the main or big island of hawai

hello everybody,

My next message is about my 3 weeks on the big island of Hawai. 

Total cycling distance : 17 342km 

In Hawai : 2120km

I left San Diego on sunday, december 14th and flew to Kona. I had a stopover in Honolulu and there 2 things became obvious. First : i have to get used to the heat combined with the high moisture degree. Second : it is rainsaison. 

In Kona I try to reassemble my bicycle but it does not work out well. So I am able to cycle far. While I work on my bicycle I meet Anthonio. He is waiting for someone to pick him up. He gives me his address and invites me if I am in the neighbourhood. Unluckily I will not see him again. His cell phone was out of reach when I tried to call him.

Because it is warm and I am on the dry side of the island I do not put up my tent. I just sleep on my matras at the end of death end road. I sleep well but in the morning I wake up as a small lizards runs over my face. 

I ll go to the bike shop and the mechanic is a guy I met on the plane. He says he will make a good price but that rather seems to be higher than lower. I ll soon find out that all the prices here are higher because almost everything is brought in.

While he is fixing my bike I went to the barber. My hair is not real long but to long for the tropics. I sweat very much and will continu doing that for at least a week. I also have a headache for 2 days after that all becomes better.

This evening I spend on a beach and I see my first tropical sunset which is fantastic and I am happy to say many more were following. Again I did not put my tent. 

Although Hawaii is very touristic it is hard to find the right information if you do not want to lay on a beach or go shopping. I did go to a shop called : hawaii trail and forest. The young lady who tried to help me was wearing high heels and make up and I suspect she did not see a trail for a year or 2. 

On tuesday, I cycle north along the coast. Sometimes I am on sea level sometimes several hundred feet higher with a fantastic view.

I find a state beach park and swim in the ocean and look at all the beautiful young girls in their bikinis. Once again I can say it was not the last time. I liked Hawaii a lot.

On wednesday I reach the north shore which is a bit rougher. There 7 valleys next to each other and there used to be a trail but that is destroyed by an earthquake. I hike in the first (Pololu Valley) and reach the ridge but there the trail ends.

I swim again in the ocean and learn a hard lesson. The pacific ocean is not the sheltered north-sea from back home. The currents are very strong and so are the waves. I have some trouble to reach the shore again. Later somebody tells me that you can only swim in sheltered bays or when there is a coral reef to protect the beach. The north coast is the hardest of all coasts.

When I arrived I left my bike box at Hawaiian airlines. Normally they do not do that but they made an exeption. Today I get a message that they found my box and bicycle and it is waiting for me at the airport. I guess they did not look in the box.

I cycle around the valleys and do a 2 day hike on the other side. This is the Waipio and Waimanu valley.  Normally I am not allowed to camp in the first valley and I must have a permit. That permit you can get in a village 20 miles away. But this is Hawaii and rules are mend to be broken. I am to late to reach the second valley today but the ranger let me go. I must camp at the far end and not on the beach but between some bushes. It is my first campsite on a tropical beach. 

The ranger does ask me to fill in an evaluation for the service. No need to say it was a good one I suppose?

The climate here is so fine that some people live on the beaches for sometime. I meet one of them in Waimanu valley. I see a skull from a pig they hunted a few days before.

On saturday, december 20th, I reach Hilo. A city of 80 000 people which has the reputation of being the rain capital of the USA. I will notice this reputation is well earned. They tell me that most of the rain falls at night when temperature drops. I do not agree on that.

I stay with Thu-tan from couchsurfing. She used the guide tourists and does the same for me. We go to the Kilauia iki krater. This is an extinct vulcano and we hike through it. There are still fosfor odors coming out of it. It is a fantastic experience. So is the lave tube and much of the plants.

Many plants or animals came with the 3 w's  : wind, water, wings. Because they were isolated for centuries each of them changed in unique species. Those had little competition when other plants were brought in. The people from polynesia came here 1500 years ago and where the first settlers. 

The westerners came here after 1778. They introduced many foreign species from around the world. Like sugar and coffee. These were on purpose but some were hide aways like the rats. When the rats came so numerous that they threatened the sugar crops the people introduced a hunter. They took the mongoose from India. There was 1 problem. The rats eat at night and the mongoose eat during the day. Now they 2 problems. Both eat the native birds who mostly nest on the ground. 

Somewhere in the 19th century a local chief did not want to trade with a captain. This captain became so mad he released mosquitos in Hawaii to pest the locals. Now there are 5 different species of mosquitos but non of them carry malaria. They do carry the bird flew and again the native birds suffer. 

When the europeans reached this island there were about 300 000 people living. By 1860 their numbers declined to 60 000 because they were not able to resist western diseases like small pocks, mazles,... 

We cook together some shrimps  to end our day.

The following days I visit the south side or Puna side. It is here that there is still an actif vulcano. It almost nonstop  poors  magna out  which runs like a river to the ocean. At nightfall you can see the glow from far. I go to the look out point but when I reach it they tell me it stopped for 2 days. That is a bummer. 

