Hawai'i Kauai Island Trip Day9

In the morning we went to the airport.

We first flew to Maui, then from Maui to San Jose. In the flight from Kauai to Maui, the landing part was the scariest I have ever had. The descending was not smooth, it was periodic. When the plane landed, it was very fast on a runway. I was worried if the plane could stop by the end of runway. After stopping, I immediately saw the edge of runway. Then, the flight from Maui to San Jose was delayed. There was a mechanical issue. Hawaiian Airline had a mechanical problem on the way to Hawaii, and now also the case on the way back to California. What is wrong with them? We were bored and there was no seat at the gate, so we sat on the floor, although it was a bad manner. Hawaiian Airline provided a small dinner on board, but it was not enough for me again. The plane was old and the each seats didn't have individual screens. My.R complained about it.

We arrived at San Jose airport. After everyone picked their baggages up, the terminal suddenly became very quiet. For some reasons, there was a piano near the baggage claim area and a man started playing it. He was definitely not professional, because I could tell there were many mistakes, but the play reflected his personality. It was actually very, very heartwarming. I wanted to see him play closely, so I stood by the piano. He smiled at me while he was playing. It blew my tiredness away.

It was a very interesting, fun, and great trip. I fulfilled my childhood dream with nice companions. Thank you all for the memorable trip.

These are some of the highlight pictures.

 

 

そして朝早く我々は空港へと向かった。

最初のフライトはカウアイ島からマウイ島へ。マウイ島に着陸するのが異常に怖かった。というのも通常、着陸するとき飛行機は徐々にスムーズに高度を落としていくものだが、この時は全く違ったのだ。飛行機は段階的に高度を落として行ったのだ。つまり、真下に少し下り、そして少し先に進む、そして急降下、少し先に進む、といった具合にまるで階段を下りているかのようだった。そして異常にそれが長く続き飛行機が止まったのは滑走路の終わりのわずか手前。ぎょえー。

私の仮説としては、ハワイアンエアラインはベテランのパイロットはハワイと本土を結ぶ飛行機を操縦。そして若手の経験がまだ少ないパイロットはハワイの島間のフライトを担当。そのため、カウアイーマウイのフライトはこのような着陸だったのでは。。？と思った。

そして次のフライト：マウイからカリフォルニア。機械の不具合で遅れ。うーむ。カリフォルニアからハワイに来た時もハワイアンエアラインは機械の不具合で遅れたのだ。やれやれ。これがハワイ流なのかもしれない。MrRは不満を言っていた。

そしてなんとかサンノゼに到着。荷物をピックアップし、MrNが車を取りに行った。その間バッケージアリアでMrNを待っていたのだが、すごく静かだ。いつもならバックをとって速攻帰路に着くから、バックを取り終わった後のバッケージエリアの静寂さというものは知らなかった。静かに座っていると、なぜかピアノの音が聞こえて来た。なんでか知らないが、ピアノが荷物ピックアップエリアにあり誰かがピアノを弾いていたのだ。上手ではないが、とても優しい音色で平和なほっこりとした気分にさせてくれた。

ともかく、このカウアイの旅、エキサイティングなものだった！そして自然の景色に感動た。言葉では言い表せないので、ハイライトの３枚の写真を添付しておく。

Hawai'i Kauai Island Trip Day5

Kalalau Trail in the morning

Day5 we needed to go back all the way in a day. We took 2 days to come to the Kalalau beach, and our pace was 1 mile/hour because of rugged and muddy trails. So we started hiking at 6 a.m. to finish hopefully before the sunset.

On the way it rained on and off. The rain sometimes looked like a curtain. It was pretty. The pattern of raining reminded me of my days biking to school in Tokyo. It was one-way 10 km, and sometimes I got soaked, because it was unpredictable when it would start raining. The rain texture was similar to the one I remembered. I felt nostalgic and good. The scenery going opposite direction was slightly different from the views we hiked in, and I really enjoyed it. 

Pretty Valley

We arrived at the trailhead by 4 p.m. Then we went to a grocery store and I got poke. At one grocery store called Foodland there was a person who was selling Kauai coffee. She noticed that I am Japanese and talked to me in Japanese, however, the grammar was terrible with strong accent. So I answered in English. She was probably 3rd or 4th generation of Japanese American. She said that her husband produced coffee in his plantation, but according to Mr.N, her coffee was roasted in Kauai but not made in Kauai. State of Hawaii is supposed to have many Japanese Americans, but I didn't see clues in Kauai. I only noticed that one grocery store called Ishihara is Japanese name. Also I didn't see a Japanese tourist in Kauai. It was interesting.

I finished the day by eating poke in a tent, which made me happy. 

