Island of Hawai’i – The west coast

As soon as I got the Covid-19 vaccine shot, I was looking forward to make up for the nearly fifteen months of little to no traveling. I was still apprehensive of flying but decided I would be all right since I was going to Hawaii where they had restrictions right from the start of the pandemic. They could not afford to be casual about this since tourism is their largest industry and there would be no tourists if it was not safe.

 Being as overenthusiastic as I am about traveling to a new place, I booked my flight tickets planning to spend two weeks on the island of Hawaii, also known as the Big Island since, if it was not obvious already, it is the largest and also the youngest of the eight islands that form the Hawaiian archipelago without as much as giving a thought to how much of an expensive trip this would be if I were to travel alone. It did not bother me much since I believe that all that money is well spent. I hoped and tried to convince my friends to join for weeks until one of my roommates gave in. Soon, there was a rough itinerary in place, accommodation and rental cars booked. We planned to work from there for a few days as well – something the current situation allowed us to do. A few days later, we came across news of rental car shortage in Hawaii and in Alaska. Apparently, the companies had sold all their cars due to the pandemic and now there was a surge in demand and they simply did not have cars. Luckily, we had booked ours just in time.

 Hawaii is more than 2000 miles away from mainland USA, which meant a long enough flight of about five and a half hours from San Jose, California. In the few days leading up to our departure, my Instagram feed made me feel like half the people I know in the USA were in Hawaii. Most of them seemed to be visiting the neighboring island of Maui though. It seemed to be quite the tropical paradise with beautiful beaches, lots of water sports and activities, lush greenery and pineapples abound. Something else I had learnt about Hawaii from movies was that they had a distinct heritage and culture rooted in respecting nature and protecting their land. I also happened to be reading Walter Isaacson’s biography of Jennifer Doudna, a biochemist who is one of the recipients of the Nobel prize in chemistry in 2020 and learnt that she grew up in Hilo, a town on the east side of the island of Hawaii. I was excited that I would be visiting Hilo and some surrounding spots mentioned in the book.

 As we landed in the airport in Kailua-Kona, what stood out while looking out the windows were the black lava rocks along the coast, reminding us of the forces of nature at play in forming this land. This island was still expanding due to the volcanic eruptions. Hawaiians joked that if someone had a tattoo of the island on their body, they would need to upgrade it every time there was landmass added. Once we were off the flight and walked through the airport that seemed like a resort, I felt like I was in my hometown of Kerala. The coconut palms, the temperature, the humidity, the greenery – it was all the same albeit much cleaner and far less crowded. Soon after our car was in order and stocking up on some groceries, we were on the road heading southwards. We tried to pronounce the names of the streets, failing miserably. Hopefully we would pick up some Hawaiian and also learn what those meant by the end of the trip. The drive by the coast elicited admiring looks from us as we observed that the Pacific Ocean seemed to have a different shade of blue in this part of the world, or was it the contrast that the tropical greenery presented? The road was flanked by flowering African Tulips, which I later learnt, are an invasive species. We had not had enough but soon arrived at the Puuhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park. Pu’uhonua means a place of refuge. It served those who broke Kapu – sacred laws established by the chiefs to separate themselves from the common people. Those who made it here were absolved by a priest and could go home. I did not understand why it was adjacent to the royal grounds, separated only by a wall. The punishment for breaking Kapu was death and here you were, next door to the Aliʻi i.e., the chiefs. We walked through the park seeing temples, a mausoleum and other sacred sites. Perhaps it was the perfect first stop for us to learn to revere their culture and traditions. Hawaiians believe this place has great mana – spiritual power. We were too frustrated with the heat and the humidity to notice the mana at that time. We had seen some beautiful shots of the Kipahoehoe natural area reserve and hoped to see it in person but Google maps seemed to have lost its way, taking us to a road that seemed like a private entrance to someone’s residence. We gave up on finding the way ourselves and headed back to Kona for a night snorkeling trip to see Manta rays.  Once we arrived at the tours, we had some time to kill and decided to walk to a beach nearby. It was a small, sparsely crowded beach and we were even able to see a green sea turtle thanks to fellow tourists who alerted us.

 The snorkeling tour was something I was quite anxious about since I did not know how to swim. Add to it the discomfort of being in a swimsuit, quite the departure from my usual modesty. This tour was going to be slightly easier since we would be holding on to a light board which attracts plankton which in turn attracts the Manta Rays. We were to jump into the ocean as soon as the Sun set. I panicked and took a while to get comfortable with the floating and the snorkeling gear. What was torturous was the unbearable pain in my arms during and after the forty-five minutes or so that we held on. We did see three Manta Rays or so I was told because I am sure I mistook some others’ flippers to be Manta Rays. We had more than an hour’s drive to get to our Airbnb in Naalehu in the southwestern part of the island. It seemed to be in the middle of nowhere but was absolutely gorgeous. I had splurged a bit on this one stay on our entire trip and it was worth it. I do not think I have ever stayed at such a beautiful place in all of my travels.

 We spent the next day working, sneaking in a lunch break to get a delicious pizza and gorge on some Malasadas, a Hawaiian confection at the famed Punalu’u Bake Shop. At the end of the day, we drove to the nearby Papakōlea green sand Beach. We had to hike to the beach from the parking lot since only 4WD vehicles are allowed all the way and we decided a walk would suit us rather than paying the locals for a ride. We made it just in time, a little while before sunset. The sand is green due to the Olivine crystals, again a work of the volcanoes. It was secluded and looked exquisite, being one of the four green sand beaches in the world. We barely got our feet wet, took some photos and hurried back since we did not want to walk back in the dark, which we did anyway.

 Early in the morning on the next day, we drove to south point which was quite close to the green sand beach. It is the southernmost point in the United States and is a popular spot for people to dive into the water. The views were spectacular. On the previous day, my friend had noticed that something was wrong with one of the tires on the car. It did not have enough air pressure and Kona was the only place where we could go to do anything about it. We were going back up to Kona for another snorkeling trip. We risked it and drove for about an hour or so and filled it up, only to realize it simply did not hold up. We decided to focus on it after our snorkeling.

 It was a five-hour trip. Although the other tour had given me some confidence, this was different because we would not be holding on to anything and were expected to swim. I promptly asked for a life jacket before we boarded the boat. Contrary to what we expected, it was a small boat which had just enough space for the ten of us to perch on the sides. The two guides were informative and funny, helping us keep our worries at bay. We were first taken to see a pod of dolphins and then whooshed through the ocean to Kealakekua Bay after making a stop to take a look at the heart of Kailua-Kona where one of the guides explained the history of the town. Kamehameha I, the founder and first ruler of the kingdom of Hawaii moved his capital and residence here from Honolulu. That is the one of the few things I remember, because that name is quite popular, thanks to Dragon Ball Z fans. Also, he had a favorite queen named Kaʻahumanu. Apart from being one of the best places on the island to do some snorkelling, Kealakekua Bay is where the first westerner, Captain James Cook, landed on the island of Hawaii, only to be killed a year later by the natives. We spent nearly a couple of hours in the water looking at the colorful, vibrant fishes making their way through the coral reefs with a lunch break in between, although it did not seem that long. I made up my mind to learn swimming when I saw some others in our group diving into the water to get a closer look. They made it look so effortless.

We went back to the airport to the car rental company for them to tell us that the tire had a nail in it and to get another one in exchange. Were we not glad that we appeared to have defied something dreadful twice that day, on the road and in the water!