After watching the moonrise, we watched the sunrise. Pretty oranges in the band of clouds that's always lining the coast here. We had cocktails for breakfast; it was that kind of day. We decided to hike down to the bottom of Waipi'o Valley and set off on foot from the house. We reached the top of the valley in less than 5 minutes, visiting someone's lawn mower, a goat, along the way. We talked to the ranger at the top of the road about walking and driving down....he suggested we have water with us and if we were to drive, the car needs to be in 4wd.
We started walking down the road, and at first, it didn't seem so bad. But by the not quite 1/2 mile mark down the valley wall, we realized what the locals were telling us, "One mile down, ten miles back up," was absolutely true. We turned back and went and got the car. Even in the car, the road down is insane....it's unlike any other US Hwy anywhere. It is a 25% grade! At the bottom, we first took a right towards the beach. We made it down the rough road almost to the beach before a huge puddle turned us back. With no insurance on the vehicle, we played it safe. While turning our Jeep around, we encountered one of the wild horses in the valley. They're pretty mellow, he came up to the windows of the car and looked in. He tried to bite our bumper in order to see if it tasted any good and stood in front of the car and refused to move as well. We next took the inland road towards the falls, but turned back at a spot where the falls' river crosses the road. We later found out that you can't drive to the falls at all, even though it looks like it. We didn't feel right about parking and hiking, being on private land, it's a sacred spot, and you can tell the locals aren't thrilled you're driving around down there.
We returned to the cliff house, did a bit of research and decided to drive over to the sunnyside of the island and hit a beach. We put our target on Hapuna Beach because Susan had read that it was the Best Beach in America. With all the beaches in our country, it would have to be good. It was just less than an hour's drive from our doorstep and we were marching down a well maintained, even though under construction, path to the public part of Hapuna Beach; white sand, mellow waves, turquoise water and lots of sun. We played in the surf for awhile, even attempting to body surf, which turned out to be really fun. We layed out in the sun as well, before having to get back in the ocean in order to cool off.
We got wise in time, before getting sun burned; packed up, used the public showers (it's so nice not to be salty and sandy when you have an hour's ride home), and cruised south down the coastline a few miles. This area is a desert. No rain falls here ever and everything was brown. It is a nice residential neighborhood where some of the wealthier island immigrants live. At one of the public access points, we stopped and walked down a short path to a rocky entry. A sea turtle was grazing on a rock in the gentle surf. He was about 10 feet off the shore. We felt lucky to pick this particular spot for a quick look. We turned back and stopped at a small market. From the outside, it looked like something you might find on NW 23rd, but inside it was more like one of those corner stores in the Tenderloin in San Francisco. We got some M&Ms and a club soda and sat at a table on their porch with our tourist books and figured out what to do next.
We decided to head up the coast to an artist community called Hawi. It's quaint, but a bit overrated in the books. I prefer Honoka'a, as the gallery owners are less pushy and more local. But we did come across a few interesting bits. After walking the main strip of the town, we spotted a "tiki bar" called Luke's. It's a nice place, with a local clientelle, but not a real tiki bar.
They do have a thatched roof, but so do a lot of other places on the island that don't masquerade as a tiki establishment. No tiki statues, a budweiser drinking crowd and when we asked the waitress for a couple mai tai's, she fumbled, pretended she knew what it was, and made us drinks with Dewer's, OJ, and Rum! Not very good, but they were very strong. We opted for the local Kona brew on tap for our second round. We traveled down the road a little further because I wanted to see the original statue of King Kamehameha which was in Ka'apu. And this did not disappoint. The statue was well lit, even in dusk, and was quite impressive.
There is something mystical about the Hawai'ian rulers and their gods, and this particular spot had it. We walked the grounds and laughed at the "Beware of falling coconuts" sign. Not because we didn't think coconuts could be a danger, it's just not a sign I am used to seeing.
On our way back towards Hawi, we stopped at a small Episcopal Church not far from Kamehameha's statue. It had a striking red door against it's all white exterior. This was also another mystical spot. The church was surrounded by an old cemetary and some of the graves dated from the 1800's. We enjoyed our stay, but made it short so as to not tread on the spirits' grounds.
We took the mountain freeway back to Waimea, over Kohala. It was a pretty drive and we pulled off to watch the last of the sunset by a farm overlooking the Kona coast. It was a very deep red color and only lasted for a couple of minutes before the sun is down and the world goes completely dark. In Hawai'i, I presume because of the ocean and lack of light pollution, it goes from daylight to dark in a matter of minutes.....less than 10. We drove back through Waimea and Honoka'a and returned home, exhausted again. As we pulled into our garage, our antenna must have clipped something....it started shaking, regularly, but almost violently. It was kind of spooky, and when tested later, it didn't behave at all the same way....Hawai'i is a mystical place.
Susan made us an amazing dinner of Ono, bok choy and vermicelli, with shrimp tempura as an appetizer....I don't know how she does it....I was so tired I was a zombie. We went to bed with the TV on, but passed out right away...the night was cooler and there were a lot fewer bugs.
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