Farming the Wind

Being on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean can be a blustery experience. Winds routinely whip across the coasts and tips of the island after they travel hundreds or thousands of miles across open ocean, without resistance. We have trade winds here, winds that blow at 10-15 miles per hour from the northeast direction on a regular basis. From May through October, trades blow 90 percent of the time. From October through May, they blow 65 percent of the time. All of this makes parts of the Big Island ideal for wind farming, where the wind spins giant turbines to produce electricity. The two best areas are the southern and northern tips of the island. Here you can see trees and bushes that are bent in one direction by the constantly blowing wind. Fences often lean to the side also. The rural road to South Point passes by the Kamoa wind farm, 20 year-old facility with 37 turbines that produces 7 megawatts a day. When you stop by the turbines and turn off the car, the spinning windmills make an eerie sound, a mechanical, pulsating whoosh-whoosh. They generate electricty because the blades of the windmill turn a shaft they are connected to, which powers a generator. The electricity is then fed into the public power grid. A couple new wind farms are planned that will triple the megawatts produced here. I wrote a story about the expansion of wind farms on the Big Island.

Akaka Falls

There are numerous waterfalls around the Big Island. The tallest one that is the most accessible is Akaka Falls, located on the east side of the island about a half hour drive north of Hilo, probably two hours from Kona where I live. We stopped by during our around-the-island tour. To reach Akaka Falls, you just walk along a paved path for about a quarter mile. Akaka Falls is 420 ft tall. It's amazing how these waterfalls pop up out of no where. When driving to Akaka, you pass through open, fairly level farm land. As you walk the path to the waterfall, suddenly a huge gorge appears. The area surrounding Akaka Falls makes you feel like a character from Jack and the Beanstalk or Honey I Shrunk the Kids because the vegetation is enormous. Either than plants and trees are huge versions of the original, or the people shrink on that path!

Life-size Lava Lamp

There are so many amazing sights and aspects of the enviornment here in Hawaii. But it is impossible to top the lava. The Big Island is home to Kilauea, the most active volcano on Earth. It lies within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. At the coastal edge of the park, near the ocean, there are breakouts of lava from Kilauea. This is land being created! All of the Hawaiian Islands were formed by undersea volcanoes that erupted over thousands and thousands of years to form the island chain. The Big Island is the youngest and is still growing by hundreds of acres per year. I have been out to the lava about 4 or 5 times. This last time, the tour group (Me, Peggy, Sara, Brian) parked at the end of Chain of Craters Rd. and began the two mile walk. The first half-mile is on paved road. Off to the left are cliffs made of old lava flows. To the right is the ocean; the waves continuously collide with the lava shoreline. After a half-mile walk, the road abruptly disappears under a black, hardened pahoehoe lava flow. For the next 1.5 miles, hikers have to weave and wind over the black lava. As you get closer to the active lava breakouts, the surface you are walking on becomes more shiny, more metallic looking. As you step, pieces break under your feet, making a clinking and cracking noise almost like glass. One way to spot flowing lava is by the air above it, which will appear very wavy, like highway ashpalt in the summer. Then you see the magic. You can get 10-15 feet away from the lava and just watch it form. Lava will break out of existing rocks, cracking the sides and lifting the tops. As it cools, the clicking, glass-breaking sound is prevalent. It is pretty safe being out there, you just have to watch where you walk and take plenty of water because it's hot.

The photos below show a couple of things. The first is where a lava flow covered a road but left a road sign. The second shot is a close-up of a cooled lava flow. The next two shots are of lava breakouts that we watched.

Ever Seen Green?

People are familiar with white sand beaches, golden yellow sand beaches and even black sand beaches. But have you ever heard of or seen a green sand beach? Well, it's just another one of the Big Island's unique treasures. Green Sand Beach is also called Mahana Bay. The reason for the name and the green sand is this: Lava flow from Mauna Loa, the nearby massive volcano, can contain olivine crystals, which are green in color. The area of the beach was the location of a pu'u, or cinder cone, almost a mini-volcano. The pu'u was named Mahana. After years of ocean waves pounding the cinder cone, it was eroded and the bay formed. This particular lava flow was abundant in olivine so the result was a green sand beach. Olivine crystals are heavier than others, so waves washed away lighter crystals that would have contributed a different color.