I cycle a bit back where there is a hot pond. It is heated by the vulcano. There is a small opening to the ocean so the water can refresh. This is also the hottest side but when a big waves come through and surprise you with a lot of cold water you are not so happy. I must admit that the ocean water is not real cold but it feels like that when you in heated water.

Some other benefits of the climat are that you can garden all year round. It is never to cold for a plant to grow. I also see a lot of houses who have no glass in their windows. Just something to keep out the bugs.

Riding here to Kapaho point gives me also the chance to ride in a tropical rainforest. It is great. 

It is now wednesday, december 24th and I try to reach the vulcano national park but the weather changes and I do not reach it. On the morning of christmas I call my parents and tell them that it rains but in 20 degrees C that is not a bad thing. What I did not know was that this was the beginning of a real tropical storm. I reach the campsite before it really begins. It will rain for over 48 hours and during 24h there is lightning and thunder. The rain is not a drizzle that lasts long. No it is almost always raining hard or just pooring down on us. Back home their would be flash floods all over but here I do not see much of that. 

There is a very good and big kitchen shelter where I spend my time. I end up sleeping here because a pool is starting to form under my tent. From the 9 tent who were standing there the first night only 1 remains at noon.  Everybody else goes to another place or stays under the shelter. That one tent is not being used either. The owners were at another place and just rented a BB there.  I am the only one without a car so I am stuck here. Still I have a good time with the other tourists cooking together and laughing with the misery. 

Now of course it is a lot colder and I even have to put on long trousers and a jacket. It is only 15degrees C or high 50s F.

This is considered very cold by the locals.

I was planning on doing a 2 day hike so I was lucky to have enough food with me. After the storm I decide not to hike because it will be to muddy. I cycle on and hope to meet my friend Piroska. I met her on the alaska HW in the summer. We meet a few hours later. 

We cycle back and stay on the camping  again. The water is mostly gone by now.

We do the hike and have a good time. We hike near the desert. This region is on the dry side of the mountain and does not get much rain but I would not call it a desert.

We hike through wet grass. Thu-tan told me that native plant have no thorns. I guess we were walking through foreign grasses. We had countless thorns in our socks. I washed my socks by hand before I put them in a laundrymat but still I removed the last thorn only 10 days later. 

I must say that we had some rain and sheltered somewhere. We also could not find the right trail. Like I said there are a lot of bugs here. So I spend that in the company of Piroska, ants and cokerodges with funny looking eyes. (according to Piroska, not to me). She did not like my joke about that. 

After this we cycled back to Hilo. We wanted to cycle the saddle road. This road goes between the 2 high vulcanos. It has a elevation of 7000ft and there is a road to the top at 14 000ft. 

In Hilo we stay a day longer because of the rain. On Friday, december 31st, we leave. We decided to split for a few days because I want to go to the summit but Piroska thinks it is to heavy for her. Very fast the weather turns bad again. It rains, it is cold and it snows on the top. I do not even make an attempt to cycle to the top. I just go on to the warm and dry side of the island. I am still at 4000 ft when I make my camp. At midnight I can see a lot of fireworks going off. 

On new year day I cycle to the Pu-uhonua o honauna national park. It contains some historical hawaiian buildings and a royal temple. Once again it rains here.

Like I said Hilo is the rain capital of the USA. Normally they have 10 inches rainfall in december. This year it was 25 inches and that was concentrated in the last 10 days. Yes, once again I was there. I start to believe that one day they will pay to come to a desert and make some rain. With Piroska near that would not be a problem. (we had the same bad weather in Alaska).

I find the captain Cook Bay. It is named after the famous british captain Cook who discovered Hawaii in 1778. He was considered a god but on his 2 visit he did not act like that and was killed in this bay. It is a very shallow bay and the spinner dolphins use this to rest in daytime. Here they are safe for sharks and killer whales. I rent a kayak and paddle between them. 

At a certain moment two groups have to  pass close to me and there are at least 15 dolphins at less than 15 yards of me.

On saturday, Piroshka and me meet again. We stay with Marcus and Yuki. Two more "survivors" of the tropical storm at christmas.

We have a BBQ and tell a lot of good stories. Piroska leaves in the morning to cath her plane. I end up staying 1 more day. Marcus and I do some bodysurfing. Although  I am more off the board than on it I still have a good time. I suspect Marcus even more so just by looking at me.

I also visit the famous heiaei or temple from Kaemahamea the great. The first king who united all the islands under one rule. He did get some help from the westerners. He had a canon to defeat his last enemy.

On monday, january 5, I fly to Maui. 

My bicycle box which I left on the airport is gone but I can put my bicycle on it with out a box. This is still Hawaii where rules are ment to be broken.

This was it for now. I hope to write about the rest of Hawaii tomorrow.

greeting,

nico