カララウトレイル５日目、最終日。この日の予定はカララウビーチからトレイルヘッドまで１日で戻ること。トレイルヘッドからは２日かけてカララウビーチまで来たことを考えるとできるだけ早く出発しなければ、ということで朝６時にはハイキング開始。少し歩いて振り返ると朝日がカララウビーチを照らしていたのがとても印象的。忘れられない瞬間だ（写真１枚目）。

この日は雨が降ったり止んだりしていた。時々 、雨が山の斜面でカーテンの様に見え綺麗だった。この降ったり止んだりする雨、東京の雨に似ている。大学まで１０キロ毎日通っていた頃が思い出され懐かしくなった。ハワイってアメリカだけどカリフォルニアと言うよりは、わりと日本に似ているんだなぁと実感。

午後４時にトレイルヘッドに無事到着。そしてスーパーへ行き食材を調達。私は再び惣菜コーナーでポキを買って美味しさを堪能。スーパーの試食コーナーの人になぜか変な日本語で話しかけられた。おそらく日系３−４世のハワイアンと思われる。カウアイコーヒーを勧められたが、えらく高かったので買わず。ハワイのコーヒーならコナコーヒーの方がいいので遠慮しておいた。彼女はそのコーヒーは夫のプランテーションで栽培されたものだと言ったが、パッケージにはカウアイでローストされただけで栽培はカウアイではなかった。うーむ。何はともあれ、無事にカララウトレイルから戻れてよかった。そしてカララウトレイルは本当に美しく、楽しい場所だった。

Hawai'i Kauai Island Trip Day4 no.2

Swimming Pool

On the way back we stayed on the main trail. It was very obvious and straightforward. We were not sure why we missed the main trail. When we came back 0.5 mile away from the campground, we found the place we went to the wrong path. The wrong path looked clearer than the main one, so we made a sign.

Kalalau Beach in the evening

There were a lot of cats looming around at the campground. When we were having dinner, a baby cat approached us. She was a grey tabby, or American short hair. Tabby cats are my favorite. 

Ms.R gave her some beef jerkies and she really liked them. The tabby got on Ms.R's lap. I was jealous. So I gave her some tuna. She liked it and licked the tuna pack. Mr.R was drinking whiskey, so I put a few drops of whiskey on the tuna pack. The cat was as if saying, "No!" I forced her to lean her face onto the alcohol covered tuna, but she resisted. She disliked whiskey. She knows what to eat and what should not eat. 

Then I gave her pea snacks. She was not interested at all. Then I gave the cat caramel milk chocolate. She liked it. I put caramel on the pea snack and gave her but she refused it. She seemed to hate pea snacks. I didn't know chocolate is toxic to cats, but it was really tiny amount, so it turned out it was okay after I looked up the lethal dose.

The campground on Kalalau Beach was ultra great not only because being surrounded by pretty beach, falls and mountains, but also being surrounded by cute cats. 

休息と水泳を楽しんだ後はトレイルを通ってカララウビーチへと戻り始めた。なぜ昨日は迷ってしまったのか？！トレイルは非常に鮮明で迷うところなどないように見える。しかし！なぜ我々はトレイルから外れてしまったのかがわかるポイントがあった。それはキャンプ地からたった０．５マイル（０・８キロ）程度のところ。２つのトレイルのジャンクションでメインのトレイルよりなぜか間違ったトレイルの方が広く、かつ、より使われているように見える。今後、ハイカー達が間違えないようケレンを立ててサインを作った。これで間違えてコミュニティーガーデンに行く人もいなくなるだろう。。。。面白くないかもしれないが。。

夜。たくさんの猫がキャンプグランドのあちこちを歩いている！夜ご飯を食べていると赤ちゃん猫が我々に近づいて来た。MsRがビーフジャーキーをあげると子猫はすごく喜んでいる。私は少しツナをあげた。ツナに少しウィスキーをかけると。。子猫は”やだ！”という感じで食べない。枝豆スナックにも全く興味なし。しかしキャラメルミルクチョコレートは食べた。チョコレートは猫に良くないというのを知らなかったが、後で調べて見るとLD５０には程遠い量だったのでよかった。

そしてカララウビーチの夕焼け空を楽しんだ（２枚目の写真）。こんな綺麗なビーチと夕焼けを満喫できるとはなんて幸せなんだろうと思ったひと時だった。

Hawai'i Kauai Island Trip Day4 no.1

It was great to sleep with sounds of ocean, but I had to get up several times in the middle of the night. My skin was getting so itchy, because of a sudden change of humidity. My skin was used to high humidity in Osaka or Tokyo but it got adjusted to California weather. I remembered that the first week in CA screwed up my skin. It was very itchy because CA was too dry. Now the opposite thing happened. It was kind of sad...but that was natural body response.

We planned to camp at the same place two consecutive days, so we had a small day hike on day4.

It was supposed to be 5 miles on trail, however, after a mile the trail became unclear and faint. At one point, we saw a mysterious circle made out of rocks. Mr.S2 and I walked in the circle and we saw a plate at the center: "Thank you Mama Kalalau" On the way to the center, I accidentally kicked a rock and messed the shape of circle up. Mr.S2 saw it and shouted at me in a bossy way, "K! FIX THE ROCK!!!"

I answered, "Okay okay all right." I fixed the rock. He said that he told to me to do it strongly because Mama Kalalau told him to do so.

Wandering and found falls

We continued hiking to get to the destination, a swimming pool, however, it seemed that we were not on the right trail.

Saw bamboos during wandering

We were hiking for a while, but it didn't seem to reach the destination, a swimming pool. Then we saw a tent in the forest. Mr.S2 went to see if there was somebody to ask the direction, but we didn't see a person. Mr.N said that it was not surprising in Hawaii that people live in the wilderness to grow weeds.

