Don't miss a local feast

            Most visitors to the island take advantage of attending a luau at a hotel. However, if you ever get the chance to attend a local feast don't even think about passing it up. There is nothing like a local affair for the ambiance and delicious food. We recently had the privilege to attend a wedding celebration and the experience couldn't have been better.

            First let me say the food was ono (delicious). For example, beside the usual delicious local food, the main course was a 400-pound pig prepared hulihuli style.  Hulihuli means to turn repeatedly, so that huge pig was roasted on a spit over an open fire. The result was absolutely ono.

            Prior to the main meal we had pupus (appetizers) of poke ( marinated raw fish) and opihi (a barnacle-like mollusk that attaches itself to cliffs in the wave zone). The opihi collector is a daring person who scrapes the opihi off the rocks while keeping an eye on the waves so as not to be washed into the ocean. Consequently, opihi is not cheap since the collection of it is life-threatening.  Needless to say it is delicious and immensely appreciated by those who consume it.

            Even better than the food is the welcoming nature of the people in attendance. If you are invited, you will be treated as a member of the family. We have never found a more congenial gathering than at a local get-together in Hawaiʻi.

A lava flow in the Puna District

            After having been decimated by a hurricane a couple of weeks ago, the Puna area is once again under siege. A lava flow from the Puʻu Oʻo vent on the East Rift Zone of Kilauea Volcano is threatening the area, The latest map from the Hawaiʻi Volcano Observatory has the flow bearing down on the town of Pahoa.

            Pahoa is an old town with only one road, Route 130. in or out. It is estimated that if the lava stays on its present course at its present speed, it will reach the town in about a week. It would then cut across Route 130 and cut off convenient access to the area in which about 18,000 people live.. The county is opening up dirt roads to provide access to the area. However, if the flow is persistent, those roads will also be cut. If that occurs the only possible way for people and goods to get in or out would be if the coastal road is rebuilt over the old lava flow in Volcanoes National Park.

            One can only hope that Pele will halt her flow before this area is once again dealt a devastating blow.

Puʻu Koholā

            Less than 2 miles north of the entrance to Mauna Kea Beach Hotel you will come to a T-intersection. Directly in front of you is the Kohala Volcano. The road you are facing was built along the dividing line between the lava flows of Mauna Kea behind you and the lava flows of Kohala in front of you. Route 19 turns the right leading up to the town of Waimea. However, if you turn left, you will be on Route 270 which goes along the western flank of Kohala. About a half mile from the intersection, there is a road to the makai side which leads to Puʻu Koholā Heiau.

            In about 1790, Kamehameha the ruler of the west side of the island received a prophecy which said that if he built a spectacular heiau (temple) to the war god, Kūkaʻilimoku, he would be the one who would unite all of the Hawaiian Islands. He set out to build such a heiau. The rocks for the structure had to come from the other side of Kohala volcano. He lined up his army across the top of the mountain and had them pass the rocks from one to the other all the way across the mountain. Imagine this line of warriors passing rocks from one person to the next in rapid succession. If a rock was dropped, it was not retrieved because the next rock was on its way. When the heiau was completed it needed to be dedicated with a formal ceremony. Kamehameha invited his rival from the east side of the island, Keōua, to the ceremony. Keōua had recently been defeated by Kamehameha’s army and his own army decimated. He knew that if he went to the dedication, he would be killed. Having few men left in his army, Keōua sailed up the west coast of the island knowing what his fate would be. So he prepared himself spiritually, mentally, and physically to accept his fate: spiritually by communing with the gods regarding his fate, mentally by accepting the fact that he would die, and physically by cutting off his reproductive organ. As he stepped out of his canoe in the bay below the heiau, Kamehameha’s advisers killed him and he was sacrificed at the temple. Kamehameha then proceeded to conquer Maui and Oahu, but was thwarted by storms and illness in his attempts to land a force on Kauaʻi. By 1815, the prophecy had been fulfilled when the chief of Kauaʻi arranged a peace treaty with Kamehameha. Kamehameha was now the ruler of all Hawaiʻi.

            Kamehameha had an advantage in his conquest of the other islands. Two ships had been pillaging the island people. On one, the Fair American, a local chief was beaten. In retaliation Kamehameha killed all the crew, except for the ship’s master, Isaac Davis, and took their weapons. The other ship, the Eleanor, entered Kealakekua Bay to the south and while some crew members were ashore, one of the crew, John Young, was captured. These two men provided Kamehameha with the knowledge of weaponry and the ability to mount the weaponry on his canoes. They became trusted allies; John Young even married into the royal family. Thus, Kamehameha had a distinct advantage over the chiefs of the other islands. The foundation of a house provided for John Young is on the mauka side of the highway, but is now not readily accessible.

            There are actually three heiau at this site. The upper one, Puʻu Koholā or Hill of the Whale, was built by Kamehameha. The one below it, Mailekini, was already on the site. There is also a third heiau in the bay which is referred to as a shark heiau. It was there that enemies were sacrificed to the sharks. There is a stone overlooking the bay which is supposedly where the Kahuna (heiau priest) would rest to watch the sacrifice.

A world Championship in Kona

If you are coming to Kona in October, you are in for an unique experience. On October 11, the annual Ironman World Championship Triathlon will be held in Kona. If you have watched it on television in December, it is actually held in October. The inaugural "Hawaiian Ironman Triathlon" was conceptualized in 1977 as a way to challenge athletes who had seen success at endurance swim, running and biathlon events. Honolulu-based Navy couple Judy and John Collins proposed combining the three toughest endurance races in Hawai’i—the 2.4-mile Waikiki Roughwater Swim, 112 miles of the Around-Oʻahu Bike Race and the 26.2-mile Honolulu Marathon—into one event. On February 18, 1978, 15 people came to Waikiki to take on the Ironman challenge. Prior to racing, each received three sheets of paper with a few rules and a course description. The last page read: "Swim 2.4 miles! Bike 112 miles! Run 26.2 miles! Brag for the rest of your life!" In 1981, the race moved from the tranquil shores of Waikiki to the barren lava fields of Kona on the Big Island of Hawai’i. Along the Kona Coast, black lava rock dominates the panorama, and athletes battle the crosswinds of 45 mph, 95 degree temperatures and a scorching sun.

Already athletes are beginning to arrive in Kona to practice in this unique environment. If you are in the area between now and the race be aware of runners and bicyclists on the roads, who are not always aware of the Hawaiian rules of the road. In excess of 2,000 athletes from all over the world will eventually be in Kona for this race. If you are planning to come to Kona at that time be aware that rental cars will be in short supply as will be accommodations and both must be booked far ahead.

The race begins early in the morning with the 2.4 mile swim in Kailua Bay, the start of which is pure chaos. The contestants are in the water and at the sound of a cannon, the professional athletes start the swim followed shortly thereafter by another cannon shot sending the amateurs on their way. Can you imagine hundreds of people thrashing around the bay for 2.4 miles? After coming out of the water, they rinse off and then find their bike on the pier and ride for 112 miles all the way up to Hāwī and back. The participants then get off their bike and proceed to run a 26.2 mile marathon. The winners usually finish the race in less than 8 ½ hours.  As you might imagine, at the finish, every entrant is immediately taken to the medical tent for observation and treatment. It is truly painful to see these contestants walking through town the following day.

Volunteers are the heart of the race and enable it to be held every year at a lower cost. We have served our time as host and recyclers at the awards banquet on the following day as well as helped out at the bike to run transition. The local population is somewhat torn between those who volunteer every year and those who hunker down in their homes or flee the area on that day. Some of the money raised is donated to local charities to thank all the volunteers.