There are numerous signs around the beach telling people the obvious: please don't take green sand with you because if everyone did that, there wouldn't be any left. Of course there are selfish, disrespectful jerks who do. Maybe they are cursed by Madam Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of fire. Often people who take sand and rocks from Hawaii fall upon misfortune when they go home. Hotels and parks are swamped with boxes of rocks and sand that people send back because they think they are cursed.

After Peggy, Sara, Brian and I left South Point (see Brian and the Blowhole), we drove through a maze of rough four-wheel drive dirt roads to reach Green Sand Beach. After parking at the top, we had to follow a trail down the steep incline on the back of the bay to reach the bottom. The wind often blows pretty hard at this beach, but it wasn't bad when we were there. And it wasn't that crowded. I don't know if the picutures do the place justice. The green sand is remarkable. Below you can see the bay from the top and how it was eroded from a taller formation -- that's why there are cliffs on the sides. Sara had a pair of green sandals that blended in pretty well with the green sand. You can also see Peggy holding green sand in her hand. In the last shot, Sara is walking by the water's edge, looking down at the green sand.

Honaunau Bay

Here is one of my favorite spots (although I guess I have many of them in Hawaii). This is Honaunau Bay. The land nearby is Pu'uhonua O Honaunau, or City of Refuge. It is actually part of the National Park system. In ancient Hawaii, there was a system of rules or law called kapu. If you broke kapu, you would be severely punished, possibly killed. Those who broke kapu could flee for Pu'uhonua O Honaunau and be safe, absolved of their wrongdoing and return to society. There was also a part of the city of refuge for the ali'i or chiefs. Next to the park is the bay. About four years ago I saw the bay on the National Geographic or Travel channel and I said I would go there. My first full day in Hawaii I went snorkeling in Honaunau Bay and was in the water with sea turtles and spinner dolphins. Amazing. I think the bay is one of the best places to snorkel on the island and in the state. Kona is famous for clear water. Honaunau proves it. You can carefully climb in at an entry point and swim all around the bay. The floor is covered completely with huge coral heads and formations. The water along the shore is 5-10 feet deep. You can move out in the bay and quickly be in 20-30 feet of water for a while. This area is also called two-step because of the stair-like shelf -- a 20-30 foot shelf eventually drops off to a 75-100 foot bottom. You swim with every type of fish imaginable in here, including the state fish, the humuhumunukunukuapua'a. Yes, that's really the name. You're also pretty much guaranteed to see turtles just floating around or laying on the bottom resting. The left side of the bay has cool formations of rock and coral that you can explore. The middle, where it's about 75-100 feet deep, is where the dolphins sometimes swim and rest. I have been out there with a pod of 14 dolphins who were cruising in circles at about 75 feet deep for 3 or 4 minutes and then would slowly surface to take a breath before descending again. I can dive down to about 40 plus feet, so I as I saw them beginning to surface, I would meet them around 30 feet and with my hands at my sides, dolphin kick alongside them to the top, catch a breath and dive down a bit. I was about 5 feet away and they definitely looked at me and were fine with it. Totally amazing.

I didn't take the underwater photos, but borrowed them.

