Hawaiian Vacation - Friday, December 11, 2009

One precious day on Maui... Because of the huge waves on north shores of the islands of Hawaii we missed one day on Maui. Maui should have been our first port of call. Our ship would have docked on the north shore. As we viewed the lay of this island we could understand why. There is a narrow strip of land that connects the north shore and the south shore of Maui. The south shore has reefs and little islands like Molokini to protect it. The north shore is really completely open to the whims of the mighty Pacific Ocean waves. That is why, with 60 to 80 foot waves, we couldn't dock a cruise ship in the north shore harbor. We found a turtle to greet us as we disembarked the ship. This was a must picture for me and my turtle collection.

Our tour bus this day turned out to be 3 extended vans from U-Haul rentals. Each van was driven by a member of a family. There was the mom, Shannon, in one of the vans. Her two sons drove the other two vans. Shannon married a full-blood Hawaiian fellow. He has a full time profession that requires him to travel a great deal. Shannon and her family (5 boys and some daughters-in-law and grandkids) have this tourist business they keep up on their beloved island of Maui. Their family history goes back to the settling of the islands by the Polynesians. The also have connections with the first missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who came to Maui. We were in for a treat of a day with this wonderful mom and her 2 sons. The oldest son drove the van Claude and I would smash ourselves into the back seat of for the day. He was very talkative and shared lots of information about Maui. The family actually lives on the opposite end of Maui from our travels today. But they owned land, because of their family history, on the side of Maui we would play in. We all got in our vans and headed for Haleakala National Park, another volcano. This drive takes you up over 13,000 feet to near the top of the volcano. During this drive we would pass through 6 of the 8 temperate zones. You just watched the vegetation change as you climbed the mountain. It is a lot like driving up a mountain in the west where you reach what is called timberline and then there are no trees at all because of the oxygen level. On the way up the trees change from forests to scrubby trees that are sparse to no trees at all. Also we would note the homes at one level were very, very expensive. Some were pointed out as being owned by celebrities or leaders of one sort or another. There are cattle ranches also.

The road up this mountain is 40 miles of loops back and forth up one side of the mountain. The road was built by the Corps of Engineers and is a wonderful road to ride on. Each turn is precisely 180 degrees. At the top of the mountain (volcano) are government telescopes and parts of the 'Star Wars' space project. Because of this, a good road was needed to evacuate quickly if needed and to be able to get up and down the Haleakala Volcano for work purposes easily. The road is used by everyone to get to the Haleakala visitor's center. They have bicycles loaded on top of vans or pulled in trailers that are taken to the top. Then the tourists get on the bicycles and coast 40 miles to the bottom of the volcano. There is a spot where hang gliders take off to float in the air to the bottom. It was just nice to see how everyone works harmoniously. Made me think of the Jamaican phrase "Don't worry, be happy!" It is really the Aloha spirit of the islands. Everyone appreciates the beauty of the nature in which they reside. They all shared it equally everywhere we went.

After arriving at the visitors center we took some pictures of the Haleakala Volcano. We were at about eye level with the caldera. Here are a couple of pictures of the caldera. The one on the left is where the lava would have spilled over the side and you can see what its path was. The picture on the right shows the caldera surface covered with craters. To the right of these pictures was a little mountain shape that would have been part of the cone at the top. Claude and I would hike this next.

There are signs a plenty as you begin this hike cautioning you to take your time. Stop and rest. Do not rush. The oxygen level is much different than what you experience at the bottom and all the times we've been cruising. As we hiked these aging bodies up the rocky path we found ourselves commenting to each other that we are grateful we walk our treadmill each day. Couldn't have done this little hike without that daily exercise to prepare.

Once again I found myself walking around looking for the best camera shots. When I paused to look up, what to my wondering eyes should appear but a miniature Claude and some shiny sun rays...I'm doing this way to close to Christmas!!! We enjoyed being up here and looking down at Maui. What a great view of this portion of our planet. The pictures at the top are a lot like the ones I have shown you taken at the visitor's center except the objects are a little further away. We determined we might head back so as to not miss being smashed into our back seat portion of the U-Haul van. I tell you that could have been miserable but we enjoyed all the people in our van and the tour guide that was driving us. So I do not complain just make note of the facts.