Then suddenly, we met a person with bare feet. Probably he was a hippie who lives in the forest. He said that we were on the wrong trail and kindly took us to the main trail. Mr.S2 asked him several questions. I was a little worried about asking questions if the hippie person was doing illegal stuff in the wilderness, but Mr.S2 didn't care. He said that there was a community garden in the forest and he was staying there for two weeks. The "community garden" might be a place to grow weeds. The reason he took us to the main trail might have been that he didn't want us to find the garden. After we got back to the right trail, we arrived the swimming pool within ten minutes. We took a break there. Mrs were swimming but I took a break on the rock and ate chocolates, because Hawaiian weather in November was cold for me. We walked more unexpectedly, but it was a nice experience to see non-tourists aspect of Hawaii. 

カララウビーチでのキャンプ。海の音を聞きながら眠るのは心地いい。しかし、夜中に何回か目を覚ました。皮膚が痒かったからだ。非常に乾いた空気のカリフォルニアから湿気の高いハワイに来たことで皮膚が痒くなった模様。日本にいた頃はもちろん湿気の高い 環境に皮膚は適応していた。カリフォルニアに来た当初１週間はは皮膚が痒かったのだ。しかし今度は逆の現象。やはり体の適応はすごい。

カララウビーチではもう１泊キャンプする予定なんで、この日はテントをそのまま立てておき、カララウビーチの近くでデイハイクをした。５マイル（７・５キロ）の予定でスタート。 １マイルほど歩くとトレイルの見極めがつかなくなって来た。うーむ。あまり人が歩いていないのか。目的地は数マイル先のプール（ちょっとした湖）だが、一向に着く気配がない。多分トレイルを歩いていると思っていたがどうやらトレイルではなかったらしい。すると突然、森の中にテントが。道を聞くために人がいるか見渡したが誰も見当たらない。MrNによるとハワイでは森の中にキャンプし違法なドラッグを栽培している人がいるということで、そういう人のテントだったのかもしれない。

しばらくするといきなり一人男性が裸足で歩いていた。おそらくハワイのヒッピーだ。彼が我々の目的地のプールに行くトレイルまで案内してくれた。案の定トレイルからずれて歩いていたようだ。MrS２はどこの出身か、ここで何をしているのか、どのくらい滞在しているのか、などありとあらゆる質問攻撃。その男性はコロラド出身で２週間ハワイに滞在し、”コミュニティーガーデン”を友人らと交代で世話をしているということだった。もしも、違法薬物を栽培しているとしたらあまり質問攻めしないほうがいいいのでは。。。と内心思ったがMrS２はお構いなしのようだった。彼のおかげでようやくプールに辿り着ことができ、MrS１２MrNは湖で泳ぎ、私は休息。

迷ったことで新たはハワイの知られざる部分を知ることができた。

Hawai'i Kauai Island Trip Day3

The next day we hiked 6 miles, including one of the ten most dangerous trails in the U.S. 

It is indeed a very narrow trail. One side is a cliff and under the cliff is the Pacific Ocean. Luckily the other side is rocky wall. I felt safe by putting my hand on it. 

As long as using rocks to keep stable, it was not so dangerous to walk on. I guess people who look at this portion from helicopter, it probably looks much risky, but in reality on the trail, it is not bad at all. Probably the number of people who see this trail by hiking is smaller than the number of people who see this one by helicopter. There are many helicopter tours in Hawai'i. One of the most popular helicopter tour in Kauai island is to see this dangerous hiking trail from sky. I saw a picture of this trail taken from helicopter, and I was surprised. It DOES look dangerous. I am sure that guides at helicopter say, "This is one of the most dangerous trails in the world! See, only crazy people are hiking there!"

It was not so bad at all, and it was really fun.

 

I took a memorable picture on this day.

The picture below is my best photograph during Kalalau Trail. This paradise contains all of the features: blue sky, blue and green ocean, nice beach, green meadow, mountains made of many hills. Because of the hilly trails it is almost more than 5000 feet elevation change in 12 miles to go to Kalalau Beach from trailhead. It is tough in the hot weather, but the amazing view made it much easier.

 

Kalalau beach is very pretty. Again cats made the campground even better. Immediately after I pitched a tent and put my backpack on the ground, a tabby cat came and found my backpack a comfortable bed for napping (picture in the left). Soooooo cute!!! I petted him a lot. They are "feral", but many of them like to be pet and interact intensively with human beings.

I bought swimsuits for this trip, so I went into the ocean in the evening. I used to be a competitive swimmer at elementary school, but this was my first time swimming in the U.S. The water was cold but felt good, and salty. The waves were bigger than they seemed from a distance. It was nice to be in the ocean. After swimming in the ocean, we went to waterfall coming from mountain, which doesn't contain salt. There is a pool and fall near the campground. It was the best place to wash off salt from ocean and sweat.

