Our second day in Hawaii started with a nice leisurely breakfast
in the open hotel eating area, accompanied by ferocious mooch-sparrows who had
no fear picking up crumbs from our table.
From there we went returned to the airport to pick up our
car rental (a new and sophisticated Ford Edge) where I got my first surprise of
the day. Yes—it was a feral
rooster. Apparently poultry have spread
out all over the place here, including the Walmart parking lot.
There are a huge number of introduced species
here: Madagascar Geckoes, birds such as
the mooch-sparrow and three kinds of cardinals (yellow-billed here) and on and
on.
Our destination for the day was our bed and breakfast, the
Ka’awa Plantation, which is a fruit plantation, but the check-in was after 3
pm, so we thought we would go for a little hike first. The Ka’awaloa trail descends 1300 feet to the
ocean where there is a monument erected to Captain Cook, who discovered Hawaii
and eventually perished in the area.
The trailhead warnings were impressive.
The trail itself started in a somewhat
vegetated area, but eventually evolved into walking on a blasted desolate path
through the lava.
When we hit a ridge,
the views were impressive.
Ultimately, we hit the bottom (in many ways) and ended up
refreshing ourselves in the ocean lapping at (of course) lava, which showed all
kinds of impressive patterns from where it hit water.
Cook’s Monument is actually on British Soil,
which the US donated to Britain, so we did a little international exchange
before returning to the US. The monument
is surrounded by a fence of cannons.
In this little area, there were many people snorkelling,
swimming, kayaking; some had travelled from another bay through using an
outfitter, and some had merely walked the trail with their own gear. One fascinating thing was a school of Yellow
Tang, feeding in the water along the shoreline.
These guys were maybe 5” long, and would shine through the water.
The return climb was hot, hot, hot. I was certainly dragging at the end, so we
hustled to the B&B which was nearby, and took advantage of their outdoor
lava shower to clean up. Now that was an
experience!
Much refreshed, we went out to get some local flavour and
fish at a nearby hotel built 100 years ago.
The Manago Hotel probably hasn’t changed a bit since inception. The reception area was quaint, the dining
room very unpretentious, the food tasty and very reasonably priced. A couple of beverages completed the repairs
needed from the trail, and we will be ready to face tomorrow with fortitude.
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