In search of turtle iii…and Luau

Our turtle viewing yet to be satiated, we head slightly closer to home; 30 minutes up the road – we had traversed the island in search of turtles and so far, had seen but one.   

Location 4: Two Steps (Honaunau Bay).

Immediate elation was found from pulling up, finding an easy car park right just across the road from the rock

Snorkeling with turtle

shelf we would be snorkeling from (we had heard parking was difficult). Not having to walk miles along a black pebble beach was great – we walked our 20 metres from the car and jumped straight in….and lo and behold there was a turtle swimming literally right where we entered the rock shelf.

One in the eye for over-researching stuff: sometimes, the close spot is actually worth prioritising. Sure we can get a warm, intrepid glow from searching far and wide, but in reality there are reasons why some of the great spots are right near where people stay. 

Turtle hanging out in rock pool

The fish were also abundant, a great snorkeling location overall.  Having just floated watch our turtle for a while we venture further out.  The fish and coral we see are just as good as our scuba dives earlier in the week and significantly cheaper.  A short while later, there is another turtle, a much larger one swimming gracefully along. We start to wonder why we traveled so far and walked in the heat, humidity and challenging terrain in search of turtles in the previous days. The answer is simple though, because we treasure the chance to encounter these gentle creatures. We would highly recommend snorkeling at this spot, and judging from the growing numbers as the morning wore on this is widely agreed. Apparently, there are sometimes dolphins swimming here also, we didn’t see any but were happy with our turtles.

Close encounters of the Trump kind

Imu earth oven...cooking our pig

Having safely navigated our Trump encounter.....clean and dry (we’ve been wet a lot this holiday so far) we Ubered to our luau at the Royal Kona Resort…along with another couple of hundred people, apparently this is a quiet night.  Mai Tais were included and the barman topped up the level of rum cheerfully and without question. 

The entertainment included a traditional Hawaiian band and dancers, both were great.  The drinks were plentiful as was food.  The whole pig was cooked in, and literally unearthed from, an Imu. It had been cooking below ground since early that morning wrapped in banana leaves, cloth and the covered in coals and soil.

It's become a cultural cliche, but the rosy sunset, replete with silhouetted coconut palms, Hawaiin steel guitar and ukelele soundtrack, finally drew the last of our pre-holiday tension from us...........

Tropical serenity reflected

Until we missed our flight out of Kona to Honolulu :/ More on that later.

In search of turtles...ii

Having not found the elusive turtle the day prior at the two beaches where they are apparently frequent, we head to the other side of the island, Hilo (about 1.5hrs from Kona). 
We are surprised by the varied scenery on the island from palm tree lined beached to barren volcanic hillsides to jungle like forests (minus the monkeys, though some of the bugs aren't that much smaller).

Location 3: Carl Smith Beach
Google had advised us that if we parked just beyond Carl Smith Beach (our potential turtle destination) we would walk though a lush jungle to get to the beach. The first part was certainly accurate, the jungle was indeed lush. What it didn't say was to get to our intended beach it could be considered fairly untamed jungle with many obstacles to traverse including wading chest height with our camera bags held above our heads and sea fleas that have a fetish for biting the most sensitive parts within swimwear requiring indelicate itching for much of the rest of the day.
 We snorkeled at our intended beach for a while but again, no luck finding a turtle. Though the snorkeling was nice enough, being bitten in the arse (whose shall remain a mystery, there are no photos) by sea fleas didn't feel like much of a consolation prize.  Defeated again we take the long route home via Waimea and stop at Akaka falls on the way through. Well worth the stop, as was the Big Island Brewhaus for Sunday lunch at Waimea (separate post).

At 'Akaka Falls we paid our $1 each ($5 if you wanted to park within 100m, free further away with the puppies that were wandering around looking cute :) ).
Torrents of water, you can understand why they give drought warnings on the east side of the island when it hasn't rained for 2 or 3 days.

(Repeat, to be thorough) Location 4: Kiholo Bay part 2

We were driving by our previous day's (no) turtle locales and decided to stop back at Kiholo Bay, a local had advised we had lost our nerve too early and assured us turtles were just around the corner we had previously turned around at.  Rather than walk the difficult long pebble beach again (surprise it's 35oC again) we walked a back road that appeared to be a shortcut, though not as glamorous it was certainly easier. Let's be clear, it was a pitilessly hot, flat, grey gravel track through,,,,,,bleak, pitiless, nothingness. We round a corner we had previously not reached and low and behold OUR FIRST TURTLE frolicking at the edge of the water, feeding on the sea grasses.

We stayed and watched our shelled friend for a while before succumbing to good sense and heading home to cool down in the pool with a beverage or two.

Sunday lunch at Waimea

It has been a while since we headed to Waimea for lunch, so when the chance arose we were keen. Not our regular Waimea though, and disappointingly Kath and Don weren't there. Admittedly, none of the food has ever been seen at their Waimea (nor likely to be we guess).

