Morning Musings: Hawaii

Addendum to Day 3:

We've enjoyed the fresh fruit. Pineapple, papaya, guava. Yesterday while on the zip line event, one of the young guides picked and offered fruit along the way. We had two species of guava. One was small and green in color, about the size of a large Bing cherry. The other was more the size of a pear, dark pink inside and tasted a bit like tomato. He also offered us an unusual fruit called ice cream bean. It was a pod about 8-10 inches long and square shaped. He sliced down the edges and broke it open to reveal a white substance, Fran thought the consistency of cotton candy. Inside that were the seeds. We ate the white stuff and discarded the seeds. He said this fruit is not marketed because it only keeps about three days.

Day 4

All of us are still waking early. There was coffee on at 7, breakfast at 8. Options were fresh fruit, three different Hawaiian sweet breads (guava, taro and plain) whole wheat bread, English muffins, egg soufflé and Macademia nut waffles, guava juice and coffee. The sweet breads are not like what I would have expected. They are light textured yeast breads. I tasted very little sweet and very little flavor. Overall, the breakfast was adequate but not to die for. The best parts, in my opinion, were the coffee, the guava juice and the fruit, all delicious. The fruit offered was pineapple, papaya, and sliced oranges, plain or sprinkled with a red plum powder.

After breakfast Fran, Lily, Larry and I walked down to the waterfall. There is a large pool at the bottom, 50 ft deep, swimming allowed. We walked the long way back up through their bamboo garden which has 15 species of bamboo.

The Kratz' did go paddle boarding and kayaking, it was a bit cold for swimming (except for Steve, who fell in, the kids said) but Larry and I relaxed on our lanai, reading and listening to the waterfall. The kids had leftover pizza for lunch, we ate meal replacement bars or drank meal shakes (got to get some good nutrition in). Larry isn't back up to par, but feeling better, Lucas was back, his normal mischievous self. Good to see! Lily is still coughing, I feel much better. I think my issues are allergy related and cleared up somewhat over on this side of the island.

Our volcano visit was with a tour company and we were picked up at our B&B. Our guide was a young man, Eric, who was quite congenial and knowledgable, too. His degree was environmental science, he has been on the island about five years and it would seem he immersed himself in the ecology, history and culture of the area. He did not give a canned speech but chatted with us based on our questions. We were in a 14 passenger Sprinter van with three other people in addition to the seven of us.

We first drove to the lava field at Kaima Bay, near Kalapana. This is 300 acres of new island land formed by lava flow from the Pu'u O'o vent of the Kilauea volcano. We walked about a half mile out over the lava to the ocean (Kaima Bay black sand beach) where the beautiful waves and surf are beginning to break down the lava. Though the flow looks smooth and undulating, it has silica and is quite sharp. Our guide said he fell and cut his wrist needing eight stitches. There were a few opportunistic plants starting to grow. There were a few ferns and the Ohia, or Tree of Life. It is a nitrogen fixing plant that actually sends its roots down through the lava.

The only structure that survived the lava flow in this area was Uncle Robert's bar, which is still going strong, though we didn't visit. Our guide said this area (Puna) is somewhat of a local rebel/hippy area resisting statehood, declaring themselves a part of the original kingdom of Hawaii. They fly the state flag upside down in disrespect and then fly the kingdom flag beneath it.

Back in the van, we had water and snacks. We were also given refreshing cool wet mint scented clothes to wash our faces. We also tasted some Longan fruit, a grape like fruit in a brown husk.

From here we drove to the Volcano National Park to see the steam vents and then a short hike out to the Halema'uma'u Crater within the Kilauea Caldera. This is a currently active volcano. On the hike we saw bamboo orchids, and a low growing Pukiawe bush the berries of which feed the Nene bird (Hawaian goose). We tasted them too but they had very little flavor.

We then drove another twenty minutes to the Volcano Winery, the only winery on the big island. What a disappointment! Strike one was that when Fran scheduled the tour we were supposed to have dinner at the elite Volcano House, a meal choice of coconut crusted mahi mahi. In the meantime they changed to a buffet barbecue under canopies at the winery. It included wine tasting, a glass of wine with dinner and a tour. The tour guide claimed this was better, that the food wasn't that great at the restaurant. Well, the barbecue wasn't that special, very mediocre. Slaw, pasta salad, canned corn, small pieces of chicken and small ribs. Strike two, the wine was undrinkable. We dumped it on the ground. There was a dry white made from the Cayuga grape, a terrible Pinot noir, a dry red blend of Symphony grape and jaboticaba berry. There was a Macademia honey wine, a Hawaiian guava grape wine and Infusion which was Macademia nut honey infused with volcano winery estate black tea. Most of them tasted oxidized and/or funky. But they seem to be selling it. Strike three, Larry said the gal who gave the tour didn't know what she was talking about but she spoke with a lot of confidence. We walked to the vineyard and tea field. She spent more time talking about the tea process than the vineyard care. Back in the vat room her presentation was totally inaccurate. And Larry said the whole process unremarkable. Plastic tanks, no barrels, didn't look like there was attention to detail. Needless to say, we didn't bring any wine back with us!

We left at dusk and drove to the Thurston Lava Tube. Since it was now dark, we hiked down the pathway by flashlight. It was like walking back through a cave. They are formed when a stream of lava cools around the outside, leaving the inside core insulated and hot so that when it stops flowing it empties out leaving a hollow core. The tube we were in was from seven to twenty feet high.

The last stop of the day was at the Jagger Museum overlooking the Halema'uma'u Crater. On arrival it was too foggy to see anything in the crater. We browsed the museum displays which gave the history of the volcano, seismograph showing earthquake activity, some of the cultural lore of Pele, the goddess of the volcano. As we were ready to leave the fog had cleared and we were able to see the volcanic glow.