 

３日目。目的地はカララウトレイルの名前の元にもなっている、カララウビーチ。６マイル（９．６キロ）だたアップダウンが激しく”アメリカで危険なトップ１０のトレイル”にも入る箇所があるため油断は禁物だ。

確かに崖沿いのトレイルはすごく狭い。片側は崖、下は海。岩崩れの可能性もありとのサインが。上から崖崩れがあっても足元で崖崩れがあってもどちらも危険！歩くときに岩を掴みながら進む。確かに狭いトレイルだが、岩をつかんでいればそれほど怖いわけでもない。とういうかトップ１０に入るほど危険なのか疑問だった。はたから見ると危険に見えるが実際歩いて見るとそこまでではないな、というのがこの部分の感想だった。

２枚目の写真は、このカララウトレイルのハイクの中でベストの写真！カララウトレイルの全ての要素を含んでいる。青い空、青と緑の海、ビーチ、幾つもの丘から成り立つ山、緑の草原。まさにパラダイスだ。カララウビーチに行き着くまでは丘が多く、１８キロで２０００メートルほどのアップダウンがあるのだが、この素晴らしい景色のおかげで疲労感も和らぐというものだ。

そしていよいよカララウトレイルに着く。テントを張っていると早速猫が来て私のバックパックの上で昼寝（３枚目の写真）。かわいい！猫のいるキャンプ場、最高＾＾

Hawai'i Kauai Island Trip Day2

Not only cats, but also a lot of chickens were looming around in the campground. One of the differences in Californian campgrounds and Hawaiian ones was the garbage. In CA, all garbage cans are bear proof. No animals can reach the food leftovers that way. However, trash cans are open in Hawaii, because there are no bears. That's why house cats can survive in campgrounds in Hawaii. The roosters started crying before the sunrise, which disturbed my sleep. I had never heard them protesting before the sunrise. Also very early morning, I heard Mr.R talking to Mr.S1. "I heard that a ranger would give us a ticket, because we camped at the wrong place. The actual campground is over there." Mr.R was so scared and he already packed his hammock.

Mr.S1 conveyed this message to Mr.N, but Mr.N said that it shouldn't be a problem.

I got up relatively early because of these sounds, and went to the restroom. There was a local woman who was cursing very loud to her daughter (Is it Hawaiian thing?). It reminded me of the fact that I learned a lot of bad words from Ms.M.

We repacked stuff for backpacking. Mr.S2 had too many bars, and I asked him to carry chestnuts and chocolates.

Now we headed for the starting point of Kalalau trail. 

Before going to the trailhead, we stopped by a grocery store Foodland in Princeville. It was a local store and I was able to find authentic poke. I was very excited. I got ahi poke and it was delicious. TASTY. Finally I ate authentic food.

Then we headed for the starting point of Kalalau trail. Surprisingly there were many people at the trailhead, and one person was even selling her homemade banana breads. There were of course a lot of chickens.

After we took pictures as “before hike: clean version”, we started hiking. From the beginning, the trail was very muddy and rocky. Surprisingly there were many hikers. The first ocean view around at 0.5 mile point was amazing. The ocean was emerald green and blue. Somehow I love emerald green since I was little, and it always attracts me. It makes me feel excited and refreshed.

After a mile of walking, we saw a man laying on the trail with an emergency blanket. I tried to look at him closer and walked a little faster, then I fell. Luckily I didn't get hurt. 

 

The man on the ground was conscious, but he broke his elbow. He was shaking systemically. Mr.N had a device called DeLorme inReach; two-way satellite communicator. So we were able to contact the nearest ranger station to get help, although Mr.N was confused how to used it. Luckily we had DeLorme inReach expert Ms.R who posts stuff from Delorme on Facebook. We were a little relieved to hear that a man from the fire station was on the way. To stay with him at least the ranger would come was the right thing, so we hang around him. Mr.S2 offered him chocolate and snack. Mr.S1 (a vegan) found out that the injured man a vegan as well and talked about vegan restaurants.

The reason why Mr.N had the device was that he was rescued in the wilderness last summer. At that time Mr.N didn't have the device but random hikers Mr.A and Mr.R offered us to use their satellite device SPOT, and they stayed with us until a rescue came for 4 hours. I remember that I felt extremely grateful for them to stay with us. Now Mr.N used a device for a random hiker who needed help and we stayed with him. It was great, it reminded me of a movie "Pay it Forward".

After 2 hours, the fire department person came and fixed his arm. He was able to walk after resting. We made sure that he was walking OK and we continued our way.

Because of the temperature and humidity, the flora was very different from California. The forest was like tropical and moist. I really liked it. It was much more similar to Japan than California.

After 5 miles of hiking, we reached our campsite in the forest. I had a headache, so I went to bed very early.

ハワイのキャンプ場は猫だけでなく鳥も沢山いる（一番上の写真）。

まず最初に気づいたカリフォルニアとハワイのキャンプ場の違いはゴミ箱。カリフォルニアでは熊防止用のベアプルーフのゴミ箱だか、ハワイではただ単に普通のポリバケツ風のもの。カリフォルニアでは熊がキャンプ場のゴミ箱を漁り食べ物を取るのが大問題なため、熊が開けれない仕掛けになっている金属製のゴミ箱だが、ハワイに熊はいないためお構いなし。鳥がゴミ箱を漁り放題だ。ニワトリたちは夜明け前から”コケコッコー”と鳴いていてわりと朝早く起きてしまった。ハワイのローカルな人たちが何やらエフワードを使いながら娘を叱っている。んー。これがハワイ流なのか？よくわからない。

