A Long Way From Waikiki

Chris and I spent a spectacular day hiking up Mauna Kea. We took a 4WD road west from Onizuka Center and started our hike at around 9,000 feet in elevation. We dropped down into a spectacular red-walled canyon with interesting rock formations and piles of cinder. The sky was clear and beautiful and the crisp, dry air felt like a mainland September day. An occasional cloud blew across our view of Mauna Loa's marble-like lava surface.

Next, we drove to 13,ooo feet and hiked to Lake Waiau, the only alpine lake in Hawaii. It was more impressive than I expected, but maybe we were just feeling euphoric from the lack of oxygen. We were both feeling pretty happy. The lake's ice cold water beckoned me; I guess I still miss my Lake Michigan days. After wading for about 10 seconds my legs tingled with that pins and needles sensation. This isn't the Hawaii you'll find in the tour books. The lunar terrain, brisk temperatures and solitude reminded us we were a long way from Waikiki.

Let's Go Racin'

As promised, here are a couple of pictures from the drag races. The jet limo was my favorite, although it looked better with the body removed and flames shooting out the back. There was also a sweet mid 1950's model Chevy. My camera's been acting up so I didn't get many photos.

50% more fun...FREE!

I love three-day weekends. That third bonus day allows you to pack in 50% more fun than you would on a regular weekend. This Labor Day included a trip to the Hilo drag races with Chris (pics tk) two trips to the Kona Brew Pub and Scuba diving. I truly enjoyed sharing the finer points of beer drinking with two great friends from church. And my first Scuba experience as a certified diver was pretty sweet. Jim took me out to the harbor where we dove to 85 feet. Highlights include garden eels and a pod of dolphins that came pretty close by. Three baby dolphins accompanied the group...cute little buggahs!

What's wrong with you women?


We had "girls night out" recently to celebrate Kelly and Jennifer who are getting married soon. This sort of event is usually not right up my alley. But we started at the Brew Pub and I always feel at home there. Next we headed to My Best Friend's Closet to try on what Kestral called, "super, super cute clothes." I usually feel pretty out of place in a group of women doing "girl things" but I admit even the clothes store was fun. I tried on a slinky black dress that I'd never be seen in public with. It amused my co-workers who know this type of dress is not likely to join my wardrobe.

After some champagne we hit the Fun Factory- a Chucky Cheese-like family fun center. Ski ball and air hockey went off without a hitch. That's before Ilona exhibited inappropriate behavior and we were all thrown out. I never thought I'd be 86'd from the Fun Factory! If that wasn't bad enough, the woman kicked us off the sidewalk as well; we had to wait across the street. That's when a homeless man gawked at the ruckus we were making and remarked, "What's wrong with you women?"

The rest of the group finished off the night at the bars. But I hit Magic Sands with Chris, James and Lisa for some moonlight boogie boarding. It's creepy and exhilarating to take off on a wave that you can't see.

Will it float?

I watched the History Channel's Modern Marvels: Monster Trucks last night on Netflix. I definitely recommend it. In my favorite stunt, a 10,000 lb. truck jumped over a 727 jetliner that was, of course, on fire.

The history of the monster truck and its mechanical revolution was revealed. The documentary featured interviews from drivers and fans which really helped me appreciate this fantastic piece of Americana.

My favorite fact I learned in the film? Monster trucks float. The discovery was made accidentally at a photo shoot on the edge of a lake. Apparently, huge tires are buoyant enough to float the 5-ton truck. David Letterman definitely needs to get Big Foot on his show for a special segment of Will it Float?.

Non-events

Despite a hurricane, a tsunami and some earthquakes, last week was pretty uneventful. Flossie broke apart as she approached the Big Island. We got some clouds and a light sprinkle. My side of the island didn't even get any surf, so my board is still sitting lonely under the house.

There were several earthquakes throughout the week. A 5.4 rattled the house little, and a 3.8 woke me up two nights later. But they were on the other side of the island and we barely felt them.

Then we got news of a tsunami watch after the earthquake in Peru. East Hawaii was hit by a small tsunami in the middle of the night while most residents were fast asleep. The only reason we know there was a tsunami was because the newspaper told us there was one.

All that fun and a sinus infection didn't keep me from dive classes. I am finally getting certified for scuba. We have two more classes this week and a boat dive Saturday, then I'll be open water certified. It's about time I got around to it!

