April 1, 2016
The morning came slowly to the Eastern Standard Time Zone family as they soaked up sleep confusedly to wake at 6 AM Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time.
Showers, breakfast, and imperfect preparations filled the hours before their first Hawaii beach experience. AJ collected water bottles, Agenda, maps and sunblock and stuffed them in her bag.
Showers, breakfast, and imperfect preparations filled the hours before their first Hawaii beach experience. AJ collected water bottles, Agenda, maps and sunblock and stuffed them in her bag.
“Did you pack spray sunblock?” asked B.
“No. I saw you packed lotion and thought we didn’t need it.” AJ said.
“Do we have spray sunblock?” asked OneSon, coming out of the bathroom.
“Aargh! No. I didn’t want to overpack and thought one bottle of lotion would be enough,” AJ explained, exasperated as she saw the flaw in her thinking. OneSon is a biggish person and it would take a lot of greasy lotion to cover his paper-white back. “Lotion will have to do for now … if we’re near Costco, that’s the best place to get it,” AJ said, trying to problem solve fast.
On their way out, B grabbed a boogie board and beach towels which their host, graciously provided, along with Tripod, camera, bags and a dozen more “we might need this” things.
The family left their basement Ohana with the unlockable screen doors open, unsure whether to close them or not, a fact that sat stubbornly, sparking in the back of AJ’s mind, ready to explode into a blazing regret upon their return.
B drove the rental south on highway 89 (Queen Ka’ahumanu Highway) while AJ played navigator to get them to Kekaha Kai State Park** . “Between mile marker 90 and 91 take the rough road …”
The road to Bodie, CA (See entry for 2014 Trip to Bodie, CA) was civil compared to this wild exotic path. The road to Bodie was predictable, like a washboard, all the way to the ghost town. The road to Kekaha Kai State Park stumbled through acres of a’a (jagged and brownish lava) and pahoehoe (smooth and black lava), the path ground down and smoothed out enough to designate it a road, but leaving crevices, gullies, cracks and ridges appearing at random. The white Hyundai crept along the lroad, fields of rough sharp lava threatening from both sides.
“Oh, look, there’s a min-van behind us,” B said, craning his neck to see the rear-view mirror.
“Maybe it’s a SUV or a cross over?” AJ asked incredulously.
“Nope. Minivan.”
“Good for them,” she said, cringing against the sound of the car scraping against a jagged rock in the road.
Once parked amongst 4WD, high-sitting vehicles, they loaded up with essentials, then walked along a trail, the dry heat and burnt smell radiating from the lava fields surrounding them. The family paused at a pleasant beach with a few abandoned structures, but didn’t stop at the picturesque place. A copse of elegant palms held their attention as the boys crawled over larger lava rocks. A black goat made an appearance, coming in and out of view as they walked. Past the trees, the trail opened to a rough path of slightly smoothed lava rock for 1/4 mile of ankle turning, hot, but not dusty hiking. The lava rocks rattled like broken pieces of crockery beneath their feet.
“Ponder the path of your feet, then all your ways will be sure.” Proverbs 4:26
There was no better advice for hiking Hawaii. This was the first of many hikes where one was forced, because of the unevenness of the trail and the dire consequences of tripping and falling , to step cautiously, head down with eyes ever-searching for a firm spot to land one’s foot. To take a picture or take in a sight, it was best and most safe to stop or face the prospect of falling onto sharp lava rock, which guaranteed blood loss.
The family paused at Makalawena Beach**, but passed the tropical oasis in search of an even more secluded spot.
They passed over another rockier 1/4 mile through a barren plain of lava.
“Could I see the directions?” B asked AJ. AJ’s mute expression spoke for her, “You want me to take my backpack off, swing it around on my knee, open it, rifle around for the Agenda, then when you’re done with it, I’ll have to stuff it back in, close up the pack (so nothing falls out), then hoist it back onto my back. I’ve done this forty times since getting out of the car and you want me, in this hot weather, to do it again?”
“Okay, maybe not,” B rethought his request, looking as if he’d disturbed a mother bear and her cubs.
“Okay, okay, sorry,” AJ acquiesced, and went through the awkward motions of getting out the Agenda, then turned to the specific directions for the trail they were on. “Can I rip out the page and just give it to you?” she asked.