とりあえずテントを撤収してカララウトレイルのバックパッキングのためにパッキングし直し。MrS２はバーを持って来すぎていた。

トレイルに行く前に我々はフードランド（ハワイのスーパーでチェーン店）に寄って私はポキを買った。ハワイのスーパーでは惣菜コーナーに必ず５種類以上のポキがあるのだ！ポキ：ハワイ料理、刺身がマリネードされたもの

私はアヒポキを食べた。あー。やっとハワイアンフードを食べることができた。そしてトレイルヘッドへ。ここで集合写真を撮った（集合といっても６人だけど）。バックパッキング前の”綺麗”バージョンの写真だ。５日後には泥んこの”汚い”バージョンの集合写真を取る予定。

わずか１マイルのハイクでいきなり青、透き通る青とエメラルドグリーンの海が目にとび混んで来た。素晴らしく綺麗でしばし見惚れていた。（２つ目の写真）

ここのポイントの後また少し歩いて行くと、男性が一人、非常緊急用の毛布に包まれて地面に横わたっている。えー！何事？！と思い我々は近づいていった。男性は意識はあるものの肘を骨折（？）か、とにかく痛めていた。男性は小刻みに震えている。

MrNがDeLorme inReachを持っていたので、レンジャーに連絡することができた。DeLorme inReachはサテライト機能を持つ連絡ツールで、その場所から一番近いレンジャーステーションに連絡することができるデバイスだ。これにより、レンジャーがこちらへ向かっていることがわかりホッとした。肘の骨折があるものの男性は喋ることはでき、MrS１と同じくビーガンであることが判明しMrS１とビーガンレストラン話で盛り上がっていた。ふむ。大丈夫そうだ。

２時間ごファイアーステーションんの救助隊が到着。腕を固定して男性を抱えながら トレイルヘッドへ向かっていた。それを見送り我々は１日目のキャンプ地を目指し歩き始めた。

温度と湿度が高いため、植物相がカリフォルニアとは全く違う。むしろ日本に断然近い。違った場所でバックパッキングすると色々な発見があり本当に楽しい。

とはいえ私は少し頭痛が夕方あったのでキャンプ地に着くとテントを張り夕飯をささっと食べすぐに就寝した。

 

Hawai'i Kauai Island Trip Day1

During Thanksgiving week 2016, I went to Hawaii. This was my first time visiting there.

Hawaii is the closest America state to Japan, and one of the most popular destinations for international trips.

When I was at elementary school, I remember some rich kids bragging that they went there. I was jealous but I tried not to think about it. I told myself that Japan is surrounded by ocean, so there is no need to go there. It was hopeless for a kid to go there alone, especially considering the amount of money and legal paperwork required. Also my parents don't travel: I have only been on two overnight trips with them my entire life. It seemed as though my brain has refused to think about Hawaii, ever since I was little.

However, when Mr.N mentioned Hawaii last summer I thought that it might be a good time to go, because I live in the U.S. and I don't need my passport. So basically last week I fulfilled a childhood dream. 

Early Saturday morning, we headed for the San Jose airport. We booked a parking spot on somebody's driveway through "Way.com", however, there was no spot. So we needed to park on the street. The service was not organized and lame.

While we were waiting for boarding at a gate, Mr.S2 told me that the Kalalau trail we would hike was one of the ten most dangerous hikes in the U.S. Mr.S2 said, "That was the first one when I googled the Kalalau trail." I replied, "What! I didn't know that. Mr.N didn't tell me."

The flight was scheduled to take off at 9:10 a.m., but a mechanical problem occurred after boarding. Around 10:30 a.m, the airplane had to reboot completely. It was my first time sitting on a plane with no sound.

After 2 hours of sitting on a plane, finally we took off. During the 5 hours flight, I read some magazines, had some complimentary drinks (coffee with milk and sugar), and ate small breakfast (I thought that it was not enough, but Mr.S2 said that it was filling). Mr. R was sitting a few rows ahead of me and I witnessed that he ordered whiskey, which is his favorite drink. Our flight landed in Honolulu. Because of the delay of the first flight, we missed the connecting flight to Kauai. The receptionists at the Hawaiian Airline desk were unbelievably inefficient. Three people were at the desk when we were trying to change our connecting flight, but only one person was actually working; the other two people were just looking at the person who was working. Also, I saw many Japanese people who had their passports in their hands. I felt a little weird seeing so many Japanese people in Hawaii.

First night campsite

 After the sunset we finally arrived in Kauai. I really liked the humidity, which I had forgotten for a while, but it was not as warm as I had hoped.

Then we went to Walmart to get a stove and fuel for camping. At the store, we met Mr.S1 and Ms.R who had flown a day before. Mr.S1 was already wearing shorts; completely adjusted to Hawaii. On the way to the campground, I was a little disappointed, because the stores along the streets were stereotypically Americans instead Hawaiians, such as MacDonald, Tacobell, Starbucks, or Safeway. I knew that Hawaii is a part of America, but it was too American. However, this disappointment was immediately gone when I saw a cat when we reached the campground. That was my first Hawaiian animal there, a tame cat. All campgrounds in Hawaii have cats. I was so happy to camp near the cats. 