Hurricane Preparation

Flossie, a category 3 hurricane, is 300 miles southeast of Hilo and headed this way. We should start getting wind and rain tomorrow as it passes to the west of our island. The whole island is under a hurricane watch and a tropical storm warning, but the south and east portions of the island should see the strongest winds and plenty of high surf. (we live in West Hawaii)

People today stocked up on bottled water and filled their gas tanks. We prepared by eating the Hagen Daz in the freezer. With all that expensive ice cream a power outage would be devastating.

What I've been reading Part I

I previously posted my intention of reading through the Bible in the next year, and Chris has asked how that's going. I thought, "Why not blog about it?"

Well, I doubt I'll finish in a year, but who cares? At least it's a goal that keeps me reading everyday. Since June I've read Genesis- Numbers and Job.

In Genesis, God creates the heavens and the earth, plants, animals and people. Adam and Eve live in paradise and walk and talk with God in the Garden of Eden. Everything is going great until they eat the forbidden fruit and introduce sin into the world. Humans have been cursed to live in this fallen world ever since. Now we see all kinds of bickering, murder, adultery, etc. When it gets really out of hand God wipes out the sinners in a flood. Only Noah and his family survive. Noah's descendants repopulate the earth and the rest of Genesis is filled with the type of stories your typical grocery store tabloid will pay big bucks for. A man is tricked into marrying the wrong woman, jealous siblings sell their brother into slavery, two particularly sin-ridden cities, Sodom and Gomorrah, are destroyed.

In Exodus, the Israelites are slaves in Egypt- descendants of family that sold their brother to be a slave there. God selects Moses to lead his people out of Egypt and into a promised land. God brings nasty plagues on Egypt until Pharaoh finally lets them go. God leads the people through the desert by a pillar of fire, feeding them with bread that falls out of the sky. In an awesome display of smoke and fire He leads Moses up a mountain and gives him the ten commandments. Despite the display of God's mighty power, the Israelites grumble about the food and start worshiping idols. So God lets them roam around in the desert for 40 years until a new generation rises up to take over the promised land.

The books are full of wild stories and weird regulations meant to set the Israelites apart from the rest of the nations. Sin has made a mess of things. The sacrifices required of Israel prove there is now a huge chasm between God and man. This holy and righteous God is "untouchable" to the filthy, sin-ridden humans. From the very first pages of the Bible the need for a Savior is evident.

Hit the road, Mark

It was hard to drag myself out of bed to face today. It was a sad and solemn occasion: the lunch wagon's last day. Mark is moving to Washington. West Hawaii Today employees turn into Pavlov's dog every morning at 8:55 AM when we hear the toot, toot, toot of Mark's horn. For year's Mark has faithfully filled our tummies with good food, our faces with smiles and our spirits with inspiration. We'll miss you, old pal.

My typical lunch time routine: a lunch wagon meal and WHT comics.


Mark and his niece pose in front of our beloved "roach coach."


I dressed up as the lunch wagon for Halloween two years ago. It was my best costume ever.

Morning Has Broken

I camped at Makalawena Friday and Saturday night with Sierra Club. We got the campsite I was hoping for- the one inside the gate under the Ironwood trees. A gentle breeze whispered through their long pine needles throughout Saturday night. I tried my best to stay awake so I could track the almost full moon across the sky. It finally set over the ocean, then the sun started to rise a few minutes later. That's when I took this picture of Kuili cinder cone and Mauna Kea with a queen's bath in the foreground.

Back Home Again in Indiana

The following posts tell about my recent trip to the Midwest. Typically, my vacations are all about places. But this trip was about the people. I'm thankful for the chances I have to spend time with family, childhood friends and all my IU college buddies, too. I hate to think about all the people I missed on my frantic trip of 11 days, three states and 1,500 miles on the rental car. I guess that just shows how truly blessed I am to have so many cool people in my life.

Cousins: Tom, Kristy, Kirsten, Ben, Jeanne, Andi.


Lydia and Camille, my nieces.

Hanging with the family

I'm always sad when I think about all the people I didn't get to see, time goes so fast. At the same time, I'm grateful for the moments we all shared together.

Surf's Up!

On calm water like Bass Lake you can't wait for a swell to come in. You have to rely on a boat, not nature. I've always wanted to try wakeboarding and I finally got my chance, and I LIKE IT! It's just like waterskiing and snowboarding. Luckily, the muddy lake bottom is a lot more forviging than our reefs. I wiped out while trying to jump the wake and I planted my face in the mud. The lake was only knee deep!