B finally stopped under a tree to sit and rest at Kahoiawa Bay. It is a secluded beach of aqua marine blue water, capped with the frothing white fury of the waves, which hit piles of lava and sand, kicking up pieces of white coral to dot the black lava rocks. There were only 4 other people on the beach.
OneSon and TwoSon took to the water, B to his camera and the watery waves, while AJ stayed under the tree,writing notes in the cool breeze, wild goats chomping a few yards off. To eyes accustomed to the din grey of naked trees, cold grey skies and dead brown grass landscapes of early spring in Michigan, the colors of the beach seemed unreal and almost freakish in the strong sunlight.
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| Grand Mere State Park, Michigan, March 2016 |
“We found Saucy Craboo!” TwoSon ran up AJ, announcing the discovery of a crab. (See We Bare Bears cartoon for reference). Only a Michigander would be so enthralled at the discovery of a crab on the beach.
After a few hours of lulling under the palm tree, watching goats, strange little birds and aqua waves crash against a black shore, they trudged back to the black lava trail, across the lonely rocky fields to the car. B drove carefully over the rough lava road (which, the instructions said, used to be a lot worse) and followed Miss GPS Lady’s instructions to Costco to buy spray sunblock, macadamia nuts and lunch.
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| Kahoiawa Bay, Hawaii Island, April 2016 |
It takes some time to awaken a Michigan body used to 20 and 30 degrees to let loose on a Hawaiian beach with the strong sun, salty water, crabs and wild goats looking on.
And this family was no different. It was a slow start. After lunch, they wandered to Beach 69 (Waialea Beach), which was once a military training ground, apparent by signs warning them there may be “undetonated ordnances” and if found, do please call 911 immediately. The beach was a sprawling stretch of sand, lined with huge trees stretching their thick limbs toward the ocean, serving as the perfect protection from the strong sun.
“What’s up with the naked kids?” AJ mumbled to B as they settled between the branches of a lanky old tree. She counted three happily nude toddlers on her way in.
“It’s Hawaii. That’s what they do here,” B said.
OneSon tried to make the boogie board work, but his goggles broke. He tried to snorkel, but the water wasn’t calm enough.
Frustrated at the slow start to fun, B sat disappointed under the shade. He thought that when presented with a beach the family would automatically jump and frolic maniacally while he took pictures. It didn’t seem to be happening.
A mild regret pricked at AJ. She didn’t wear her swimming suit. “Maybe if we move to the other side of the beach … the waves look stronger there,” AJ suggested.
At the new location, AJ watched the infinite pull and push of the aqua water from her perch on a sagging tree limb. It took OneSon a few tries at the boogie board until things started to look more like vacation fun. OneSon managed to ride a few decent waves onto the shore, then TwoSon tried his hand at it with some success.
Hunger called them away from the sand and surf to The Seafood Bar in Kawaihae, to eat amongst noise and bar conversations drifting over to the dining room where the family sat.
They made it back to Beach 69 (named so for a utility pole that stands in the parking lot with the number 69 on it), to catch the sun go down, then drove the dusky road back to the basement Ohana in Waikoloa Village, salty and sunburned every one.
A Note on Beaches and the Fair-Skinned: The family lives in Michigan, within a five minute drive of sandy Lake Michigan beaches. In popular thought, beaches represent relaxation, vacation and fun. Although often a nice change of scenery and a rich source of geological curiosities, AJ did’t see them as such. Because of a long history of working in the sun and being a redhead, her beach garb was a layer of the highest SPF sunscreen available, a wide-brimmed hat, a light, long sleeve shirt, a towel over her legs, and sunglasses. With the threat of sunburn and subsequent melanoma ever-present in her mind, it was hard to peal off the protections and breath easy, to relax and get her feet wet in the warm water (and there were jelly fish and turtles and salt and sharks in the ocean–additional threats that are unknown on MI beaches).
**The author can be generally certain about the locations of large areas on Hawaii Island, but as to the specific beaches they visited, with the beautifully native names and the seeming endlessness of the beaches, one spanning into another, she can’t be entirely certain of the accuracy of the smaller beach names, especially in Kekaha Kai State Park.
Thanks for reading!
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