Brian and the Blowhole

While our good friends Brian and Sara were here visiting me and Peggy for ten days (which by the way was just not enough time), we took a trip around the Big Island. One of our stops was at South Point, the most southern part of the island and in the whole U.S. South Point is pretty rugged, with 40-50 foot sea cliffs dropping off into the ocean. The landscape while driving from the main highway seems like a drive through cattle country, with cows and horses out in green pastures. You also pass a wind farm, with a few dozen huge windmills. At the end of the road is an area with ladders down to the ocean where fisherman climb into boats and some people jump off 40 foot cliffs into the sea. I've done it and it's a blast. There is also a cave where water from the ocean feeds in. Further in, the top of the cave has a giant skylight, a hole in the roof. The swell was really cranking from a winter storm, producing 15-20 foot waves that would smash into the cliffs, but also flow into the cave and blast out the top like a Hawaiian version of Old Faithful. Well, Brian decided to venture over by the blowhole and stand nearby. I watched as an enormous wall of water approached the cliffs and I was ready with the camera. In the photos you can see Brian before, standing next to the blowhole. Then you can see him during the "eruption," with a huge spray of water. This was the point when his girlfriend Sara became just a bit worried. I had faith though, and as Brian explained later, he had braced himself and was well away from the edge. The last photo is the after. Drenched. There were quite a few spectators who witnessed the show and yelled "look at that guy!" That will go down in the memory books for us and some tourists too.

Our Friends Brian and Sara

The main reason I have been slacking on posting blog entries is because we have two of our greatest friends here, Brian and Sara. They trekked to Hawaii all the way from Arlington, Va., some 5,000 miles away. Peggy and Sara are best friends and it has been hard for them to be seperated for the past eight months. We have known they were coming to visit for a couple months and just couldn't wait. It's great to have them as visitors here because we miss friends and family so much. Plus we get to see Hawaii through their eyes — they are amazed at the scenery that we see everyday, so it makes us take notice again and be like "yeah, we live in this beautiful place." Sara and Brian both work at Whitlow's on Wilson. Sara is the master bartender and Brian is the chef. So if you are in the area, drop by and say aloha for us. They are staying with us for 7 of their 10 days in Hawaii and also visiting Honolulu for a couple days. While on the Big Island, we are taking them around the usual spots such as beaches, snorkel spots, the volcano, waterfalls, a few of the towns and more. The photos below were taken last Wednesday at the Kona Brewing Co. where we went for a truly Hawaiian meal of pizza and beer. See how happy all of us look to be together? We are going to have a hard time letting them go later this week.

Housing in West Hawaii

The newspaper just finished running a three-part series I wrote about housing called Price of Paradise. Real estate prices in West Hawaii continue to rise at a rate among the highest in the nation. The area's lack of affordable housing is being addressed by the Hawaii County Council and Hawaii State Senate. First-time homebuyers are facing enormous financial challenges in funding and purchasing a house. This three-part series explores some of the key issues involved in the West Hawaii housing market.

Costs Skyrocket

Affordable Homes?

First Home Hunt

Winter Wonderland

One of the most amazing things about the Big Island of Hawaii is the presence of snow on a tropical island. That's right, snow. The two tall mountains are Mauna Kea at 13,796 feet in elevation and Mauna Loa 13,677 feet in elevation. When storms and low pressure systems move across the island during winter months, the mountains can get snow at the summit and as far down as the 10,000 foot mark. It's stunning to see snow-capped mountains in Hawaii, especially when you are usually around sea level, surrounded by palm trees and lush vegetation. Yesterday for example, I was sitting on my surfboard in the blue, clear ocean, with fish swimming below, and looking toward the shore I saw sand beaches and green trees in the foreground and snow-capped Mauna Loa rising up over Kona. One of the most remarkable sights ever. Mauna Loa by the way is also the largest active volcano on Earth. It last erupted 20 years ago but has shown signs (earthquakes, swelling) that indicate another eruption is on the way. The Kona area is safe. It's the south and east part of the island in potential rift zones. Mauna Kea is home to 12 world-class observatories including the Keck Observatory. The low humidty, high elevation and distance from any city lights make the summit of Mauna Kea one of the best places in the world for astronomy. You can drive a road to the top, where the atmosphere is 40 percent thinner, making breathing a challenge and altitude sickness a possibility. I have been up there 4 or 5 times. The first time the ground was covered with snow and ice. The sunsets from 14,000 feet are gorgeous. Plus it looks like the moon up there, with cinder cones and craters. I'll document a trip to the top sometime. The first photo was taken by a photographer at the newspaper on the other side of the island in Hilo. You can see the observatories and landscape. The second photo was taken by me from in Kona. I wanted to show the palm trees and snow together. Below is a link to the Mauna Kea Visitor Center website.

