Pu'uhonua Cultural Festival

It's summer and time for island cultural festivals. The local cultural festival at the City of Refuge, Pu'uhonua O Honaunau is this weekend, June 24, 25, and 26th from nine to three. There is no fee to attend, and this year is extra special because it's the park's 50-year celebration. The theme this year is:

‘O ka Pu‘uhonua – E a‘o ana mai nā kūpuna mai no ke au hou e hiki mai ana. Pu‘uhonua –Learning from the kūpuna and guiding us into a new beginning.

Pu'uhonua o Honaunau is a definite must-see for visitors anyway (I ramble on and on about it here on the blog) and the cultural festival is fantastic. You have a chance to see traditional hula, taste Hawaiian foods, and observe/learn about/and often try many traditional Hawaiian crafts. For more information, check out the Pu'uhonua website and press release:

http://www.nps.gov/puho/index.htm

Places we love: South Point

South Point is very famous and shows up in all the tourist literature. The thing is, it’s best to know a little bit about it before you decide to go. It’s not for everyone. We were there recently and as we headed out we ran into a couple who asked us if it was worth it. Chances are, if you have to ask this question, it’s not.

We LOVE South Point. It is one of our favorite places on the island. It is often extremely windy and is known for having extraordinarily clean air. The weather is changeable there, it can be sunny and bright enough to hurt the eyes and burn the skin, and it can also be so stormy you’re likely to be pelted with sideways-flying cold rain. The ocean is rough here, and crashes into the rocky shoreline. The trail to the beach is rough and rocky and runs through cattle pasture. Structures look worn and weather-beaten. It can seem a lonely, barren, isolated place. But I love this about it. It is gorgeous in its wildness.

When you drive south towards the tip of the island from Luana Inn you will pass through several microclimates. There are pockets of rain and green, and there are black desolate stretches of lava rock. The sky can be leaden or brilliant-blue. You reach the turn-off for South Point about forty-five minutes south from here, and then you drive South Point Road out another twenty minutes or so to the end of the road. This road is paved and slow, bordered by some homes, farms, and a wind farm. There are many broad fields and pastures, and lonely stretches of hearty grasses. When you get to the end of the road at the ocean, you park and walk. From here you walk about an hour and a half out the flat, rocky trail along the shore to the Green Sand beach. The beach is named for the olivine deposits that make it look velvety-green.

The hike is not hard, it just takes a little while. The trail is pretty flat and you can sometimes catch a ride with folks who cross it in trucks. There are some huge rocks and it’s rutted and worn so it’s not a good idea to take a rental car down it. You will hear birdsong and wind in the dry grasses, waves crashing, and perhaps the crash of a whale smacking its tail during whale-season. We’ve noticed that they sometimes congregate down here where they’re not harassed by boats. There are no hills nearby so you can see the sky forever. The sun can be so shiny-bright it can hurt. Everything feels clean and extra-bright down here, fresh and raw.

The Green Sand beach glints and shines in the sun. It looks like the result of a huge back hoe coming in and scooping a chunk out of the shore. You have to walk around behind the beach and climb down the back to get to it. (There used to be a ladder.) The water is rough here. You may see local kids playing here, but I don’t think I’d give it a try unless I was extremely comfortable in rough ocean water.

The thing about South Point and the Green Sand beach is that it is so gosh-darned gorgeous. It’s so clean and rough and raw and lots of our guests love this kind of thing. This describes so much of the Big Island, really: untouched, new, overwhelming in its true colors and silence and rawness. You will probably leave an afternoon of hiking at South Point feeling refreshed and very alive.

City of Refuge Walk

The City of Refuge, or Pu'uhonua o Honaunau, National Park, has also recovered from the tsunami and is now open as usual. In fact, Saturday, June 4 is National Trails day and there will be a guided walk along the gorgeous 1871 Trail. It will start at 9:30 from the visitor's center. Please wear good shoes and sunscreen.

The 1871 trail runs along the back or south side of the park and is one of my absolute favorite places to walk nearby. It is a short trail, taking only about twenty minutes each way, but extraordinarily beautiful. You are basically walking along a cliff which allows you amazing views down into the water and down the shoreline. It is very quiet and has a heavy, sacred feel. There's lots of lava rock and little shade so it is quite hot, but a definite to-do when staying here.

Looking on the Bright Side

As I'm sure everyone is aware, two months ago, the Sendai region of Japan was struck by a magnitude 8.8 earthquake. This caused a tsunami which devasted the area, and also caused damage here in the islands.

