was no way the spot was worth this much … it was clearly just a way of manipulating you. They charged $40 for breakfast when there were no other breakfast options beside driving to a nearby town.
They did push a few “activities,” but they were all things that cost a lot of money themselves and didn’t require you to go far; like playing golf on the endless courses they’ve plunked on top of the lava or cruise boats that pick you up at a local dock.
But the people who go there (we saw equal parts Asians and Americans) seem to be having a good time, so who am I to criticize? The driving ranges were full of guys (and boys) every morning when we drove by, and the golf courses were all in use. The lagoon at the hotel was kind of gross (I’m sure many kids piddled in it), but always did a good business and some of the people using it may have had an opportunity there to snorkel or paddleboard or swim with fish that they had never had before.
The restaurants at the Resort were expensive and not that good, though not that bad. And the art was an endless series of knockoffs masquerading as the real thing. And many things about the Resort were so inconvenient, like the distances you had to walk (or you could take the tram or boat if you had all day, as most people did).
Oh well. The Hilton Waikoloa made my skin crawl in some ways but I can see how lots of people enjoy it if they can afford it and don’t feel guilty spending that much money. We stayed in a Resort in Mexico and didn’t really mind it, perhaps because we were not entirely comfortable in the overseas environment and the Resort filled a need for us. But I don’t understand why an American would go to a Resort in America. I’m weird I guess.
Gray Jeeps, and Other Cars
When we were in California, the plurality of cars on the highway were white. And in Hawaiʻi we saw an astounding number of gray Jeeps. Why? You don’t see many gray Jeeps in the wild. Maybe it was because the guide books warned that not all roads were navigable by 2-wheel drives and the rental companies took advantage of this to stick lots of people with Jeeps, and gray was cheap. But most that we saw were on the highway or parked, not on challenging roads! We also saw a large number of white, convertible Mustangs in the parking lots, though we didn’t see many of these on the road. I think all of the guys who rented them were busy out on the driving range.
We also saw a lot of trucks with “Matson” on their sides, which is apparently a local shipping company. We saw their terminal in Kawaihae.
And the weirdest thing on the car front was all the abandoned cars we saw. During the week we were driving around we passed about 2 dozen abandoned on the side of public roads, some looking like they hadn’t moved in decades and some recent (that’s not counting the ones we saw abandoned on private property). That Mercedes recently abandoned near the top of the Waikoloa Road is probably not moving soon. And the road outside Two Step had ditches deep enough to swallow a car and in fact *had* swallowed two, one of which was covered with weeds and may date from before the War.
Culture/Religion/Mauna Kea and Pele Battling Over the Land, etc.
I was delighted to get some insight into what it felt like spiritually to live on the Big Island, though I’m sure my perceptions are very subjective. The pre-European society especially seemed very restrictive, but isn’t this true of all cultures? An NPS demonstrator at Pu'uhonua O Hōnaunau told us a lot about the Hawaiʻian gods, which is detailed in that day’s blog. But what he told us and what we realized was that the Hawaiʻians adapted their religion to the natural and cultural forces around them, while using it to explain and humanize forces they could not control. For instance, they told of Mauna Kea and the goddess Pele constantly battling over the interior of Hawaiʻi, most of all the saddle between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, where Pele lived. And no human lived there for fear of that. For sure there was lava there, indicating the destruction caused by this battle over the years. But people sent their cows up there so maybe it wasn’t all bad.
Geology, Time
OK, this bit was written after I’d thought about the experience for a bit, which may make it more valuable.
I’ve had a hard time putting into words what made the Hawaiʻi trip so fantastic, and a hard time realizing it. Perhaps this will take a while for me to understand. But I’m up in Maine now and looking closely at the land around here, which I feel a great affinity with. And it’s clear that my affinity with the land in Hawaiʻi was very different. It occurs to me that the land in Hawaiʻi was strikingly young and unsettled, and that made more of a difference than you might think.
What we saw and walked (and drove) on is some of the most recent land on Earth. And the animals and people and flowers and trees and religions and language there are recent too. Everything on Hawaiʻi is new and exotic … how long does it take before something is “native” when the land itself is new?
There were reminders of this all around us. Every piece of rock there is still recognizably lava, not the product of epochs. Yes, we saw river-worn and ocean-worn stones, but though some of these seemed brown or speckled, it didn’t take much inspection to realize this was stuff that had been thrown out of a volcano (or oozed out) sometime within the last few thousand years. Though it might be weathered and rounded, this was stuff that had been shaped recently, not the granite and shale that we see in New England, the product of millions of years of pressure and metamorphosis.
We have estuaries on the mainland, and long valleys. The difference in Hawaiʻi was that the land and the shore and the mountains and all the plants seemed to have just occurred. They hadn’t had time to be there forever. Where there are valleys they’re jagged, and where there are wetlands, they’re ephemeral.
We’d read that the most magical thing about Hawaiʻi is seeing land forming. No lava was flowing while we were there, but we didn’t need to see it. What was there had just been laid down, like fresh tarmac on the highway of life.
Me
So what did this trip tell me about myself? I’d experienced a lot of anxiety before the trip and was fielding texts and emails about the real world all along, and I didn’t sleep that well, probably for multiple reasons. Some mornings were a blur, but I tried to concentrate on the beauty of the island, of life, and of sharing this experience with my wife and son. I think I did that pretty well, and I don’t know if I’ll have a second chance there. But I think this trip filled a little space of my life and gave me something to take with me. It was glorious and gave me memories I’ll never forget, like seeing the top of Mauna Kea through the clouds and feeling so far away from anywhere. Of course, wherever you go, there you are. But I think of myself as more complete for this experience, if only by a little bit.
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