This is Claude on our path as we go back down to the visitor's center and parking lot. It was kind of like a moon scape with all the lava rocks except that every so often there would be a green plant growing out of the crevices in the rocks. It is actually beautiful in a bare beauty sort of way.

As we walked down I found this green plant to show the top of the caldera where the craters are located.

Jim Dear and Darling were trying to hike up to the top as we were coming down. We took their picture and they took ours in return. Our background in this shot is the island of Maui with the south shore on my right shoulder and the north shore on Claude's left shoulder. (I'm sitting here at my computer raising and lowering my shoulders to be sure Iim telling you the right side. My Nissa is genetically my child. She would do that to be sure of left and right as well.) Jim Dear and Darling were a fun, interesting couple from the Houston, Texas area. Their real names are Roy & Jeannie Dase. Roy is a chiropractor by profession. Jeannie is going to school again. They have both been married before and were adult singles that met at a Church dance for adult singles and later married. They have been married 4 years now but they are still just like on their honeymoon. You would think they were on their honeymoon. Claude took to calling them Jim Dear and Darling because that is exactly how they spoke to each other. Several times they were in the seat in front of us on one of the tour buses.

This plant is the Ahinahina or silverswords. The base we found in lots of places. It is the silver color that just reflects the sun in a gorgeous way. When the plant is totally mature it sends up a tall spike that has lots of little stems coming out of it with little blossoms on the end of each stem. It is truly other worldly looking. It only grows here. They actually use it in films as a plant from another planet. Many, many, many years ago there were tons of these Ahinahina growing all over. The locals pulled them and tossed them into the volcano. Now they are protected so they might grow again. We never saw a mature one with the blossoms on the top. After sending up the tall spike and it flowering the plant dies. So seeing one in bloom would have been a rare thing. But I have a picture of a mature one in the brochure for Haleakala National Park.

As we drove off Haleakala, I was in a better position to take pictures out of the window of the van. This one shows the complete span of land between the south shore of Maui on the left side of the picture and the north shore of Maui on the right side of the picture. In the center back are the West Maui Mountain. On the other side of them is Lahaina which my sister, Junie, tells me is the best shopping in Hawaii. It is also the home to the enormous banyan tree. We would have seen this on our 1st day in Maui but will now save it for another trip back to the islands.

As we got lower on the mountain the vegetation changed from nothing to scrubby little bushes. At one turn I caught this shot of a little gully coming down the mountain. It made me think of traveling in the western part of the United States.

One of the things we saw on Haleakala was the 'cloudline'. I have spoken about the timberline. This is where the oxygen level is so low that trees don't grow. They just can't survive. I always knew that when flying in a plane if there was turbulence the pilot would try to get above it. I had noted this usually meant getting above the clouds. Somehow when I looked at clouds I saw this as soft, fluffy innocent things. The reality is there is a lot of turbulence when you fly through them. But I never equated getting above those clouds as being above cloudline. When we reached the top of Haleakala I saw the sky in a whole to way. I hope this picture helps you understand what I'm going to try to explain in words. In the picture you have land at the bottom, then the clouds rolling into Maui from the north side of the mountain as they do each afternoon. The next thing is a layer of dark blue topped with a layer of lighter blue. When we were at the top of Haleakala at the visitor's center I first noticed that the sky was two distinct shades of blue almost like someone put an invisible barrier up and said, "Dark blue, you hang lower. Lighter blue, you take the top position." The clouds had not started to move around from the north shore and across the land to the south shore yet. But there were a few clouds and they all seemed to hang right at the top of the dark blue and couldn't quite make it into the lighter blue. The invisible line is the 'cloudline' where clouds just don't form. I guess I knew on some level that happened from flying in planes but here on Haleakala I saw it delineated in color. It was amazing and again I marveled at the hand of our creator making such a varied and beautiful place for us to live. For this I am thankful and intrigued.

We traveled on down the mountain and passed again a grove of trees. These were pine trees brought to Maui by some enterprising men. They thought they would grow these trees then sell them to make their fortune. Hawaii does not have lots of timber for lumber forests. This was a great idea the guys had. They planted and let the trees grow. When they felt they were big enough to begin their lumbering operation, they cut down a few trees only to find they had no rings on the inside. That's right folks, not a growth ring in any of the trees. Why...There is the same season all year long and so it is just one long growth period for trees. Hence, no growth rings. To a person interested in timber for lumber this was not a good thing. It makes for very weak trees that are no good for building.

