Once again, the Cold Iron Watch decided to go UA. He's got a reservation at the end of the Captain's green table without an ashtray when he comes aboard. I had to get a Tiger Team in here to police up the ghost turds out of the overhead (dust bunnies for civilians), wipe down the bilges and get those decks swabbed. This bucket was a mess after riding the hook cold iron for this long again. Most landlubbers and other sand crabs would think after a glance that she'd been mothballed. Sincerest apologies to any interested parties and/or followers for caulking off, actual or perceived.
This post is actually motivated by my sister-in-law Marisa’s urging me to write about the Facebook pictures we’ve been posting during our recent vacation to the Big Island where, as of June of this year we became owners of a piece of land that we’ve set aside for the site of our future retirement home. (Reminder to self: Come up with an appropriate name for the place…it seems to already have the feeling of a place that should have a unique name, appropriately Hawai’ian, specifics TBD).
The journey began departing West Palm Beach early on Friday, August 14th and arriving at Hilo on the East side of the Big Island around dinnertime that day; connecting in Atlanta for the 9-hour leg to Honolulu. Nine straight hours in a Boeing 747-400 with 360 other passengers is not a particularly pleasant experience, but we knew our destination was worth the temporary discomfort. Fares were also much better than the same time last year; our tickets were almost half of what we paid in 2008. Following the brief layover in Honolulu the 40 minute interisland flight with Hawaiian Airlines got us into Hilo around 5 PM… as usual, without our luggage…that airline seems to prefer bringing your bags to you at your lodging a few hours after you arrive and that seems to happen to us every time we connect with Hawaiian from any other airline, in this case Northwest/soon to be Delta.
Seats on Hawaiian Air interisland flights are consistently priced at around $50 per seat, and there’s a flight from Honolulu to and from almost all of the other islands about every hour on a
typical day. Although there’s insufficient time for the airline to offer much in the way of refreshment service on interisland hops…none of their interisland flights take more than 30 or 45 minutes…I always like the little cups of Passion Fruit/Guava drinks they pass out to passengers during the brief time you are at cruising altitude. Sort of gets your palate in the right calibration for tropical tastes yet to come.I’ve noticed several HA pilots flying the Boeing 717 jets, aside from appearing very young, use flight techniques that some travelers may not be used to. Besides the aircraft being smaller and more maneuverable compared to larger passenger jets, proximity to populated areas of some of the islands’ airports, mountains and prevailing winds require skilled hands-on piloting, and some of the landing approaches seem tricky to me. Take, for example Hilo International. The normal approach brings aircraft southeast over the north shore of Hawai’i then follows the Hilo Bay coastline in a continuous port turn. Lining up on the runway heading with wings level at almost the same instant as the wheels contact the ground brings the planes in low enough over the town so low that guests at the Hilo Hawaiian Resort on Banyan Drive can wave to the passengers through the aircraft windows from their lanais.
Route from Honolulu to Hilo (Appx 45 minutes, 219 NM)
Hilo International Airport final approach
Upon our arrival at Hilo we picked up our rental car and stopped by the Safeway for some basic supplies to get us through the first 24 hours at our rental house in the Hawaiian Paradise Park subdivision in Upper Puna, the location of our property. The subdivision is about halfway between the towns of Keaau and Pahoa, about 12 miles or so south of Hilo.
Puna District, Island and County of Hawai'i
We chose to rent a private residence during our last few years’ vacations after realizing that we can get much more space, amenities and privacy for the same price as a hotel room, as well as the savings from cooking our own meals. Selection of this house was based on a couple of factors: proximity to our property – we wanted to live in the neighborhood for a few weeks to gain a feel of the area, the climate, the neighbors, traffic, sounds in the night. Small shops, some surprisingly good restaurants, a very cool tavern (Aloha, PVC!) and 2 farmers markets provide necessities, refreshments and fresh local produce.
Maku'u Farmers' Market
Pahoa Village Cafe (Wahine agrees - good place)
The rental house itself, named Hale Kea (The White House…don’t ask me why - I saw no white anywhere in the house nor any evidence whatsoever of Presidential occupants) was as cool as you can get. Two individual structures, one self-contained with kitchen and dining area, living room, bedroom and full bath; the other contained the master suite with private bath, study and laundry room, connected together by a 30’ covered bridge. Plentiful lanai space all around the house, and a small pool and hot tub. The grounds of the 3-acre property was beautifully landscaped with native and tropical trees, palms and other plants, inspiring us with ideas for our property when we begin our own project. Rock walls built from the indigenous lava, and lava outcroppings coming out of the landscape were particularly eye catching and we hope that we can one day see our own yard look this good.
The interior of the house was all stained and varnished natural wood, giving us the feeling of being in the hold of a wooden ship. A photo album on the coffee table was filled with pictures that showed the progress of construction for this owner-built house, and confirmed my assumption that the owner spent a lot of time sanding the walls and ceilings. Still, a strikingly beautiful appearance, which also inspired with more ideas for our own house.
