Next stop, Antarctica

There's a great cliff jumping spot in Keauhou called End of the World, but I think that name is better suited for the cliffs at South Point. Jim has been excited about jumping from this spot for weeks. I had myself talked out of it until I stood at the top of the cliff today and I saw how fun it looked. I'll add jumping off the southernmost point of the United States to the "cool stuff I've done" list.

Jim didn't warn me about the rickety ladder you have to climb to get out. It's one looooong rickety ladder. It's rusty and the rungs are hard to grip because they're skinny and wet. And it dangles from the cliff so the ladder swings as the waves hit it.

We also 4-wheeled to Green Sands Beach and enjoyed the day. It was sunny and the wind was calm, which is unusual at South Point. The sand doesn't look so green in the photo, but when you run your hands through it, the sand sure looks green. It was another remarkable day.

Trees and clouds reflect from a small pool on the Hamakua Coast.

Another day, another river, another waterfall

Sarah and I went up to Laupahoehoe Monday to visit some friends and hike to a waterfall. We walked up a river for about an hour hopping from one boulder to the next and wading through the water. The walls of the gulch towered over us, carpeted in bright green grass, wild orchids and ginger. A chorus of birds accompanied the babbling brook that resonated through the canyon. The garden of Eden must have been something like this.

We had a fun swim in the pool at the base of the falls, jumping off rocks and floating on our backs, watching the sun lit water pour over moss-covered rocks. The sky was bright blue and I was amazed at how fast the clouds flew by- as if someone had pressed the fast forward button on the remote.

After the hike, Luke made us a vegan meal of broccoli, mushrooms and millet. Then we hung out with some folks who are developing a 13 acre farm. They live off the land and their kitchen is constructed of PVC pipe and some plastic tarps. We sat on the ground near the kitchen and drank coconuts together. I felt like a tourist in another country, their lives are so different from mine, but they were really welcoming and we had a good time together. Sarah felt guilty later when we pulled off at Tex's to order a double cheese burger and a chocolate milk shake. The vegetarian food was delicious and healthy, but it didn't fill our meat-loving tummies for long.

TGIKD
(Thank God it's Kamehameha Day!)

If you look through my blog you'll see there are some good reasons to live in Hawaii. Here's one more. King Kamehameha Day. It's that one day of the year I get off work when some other folks don't. It's like having a get-out-of-jail-free card. I have the whole day free...how shall I spend it?

King Kamehameha brought the Hawaiian islands under one rule for the first time in 1810, and his dynasty ruled the Kingdom of Hawaii for more than a century. I can't say I know much about this great king whose long ago efforts afford me a day of relaxation and fun each June.

Jim and I saw the original King Kamehameha statue in Kapa`au Saturday draped in lei. The bronze figure was made in Italy in the late 1800's and was on its way to the Judiciary buliding in Honolulu when its ship sank near the Falkland Islands. So they made a second statue and shipped that one to Honolulu. Later, the original was found, restored, and it now stands in Kapa`au near Kamehameha's birthplace.

Rompin' around in rivers

Jim and I went up to Hawi Saturday to see what we could see. (my new friend, Scuba diver Jim, not teacher Jim who is in Europe.)

I forgot the sky could be so blue, it was a gorgeous day! We walked up a river navigating thick vegetation, slippery rocks and mud. We were looking for a waterfall but I finally realized I had lead Jim up the wrong river. Then we walked to the bottom of Pololu Valley and played in the waves and rinsed off the yucky river water. (the above photo shows the view from the top of the valley) The surf was as calm as I have seen it at Pololu and there didn't seem to be much of a rip current. (the currents are usually pretty nasty in there so be careful!)

Feeling refreshed we took another stab at finding the waterfall. And it was well worth the effort, mosquito bites and all. Then we took a dip in the ocean at Mahukona and finished off the day with some icy cold Kona Brews and meaty, cheesy burritos at Tres Hombres in Kawaihae.

Half an Ironman radio for half an Ironman

I got lazy last week and never finished my posts. We were all proud of Tom, here are his times:
swim: 51:18
bike: 3:48:37
run: 2:22:4
overall: 7:15:15

He came in 700th place, out of more than 1,000 competitors.

I was so proud of him, in fact, I decided to give him a gift. Something nice. So my dad and I cut an Ironman radio in half using a power hack saw. We cut it package and all. But when we were about done the radio fell out of the package. In retrospect, it would have been easier to remove the radio from the molded plastic package first, cut it, then return it to the package. Cutting it in the package was trickier and slivers of radio made a mess inside the package. Next time, we'll know better.

Race Update

Tom Finney has finished the bike portion of the Honu! It took him 3:48:37 which puts him in 758th place. He averaged 14.7 mph. GO TOM!

Race Day

Today is the Honu Half-Ironman. More than 1,057 competitors from 19 countries and 37 U.S. states will swim 1.2 miles at Hapuna Beach, bike 56 miles to Hawi and back, and finish up with a 13 mile run at the Mauna Lani Resort. I watched the start of the race from the cliff overlooking Hapuna, and was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of Kona's own Tom Finney as he finished up his swim in 51:18. When his day is complete he'll be half an Ironman.




Here's Finney on his way to the bike transition. I must have gotten water on the camera because the image is blurry.



What a great sportsman! Tom takes a moment to give a fellow cyclist a drink she dropped.

Pride of Hawaii

Norwegian Cruise Line's new ship, Pride of Hawaii, arrived in Kona for the first time today. The largest U.S flagged ship ever, it weighs 93,500 tons, carries up to 2,400 passengers, and has a crew of 1,000 mostly American workers. Norwegian has two other American ships that tour the islands, the Pride of America and the Pride of Aloha.

The only cruise ship I have every toured was the Norwegian Star. That ship doesn't sail under the U.S. flag so by law they have to visit a foreign port during every cruise. So they sail to Fanning Island in the Republic of the Kiribati, which is 850 miles south of the Big Island. The ship's hotel manager once told me they spend $200,000 on fuel for their week-long Hawaiian cruise, and $150,000 of that is spent going to Fanning Island. I don't know how true that is, but it seems like a hefty price to pay just to escape American taxes and labor laws. But what do I know? My only gripe with cruise ships is their stinky transport boats that smell up the bay while I am swimming and the poo-poo they dump in the water.

On a positive note, I recently met a doctor who does mission work on Fanning Island. Norwegian lets him travel for next to nothing and they've been really cooperative about transporting medical supplies to the island. He has some fascinating photos and stories about his work. A picture of the store room at the "hospital" has a few rusty shelves with half a dozen old bottles of some kind of stuff. That's it.

Fun with boxes

Dianne is moving so John gave her some boxes to use, and they're stacked next to my desk. What's the big deal? Every WHT employee has walked by my desk in the last day and asked me about the boxes. And I am sick and tired of being interrupted from my work to explain why the boxes are there. Tom finds my irritation to be funny so he wanted to put up a sign that says, "Ask me about the boxes." He also put one of the boxes over Dianne's chair while she was at lunch. Then I get to explain to everyone that, "No, Dianne did not get a new chair. It is just a box over her existing chair." Then Dino put a sign on the boxes declaring that he is moving to Old A's to live in the boxes. So everyone in the office was motivated to leave house warming gifts: a shot glass, cheese and crackers, Mardi Gras beads. You'd think we were a bunch of three-year-olds playing with these stupid boxes. How can I work under such conditions?