Our destination would be Giggle Park in Hana. This would be our picnic lunch spot and sits on land owned by our guide family and inherited through their Hawaiian blood lines. This is the view from the edge of Giggle Park. The photo on the left is the south shore of Maui and in the water on the left is Molokini a little island that provides protection to the south shore. The bigger mountains to the right are the West Maui Mountains. The photo on the right is the north shore of Maui and, if the picture were bigger, you could make out a white object that was our cruise ship at port. The fence in the foreground of both pictures if for a cattle ranch. There were several cattle ranches on this portion of Maui.

There were several picnic tables throughout the park. Shannon put tablecloths on enough for us all to sit at a table. Most of us chose to sit on the grass on this beautiful hill and take in the loveliness that is Maui. My heavens it was beautiful. While we ate the meal Shannan prepared of sandwiches on bagels and big slices of pineapple that had marinated overnight gauva/strawberry juice (yum!!), her sons played their ukulele's and sang beautiful Hawaiian songs. Shannon would stand occasionally and tell us the words in English or the story the song was about.

Then the youngest son treated us to a poi pounding demonstration. Shannon first showed us the taro root that they grew in their yard. She boiled it the night before in preparation for today's demonstration. It looks a lot like a huge sweet potato that is really fat and thick. It has a skin on it with eyes like a potato. Her son took out a knife and peeled away the skin and cut out the eyes. You don't want these in your poi as the ruin the non-taste!! The the young man took out the lava stone that had been crafted by his great grandfather and showed us how you pound that taro into poi. He used a wooden plate on which to do the pounding. The plate curved up at the edges a bit. As he pounded he would knead the pounded poi into the center of the plate. You do not pour water on the taro you are pounding. You pour water on your hands and that provides enough water for the poi. He would pause every now and then to pour more water on his hands as he felt it was needed. The finished poi looked like mashed sweet potatoes. It was nothing like the purple pasty poi I had eaten before. This purple poi is often described at tasting like wallpaper paste. Each guide who told this story assured us they had never tasted wallpaper paste but apparently many people from the mainland have and know that is what poi tastes like.

We were instructed in the proper way to eat poi. You really are to dip your meat you are eating in it. It is not to be eaten alone. It is quite bland and takes on the flavor of the meat something like soy beans do. When you eat it this way it is much more palatable. We all got a sample taste of this different kind of poi. It was not bad. It turns out that poi is fed to premature babies who need to gain weight. It has such great nutrative value it can put the pounds on a baby. It can do the same for an adult if over eaten. Next we would go into Hana to a little church house. This beautiful little church is the first LDS Chapel built on the islands. The original building did burn down but it has been rebuilt exactly as the original. The setting is gorgeous. Many moving spiritual experiences have taken place on this spot. There was a pond to the right of this building and down in the fields. That is where they performed the first baptisms in Hawaii. There is an enormous tree that I think I heard each member of our tour group comment wanting in their yards. It was just a tender, quiet place to be. They have built a tiny home next to the church and and the missionaries live there.

Then we headed back down to our cruise ship passing fields of sugar cane as we went. They don't grown as much sugar cane as they used to. Like the pineapple business it is labor intensive and has been moved to lower income countries that will work for less wages.

Back on the ship we would get into swim wear and head to the pool and the shade respectively. As it approached time for the ship to depart I walked around Deck 13 and noted the long canoes taking passengers out for a paddle in the waters near shore. That might be a fun things to do sometime.

Then Claude and I enjoyed a sunset for the record books. At least for our record books, the people of Maui see it often. From our position on the upper decks of the cruise ship the sun set behind Haleakala where we had hiked in the morning, where I took pictures of Maui, where we had picniced near its base. The sun looked like it was shining right out of the crater. It was a wonder to behold. This could possibly be my favorite ever sunset ever.

