We won the first trip to Hawai'i in a raffle in 1981. It provided air fare and four days at a Waikiki hotel. Nice. Very nice, in fact. Waikiki is a great beach and the area is a great show. But Charlie said why not pony up some more money and take in Maui and the Big Island, too. Thank God he did!
I was in love with Hawai'i from landing at the Honolulu airport. Beautiful plants, nice air warm and humid with gentle winds, beautiful craggy volcanic peaks clothed in the most vivid green and of course it only got better from there. We stayed at an Outrigger hotel a few blocks from the beach, visited BC's friend Annie & hubby from a large friendly Chinese family, shared Sunday dinner with them. First night they took us to a Hawaiian music show, Kaanikapila. I remember a hula from Niihau, topic being the capture of a Japanese aviator during WW2, and even though there is a vast vast vast amount about hula I do not understand, I could understand that one, the motions, the movements conveyed everything quite clearly. Then on to Watertown for another Hawaiian music show. We loved it. At one point a huge huge Hawaiian playing a uke saw out of the corner of his eye an enormous cockroach cruising down a grass mat behind the band, he casually hula'd over, knocked it to the floor with his elbow, and mashed it with his foot, without missing a beat. We dove at Hanauma Bay, such wonderful colorful fish. I am a California boy. I love California. I thought nothing could seriously top California. Even in terms of fish. I dove all through my childhood and loved looking at the fish at Casa Beach or the Cove, but the spectacular colors on the fish at Hanauma Bay seriously knocked me out. Then just cruising around the island...the landscapes, the craggy volcanic peaks and valleys, the green. The colors in Hawai'i are very vivid and I have my theory on why: I think its because closer to the equator the sunlight comes in at a more vertical angle, less atmosphere cutting the strength of the sunlight, so it picks up and transmits the colors better, but they are definitely more vivid in Hawai'i. Greener green, bluer blue in the ocean and the sky, pure white spume over the waves and in the clouds, majestic black lava, vivid red in volcanic soils. Its quite striking.
From Oahu to Maui, to a condo at Kahana. It was fine. Maui was fantastic. We discovered the nude beach at Makena and loved it. We drove over to Hana, the road was very scenic, we were relaxing by Hana Bay and somehow met a haole local, Mark from New Jersey who was very taken with BC. He showed us around. Took us up to Waianapanapa, showed us about the cabins, showed us Red Sand Beach, also a nude beach. It was so beautiful, so perfect. "We don't have to leave. Ever!", I said. We would make ample use of the cabins in the coming years. The Hana side is lush jungle, little streams and waterfalls, huge cliffs and outcroppings over the sea, huge valleys. Population of Hana is about 600. You make a reservation for the cabins with the state parks department, and buy food for your stay at Pay 'n Save (or whatever the name is now) in Kahului. Its a gorgeous park. You can swim at Waianapanapa. Also Hamoa and Kaihalulu Beaches in Hana. We drove to the top of Haleakala (10,025 ft) for sunrise one morning, following BEP and BAU. It was seriously cold up there, but well worth it watching such a spectacular sunrise.
From Maui to the Big Island. Landed at the Kona Airport which is out in the lava fields. Bleak. I was despondent that we had left the garden paradise of Maui for he bleak desolate lava fields of the Big Island. But of course I fell in love with the Big Island, how can you not? We had a room at the Kona Surf, a luxury hotel which had fallen on hard times and was offering bargain rates. In the parking lot we met a friendly local lad, Bill, of Hawaiian and Filippino ancestry. Later we met him again at Drysdale's bar in Kona and put cards on the table so to speak. While Charles drove back to the hotel I sat in his car and he assured me I could do anything I wanted, adding, "I really mean that". What welcome words. We all had a wonderful time. He invited us to his sister's birthday party that night. Because we were friends with Bill we were friends with his whole family, it was like we'd known them forever. The mom was pleasantly drunk and kept asking me, "Well, how you like Hawai'i?". We saw Bill again a few years later in Honolulu. Majorly cute. Nice guy too. Purple speedo. We drove over to Hilo via the Volcano Highway. We hiked the Kilauea Iki trail. Incredible. Down down down through a fern forest, you emerge on a lava crater, figure 8 shaped, maybe 1 1/2 or 2 miles across, giant blocks of lava, the throat from which the giant 1959 eruption emerged, then back up through the fern forest. On to Hilo. Some friend had advised to bypass Hilo, called it a dump. Wow. How could you not love Hilo. When I think of Hawai'i, of the Hawaiian reality, the Hawaiian experience, I think of Hilo. It is a wonderful town, it is real, it is like the largest Hawaiian town. Street names are all Hawaiian: Kilauea, Haili, Komohana, Halai, Waianuenue. We met John S working at Lauilima, a health food store, he became a friend until business intruded and we had an outfalling.
Mauna Kea overlooking Hilo on the Big Island
First Kalalau hike we stayed at the Reef Motel and were kept awake all night by a professional lady entertaining her male client. Both drunk and very loud. But the hike went off fine. The Reef added a new section where we stayed a few years later. We stayed at the Hilo Hotel in Hilo in 1991. I recorded quite a few Hawaiian songs from KAHU. KAHU has been out of business for many years now. Too bad, they did great Hawaiian music. Also recorded KMVI on Maui, but it has changed to all sports. Too bad. You can get sports anywhere. Hawaiian music, not that easy. Also recorded KCCN in Honolulu, it, too, is a sports station now, but you can get Hawaiian on KAPA in Hilo and KINE and KKNE in Honolulu. I started trying to learn the Hawaiian language so I could understand the pretty songs we love so much. Funny. You can understand speech better than singing. I can pick up words in a song but stringing them into meaning is not that easy, maybe song is more esoteric. A fellow in Japan helped me immensely learning Hawaiian, what a godsend, a professional language teacher (teaching English & French to Japanese students) and he wanted to teach me Hawaiian over the computer to help himself learn, we were on the computer for hours for years, me at 6 am or so here, he at whatever the Japan time would be. He was a superb teacher, I was very lucky to have him for a kumu. He seems to have gone on to learn more languages, it is a natural ability for him. I do Kaonamakekai from time to time. Obviously the decline and death of Charlie cut that out.
Our last trip was to the Big Island in 2010 for the Merrie Monarch Hula Festival. Charlie had hit that phase of the disease where things irritated him a lot, but we still had a good time. We stayed at a condo of a friend of a friend, 6th story overlooking Hilo Bay. You could walk to the store, across the Singing Bridge. We saw whales playing out by the breakwater. Charlie swam at Hapuna, his last time in the ocean. Hilo is a beautiful town. It rains a lot. Thus you have museum quality orchids and other exotic blooms growing out of cracks in the sidewalks. You have an entire section of wild orchids growing east of town. Out Keaukaha way you get beautiful little pocket beaches among the jungle and black lava rocks with fantastic views across the bay to Hilo with Mauna Kea looming so beautifully above. Mauna Loa. Is it possible to have a favorite mountain? Mauna Loa is mine. It is magnificent. It is huge, absolutely huge. By volume it has more rock than all the Sierras combined. A base of 250 miles across on the sea floor, 19000 ft. below. The slope is sooooo gentle!
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