Waimea is in the higher altitude area of Big Island, and known for much cloud (sure, that's the same) and cowboys (errm, less so

Fine drop

). Feeling the need to check in with the brotherhood of brewing, we visited Big Island Brewhaus. They're doing some great stuff.

Local friend

Reminder to selves: two courses are rarely required, especially in USA.

About time for burgers in USA

LIG

 

All this & education too

In search of turtles

Having decided that we weren't going to dive every day, we were left with more time to go in search for turtles.

Naturally, all good turtle hunts begin with breakfast: today at Kalikala, a really pleasant interpretation of huevos racheros featuring local fruit.

Location 1: Kiholo Bay.
We had read that there were "loads of turtles" here. We traveled down an easy to miss dirt road for a few kms just off the highway. Parts of the road may have been better traversed with the Jeep we were offered as an upgrade but declined. We've driven far worse in 1970s cars back in Oz. Persisting at a slow pace we reach the parking lot. It's at least 34oC and very high humidity that leaves Tracey with alpaca like hair. The beach is difficult to walk and mostly consists of lava pebbles and black sand, the black making it feel even hotter.

We head south along the beach first, no turtles, no shade, no cocktail bar. After a km that felt more like 5, we turned around to try the other end of the beach...again, no turtles, no shade and no cocktail bar. We gave up after a couple of kms and returned to the car defeated (although marginally consoled by AC). We had one more place to try today.

Location 2: Anaeho'omalu Bay (A Bay for short for obvious reasons)
Having overheated at first stop, we conveniently found somewhere right on the beach serving cocktails, the Lava Lava Beach Club; a much better start at least than the previous location. We re-hydrated before again walking along a pebble filled beach, in the heat with no shade...and again no turtles.

Again giving up, partly due to heat and becoming convinced that turtles are merely a myth to boost the tourist trade, we returned to the car with the air-conditioning up high...nothing will save Tracey's hair, death by humidity [photos redacted].

Today was enough turtle hunting, time to go home and dress for dinner at Sam Choy's, a Hawaiian cuisine famed restaurant overlooking the ocean.  Within minutes of arriving two wonderful things occurred...Tracey has a Mai Tai in hand and a lovely kitten we called "George" came to say hello (he ate about half of Tracey's meal...she's a softy but look at his eyes what choice did she have).  Dinner of ribs and orange duck were both delicious - and the open-walled restaurant allowed us to savour the evening breeze :)

Front row seat for the best show on...the bottom of the sea

We had heard the Manta Ray night dive was rated as one of the top scuba dives in the world and it didn't disappoint. Setting the scene: you head out on a reasonable size boat (the one we'd dived from earlier in the day). Half the boat's occupants are going to be snorkelling, the other half
diving. After a short boat journey as the sun is setting (it's the first time Big Island residents have seen a sunset for 4 months due the continuously erupting volcano on the other side of the island and the resultant volcanic cloud cover), we head out to our dive site with numerous other boats to share the experience.

At our dive side we kit up, this time with a 3mm wetsuit; we did two dives earlier in the day as a refresh before out night dives, the balmy water not requiring a wetsuit earlier, just our swimwear. After our dive briefing (and the snorkelers with theirs) we take our leap of faith into the dark water under the moonlight.

Before going too much further into this dive...our third for the day, perhaps we should digress and

mention our first two dives.  Firstly, we can't rate highly enough our dive company, Big Island Divers are professional, experienced, patient and importantly, fun. The

Pilot whale

dad jokes were endless, particular highlights being "Steve Irwin's problem was he didn't put on sunscreen before his fatal dive with rays...sunscreen protect you from harmful rays" (shocker), at the end of the night dive they complimented the boat captain and welcomed us "to Maui" (not our island). The first two dives of the day were "Golden Arches" and "Carousel" also called "Lone Tree", not sure why, there were trees aplenty.  The water was pleasingly warm and the fish were plentiful.  The coral wasn't as colourful but still both were good dives and a helpful refresher after not having dove for a few years. We did see a pod of Pilot Whales between dives and had a dolphins greeting us in and out of the harbour, both of which were magical.

Now back to Manta Rays and our first night dive of the evening (the second being the Pelagic (Blackwater Dive we posted about earlier).  Many instructions were given during the dive briefing. Most amounted to: follow me, you will be found a seat (and a rock, for ballast). Stay there, be amazed, follow me on the way out.

We are all gently sat in a circle at the bottom of the ocean and handed our rock to place on our laps to prevent unintentional floating.  Once seated, the air(?) develops a solemn, anticipatory feel. In the centre of the convocation, there are several vertically-pointed spotlights. Small fish swirl around, chasing plankton that have been lured by the lights. A muted sound of bubbles rising. From the centre of the lights (a box of lights that attract the plankton, that attract the manta rays), gradually rises "Frank" (the eel). As the fish dance through the plankton to gorge themselves, "Frank" extends ever further, like the subject of a snake charmer.