Hawaiian Vacation - Thursday, December 10, 2009

Ten years ago when we made our first try to get to Hawaii, Volcano National Park was a must see on Claude's list. This day we would check off that item on his list of things to do. During the night our ship rounded the southern tip of the Big Island of Hawaii. This is the southern most point in the United States. This is where Kilauea continuously spills hot molten lava into the Pacific Ocean. We were told to be on deck at 12:30am for the possibility of seeing this from the cruise ship. Claude set our alarm for 12 midnight. We scurried up to Deck 13 to view whatever we could see. I'm remembering the actual seeing part began at about 1am. I tried my best to get many shots so that one might just work out. I took shots with and without zooming in. I tried the night setting as well as the daylight setting. I tried working with and without the flash. It was pitch dark and we were fairly far away for the safety of the ship. I found when I downloaded my pictures that most were not at all usable. When you lighten a dark picture you just get a lot of fuzz. With all that explanation I'm sharing one picture with you. Don't ask me which setting this was. But Claude and I enjoyed and will have our memories of watching this amazing thing happening before our very eyes in the wee small hours of the morning on a cruise ship in the Pacific Ocean.

When we got on the trusty tour bus this day our guide took us first to a black sand beach. In this picture Claude is standing on a lava rock wall looking from a tiny bay across the water to Mauna Kea. There are 3 mountains (mauna) on Hawaii. Mauna Kea is translated White Mountain. They actually get snow on the top of this mountain. It has the clearest view of the stars in the heavens and has some serious telescopes on top for observing those heavens. Our tour guide shared with us that the people in Hilo will take a truck up there and fill it with snow, then hurry down the mountain to Hilo and empty the snow into their yards. Then their kids can make snowmen. It melts quickly but the kids enjoy playing in the snow anyway.

Yep, these are my feet in black sand on this beach. This sand was a bit coarse compared to some sand. Our guide told us that some of the older black sand beaches have finer sand. I brought a plastic zip lock bag to carry away a small sample of this sand. Alas, there were signs posted saying it was against the law to take sand from this little beach. I am an obedient person usually and put my plastic bag away. We also had to walk past the police station to get to this bit of beach in the police station's back yard. That was another incentive.

Here are a couple of views of the water from the beach. The one on the left is me and Claude with Mauna Kea behind. The one on the right has the black sand in front and the Pacific Ocean in the back.

As we left this beach we walked past another area that was full of the little ponds in which fish would have been kept for eating later. There was a man here with a bucket and a net taking something tiny out of the water. My curious nature demanded I ask him what he was up to. Turns out he was catching shrimp in the net to use as bait for fishing.

Then we had a nice drive through Hilo and up to Rainbow Falls. This is called Rainbow Falls because if you get there in the morning you can see rainbows where the water falls into the river it makes at the bottom of the falls. Our tour was timed perfectly and you can even see a rainbow at the bottom of the falls in my picture.

We found a path where you could hike to the top of the falls. The top was a flat area with little pockets of water. They named these the boiling pots. They didn't appear hot but they were quite beautiful to look at. Chemo (the ch is pronounced the the ch in church), who is from North Carolina, on our tour hiked right down to the boiling pots and then to the rocks at the edge of Rainbow Falls. His wife assured us he does this kind of thing all the time.

To the left at the top of the falls lookout was a grove of banyan trees. We would miss our day in Lahaina on Maui where one of the highlights is an enormous banyan tree. When we visited Jamaica there was a huge banyan tree. There was actually no where I could stand and get it all in any picture I took in Jamaica. This grove was really neat to see and walk into. Claude is in the lower right corner of the picture watching the falls and the river flowing from them.

One poor fellow named Brian in our tour group lost his cell phone while we were doing all this walking and viewing. Then we were off to find Kilauea. The bus took us to the top and dropped us off across the road from the visitor's center. Here we would have lunch. We chose the sandwich shop. We got each of us a sandwich and I found us a table by the window. This window gave you a great view of the caldera of Kilauea. In the distance you could watch the smoke rising from the active portion of this volcano. What a thrill to be eating lunch at the edge of an active volcano crater.

After lunch I hurried outside to take pictures. Just to give you an idea of the massive size of Kilauea here are a few statistics. There is an 11 mile drive that circles Kilauea's summit and craters. Hawaii's Volcanos National Park covers 377 square miles. Kilauea has been spewing non-stop since 1983. It is miles across this caldera. I would learn 3 of the 5 volcanos on the island of Hawaii. Mauna Kea which is pictured as we stood on the black sand beach was the first. Kilauea with it's smoke rising from the top and lava flowing into the ocean was the second. In the picture above you can see our first view of the smoke rising from Kilauea. The picture below is of the third volcano I learned of on Hawaii. It is Mauna Loa which is Long Mountain. It is also active but we didn't really see any of that activity.