One of the hardest hit areas in Hawaii was Manini beach. Manini has long been one of our favorite spots, both for our own use and to send our guests. We went there two days after the tsunami struck, and while the damage was not remotely on the scale of what we'd seen of Japan, it was still quite jarring.

One house was swept completely out into the bay, and several others received substantial damage. The wave had reached up to nineteen feet high, and one hundred feet inland.

Two months later, the houses are being repaired (or torn down in one case), and volunteers have worked hard to restore Manini Beach. They've planted grass, new coconut palms, and put in new rock walls. But the most wondrous thing is that there is now a sandy beach! Apparently, the tsunami moved tons of sand around, and much of it ended up in Kealakekua Bay. Prior to the tsunami, the inlet was rocky, and a bit of a pain to bare feet. Just after the tsunami, it was an ugly mess, and we feared for its future. Now though, it's a lovely little sandy beach; just perfect for little ones.

Manini was always one of our favorites, but we hesitated to call it a beach. Now it can wear that name proudly. The rest of the park should be open again once the new grass has had a chance to take root.

Reef Update

Today is so beautiful it almost hurts. The air is perfectly clear and the horizon is a hard edge, seemingly forever away, between bright blue ocean and sky. The Kona wind is blowing softly, offering a cooling counterpoint to the hot sun. The sun is so bright and hot today that it’s heated up the rocks and the grass, leaving both warm to the touch. Our yard smells like summer.

It is the perfect kind of day to go snorkeling in the morning when the reef fish are all up and active and there’s lots of light, and then return to the Inn for an afternoon of sunbathing and pool-time, followed by a drink at sunset. The sunsets are always nice, but on these crystal-clear days they are spectacular.

Over the last week, we have had multiple couples go snorkeling at both the Captain Cook monument and at Two Step, and both areas seem to be perfectly alive and well, post-tsunami. Dolphins have been spotted in both areas, and around full moon-time were seen in the dozens at Two Step. Turtles, eels, loads of reef fish, and even a manta ray have also been spotted.

Kayak permits are being awarded, kayaks are being rented, and snorkel tours are up and running as normal. We had some guests hike the monument trail this week and comment on how well the trail was maintained. In short, all normal tourist activities in the bay have resumed and the reef appears to be healthy.

While the mainland edges into spring, Hawaii is already in the throes of summer: sun, soft wind, brilliant flowers, warmth, and gorgeous water. It is a particularly nice time to visit because ticket prices always seem to drop in April around tax-time. Check out amazingly cheap rates (I saw round trip tickets for $400 from San Francisco) at Hawaiian Air.

The island is waiting…

One week after the tsunami

Last Thursday night we were just getting settled for bed when the tsunami sirens sounded. We immediately got up to figure out what was going on. Although the sirens are tested each month, severe tsunamis are actually quite rare in Hawaii (the last one was in 1960). Ken turned on the television and I hopped online to check the USGS site and we quickly learned that the massive quake in Japan had caused a tsunami that was headed for the Hawaiian islands. The civil defense was recommending that all shoreline residents evacuate and move a half mile inland.

Luana Inn is not in the evacuation area. The evacuation area in our neighborhood runs along the shore at the bottom of Napo’opo’o Road, .8 mile away from us. The Inn is more than a safe distance away, and is located up a very steep hill on a cliff. In other words, we were in no danger here.

The tsunami was predicted to hit Hawaii at about three am, and apparently reached the Big Island at about five am. We watched the news for awhile, and then went to bed. The next morning, the reef was briefly visible in Kealakekua Bay, and there was some debris in the bay. On Saturday we drove up to Kailua and headed back down Alii Drive to survey damage. Although water did come up over the rock wall onto Alii Drive in town, there was surprisingly little visible damage. There was some sand on the road and part of the rock wall that runs along the shore had been broken, but there were tons of people out and about and it otherwise looked like a normal, bustling Saturday afternoon. Huggo’s, Lava Java, Bubba Gump Shrimp and the surrounding shopping area with Blue Water Fantasies Jewelry and Kaiso, and most of the shops on those portions of Alii Drive were open. The Kona Inn and the little shopping area that it is located in further north were closed. Kona Inn will re-open this weekend.