Mauna Kea Visitor Center

One Year in Hawaiii

Almost sounds like the title to a book. Well, today marks one year since I arrived in Hawaii. Saying I can't believe is in a way true, but I was so determined to do something like this in my life that I'm not surprised I made it happen. Just delighted really. And amazed that a year has gone by already. The cliché is accurate: feels like yesterday. I have seen and done and learned so much on the Big Island. From standing by lava, to viewing a volcano from a helicopter, to swimming with humpback whales and dolphins and sea turtes, to freediving 40-50 feet underwater, to hiking through dense rainforest, to hanging out on the top of a 14,000 ft mountain in the snow and ice in Hawaii, to exploring old craters, cinder cones and lava flows, to learning about the Hawaiian culture, history and language, to meeting new friends and interesting people, to working at a newspaper on a tropical island covering education, the environment and a little bit of everything else, to having the same weather - 80 degrees and sunny - almost all the time. For so long, maybe 15 years, I've dreamed of living in a place like this. And I made it happen. The challenge is of course being 5,000 miles and a 10 hour flight from family and friends and where I grew up. But Hawaii makes a great place to visit. After being here a year, there are still so many experiences and sights on the Big Island I haven't got you yet. There's certainly lots of exploring left to do...just the way I like it.

Home on the Range

On Friday I went with Mike the photographer from West Hawaii Today up to Ponoholo Ranch in North Kohala, on the northwest tip of the Big Island. Kohala Mountain Road leads from the lower elevation of the coastline, up and over the Kohala mountains to a town called Hawi. This road provides some of the most dramatic, sweeping views of the island. It's absolutely gorgeous, stunning and is a unique perspective. When conditions are clear, you can see all the mountains, which are actually volcanoes, that formed the Big Island, including Hualalai, Mauna Loa, Mauna Kea and Kohala. The island of Maui is also often visable -- it's only about 35 miles from our island. Anyway, I went to see Pono von Holt on his 11,000 acre cattle ranch that stretces from sea level to about 4,000 feet in elevation. I have been up there before and can't believe how green the grass is. His ranch is in a Grassland Reserve Program, dedicated to keep open space as open space. He gets some federal funding to be in the program. People don't think of cowboys being in Hawaii, but the're here and are called paniolos. Pono gave Mike and I a tour of his property and I wrote about conservation on Ponoholo Ranch. He said there is tremendous pressure to sell land and allow development, but he loves the lifestyle and the land has been in his family for 75 years. These photos try to capture the sights. The first is looking towards Hualalai mountain, the one I live on the side of. At the base of the mountain to the right is Kailua-Kona (not visable). The whole coastline is dotted with white sand beaches, coral reefs and high-end resorts, including the Hilton that Peggy works at. Ranchland is in the immediate foreground. The second photo is looking towards the Kohala mountains. I still can't get over how it looks like Jurassic Park. I mean, it's bizarre, the bright green topography. But it's amazing.

Meet Peggy

She was included in the first post and photo from Christmas. But she deserves an exlusive entry! So here's my girlfriend Peggy, busting a glamorous pose in our apartment. We met in D.C. three years ago through mutual friends and haven't been able to part since. We've had fantastic times and adventures together, from the DC metro area to upstate New York to coastal North Carolina to the streets of St. Louis to the canyons of Utah to the beaches of southern California. Now we live together in Hawaii with our two dogs (see last post). She keeps me out of trouble, listens to all my rants, tolerates my surfing habit and does all of it with a lot of patience. She works at the Hilton Waikoloa Village out here as a wedding planner, although her greatest skill is cooking. Anyone who's tried her food knows that. She just needs an investor for the restaurant dream. So this was just an intro. I'm sure she'll pop up in plenty of posts!

Oh, I have to mention that she is an Italian originally from New Jersey. Need I say more? Watch your back!