Living room
Kitchen, Breakfast barOnce we got settled in to our (temporary) residence, I really didn’t want to leave. The seemingly endless day of travelling almost 5,300 miles, coupled with my amazement and feeling of contentment at my surroundings made me think I would be just fine for 2 weeks right there. That didn’t easily fit with Lois’ desires, as she was ready to go do and see things almost as soon as we set the bags down. In the end, we compromised fairly by alternating days of away activity with days of slothful laziness and leisure around the house.
A small yet diverse group of folks who either reside in and around Puna or have serious plans to move there have come together in the last year through the PunaOnline social network, of which I am a frequent reader/contributor, and we were invited as guests of honor to a dinner party by this group at the home of our realtor and friend Wes and his delightful and talented wife Devany on our first Sunday on the Island. The fare was designated Taco night so, since we were not prepared to make enchiladas or even a bowl of guacamole we opted to bring the active ingredient for the margueritas. I stopped by the store on the way and picked up a bottle of Commemorativo. This idea proved valid because when we arrived, we were immediately provided with hugs and greetings of Aloha, and Lilikoi margueritas. Lilikoi is the Hawaiian name for the Yellow Passion Fruit and I was surprised to find them not only an interesting twist to a tried and true recipe but also very tasty. The blender was running in a full duty cycle to make the exotic margueritas, and we drank many of them. Devany is amazing in the kitchen, her background including extensive travel and living abroad, master of a great variety of cuisine, and her chorizo tacos and all of the sides were superb, although the margueritas could have clouded my memory of the details to some extent. I can say without hesitation that whatever Devany decides to put on the menu is guaranteed to amaze the most discriminating diners. The other guests were mostly all residents of the various subdivisions in Puna, all were welcoming and engaging, and we came away with some more new friends.
The next 12 days saw us visiting various sites around the Island, including activities such as:
- Exploring our property
- Visits to several dormant and active sites of volcanic flow from the Kilauea volcano
- A morning touring the biggest and most populated botanical garden either of us have ever seen
- Two drives across the Island to the Kohala and Kona Districts on the west coast, where we got in some sightseeing while searching for the birthplace of King Kamehameha 1 one day, and to join the celebration of Hawaii’s 50th Statehood Anniversary with music and other activities at Kailua-Kona
- Visiting with friends, shopping, dining, shopping, partying, more shopping, and as I insisted upon, plenty of chill time on the lanai at our rental
Property Exploration
We drove down the road to see our property; since I went to Hawai’i in April on the property search by myself because of several factors, Lois had not previously seen the land other than in pictures I took or overhead imagery. What a difference an in-person visit and real-time eyeball inspection of the lot can make on someone’s enthusiasm. Prior to this visit, I
sensed an absence of intensity in her interest in my obsessive-compulsive behavior from the concept of buying property in the Islands. Once she spent time walking the lot, looking at its features and various views, the trees and other plants in residence, and the surprisingly adequate size of the acreage, she was talking about tagging trees we want to keep, hiring a machinery operator to help us clear and grade the lot, planting palms, designing our house to maximize the view of the ocean from there. I think now I finally have her buy-in on this idea and it makes me feel more confident that it is the right thing for us and our future. That’s a good thing…the title for the place has our name on it and Hawai’i County will be looking for a check from us to cover the property taxes every year.A few shots of the property follow. Believe it or not, amongst the trees, bushes, grasses, vines, cracks and holes but relatively even grade this place has a great future because we have a vision. It might be slightly myoptic by the time we realize it but vision just the same.
Exploring and inspecting the interior of our new property, and getting ideas about where would be the ideal place for our house, the driveway, landscape features, trees and plants present on the land, and identifying new concerns was our goal for this trip. We accomplished alot of those tasks but now realize the magnitide of the list of tasks ahead of us. By the way, when I say new property I mean more than simply new owners. The last volcanic activity in that area was between the years 1420 and 1470, or about 550 years ago when the site was layered with fresh lava; only a snapshot in time compared to the age of the rest of the earth.
Wild Tibuchina trees are as proliferous here as the Ohia. We will keep as many of these as possible. Amazing how a plant that people pay high dollar for in the mainland grows wild everywhere here.
Rear of lot looking makai (seaward). Ocean is 1100 yards beyond the lot line and the sound of the waves crashing on the rocks can be heard. With the right architecture we are hopeful for a glimpse of a blue horizon.
Two feet firmly planted on our own lava on our Island.As this has been a historically lengthy post for this blog, I'm going to now proofread and get the CSO's chop on this message. UNIT SITREPS released during the next week will focus on other activities included in MIDPAC EX 09-02.
Sierra Whiskey sends from the Radio shack onboard COMSAMLANT DET STUART.
BT
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