From the Kilauea visitor's center I was able to see Mauna Kea rising nearthe base of Mauna Loa.

After viewing all of this at the visitor's center, we boarded our tour bus and drove around to the Jaggar Museum for a view. Enroute we stopped to look at places where the steam from the volcano comes out of the earth. This one larger hole had a railing around it. We were cautioned not to put our faces over the hole to feel the steam. We were told we could put our hands out and wave them over the steam. It was very hot. Across the road from this spot there was a field and then a row of trees. In front of these trees were several places where you could see steam rising. Why this did not strike terror to my heart I do not understand? It wasn't until reviewing my pictures on my computer that it really sank in that these places with steam escaping meant I was really on top of a working volcano.

At the Jagger Museum there was another great overlook into the caldera and across to the visitor's center where we ate lunch and took all the pictures so far of Kilauea. Please note that you can't see the full caldera because it soooooo HUGE!! In this picture you can't even see the smoke rising from the top.

After viewing and taking pictures Claude and I headed inside to see how much we could learn quickly. One of the displays I really enjoyed were the 2 kinds of lava the come from volcanos. The one on the left is what flows from Kilauea. It does just that it flows. It doesn't explode. That is what makes it more predictable and safer for us to travel around on top of.

From the Jagger Museum parking lot I got this picture of Mauna Loa (Long Mountain). You can see the green growth. There are actually places where people farm and raise livestock. These are fenced off so that the growth coming back on the volcanoes is protected.

Our next stop would be the Thurston Lava Tube. You walk through a jungle like setting with tall trees and tall fernlike plants under them. As we walked we saw what appeared to be nests in and hanging from branches in these tall trees. We asked our tour guide about them and he explained that they are aerial root systems. It is believed that the trees experienced a shock of some kind (Imagine that on a volcano!!). This sends an alarm through the tree and to try and preserve itself it sends out these aerial root systems that can get quite large and from our vantage point on the ground appear to be nests. Amazing!!

After a brief hike into the jungle we come to a short place that is flatter. Then there is this tall opening and it is Thurston's Lava Tube. It is formed as the lava flows and some of it builds up on the sides and cools. The lava keeps flowing and burning its way down and the cooled sides build up and eventually build across the top. Then when the lava quits flowing through it the whole thing cools and you have this tube where lava used to flow. It wasn't a long walk but it was very neat to do. At the end of our walk there were roots from the trees above hanging inside the tunnel.

Okay, this picture is just the humor of the moment to me. As we started to board our bus there was a sign at the back of the bus that said 'Overflow parking'. Now, think about it, you're on top of a volcano and just walked through a lava tube and you reach the 'overflow parking'. I got a chuckle.

We had one more pull out stop to look at Kilauea's caldera and craters from one other perspective. What you see here is a crater and fissures. But the really amazing thing is the hiking trail with little teeny, tiny people walking across to get closer to where the steam is coming out of Kilauea. It was a nice thing to see but I really don't know that I would want to walk out there.

This cool little flower is 'Ohi'a lehua. From a distance I thought it had petals. Then I found one up close that I could take a closer picture of and realized it was like a mimosa (spelling?) blossom with little stem like petals. Our tour guide would show us one that was mature and dried out. It actually looked like a fat round paint brush. That is exactly what it was used for by early Hawaiians.

Now I want to include a story about the effect of taking lava rocks from Volcano National Park. Despite being warned never to take them many visitors did so. Then a legend was started that taking these lava rocks would bring bad luck as a punishment from the goddess Pele. People heard this story and found they were having bad luck in their lives. Many letters started to arrive with the lava rock that was taken asking forgiveness from Madame Pele stating difficulties from divorce, loss of businesses, foreclosed property, etc. To this day people are still mailing back lava rocks.