As we drove Alii Drive towards Keauhou and looked at the beaches and homes along the road it was clear that the water had risen and moved debris around. Rocks had been brought up onto Magic Sands Beach, but people were still out sunbathing and enjoying themselves. Homes looked fine. Some pole homes where lawn furniture or wood had been stored underneath clearly had had such items shifted around. Kahalu’u Beach in the Keauhou Resort area was closed and it looked like some rocks had been shifted there as well.

As far as the northeastern coast of the Big Island, we have learned that The Four Seasons Hualalai and the Kona Village have both endured damage.

The part of the island hardest hit was actually the Kealakekua Bay area down through Pu’uhonua O Honaunau. After surveying Alii Drive to Keauhou, we then drove to the Manini Beach area and discovered that Manini Beach has been transformed. Several homes on the water were severely damaged and the vacation rental right on Manini Beach was lifted off its foundation and washed out to sea. The DLNR and Coast Guard are still assessing damage and have put a plan into place to remove the house. A major neighborhood effort is being made to quickly clean up the area. We have seen a steady stream of kayak-tour traffic down our road and saw that kayaks were indeed still being rented as of Saturday. According to one of the most popular snorkel tour companies, the water had already cleared as of Saturday and it was business as usual. Parts of the City of Refuge National Park are closed temporarily for clean-up and damage assessment, but the Wednesday evening program is still on and the next one is set for March 23 at 6 pm and is called: “Coral Spawning this spring – the Life of the Reef”. Rangers plan to re-open the park completely within two weeks. We have heard that Two Step and Hookena are fine, but will post more information as we learn more.

We are extremely thankful that Hawaii endured such minimal damage. We never lost power, always had water and cable and phone service, no one was killed or seriously injured. Some homes did indeed experience severe damage, there are clearly businesses that have been effected in Kailua, and some of the natural shoreline has been visibly altered, but the major damage to the Big Island will be the drop in tourism if mainland people become fearful to travel here based on incorrect information.

People should not be afraid to come to Hawaii. Natural disasters can happen anywhere, and Hawaii is not an unusually dangerous place. The island is still breathtakingly beautiful, there are still amazing things to see here, the weather is perfect – none of this has changed. We are sitting here, in this stunning house, with its gorgeous guest rooms and glorious ocean view, the sun is shining, the ocean looks like blue satin, and the phone isn’t ringing. This is the most worrying thing in the aftermath of the tsunami for Hawaii.

We also need to turn our attention to Japan, which has endured major devastation. Hawaii has a very strong connection to Japan and it is to our Japanese brothers and sisters to whom we must now send our aid, or thoughts and our prayers. This is not a time to be fearful, but to move forward.

Our newest food-crush, Kaiso

Anyone for grilled meats? Juicy pork meatballs on a stick? Marinated chicken thighs? Pork belly ramen with a rich, homemade broth? Tofu salad with yuzu and local mesculun? Then welcome to Kaiso, our newest go-to spot in Kailua.

I have to admit that when we first peeked into this spot when it first opened I was suspicious. It has a weird entrance and didn't pull me in. It's right in downtown Kailua off Alii Drive, in the strange little shopping center that houses Bubba Gump Shrimp and Crazy Shirts and the outdoor jewelry vendor, Bluewater Fantasies (stellar jewelry, by the way). It's in the back of this space, so keep walking towards the back, past the jewelry, past the gallery and real estate office, past the espresso and ice cream stand (although stop back here for local-made ice cream on the way out). The restaurant has two doors, the first of which is locked and says, closed. But around the corner, you'll come to the second door. Bend under the Japanese noren and find yourself in a sweet little dining room with just a few tables, open to the outside with the sound of the waves in the background, cool jazz and the sizzle of meats on the grill in the foreground.

While Sushi Shiono is our favorite sushi place in Kailua town and provides an elegant, upscale dining experience, Kaiso provides an authentic Japanese pub experience. The food is fresh and excellent: it's high-calorie comfort/pub food that has been prepared with love and care. We have gone there several times now and have had a good experience each time. We have tried almost everything on the menu, too, from a variety of yakitori (grilled, skewered meat), to musubi, to salads, to agedashi tofu (one of my tests for Japanese restaurants), to Chinese-style fried eggplant to grilled veggies and steak...and it is all delicious. Even with two babies we feel at home in this lovely little space, so if it were just the two of us, on vacation, we would definitely enjoy it. This is a place to come and drink and listen to the waves and relax and sample multiple dishes. It will receive a definite five stars in our restaurant guide.