Hawaii

I was not looking forward to Hawaii, and did not have plans.  But when I woke up, day was dawning as we were drawing close to the island!  Oh my gosh!  It was so exciting to see land, beaches, and palm trees!

I scrambled to think of what to do as we went through the immigration process.  A student who lived in Hawaii told me where to rent a kayak.  Unfortunately the shop was closed, but I walked to a row of banyan trees along a beach, and saw a man launching two wood kayaks that he had built.  I did not go out, but had a good time talking kayaking and island living.

Then I walked in the other direction, away from Hilo.  At the first park, the maintenance man told me about the whales that had been in close  the day before!  I kept walking (maybe a mile or so) to a bike rental place that I had learned about from a staff member on the ship.  From there I asked about getting lunch, and found a sandwich shop with a real hummus wrap (none on the ship). 

I went to the nearest beach, and climbed up on a big rock to look for whales while eating my lunch.  A fellow came by with his lunch and joined me.  He had brought binoculars to look for whale, and generously shared them.  There were splashes on the horizon off and on for quite a while!

Before he headed back to work, he told me where to look for the sea turtles.  And indeed there was a big turtle resting in a protected backwater.  He swam out a couple of times, then he came back to more or less the same spot.

I biked on the road that paralleled the beach – there were a variety of beaches – mostly volcanic rock, with occasional patches of black sand.  Richardson’s Beach has a lot of Semester at Sea students, and some protected swimmable water that I took advantage of.

On the way back, I walked out on a lava point, and saw whales in much closer, including a good view of a fluke.  A man with a 6-maonth old baby was showing her the whales.

Great day.  I am glad that I thought about what I had liked best on my two trips to Hawaii – going from beach to beach.  I loved going along the named and unnamed  volcanic beaches.  And the day was drawing to a close as I returned to the ship.