Our final stop for this days excursion would be the Mauna Loa Macadamian Nut Company. Our tour bus had gotten very quiet. We were all tired after a very full day. As the bus driver pulled into the Mauna Loa parking lot he explained that the visitor's center and gift shop had an ice cream stand with wonderful ice cream. He also explained that another tour bus was pulling in behind ours. He suggested that, if we wanted ice cream we go there first. Immediately our bus came to life. We had established a routine to make it fair to everyone when we were on the buses to alternate unloading of the bus from left side to right side and from front to back. Immediately everyone was yelling, "Get moving up there!" It was hysterical. We were all laughing and yelling so that our tour bus beat the other tour bus to the ice cream. Claude and I managed to find it quickly and each had a really, really, really good dish of macadamian coconut ice cream. Yummy!!!

Across the parking lot was the production facility. They have it set up really nicely with stairs you can walk up to the 2nd story height and look into the facilities big glass windows all down the outside walls and watch what is being done with the nuts. There are buttons you can push along the way to explain what you are seeing. You don't have to wait for a tour guide or in long lines.

Now it is time to head back to the bus and get some rest for the next day of touring.

Hawaii Vacation - Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Claude and I awake this day in Kona, Hawaii. Hawaii is called the Big Island. Our tour guide would tell us that it is big enough that if you placed all the islands that make up Hawaii (this includes all the little ones we really don't name or think about usually) they wouldn't take up all the land mass that is the island of Hawaii. Kauai is the oldest of the islands. It is believed to be an extinct volcano. It is never expected to erupt again. All the other islands are dormant volcanos meaning they could erupt again. Hawaii however is an active volcano. It is the newest of the islands. Kona is on its eastern shore and the word means 'leeward side' in Hawaiian. As we disembark the ship we are greated by a young man in native dress.

We were a little later leaving the ship today. There is a temple on Kona for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Many in our tour group left the ship very early to enjoy a session in the Kona Hawaii Temple. Claude and I decided to stay on the ship and were asked to make sure those who chose not to go to the temple were able to disembark the ship and catch the bus to pick up those who attended the temple.

At the end of the temple parking lot was a great view of our ship in the Pacific Ocean.

Kona has a shallow harbor and the ship can't dock there. When this happens the ship anchors in the harbor or as close to the harbor as they can safely get. Then 'tenders' are lowered from their storage place in the ship and they are used to ferry passengers to and from the ship throughout the day. The ship had 3 'tenders' or little passenger ferry boats. We met those who were traveling with us in the Pink Champagne Lounge and got our tickets for the tender together. Then we made it to the dock and found our bus driver with my bright yellow sign that said 'LDS Travel'. Then we were off to pick up the remainder of our group at the temple. Below is a picture of the beautiful Kona Hawaii Temple.

We drove through the town of Kona and were taken to a little shopping area right on the water. Claude and I had lunch overlooking the Pacific Ocean. I had the best fruit salad with an interesting dipping sauce for the fruit. Then we boarded the bus again and headed to the Painted Church. Along the way we passed a lot of interesting things. One of them was this hill of poinsettias. When in Jamaica we also saw huge poinsettia trees. Most of us think of them as being the potted kind we get at Christmas. But on tropical islands they grow well and much larger. The other interesting thing in this picture is the rock wall beneath the poinsettias. This wall is made of lava rocks. Living in Kentucky we have miles and miles or rock walls made of the limestone that is found 6 inches below the clay dirt. These were built originally by the Irish settlers that came to the area and would have learned how to built them on their land in Ireland. These are designated as historic now in Kentucky and they must not be moved. Seeing the lava rock walls in Hawaii reminded me of the rock walls in Kentucky.

Our first stop was the Painted Church. This is St. Benedict's Catholic Church. It is in Honaunau, Kona. It is called the Painted Church because of the murals and frescos painted inside. It is a beautiful little white Church on a hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean. There is a beautiful little cemetary in front of the church.

When you enter the church the ceiling is painted so that you focus toward the front of the little chapel. Along each side wall are murals depicting scenes from the Bible. The one I'm including with this blog is of the Temptation of Christ.

The grounds of the Painted Church have beautiful flowers and some statuary. This picture is of the entry to the parking lot and buildings.

