Bored in the Rainforest, Part 1

Here we sit in Ninole, Big Island, Hawaii.  (pronounced ni-NOLE-ie) It’s a beautiful, quite tropical place.  Who woulda thunk that “rain-forest” implied a forest where it rains all the time?  Anna warned me, but I didn’t listen.  Our current VRBO rental, Heaven’s Door, is in the North Hilo District on the east coast…

Heaven’s Door is a beautiful place, but more on that in the next post.  Our vacation started last week with a flight from Denver-Phoenix-Kona.  Here’s Big Island as we approach at ~20,000 feet…

We stayed last week just south of Captain Cook, over on the other side of Big Island at Makalani Oceanview Cottage with our friend Harry…

Makalani is close to lots of swimming and great beaches.  Most mornings, we drove 15 minutes north to Ho’okena Beach where Anna caught some rays and I snorkeled around hoping to glimpse a dolphin…

As it’s on the west side of the island, sunsets can be pretty nice.  Honestly, not Wyoming-quality and Wyoming-quantity, but still, this is right out the cottage window, and is certainly nothing to sneeze at…

The place almost next door to Harry happens to be for sale.  It’s just over 5 acres, and has three really nice spots with building potential.  All of them have gorgeous ocean views and don’t have another house in direct sight.  There are even three existing structures (all un-permited and technically illegal) where you could “shack up” while building something nice.  Here’s one of them…

Unfortunately, it’s right off of the Belt Road and traffic noise is incessant.  It’s also overpriced at an asking price of $410K.  I’ve never seen a meth lab, but I imagine they’d look like these shacks, with all sorts of bottles, tubing, and chemicals.  Once I considered that, I got outta dodge fast!

Makalini Cottage is in the Kona District - the area where Kona coffee gets its name.  Just south of Harry, you’ll find Sudy, who feeds hundreds of feral animals like cats, chickens, and pigs while her husband is busy tending the coffee trees.  Miss Sudy’s coffee is picked and roasted right there; it’s not co-op coffee that’s picked from many farms, mixed together, then redistributed to small farms for retail sale.  Yeah, that’s even her real zebra, next to a bag of her Zebra Roast (dark and light blend)…

On Saturday, we drove over to Hilo to the downtown Farmer’s Market.  Along the way, rain, rain, rain.  Anna said, “Are you SURE you wanted to stay another week over on this side?”  I assured her that it was mostly sunny, but cloudbursts could happen.  No big deal.  It’s a fluke…

As for the market, we discovered it last year and it was awesome as ever (we go again tomorrow)…

Anna got all sorts of fruits and veggies and some HORRIBLE little apple bananas that were so far gone, you could get drunk eating them.  I picked up some Avocado Garlic Dip and Lava Salsa from a young chef from Colorado I remembered from last year here.

Monday, Harry invited us to go in his Jeep over to South Point and Green Sand Beach.  Last year, I drove over, parked, and hiked to the beach.  I recall it is about 1.5 miles one way - maybe more.  You can drive it with a 4WD, but last year you may recall that I rode Shank’s mare and was beat upon my return to the car.  I’d made it to the overlook, but not the beach.  This year, Harry drove us in, and we parked at the place I got to in 2009…

While it looks like it could be tough to walk down, it’s not.  Here’s the beach…

…and the easy “stair-stepped” climb back out (Anna and Harry)…

To my friend Robin in Baltimore…  NO, I didn’t bring you any sand!  Here’s why…

We also visited the “boat launch” at South Point.  Anna missed this last year too, so Harry made sure she got to see it.  The water was much more calm than last year, and just incredibly clear.  Had I known, I’d have brought my mask and snorkel…

This place is called the boat launch because Polynesians used to (actually still do) launch fishing canoes from this place.  There are even ancient mooring points still visible, hand-carved into the volcanic rock…

There’s another pretty little beach very close to Makalani, called Pebble Beach.  It’s five minutes away.  Here are some photos of it…

Interestingly, the black pebbles contain the mineral Olivine - the same stuff that makes the green sand at Green Sand Beach…

Our last night at Makalani, we met Harry and Roman (an exchange student from Ukraine, staying with Harry for a year) down at Pebble Beach and Harry showed us a portion of the King’s Trail - a trail that will eventually circumnavigate the Big Island.  Here you can see Anna, Harry, and Roman hiking south along the trail…

We’re actually located just down below Harry’s place, and there are some burial grounds that go all the way up to his property.  Down at the coast, some are clearly marked…

I should point out that Anna woke up to the Mango Hut shaking a couple nights, and she dreamed of long white ghosts!  She later read that other people have experienced these thin, wispy things in dreams and in person, and they’re commonly known to be island spirits!  She had no idea there was a burial ground just below.  Whatever they are, they can enjoy the sunsets from their burial ground…

Stay tuned.  More to come soon!

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