2006年のサンクスギビングホリデー（アメリカの感謝祭）にハワイへ行った。これが私の初のハワイ訪問である。

ハワイは日本から最も近いアメリカということもあり、日本人にとってハワイは一番人気のある国際旅行と言えるだろう。日本人は本当にハワイが好きだ。 

小学生の時、夏休み明けのクラスで夏休み中にどこへ行ったか・何をしたかなどを発表する時間があった。クラスで一人か二人ハワイへ行ったとの報告がいつもあり、密かに私はいいなぁ＋悔しい！と思っていた。しかし私がハワイに行ける確率はゼロだった。私の両親は旅行に興味がなかったからだ。なので、こう考えることにした。日本はもともと島なわけだし敢えて他の島に行く必要などない。海はすぐ近くにある。

MrNがハワイ旅行を提案するまでそういう経緯は忘れていたものの、現在はアメリカに住んでいるしハワイに行くのは国内旅行で手続きもなし、今が行くチャンスだ！と考えた。画して子供の頃の夢を叶えたのだ。

そして出発日。空港の近くの駐車スポットをWay.comのサイトで予約していたのに空きスポットがない。仕方なくストリートに駐車。あとでクレームをつけなければ。。。

で、サンノゼの空港でハワイアンエアラインの飛行機を待つことに。

するとMr.S2が我々のいくカララウトレイルはアメリカで一番危険なトレイルということをグーグルで発見。MrNはその情報を（意図的に？）告げず旅行を企画していた。やるなMrN。

そして飛行機に搭乗。飛行機は９時１０分発のはずだったが１０時半になってもまだ１ミリも動いていない。どうやらメカニカルのトラブルらしい。何の音もしない飛行機の中にいるのは初めてだった。ようやく１１時過ぎになって出発。そして中継地ホノルルに到着。もちろん次の飛行機は逃したためカウンターへ。周りを見渡すとたくさんの日本人が。。。パスポートを持っているのですぐわかる。わー。やはり日本人のハワイ熱はまだ続いている！ 

カウンターで次の飛行機の手続きをしてもらうが、かなり手際が悪い。３人の受付人がカウンターにいるのに一人だけ働いていて２人はその一人をただ単に見ているだけ。おいおい。。。これがハワイのペース？

そしてようやくカウアイ島に着く。やはり湿気が高い。日本みたいだ。

そしてまずはウォルマートに行ってキャンプ用の燃料やストーブを購入。そして１日先についていたMrS２とMsRと合流し夕飯を食べた。もっとハワイアンフード店があるかと思ったが空港の近くはマクドナルドやタコベルなどばかりでがっかりした。。。。が、キャンプ場に行って一気に興奮した。なぜならたくさんの猫がいたからだ。猫好きにとってハワイのキャンプ場はパラダイス！こうして１日目が終了。

 

Hawai’i Big Island Trip Day13-18 Part2

We swam with dolphins 5 times. This is amazing and unforgettable experience.

 

Hawaiian spinner dolphins are nocturnal. They travel deep in the see at night to feed. In the daytime, Hawaiian spinner come to bay to rest. Spinner dolphins live all over the world in the warm area, but ones only in Hawai’i and northern Brazil come to shallow water area to rest. When they are resting, half or the brain is sleeping and the other is awake.

A pod of dolphins

We camped on the beach in the local park, and every morning around 8:30 a.m., a pod of dolphins came to the bay. The sign says that it is not allowed to share the location on social media: so it is a secret place. As soon as they come, we jumped in the ocean and saw dolphins. Usually a school of dolphins consists of 10-20. In the group, 3-5 dolphins really synchronize to swim and come to the surface to breath. They repeat going under then going up to surface to breath. Sometimes they jump in the air. They twist their bodies. Usually dolphins stay in for the entire morning in the same bay and circling around. I was able to observe them for several hours each day just by floating on the surface. Also, it is the right thing to do: not to disturb their biological behaviors by chasing with diving.

Sunshine on the dolphins

They are not scared of human if you just float, and by doing that, they come really close to you to breath on the surface. Looking at three dolphins just in front of me in a beautifully synchronizing movement is extremely exciting. They are so close and looks like enjoying swimming near me. Dolphins are social animals and I could tell that they communicate each other. One of the days, the dolphins are very playful and I saw they were swimming together by chasing each other and jumping a lot. That was a sunny day after a couples of day of cloudy days, so they might be happy. On that day dolphins are shiny on reflect of sun. It was beautiful. I am so grateful that I was able to have such joyful, exciting, and precious dolphin experience. Dolphins are definitely the highlight of this Big Island trip.

Hawai’i Big Island Trip Day13-18 part1

sunset at beach campground

The last five days of the trip, we camped at local park. The picture above is from camping site. The guide book says that there are no campers on weekdays and local people on weekends. Due to holiday season, there were many local people were camping. Actually there were ONLY local people there. Only a little far from Kona, there were few travelers.

Star fuits

One camper next to us lives there and he gave us fruits and vegetables from his yard. One of them was star fruits which I had never had. It was juicy and delicious.

Eggplants from farmer's makert in miso soup

 

 

We also brought fruits and vegetables from Hilo farmers markets. We got tomatos, avocados, mangoes, bananas, eggplants, papayas. They were REALLY tasty. We put vegetables in camping food, such as miso soup or Japanese curry.

