Technogypsie.com Reviews

08.06.09: STL Cronicles/Hearth Quest: Chapter 28: ‘Honolulu to Big Island’

Chronicles of Sir Thomas Leaf, Hearth Quest, photography, travelogues November 12th, 2009

[ Back to Chapter 27: Jetplane to Honolulu ] [ Chapter 28: Honolulu to Big Island ] [ Chapter 29: Big Island

Akaka Falls near Hilo, Big Island

From the journal of Sir Thomas “Rymour Oisin” Leaf: Thursday, The 6th of Sextilis (Julius Caesar’s “August”) in the good year 2009 of the Common Era

Wakiki, Honolulu, Hawaii - Hilo, Big Island, Hawaii

“Arose early at 6:30 am with enough time to hop down from the hostel to Wakiki beach for another swim, this time in daylight. A nice guy from Australia friended me and headed down to the beach with me - he just watched me swim as he claimed it was just too cold temperature to swim. It was amazingly just perfect temperature. Oh how I miss the oceans. Took a walk down the beach and returned to the hostel afterwards to pack and check-out. Ran into the sweet woman from Boulder who arrived the same time as I did - and she’s packed everything up for this trip to move here for a new start in Hawaii and was starting her job hunting early morning day 1. Now that’s ambition. I envy those who can just get rid of everything and on faith move like that and start from scratch - wait a minute - I’ve done that and will do it again I’m sure. Wished her much success. After wifi n’ cereal as the clock struck 8:30′ish I headed down curbside to await the shuttle. Lovin’ Hawaii. For $6.75 door to terminal service on the shuttle. That rocks. Thanks to my wonderful friend Kit from high school, I had a free buddy pass for Go! Airlines to island hop and see my old best friend (from High School), David - who now goes by Kawika. (Thank you sooo much Kit!) Can’t wait to see him! Its been a few years since our 20 year Goddard High School Reunion in Roswell, New Mexico Goddard where we went down memory lane by breaking into the missle silos outside of Roswell, crawling into the depths, and exploring the UFO crash site. Fun times! So I knew this would be an exciting adventure around Big Island! Got some great aerial views of the Islands. As I touched down, David was there to pick me up, and drove me around the island to explore the Hilo area … some of the beaches, Akaka Falls, and exploring the city of Hilo …. we dropped into Cronie’s for lunch - had fish n’ chips and a local cocktail : The Lava Flow. Pretty tasty! We hit the fruit market where I nabbed and gobbled up various fruits I’ve never tried or seen before as well as local favorites … have to eat local! We decided to drop into the Bayfront Kava Bar for a Kava drink ceremony as it was David’s first! Nice mello feeling … Then on to David and Paula’s place in Volcano where I got to meet his lovely mate. Once dark, we headed up to the Volcano National Park but it was rather dark so didn’t get to see much. We did however (with no flashlight) wander down through the dark and rain into and through a lava tube. That was fun. Reminded me of our cave and silo explorings back in the day. Fun! Of course I packed ’summer’ and in Volcano it got quite chilly and cool especially at night since the elevation was well over 4,000 ft. Funny … I packed my hammock as was looking forward to sleeping outside in it at nights to enjoy the tropics - consistently raining more than Seattle receives, and very cold! Good night!”