Poised ready, with mouth a fraction the size of the fish, Frank strikes. These are unyielding jaws of grim determination, the vigorous thrashings of the fish call on three or four corresponding twitches of Franks neck(?) before the hunt is over. Even more swiftly than the strike, the prey is drawn down back into Franks lair (the light box)....never to be seen again. Frank was the pre-show entertainment.

Manta dive (not our photo)

Stage left, bring on the manta rays. These majestic creature float in from nowhere with their wing spans of around 10 feet. They swoop between the crowds of seated divers to feed on the plankton that have been attracted by the light box (Frank's residence). Our photos weren't great but we've "borrowed" one to give you an idea of what you see.

Manta dive (also not our photo)

Words can't explain the feeling of sitting at the bottom of the ocean while these large majestic creatures manouvre gracefully above you. Their mouths are more than a metre wide to funnel through the plankton, thankfully their actual throat is only a few inches wide and therefore insufficient for swallowing the odd stray diver.

This was unquestionably the highlight of our diving to-date. Truly amazing, highly recommended: make sure you do this!!!

Underwater. Alone. Dark. Middle of the ocean. Tethered to a boat.

It starts when you're pushed off the back of a boat, 5 miles offshore from the Big Island, in the middle of the night (almost midnight). Underneath you is ~6000ft of yawning, seemingly-bottomless, ocean.
Next to you is a length of slightly frayed rope, with a 5lb weight at the end of it. You're tethered to it, by an unconvincing clip at the end of a ~10ft lead. The frayed rope is (you trust) secured to the boat ~40ft above you.

The boat has a parachute (submerged) attached to provide speed control. The parachute is necessary this night given the strong currents that would drag us into the abyss.
The ocean turns out to be a primordial soup.

Welcome to the Blackwater Dive. The next hour is yours: you, with a lamp, five comrades in arms who are comparably restrained, and mind-bending array of entities that you will randomly encounter that have come up from thousands of metres to feed on smaller primordial life-forms equally as alien as themselves.

If you find the dark, inexplicable parts of these videos hard to wrap your head around, have some sympathy for those who experienced it in the flesh/water/dark. The water may look unclear but in reality every small particle is another organism, mostly the unexplainable and almost all translucent - micro shrimp, jelly fish, tiny things with glow in the dark innards sometimes with an amazing internal fluorescent light show. Admittedly, it is sometimes difficult to pay attention to those tiny creatures in right in front of your eyes when out of nowhere larger, bizarre alien-like lifeforms appear out of nowhere to feed on those small unsuspecting creatures.

Vids courtesy of the GoPro we found when doing practice hikes in Canberra.

Click below for some pix - they should display here, but learning technology is not a holiday activity :/

Weird thing
Small weird thing
Particularly weird thing
"Rainbow mustache" (non-scientific name) - qv video

Photos courtesy Ryan, our dive's Accomplished Photographer

Frozen north holiday begins...35oC and not very north

Advertisement vs reality

The trip we've been calling the Frozen North has begun...in Hawaii in 35oC, not so frozen (and not really so north).  We have always guessed the best way to enter the USA was via Hawaii, a short first stop and more pleasant immigration queues.  The 8 and 1/2 hr flight from Sydney on Jetstar was as expected: basic, but got us here (and on time). Their "gourmet cheese and wine platter" wasn't quite as the picture displayed. As a Foodivore item goes, it gets a pic purely on as a practical example of caveat emptor.

The international arrival was every bit as smooth and pleasant as we has guessed. Official after official cheerfully directed us, wished us Aloha and to have a great day, and all very convincingly (remember this was about 5am and we'd had possibly 30mins sleep each, so were marking tough). Eat your heart out Oz, from landing to being cleared was less than 15mins.

We must give a good shout-out to the satirists/caricaturists who designed the "rough sketch" software used as part of contemporary clearances. Liberties with likenesses were indeed taken!

Rough sketch indeed

The unparalleled efficiency dipped when we had to transfer to our domestic flight to the Big Island (the one with the currently erupting volcano). Signage wasn't great and there's clearly a lot of paranoia; long queues, stuffed into foyers that were never designed for those volumes, and good thorough searching of selves and luggage.

Understandably, as soon as we were through, we stopped for breakfast and a Bloody Mary, the best we've ever had... the drink not the breakfast. When our options appeared to be Hungry Jack or Starbucks, it wasn't a difficult choice. Stinger Ray's gets a Foodivore nod.

Arriving at our destination, we picked up our "Wildcard" car hire...not so wild, it's a very conservative white family size Chevrolet we've named The Chase (Chevy Chase).

Our accommodation in Kona is exactly what we'd expected if not better. The Airbnb with our host Joy is extremely comfortable with a gorgeous temperate pool right outside our door. A great way to wash off travel. Early to be for a day of diving tomorrow.

Getting ready for the "World's Best Mai-Tai" Festival this Friday

Bumper sticker collection #1