Time to hit the beach

The beach is normally my first stop when I go back to the Midwest. I know that sounds silly since I live in Hawaii. But I spent my childhood in Lake Michigan. We went twice a day in the summer, and December and January are the only months I have never swum in Lake Michigan. The beach is as beautiful as I remember, the white sand stretches for miles. And no bath tub salty water, the lake is fresh and cool like a giant queen's bath.

1060 W. Addison

I've been a Cubs fan for as long as I can remember. When Jimmy built his White Sox fort down the street and I threatened to tear it down. In 1984 our elementary school janitor convinced the teacher to let us Cubs fans out of class so we could listen to their championship game against the Padres on the radio.

I begged and pleaded with my parents to take me to Wrigley Field. I always got the same reply. "You can't get there from here." They didn't want to deal with parking and traffic issues and year after year they dragged me to Comisky Park instead. In a recent dream I drove my Jeep to Wrigley Field while the words, "you can't get there from here," rang over and over in my head.

Now I'm a grown up and I've learned you can get there from here. Even if here is Hawaii and Wrigley Field is 4,500 miles away. The sun was shining, Old Style beer was flowing and the crust on the pizza was 3 inches thick. Cubs played the Giants. Barry Bonds scored two home runs but it didn't stop the old Cubbies from winning 9-8.

Pool Party

Eric is his element.

God Bless Indiana...

...and their fireworks laws (or lack thereof)

I keep telling everyone about Shelton, the self-proclaiming "World's Largest Fireworks Store." It was about a mile from the house I grew up in (as the crow flies) They're open year-round for all of your firework needs.

Dr. & Mrs. Tread

We went to monster trucks and called each other tread head. We shot squirrels and ate them and we spray painted our names in the storm sewer under the student union. Now the idiots I went to college with are all grown up. They are doctors and lawyers and responsible citizens. Many of them have even gotten hitched. It's weird growing up.

It was an amazing time in Indianapolis at Nate and Jodi's wedding...a perfect reunion of family and friends who came from all over the country to meet for an incredible weekend.

Bon Voyage

A replica of an 1812 warship, the Privateer Lynx, is in Kona this week. http://www.privateerlynx.com/ They were supposed to be doing tours today between 10 and 12 so I arranged my schedule accordingly. But the ship hadn't docked yet so no tour for me. I plan to watch the webcam tomorrow, when it docks maybe I can sneak outta work and get down there.

I'll embark on my own journey tomoorw night. I'm heading to the Windy City for a couple of weeks. I'll be visiting friends and family in Indiana, eating Gino's Pizza, swimming in Lake Michigan and I hope to fit in a Cubs game and some roller coasters. A Hui Hou!

Davids vs. Goliath

This cruise ship's horn woke me up today. I went out on the lanai to see why all the commotion? The ship was coming into Kailua Bay just as participants in a fishing tournamend were heading out. At least 50 fishing boats were charging toward the giant cruise ship. It was more entertaining than this morning's newspaper.

Hey Tommy, that doesn't smell like mud!

For Father's Day my dad didn't want a present, he just wanted a Jeep ride. So we went up to Mana Road in Waimea. The road stretches 44 miles from Waimea around Mauna Kea and empties out on the Summit Road a few miles below Onizuka Center. We started in Waimea and only went half way, then turned around. And that's disappointing, because the upper half of the road is the bumpy part, the ride was just getting fun!

I turned on the air conditioning Monday and PEEE-YUUU! The smell of the poop wafted in through the vents. After a 1 1/2 hour wash job I'm still finding remnants of cow pies in the nooks and crannies of the undercarriage.

Let's Go Racin'

Denise knew I'd want to participate in the adult pinewood derby at her church. I'm still bitter about my girl scouting days. The boys built race cars and went camping, the girls stitched sit-upons- ridiculous square things you hang around your waist so if you have to sit down in the great outdoors your okole doesn't get dirty. But we never went outdoors so what the heck was the point?

Back to the topic at hand, the pinewood derby was a blast. This Cub Scout tradition is simple enough, build a car made of pine within certain measurement and weight guidelines, then see who's is fastest. They race down a grooved aluminum track. There's even software designed for pinewood derby, complete with electronic timing devices.

My car was a simple wedge design. I shaped the wood with a belt sander, spray painted red and blue stripes and named her Liberty. I dripped melted fishing weights into holes drilled in the back to increase weight.