Hilo Farmers market is really popular for both local and tourists. Really fresh and good vegetables, fruits are available. Not only that, some bento, and cooked goods are available. I bought home-made taro chips. They are delicious. Not like commercial chips, no salt added, so I was able to taste the original taro. 

 

Another important thing in Hawai'i is cats. 

As you may know, there are many, actually tremendous amounts of feral cats on all of Hawaiian islands.

Except for backpacking campsites, every campgrounds where car can access had feral cats. Most of the feral cats on Big Island are very cautious and they don’t get close to human beings. They are really adopted in the wild.

tabby at the campground

Only one cat was friendly. She was with us for the last five days of camping. The campsite was usually occupied with only local people. There were three cats at the campground, but only one, black and white, was friendly and two others, tabby and black, were really shy and never got very close to humans. I was able to take pictures of tabby, but the black one was always far away from human.

 

 The friendly black and white was always at our tent vestibule. She was there all night. Also in the daytime the vestibule seemed good place for her to hide. One reason was as a shade, but more important reason was to hide from children. Some kids chased the cat and she seemed to want to hide from them.

She even played with me using some plants. It was like a tamed cat.

Cats are not native in Hawai’i. They were introduced from Europeans. Cats were important to catch rats on ships.

Now feral cats are considered to impact Hawaiian native animals, such as birds. This problem has been controversial how to deal with that. Indeed it is a tough thing to deal with for cat + animal lovers.

 

Hawai’i Big Island Trip Day12

I saw the real rain forest at Kalōpā Native Forest State Park.

wild guava

East side of Big Island has a lot of rain. It makes great rain forest. Kalōpā Native Forest State Park is a great place to see it. There is ōhiʻa lehua forest. I had never seen ōhiʻa before. ōhiʻa are native Hawaiian trees found in the wet area. This is extremely peaceful forest. No sounds on the most portion, but you hear some area has nice sounds from bell crickets. There are many ferns below trees. I found some guava and ate it. It was juicy and tasty.

Because the east side has a lot of rains and beaches on the east coast are not very suitable for snorkeling, people usually focus on the west side. Also if you don’t camp, it can be very expensive to stay for a long time. We saved money by camping during the whole trip and explored east side when it was sunny.

Near Hilo, we camped on the yard of hostel. It is common in Europe to camp in the yard of huts or hostels. I am glad that such kind of camping in Hawai’i. By camping there, we had an access to outdoor hot shower, couches near the yard, and even outlets to charge camping gears, such as head lamps or solar chargers. These 2 nights in Hilo was the only opportunity to take a hot shower during the3-week trip. Usually my trips are no shower at all, so it was a glamping there.

Hawai’i Big Island Trip Day9-11

Day9-11, we snorkeled everyday at Kahalu’u, Kiholo, and Puako.

During this trip, we snorkeled 11 times. It was amazing to see the sea world. There are hundreds and thousands of species of fish in the sea. Some are colorful like yellow, orange, blue, green. A lot of fish have patterns, such as poka dots or stripes. Some fish look like they are smiling. Some swim as large school. Sometimes only one unique fish is there.

 

On the other hand, there are many fish who are really similar color to rocks. The camouflage is working well.

Some are playing together, some are peacefully swimming, some are eating with big focus.

The fish world never bores me.

A couple of years ago I first tried snorkeling on Kauai island. That time I didn’t float well, so always salty water came into my snorkel. This time I used a swim vest, so it was much easier. Somehow I don’t float well in the ocean, although I don’t have a problem in pool.

Petroglyph Trail

We also hiked on the petroglyph trail. Ancient Hawaiian traveled to the specific point to produce the petroglyph. They didn’t have even shoes and went there by walking on the lava, which is hot in the day time with sun. Most of the petroglyph are humans and towards the mountains. Who? Why? No answers exist to any questions, but it is fascinating.

Another exciting thing on Big Island is Kona coffee. It was super tasty. I had more than 10 cups of Kona coffee during this trip. I wish it was more available in the mainland US.

Hawai'i Big Island Trip Day6-8

From day6-8, we did 2 nights-3 day backpacking in Volcanoes National Park. At first we planned to go backpacking in Waipio and Waimanu valleys where in the rainy side of island. However, it was raining very hard and the ranger at the trailhead said that the river was impassible. So we went to national park and asked the ranger if there were available backpacking permits. Luckily there were. In fact the ranger said that nobody was camping at Halape, which was our destination. The day we would be hiking out was the day when the government might shut down. At that point we (and even the ranger) didn’t think that the shutdown would happen. However, it did happen (and still going on when I am writing this in Jan 16th 2019!), so it was great we changed the plan: Halape is one of highlights of the trip.

From the trailhead to the campsite, mostly the trail is on lava along the ocean. I had never seen such combination. Both lava and ocean is the source of nature. I felt happy that I was able to hike in such a dramatic view.

On the way to Halape, we saw two rangers checking the trail.

Mr.N asked, “Do you want to see permits?”

The ranger answered, “No. Enjoy the hike!”

Wow. Hawaii’s rangers are so friendly and relaxed. If it was in California, probably rangers check permits. I was checked JMT permits twice during the backpacking.

The beach at Halape is really beautiful. Because nobody was on the beach, it was very quiet and peaceful. We camped on the beach under coconut trees. We saw beautiful sunset in the evening, full moon at night, bright sunshine in the day. Every moment was pretty.