Introducing the Dogs

Meet Malley and Samson, our dogs. Malley is the black one, a 6 year old female mostly labrador retreiver that I got when she was 3 months old as a stray on a barrier island in North Carolina. Samson met Malley when Peggy and I did three years ago and they have got along so well since then. Samson is the yellow high-class pure bred 9 year old male labrador retriever. It was your classic case of uptown boy meets downtown girl. This photo was taken at Honokohau beach, located about 15 minutes from my house next to the main harbor for Kona and in a National Historic Site, Kaloko-Honokohau, where there are ancient Hawaiian ruins and archeologically significant spots. To take the dogs here, we park at the harbor and follow a path though a small forest path for about 5-10 minutes until reaching the beach. Then we keep the dogs on the leash until we get past sleeping sea turtles, who bask on the beach. Malley and Sam then know the ball is coming out and they jump around like crazy. They both love to swim in the ocean to retrieve the ball or a stick, or anything. It makes us so happy to see them enjoying the ocean and sandy beach. Then they sleep well at home.

Welcome to the Jungle

This is Ooma forest. It's about a 20 minute drive from my house at the 3,700 to 4,000 foot elevation on the side of Hualalai mountain, the mountain I live on the side of at 1,500 feet.Ooma is about two-thirds of the way up a 7 mile switchback road called Kaloko. I'll tell you about the top another time. I often take the dogs hiking in the Ooma because it's fairly close and gives them great exericise. They love to check out all the smells along the way of course. But Ooma has some trails that wind through basically rainforest, Big Island style, with gigantic palm plants, ferns and ohia and koa trees. It rains alot there, especially later in the day, like most elevated areas in Hawaii. It's like Jurassic Park and the trails are great for people and dogs. There are probably wild pigs that go through sometimes. In one area of the forest, there has been extensive planting of koa seedlings by the community. I did a story on it and planted a seedling myself about four months ago.

Ala Kahakai Trail

One of the great things about being a newspaper reporter on the Big Island of Hawaii is the assignments I get, or story ideas I come up with, especially since one of my main beats is the environment/science and nature. Sometimes I feel like a media version of Magnum PI - one of my great inspirations to move here. Last week I decided to do a story on the Ala Kahakai Trail, which follows the coastline down the west coast from the northern tip of Hawaii, around the southern end and along the east coast into Hawaii Volcano National Park -- a 175 mile corridor. The National Park Service has designated it a National Historic Trail and is working on plans to open it for tourism. Right now it isn't a 175 mile continuous route, but is broken into sections in various conditions from well-maintained to overgrown. Myself, Peggy (yes, she came on an assignment) and a photographer Mike set out to hike a 5-mile section that trail officials recommended. The trail left a place called Spencer Beach park and followed the shoreline to the Puako boat ramp. What is cool is that the trail passes through undisturbed natural settings, with rocky, black lava cliffs with the blue ocean pounding below, and through shaded forests of kiawe, palm and pine trees. But you also have to walk across four beautiful beaches to connect with the trail - Mauumae, Mauna Kea, Hapuna and Waialea Bay. Hikers also walk across sections of a gorgeous golf course and past multimillion dollar homes. The whole time the Pacific is on one side and the Kohala mountains are on the other. I will add a link to the story soon.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year 2005!

More photos will be coming soon. I forgot to take my camera to the festivities last night, so I borrowed one from a friend. Last night me, Peggy, our friends James, Julie and Ron went to Cactus Bar and Grill, where they had two latin bands playing. Brian, Baron and Joe showed up after midnight. That 's me and Brian below. We didn't want to deal with the crowds at the regular spots in town, so we went to Cactus for something different. I am friends with the owner Manuel who is also the lead singer in the Latino's Band. I wrote a story about the band and latin music and dance scene in Kona a few months ago. A link is below (Sorry, you have to cut and paste it until I can figure out links on this blog). Anyway, we had a great time -- tequilla shots and Pacifico beers helped us ring in the New Year well. Plus the music was great. It was the first time I wasn't in the Eastern Standard Time Zone, which was also weird.

Today is also the three-year anniversary of Peggy and I getting together...a much bigger thing to celebrate than New Year's.

Latin music and dance in Kona
www.westhawaiitoday.com/articles/2004/10/01/features/features01.txt