Here's Liberty next to the General Lee and others. She placed 14th overall with 61 cars competing, and averaged 187 miles per hour (that's to scale with the size of the cars and track)

Trucks are for Girls



Danielle and Sarah show off their matching trucks. A few of us in the marketing industry (that's for you Dianne) invaded the Brew Pub Friday. Danielle and I work for West Hawaii Today, Kathy is a rep for Big Island Weekly, and Sarah sells advertising for Oceanic Time Warner.

Wet Okole Product Review

I put Wet Okole seat covers on my Jeep about a year ago, see the old blog post here:

http://alhauber.blogspot.com/2006/05/wet-okoles-are-installed-i-can-see-why.html

These really expensive neoprene seat covers are custom made to fit your car' seats. Okole means butt in Hawaiian and purpose of the covers is to protect the seats from salty, wet butts. They look great and fit perfectly but they don't do much to protect the seats. I removed the covers and discovered salt stained seats. Salty water has been seeping through the seams of the covers and sitting on my car seats for a whole year.

Salt stains on my driver's side seat:

Carharts & Cabella's

For a minute, I forgot I was in Hawaii. We went down to Manuka State Park to shoot guns and two guys showed up with a truckload of guns & ammo. They even had their own custom made steel targets. Everything about them said "midwestern America," where there's a Cabella's catalog in every mail box and the state uniform is made by Carharts.

They let us shoot several of their guns. The .45 semi-automatic pistol was my favorite. Bullets made music when they hit different sized steel targets. We also shot up some diet Cokes with a deer rifle and then we did some trap shooting. I used to be a lot better at it than I am now. I've been out of Indiana too long.

Chris aims at the close target with his .22 pistol. We also shot up some Diet Cokes that were by the farther, circled target with his deer rifle. I took out a can on my first attempt.

Shooting up the metal targets...pretty, pretty music.

What school you wen grad, brah?

It was graduation weekend here in Kona, and that's quite the event. You've never attended a graduation until you've been to a Hawaiian high school ceremony. The whole town turns out to support the graduates, and the lei are piled on so high it's a miracle the students can even see through the flowers.

We had our own graduation ceremony in church today for our Theology 301 class. Pastor even made everyone hum Pomp & Circumstance, it's just like him to try to embarrass us. We even got lei- all 12 of the lei they handed out were Kirstina's leftovers from her high school graduation the night before! I'm pretty bummed the class is over- but it was an awesome 9 months. I learned so much! I considered bombing the final so I could take the class again next year. Instead I worked hard and got a 98%! I ended up with the highest grade in the class, and that's not a familiar position for me to be in.

Now that the class is over I need a new project. I'm going to make an attempt at reading the Bible in its entirety within the next year. Maybe I'll even post updates to let folks know how that's going. Don't count on success. Last time I tried to read the Bible in a year I did finish- but it took me a bit over two years to do it.

An official document:

Down the Tube

Jim and I spent Memorial Day exploring a lava tube. It's a few miles past the entrance to Volcanoes Nat'l Park, makai of the 23 mile marker.

We were a bit nervous about being in the cave and considered turning back more than once. I was afraid our adventure would become a little more then we bargained for as we climbed over several piles of rubble inside the cave. (and I mentally recalled the 4.7 earthquake they had in Volcano the previous week.) But we continued onward as curiosity got the best of us. I'd say we went a good mile into the cave. The book says the cave goes 1.5 miles, but we turned around when crawling became necessary. We didn't dress properly. If you go I recommend jeans and gloves. And don't forget extra flashlight batteries!

There were some pretty amazing features in the cave like a long "horse trough" filled with pahoehoe lava, and stalactite-like, curly-Q lava hanging from the top of the cave.

This is where we finally turned around

My favorite section of the cave:


Weird curly-Q stalactites:

The horse trough:

Ethanol Update

I went through my whole tank of ethanol driving entirely on the highway. I got 15 miles to the gallon, no better than I get on gas with 10% ethanol added. I'm sure I'll try it again, as it's hard to asess from one tank of gas- there are a lot of factors that determine gas mileage.

I have to agree with Baron. We need an alternative fuel source- one that's not as environmentally harmful and will decrease our dependence on foreign oil. But I'm not sure ethanol is the answer.