Lava and Ocean

Near the beach there was a pool. It was connected to the ocean, but no waves and calm. It was shallow. The ranger told it was okay to go swimming there if you go to ocean first and clean up your body. The reason is there are many unique creature there and sunscreen should not be exposed in the pool. I went to ocean and then swam in the pool. The fish there was amazing. I saw many interesting sea creature I didn’t see any other snorkeling points on Big Island. Mr.N didn’t bring snorkeling set or goggle, and he didn’t like to open eyes in the water. I brought goggle, so I swam many times in the pool. I was so excited. It was a wonderful swim there.

Hawai’i Big Island Trip Day4 and 5

Huge Crater

This day we explored the center of Volcanoes National Park. First at the visitor center, we saw a short movie about 2018 eruption. This 2018 lower Puna eruption completely changed the landscape of Puna area, including the national park. Now no red lava is coming out, because all of it went outside during the Puna eruption. Also the size of Kilauea Iki Crater, which is the most famous crater located near the visitor center, is much bigger now. Crater is much larger than I had imagine and I felt the massive power of underground earth. It is one of the vigorous events to change the landscape of nature and make the nature beautiful. We also saw many steam vents. The eruption is calmed down, but still many activities are going on. It was nice to see earth’s energy.

A few days later the park was closed again for the government shutdown. So it was really lucky I could visit there.

Honokane Nui

This day we camped at Kiholo Bay state park. Camping there was allowed only Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. Probably because not many campers on weekends and that is the strategy to kick hippies out. The campsite is just on the beach. So it is nice to see sunset at the campsite. Sunset happens everywhere everyday, but sun setting over the ocean is especially pretty and never be boring.

The next day we hiked to Polulu Valley to Honokane Nui. Polulu Valley is very pretty with rapturous blue ocean. Because there many hikers here, we went to the next hill, Honokane Nui. This is very quiet and nice view point to sit down and chill. It is funny that nobody hikes more than 3 miles in Hawai’i. So you can get to the really peaceful area by hiking only a few miles. We had quality time by staring at lush green hills and beautiful ocean.

Hawai'i Big Island Trip Day3

This day we hiked Napau trail in Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park. It is a 14-mile day hike to see two craters. There is not really established trail, you just walk on lava. Trail will be marked with a pile of lava (see the left picture).

On the way to the craters, I saw many steam coming from from lava (picture above). I got close to the steam area and it was warm. First crater you see is Makaopuhi Crater. Wow. It is huge.

Makaopuhi Crater

Napau Crater

Then 2 more miles you see Napau Crater. The mountain over the Napau Crater is Pu’u’O’o (I don’t know how to pronounce any Hawaiian language). This is one of the 2018 eruptions and still steam is coming. We were taking nap at the point I took the left picture. Then we heard one couple coming by. They are Canadian and they do this hike EVERY YEAR. Wow. They love Big Island. They might want to be at warm place in winter. They are from West coast Canada and they said that West coast is the best part in Canada in winter. Probably only 4 people came to this point on that day. It seemed that not many people hike this far in Hawaii. The vast majority of people are laying down on the beach.

Then we camped at Kulanaokuaiki campground (first-come first-served) in National Park. There are only 10 sites, so I was little worried if there was an open spot, but only 2 sites were taken. Here I got confident that the vast majority of people stay at nice place and nobody camps.

Hawai'i Big Island Trip Day1 and 2

 In December 2018, I went to Big Island in Hawai’i. It was an amazing 20-day trip. 

One of the great sunsets during this trip

 

On the first day was just flying. From Boston, Hawai’i is far. To save money I had a three-leg flight: Boston to Chicago, Chicago to LA, LA to Kona. To be honest I thought that I chose a too far destination. However, now retrospectively, it was a great choice.

Walmart in Kona, Big Island, Hawai'i

First night we stayed at AirBnB near the airport. The host works at the airport, so he told us the number to get into the house. He is Japanese American, because his name is Mark Nakagawa. In Hawai’i, you will see many Japanese Americans. Hawai’i has the biggest Japanese American community.

Walmart in Kona, Big Island, Hawai'i

 

There are many Japanese grocery stores, Hawaiian-Japanese restaurants. Even at Walmart in Kona, where we went to get food for camping, I found Japanese snacks, rice, etc. Seeing decent Japanese rice at Walmart was a little weird, but also it waas a nice surprise.

Kona coffee

After buying camping fuel and camping food for the next 10 days, we had some time to go to night manta ray snorkeling. So we went to a coffee shop.

Kona coffee is very famous worldwide for its great taste. I loved the Kona coffee. In fact, so loved it and I went to this particular cafe FIVE times during this Big Island trip.

Delicious Poke

Another important thing to mention is poke. Poke is Hawaiian food. Raw fish is flavored with various kinds of sauce. Poke is sold at every grocery store and also there are many poke restaurants. Ahi tuna is popular. We got poke seven or eight times during this trip. We had poke on the beach near the turtle (picture on the top).

Manta Ray

At night we went to snorkeling. Snorkeling on the board with light attracts manta rays. I had never seen this creature in person. The manta ray was really big. They swim like birds. They are cute and mysterious at the same time. It was amazing experience.