From the Painted Church we drove back down by the Pacific Ocean to the Pu'uhonua o Honaunau or Place of Refuge. Think back to when the children of Israel in the Old Testament were finally given the Promised Land. Each tribe was given a share of the land. Each of these areas was to set up a City of Refuge. These cities were for people who had broken the law and were seeking refuge to plead their case. Hawaiians had a system just like this where Pu'uhonua o Honaunau or Place of Refuge was set up. A pu'uhonua was a massive wall that separated the royal grounds from the place of refuge for defeated warriors, noncombatants in times of war, and those who violated the kapu or the sacred laws. The site we were visiting was home to the ali'i or royalty of the Kona district. Kapu means forbidden. There were many things that were kapu regarding the ali'i. A common person could not look at or get close to a chief, his shadow could not fall on the palace grounds. Women could not eat foods reserved for offering to the gods. Women did not eat with men. When a kapu was broken the penalty was always death. Otherwise the gods might react violently with volcanic eruptions, tidal waves, famine or earthquakes. The people would pursue the kapu breaker until caught and put to death or until he made his way to a pu'uhonua. If he made it to a pu'uhonua a ceremony of absolution was performed by the kahuna pule (priest). The offender could then return home safely, usually within a few hours or by the next day. The spirit of the pu'uhonua was respected by all. This was a beautiful, intriguing, and thought provoking place to visit. We were given a brochure with 16 sites described in it. As we walked through this National Park we looked for the little posts with a number that corresponded to our map and explanation of each spot. As is our custom, I walked and snapped pictures while Claude walked and read our brochure.

The picture above is royal ground. The lava rock wall protects the beach used by the ali'i from the Pacific Ocean. The picture below is a replica of a temple used by the ali'i. It wasn't particularly large.

This large rock has bowls or kanoa carved into it. It is thought these bowls may have been used to hold dye, or to evaporate sea water to make salt, or to pound the 'awa root to make a cermonial drink.

Now Claude and I are royalty standing at the keone'ele or cove where the royal canoe landed. This would have been a forbidden spot for commoners so we MUST be royalty.

There beautiful ponds called heleipalala were a mixture of springwater and saltwater and held food fish to be eaten by the ali'i. They are found all along the shores in Hawaii and the other islands. Many have been destroyed with building. But when we saw one, it was always beautiful.

Hale o Keawe is a reconstructed temple and mausoleum housing the bones of 23 ali'i. Ho'okupu (offerings) were placed on the lele (tower). Two ki'i (wooden images) stand watch over this reconstructed temple.

In front of this temple is the Pacific Ocean with an outcropping of land across this little bay area. This would have been where a person who committed a kapu would need to swim to get to the Place of Refuge. Claude is standing there looking and reflecting on this crossing to safety.

This picture is of the Ka'ahumanu Stone. According to legend, Queen Ka'ahumanu, favorite wife of Kamehameha I, swam a great distance to the pu'uhonua after a quarrel with her husband. She supposedly hid under this stone, but the barking of her dog gave her away. Her husband found her and they soon made up. Now we both looked at where our friend is sitting on the stone. Queen Ka'ahumanu was one really BIG lady. We are thinking there is no way she could have gotten under this rock unless it laid a lot differently than it does today!!

This is papamu is an original stone used in the game of konane.

As we left the ali'i side of this interesting site, you can see on the left the stone wall made of lava rocks separating the people seeking refuge for kapu from the ali'i. Between where I'm taking this picture is the pond of water for holding fish for the ali'i that was shown above. There is another one of these ponds behind where I'm taking this picture. This view is also shows the place where the royal canoe would have landed.

This is the other pond for holding fish.

The final picture I'm posting of Pu'uhonua o Honaunau is the halau. This a work structure. Inside, hanging from a pole near the top are ti leaves. These would have been tied to a rope and used to drive fish into the shallows. This fishing method is called hukilau. Inside the halau is a Hawaiian teaching people who pass by about the work they did. There are two types of canoes housed in this building.

As we waited at the dock for our turn to take the tender back to our ship, I got this picture of Claude in his Cabelo's hat. Somewhere along the way, I think at lunch, he picked up this orchid. He put it in his hat and wore it for several days that way. Now the important thing to note is he is wearing the orchid on the side that the Hawaiians wore to say he was available. If he had wanted to say he was married or taken he should have worn it on the other side of his head. Remember this ladies when you put a flower behind your ear. Single and available go behind the right ear. Taken and not available go behind the left ear.