I'm E-Free

My gas mileage has been junk. On the last two tanks of gas I got 14.6 mpg and 16 mpg, and that's mostly highway miles. I usually do mostly in town driving so my normal mileage is worse yet. Today I filled up on ethanol free gas to see if that will make a difference. It's available at the bargain price of $3.71 per gallon at the harbor. The ethanol was destroying boat engines and their fiberglass gas tanks, thus the E-free gas. The way I see it, my body wasn't designed to run on salads so why fuel my Jeep with corn? That may be an odd analogy, but it doesn't make sense to force the American people to put fuel in their cars they weren't designed to burn. And if our cars don't get as good of mileage with the 10% added ethanol, aren't we burning up more fossil fuels anyway?

, BParadise

(Waimanu Part II)

Saturday went something like this: Watch the sun rise over the ocean. Look at waterfalls and eat breakfast. Body surf. Eat a snack. Hike to waterfalls. Body surf. Eat lunch. Lay on the beach. Look at birds and plants.

We had a view of dozens of waterfalls from our campsite, which were reflected in a pond full of prawns, herons and ducks. The fine black sand beach was all ours, the sky was blue and the sun was shining. I didn't want it to end!

Where the river meets the sea:

Best seat in the house:

Over the River and Through the Woods...

to Waimanu

I've been wanting to make the 9-mile trek into Waimanu Valley for ages, especially after we flew over the area in a helicopter more than year ago. The lush vegetation and the steep gulches and cliffs made the land look completely impassible- which made me want to go even more. This weekend I got my chance.

We parked at an art gallery about a mile from Waipio Valley and hiked down the ridiculously steep road in the pouring rain. By the time we reached the bottom the rain quit and never started up again for the rest of the trip. We set up camp on the far side or the river, sat around a campfire and slept to the sound of crashing waves.

Friday morning we headed up the other side of Waipio on the Z trail, which was more difficult than I anticipated. It's steeper and longer than it looks from the beach, especially when you're carrying a 30lb. backpack. The Muliwai trail then weaves around 9-11 gulches (the number of gulches was up for debate by our group) and through forests of ironwoods, eucalyptus and Norfolk pines before dropping down into Waimanu Valley. The descent took about an hour, it's steep and long and the trail is covered with kukui nut shells. Imagine walking down a mountain face covered with marbles when your legs are tired. When we got to camp and I looked up at the pali (cliff) I was amazed hiking down was even possible.

Saturday was a layover day to enjoy the valley and Sunday we packed up and headed home. The hike back took about 6 hours. That's not counting getting back out of Waipio Valley. In my great wisdom, I decided to hike out of Waipio with two other people in the blazing afternoon sun to get the Jeep and drive down to pick everyone else up. At least I had enough sense to leave my backpack in the valley. We made it about a 1/4 of the way up the hill with a local couple offered us a life saving ride.

A view of Waipio Valley from the top of the Z trail. You can see Mauna Kea in the background, and the road we hiked in on cutting across the pali.

Well worth the effort: after a good day of hiking we were rewarded with this view of Waimanu.

If you want to stand under Hiilawe, wear a helmet!


We hiked to Hiilawe falls in the back of Waipio Valley a few weeks ago. The 1,800 foot waterfall is the tallest on the island, but it was less than impressive because it was just a trickle down the cliff. "Who turned off the water?," I asked. I assumed God had done it. But Lisa told me farmers have been using the water that feeds the falls ever since the Hamakua ditch was damaged in October's earthquake.

It was pretty neat to stand directly under the falls- normally there's too much force from the water to get underneath. We speculated what it would have been like in the bottom of the narrow valley during the earthquake. We saw a fresh landslide that we figured happened in the quake. About a minute after Chris got out of the waterfall we heard a loud crack, it sounded just like a gun shot. Several rocks were falling from the the top of the falls! We didn't get a good look at the size of the boulders- instead, we high-tailed it outta there!

I'll be back in Waipio tomorrow. We're camping there tomorrow night, then hiking nine miles to Waimanu for two nights. Don't worry, I won't be pitching my tent under any waterfalls.

Hiilawe trickling down the rocks:

Looking up:

Pepeiao

I did a one-night backpack to Pepeiao in Volcanoes Nat'l Park last weekend with Sierra Club. We went down a 9 mile windy, one-lane road off of Chain of Craters Road, then hiked for 5 miles. I love getting away from civilization. Pepeiao means ear in Hawaiian, I have no idea how the area got that name, but I'll say my ears were happy to be away from TV, cars, phones and barking dogs.

The coolest thing we found was a black widow spider. I didn't even know we had them on the island. It was dark brown instead of black, which I'm told is normal for Hawaii black widows.

