Living in the Lap of Luxury

A casual sunset down at the bay

My life here has developed such a pleasant rhythm I almost feel like there isn’t much to write home about, but in order to be a writer one must write, so here we are. Notice how I dropped the “travel” part from my desired profession as a travel writer? Perhaps it is because I feel so much at home here, so much at peace and in sync with the slow and quiet lifestyle that it doesn’t feel much like traveling anymore. It is a good thing then, I guess, that I have a few flights booked to keep me on my toes.

Since I left you last, I have done a lot of farm work, a lot of swimming, some entertaining and tour guiding and doing my best to avoid another round of Covid (so far so good, knock on wood). Every morning I wake up in a warm bed to roosters crowing and birds and bugs chirping, and feel like I live in the lap of luxury. Granted, I live in a rustic cabin and drive around a little beater car with moss growing up the sides of it, and live as thriftily as possible, but the freedom to choose how to spend my days on a beautiful isle feels like the epitome of a luxurious life to me. I try to appreciate every waking moment, whether I am exploring and sightseeing, hanging with the kids and pulling weeds, or writing mediocre blog posts and listening to the rain, as I am doing right now. So yes, life is quite tranquil these days.

We took a quick hike in Volcanoes on our way to more interesting places like the industrial part of Hilo where we stayed in '97

The most exciting thing to happen in the past few weeks was having Mom and Dad come visit. Hawaii reminds me so much of my time in the South Pacific, and Mom and Dad are the only people with whom I really share those memories, so it was very fun to show them all my favorite spots and reminisce about our very special time in that very special place. We also sailed to the Big Island as a family way back in 1997, and took some time to revisit a few of the places we spent time on that voyage. 

Mom and Dad stayed on the farm in Monica’s AirBnB, spent time with the kids and got roped into a bit of farm work, in addition to our hiking and touring, all of which they loved. It was a nice affirmation that they appreciate this place (almost) as much as I do, and will understand if I choose to move my life out here at some point. I tried to talk them into buying the old macadamia nut processing plant down the road, but they took a hard pass on that one. Here’s the listing if you are interested: I got $5 on it. Aside from almost buying property here, the biggest news of their trip was that I beat them at Scrabble BOTH times we played, which is a big deal in my family. 

Hawai'i Tropical Bioreserve

Most of the places I took them I had been before, but the two new things we did were the night manta ray tour at Keahoe bay and the Hawai’i Tropical Bioreserve just outside Hilo. I was a bit snooty about the manta tour, because although people rave about it, I’ve seen manta rays before, and in the wild. But Mom said she wanted to do it so I booked it. We got on the boat around 8:30 PM and went out just past the harbor, where the tour boats put out big surfboards with lights on them to attract plankton, which attracts the mantas. Then the tourists all hang on to the surfboard with foam noodles under our feet to keep us flat on the surface, and the mantas swoop directly under the lights and eat the easy meal. They come so close that they occasionally bump people, which is closer than I’ve ever been to them in the wild. While it was a bit contrived – you know, kind of luring the mantas in for our entertainment and probably throwing a kink in the circle of life or whatever – it was thrilling to be so close to them. Ryan (Monica’s husband) was our captain for the trip so it was fun to see him in action, too. I humbly give the experience 4 out of 5 stars.

The other pleasant surprise was the Hawai’i Tropical Bioreserve, which I promised myself I would get to, and wow, what a spectacular place. It is built down a ravine that ends at the ocean, complete with a natural waterfall running through, and thousands of species of tropical plants, trees, fruits, flowers and the like. I wish we had more time, because one could easily spend a day there, alas we didn’t know how cool it would be and only had an hour before they closed. This is an absolute do not miss on your Big Island tour.

Feeling very chuffed with myself after swimming to that little white speck (Captain Cook Monument)

Aside from the excitement of having Mom and Dad here, it’s been a nice, mellow time. I got in with a group of gnarly swimmer chicks who swim across Kealakekua bay to the Monument every Saturday morning at 6:45 AM, and I’ve done the 2 mile swim with them twice now. I can only keep up with them because I wear fins and they don’t, but hey, at least I’m out there. My farm goal before I leave is to have a 5 foot barrier cleared on the northern property line. It takes about 2 hours to get 15 feet, and I have about 300 feet more to go. I’m no good at math but at that rate, I had better get a move on.