This post is going to be one of those, “here is all the cool shit I’ve done in the past however many days” posts, so if that annoys you, skip this one.
Seeing as how I only have about six weeks left on the island, I started to get the panicky feeling that comes with having to leave a wonderful place, and am trying to make the most of every day. I made a list of my to do’s and have been crossing them off, or finding myself doing or seeing random things that I didn’t know I wanted or needed to do, and then adding them to the list and crossing them off.
Honomalino is a beach about 45 minutes south of the farm that I had been wanting to visit since I got hold of an old guide book, but I hadn’t wanted to go alone. The guide book says that “the beautiful black sand beach is an easy 20 minute hike on a nice trail (they use the term loosely) from a super localized village, and chances are good that if you go on a weekday, you will have the beach to yourself. Don’t be intimidated by the no trespassing signs because all beaches in Hawai’i are public, just drive slow through Miloli’i.”
As most of my friends around here have jobs, or kids, or both, I couldn’t find anyone to go with me on a Monday. I set off by myself and winded down the steep hill off the highway into the town of Miloli’i, which is known as the last real fishing village in Hawai’i. If you’ve ever spent time in a fishing village, you know they can be kind of rough, maybe a bit depressing, and super interesting. Miloli’i has experienced its fair share of devastation – the area has been hit by multiple lava flows, tsunamis, missionaries, etc. The black scars of the lava flows can still be seen between the lush jungle up onto the mountain side, and down on the water the houses are built on stilts, presumably to avoid tsunamis.
As I drove through Miloli’i, probably slower than necessary, I saw a pack of dogs fighting over a dead pig carcass. The mauka (inland) side of the road was lined with broken down and rusted out cars, along with some very nice fishing boats. I parked at the beach park and bravely ignored the “NO TRESPASSING” and “KEEP OUT” signs, found the trail and headed for Honomalino beach, but not before grabbing a big stick in case the pack of dogs got bored of the dead pig. I arrived at a beautiful, palm tree lined, black sand beach about 20 minutes later. The bay was calm and the blues of the water bright and brilliant. There was a couple sunbathing naked on the far side of the beach, but other than that I had the place to myself. I went for two nice snorkels but didn’t venture too far out, because I have a weird thing about not wanting to go too far from shore alone on a remote beach. All in all the adventure was fascinating and beautiful and I highly recommend visiting it if you find yourself in the area.
A few days later Monica had gotten us permits to camp at Ho’okena beach, which is one of our favorite local beaches. It is another beautiful black sand beach with good snorkeling and good vibes on a pristine bay. In the morning Monica took Bodhi Kai on one paddle board and I took the other and we paddled out into the middle of the bay to see the Spinner dolphins that come into the bay to rest. I had my mask so I slid into the water to check them out under water. They are such graceful and curious creatures, I watched them watch me, spin under water and launch themselves out of the water to do flips. As I watched the pod swim under water I noticed that one of them looked a little different, bigger and with a vertical tail. I thought to myself, “Hmm that one has a funny head — wait — that is a Hammerhead shark!!!” I was so excited I popped out of the water to tell Monica and Bodhi Kai, but it was already swimming away from us. Seeing a 10 foot Hammerhead shark was not on my list of to do’s but, it is now on, and crossed off the list.
On Friday, I went to Monica's school to help out with lei making and watch the May Day performances by each class. I was happy to see the campus, which is beautiful, and put faces to the names for all the funny stories she tells me. Her students taught me how to make leis, and I almost cried at how cute all the students were singing their Hawaiian songs. I must be getting soft, but it was a really sweet, local experience.
On Saturday I had signed up to do a beach clean up with Hawai’i Wildlife Fund at South Point, where all the marine debris from the Pacific garbage patch washes up. I had my bag all packed and was super excited to get down there and see the wildness, when I got an email from our lead, Megan, saying that the highway was closed because someone swerved to avoid a pig on the road and hit a power pole. I was super bummed but Megan texted me that she was on the same side of the downed pole as me, and was going to clean one of the local beaches if I wanted to join.
I jumped in my car and headed to meet her at Ke’ei beach, another cool, local spot. Spending more time at Ke’ei had been on my list of to do’s, so while I was bummed to miss South Point, I got to cross another thing off the list. Flexibility, younger middle aged grasshopper, I keep telling myself. Ke’ei was delightfully clean, which isn’t always rewarding at a beach clean up, but I kept reminding myself that not finding much trash was a good thing. After an hour or so of combing the beach, Megan and I had a beer, talked story with the old uncles who hang out there all day every day, and went for a stunning snorkel. Before I left, Megan told me that her friend Jodie with HWF does a native seed collection down at South Point every other Wednesday, and I could join for that if I was free.
Coincidentally, I was free all day on Wednesday, so I emailed Jodie with mega enthusiasm about doing native seed collection. She replied back asking me if I was ok with riding down in a UTV with her big dog Bondo. Um, yes. Yesterday morning, I met her down at Na’alehu at 9 AM and she, Bondo and I promptly jumped into the Polaris and headed down the dirt road toward the rugged coast. Jodie is a tropical plant and endemic Hawaiian plant specialist, and I damn near interrogated her about everything from Hawaiian geology to archeology, biology to sociology. Basically we nerded out super hard on the beauty, history and science of the place. She showed me ancient caves where Hawaiians hung out, anchialine ponds where they fished, and a rad spot where they surfed. We collected seeds from 5 different rare and/or endangered endemic plants, which is something I’ve never done before and am now very excited about.
In the past 19 years HWF has removed 318 tons of trash from the beaches of Hawai’i, and a huge effort has been made at South Point to remove the giant fishing nets, car tires, containers, and large marine debris from the shores. There is still a lot of small plastic trash at the high tide line, but it is a huge improvement from a few years back. That, and the Pacific garbage patch has moved due to La Nina (or whatever) and a lot of that trash isn’t flowing onto Hawai’i’s beaches (for now). I am hoping to get back down to that part of the island to do a trash clean up (and collect more seeds, wooo!) before I leave.
The other thing not on my to do list that I was enraged to have to do was attend a pro choice and abortion rights rally last Saturday. Monica and I made signs and packed up Mahina with a bunch of snacks, and headed down to the side of the highway in Kona town where everyone goes to protest. I felt so much despair at the fucked up going ons of the Supreme Court – and still do – but at least it was heartwarming to stand in solidarity with a hundred or so other pro choice people and let our voices be heard. It was interesting to see the degrees of support from drivers who passed the protest along the way. Based on my loosely calculated observations, I would say 60% of drivers smiled, gave a thumbs up, honked or threw a shaka, which I was pleasantly surprised to see. 30% of drivers actively avoided eye contact and drove through stony faced, 10% gave a thumbs down or middle finger, and a tiny fraction drove past with their jaws dropped. I couldn’t say what their opinion on the matter of abortion is, but either way, they were visibly shocked.
As you can see, my sign read, “Your need to control women’s bodies is PSYCHOPATHIC.” The fact that women’s rights to control our own bodies are being stripped from us in real time, in the 21st century is sickening. What the fuck is the deal with these controling freaks? If you have any insights, I’m open to ideas, but my opinion isn’t up for debate. While attending an abortion rights rally wasn’t on my list of to do’s, it is now sadly on, and crossed off the list.
So, yes, a lot of fun adventure has been had, with a sprinkle of political activism (not enough, I know), with some quiet time and lots of good kid time. I leave soon and they are growing up fast, so I have to squeeze them as much as I can… and sometimes they don’t resist.
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