It was nice to meet new people and chat about their outdoor adventures. I'm looking forward to future Sierra Club treks like the one we have planned for next weekend- we're hiking to Waimanu Valley. It's a secluded valley on the Hamakua Coast with lush vegetation and towering waterfalls.


A view of Mauna Loa Sunday morning:


Diane in the tall grass:

Extravagance

A bunch of us who play in the worship band at church went over to Oahu this past weekend for a worship conference lead by Bob Fitts. We learned about focusing on God and bringing glory to Him, instead of focusing on exterior factors like whether we had enough practice time, whether the sound is mixed properly, whether that guy in the third row likes our music, etc.

Part of the teaching that really stood out in my mind was on extravagance. God didn't just make a paper box for us to live in- he crafted the amazing detail of every flower and placed every rock on the mountain just so, just for our pleasure. He loves extravagantly- enough to give His Son for us. Therefore, we shouldn't be afraid to express our love to Him in worship, and we should be looking to Him instead of looking at others, wondering what they think of us. I was thinking about this as I left the church and this tree commanded my attention. It shone in all its golden glory with a backdrop of bright blue sky and poofy, white clouds. When I looked at it I saw a picture of God's extravagance towards us.

Would you steal this toaster?

Jim's landlord is out of control. He's a skilled woodworker who just completed a mango wood cedar chest that he donated to Daughters of Hawaii to display at Hulihee Palace. His specialty is gutting antique radios and turning them into beautiful jewelry boxes. He seemed pretty normal until he showed me his latest project- the toaster. This circa 1970 toaster oven looks like a real pile from the front, but the back is a koa wood jewelry box. The concept? Keep the toaster of jewels in the kitchen. No one will ever steal it.

Where's W-2?

Remember Where's Waldo? Let's play the game, where's Andi's W-2? It's somewhere in my bedroom and taxes are due Tuesday, can you see why that presents a problem? I believe it's in the region just south of the closet.

Happy Easter!

Yeah, so I'm a little late with that greeting. I've been busy, OK?

Above is a picture of the sun rising over Hualalai during the Easter sunrise service at Old A's. I love that all the local churches get together. It's like a big family reunion each spring to celebrate Christ's resurrection.

I have to agree with Brian about Passion of the Christ. Violence in movies doesn't bother me, I saw Saving Private Ryan three times on the big screen. But the Passion is particularly difficult for me to watch. Part of that lies in the fact that I know Jesus; it's not just a depiction of a stranger hanging on that cross.

It's important to remember the sacrifice Christ made for us. But Brian's right. The movie should have touched on Jesus' teachings and made the Gospel message clear. In His life and death Jesus teaches us how to obey the most important commandments: Love the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, and love your neighbor as you love yourself. Jesus demonstrated that message through a life of perfect obedience to the Father, and he gave up His life willingly on the cross because of His great love for us.

The Bible teaches that all people are sinners. We have all rebelled against God and deserve to be eternally separated from Him. Christ loves us so much, He took God's wrath upon Himself. He took the punishment we deserve so that anyone who believes in Him and turns from their sin will be seen as righteous in God's sight. That's the message I wish Mel Gibson would have presented more clearly.

For Your Viewing Pleasure

I've posted a few silly videos on You Tube.

Swimming through a sea arch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GSaFSCy4_Q

Back dive off a boat:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwuKJNj2Ic4

Driving over my camera:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6qRsyOd-ro

When my shocks were broken:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KBbluqE3Dc

Sarah's Birthday Boat Take II


It's now a tradition. We chartered a boat today to celebrate Sarah's Birthday. We took it to our favorite spot, Makalawena, where some of our group spearfished. We also snorkeled near Pine Trees- I think we were at the popular dive site, Golden Arches. I was impressed! It was a gorgeous, sunny day, plenty of fun people, it was sweet! Wildlife included a manta ray, several Humpback whales, including a mother and calf that breached near our boat, and the usual underwater critters. It's gonna be hard going back to work tomorrow!

A 40-ton whale seems all that more impressive when she breaches near our tiny Zodiak inflatable boat.

Sarah's geared up and ready to shoot some fish.

The Rocky Road to ...

It wasn't the rocky road to Dublin. I'm sworn to secrecy- I cannot tell you where Saturday's adventure road took us. Since they paved Kua Bay, Makalawena has been crowded (there were 18 cars down there two Sundays ago!) so we were forced to look elsewhere. I'm not saying we found anything. But the road we were on was really cool. It's invisible from the air, the only indications that you're on a road are the spray painted arrows and the scrape marks on the lava from other trucks.