Day 5: Manuka State Park to Punaluu Beach Park

November 21, 2014

I can't remember a night spent outside when insects put forward such a loud chorus. Starting just at dark, I thought at first that they were a huge flock of birds settling for the night. But no, they carried on for hours. We are pretty sure it was insects and not frogs, but out of tune with the rest came one call, which we think was a frog - the Coqui. At least, that is what it's call sounded like.

Since we did not have the fly on the tent, the fun of the concert was amplified by the view of clear dark Hawaiian sky, filled with stars. Through the night, though, that clear sky, unimpeded by a tent fly, worked at depositing dew on our sleeping bags. Oh well, it was not too bad. True to Hawaii's reputation for having many climatic zones, we also found the night to be chilly, a big change from the night before, down by the beach.

We rose again at 4:00, though without a really good reason, save that we had gone to bed at 6:00. We hung around eating porridge until almost 6, which is when the light comes, and set off down the highway. Very quickly we arrived at Ocean View, which is also known as H.O.V.E., or Hawaiian Ocean View Estates. As you will see on the map. this is a large subdivision, hacked out of the lava. The concept resembles the Florida land schemes where portions of the Everglades were drained and sold off. In the Everglades, the subdivisions eventually spawned the fairly respectable town of Naples. Here, at least, a new supermarket has appeared, and we even found an open breakfast/coffee shop.

A local man, who we had passed walking along the road, came over as we were buying up water. He gave us a review of what was coming up next, as we would head toward the two towns of Waiohinu and Naalehu, and then, having rounded the southern end of the Island, would head up the coast to Punaluu Beach Park. He talked about the rapidly changing cliatic zones, with boundaries like the north and south side of the highway and the South Point Road, 16 km further on.

Whatever he said was soon reality, as we immediately began to cross a series of massive lava flows, while facing the well known south point winds. We found some straps and extra tied down our DaBrim visors. We did not want to take them off and stow them, though, because they were protecting us from rain, driven by the wind. The Rough a'a lava was extra interesting because of it's immense quantity, and the totally impassable areas it created by being piled up into holes and bumps with abut six feet of difference between the bottoms and tops. Most of the lava looked fresh and black, but thi turned out to be about 100 years old. There were some areas of older, browner, lava too, as well as spots (known as kipukas) where the lave had missed.

As we struggled along in the wind, a man in a well used Volvo pulled over to both ask what we were up to and to see if we could use any help. We assured the man, whose name we took to be Owl, that we were fine. Still, he made us a gift of 1/4 bag of local chocolate macadamia nuts, that he had in his pocket. It was ok, he said, because he could stop for a refill at the shop "just ahead". We never did find the shop, but of course "just ahead" has a far different meaning from a car.

It's hard to express the next idea without seeming immodest, but I rather admire the people we meet who understand that our trips are something special. They are perceptive ones, who are taking a special interest in what they are encountering in their lives, and not just walking (or usually, driving) through robotically. So the people with the UQs are something like what we too are trying to be.

We did reach the South Point road, and as advertised the climate changed, almost instantly. What had been a barren and windy lava desert turned into a lush zone of tall trees. Soon we came to a farm stand, selling coffee and macadamia nuts raised right there. This is no longer Kona, but Kau, and the claim is that Kau coffee is superior to Kona. My taste still didn't impress me one way or the other. We were impressed, though, by the two workers we met at the stand. The first, a young woman somehow related to the owners, was soon on her way to Peru, and next year plans to teach in Barcelona. The second, a young man, was from Austria - near Salzburg, wheree his family has a farm. His brother is runnng the farm, freeing him to travel the world. Tomorrow he is leaving for Guatemala!

We naturally chatted for quite a while. When we left, I forgot to retrieve my cycling gloves from where I had dumped them on the back of the bike. GRRR. Our next stop was to be the bakery in Naalehu, which the young woman had pointed out makes specialty Portugese sweet bread. From the coffee farm, the road swooped down beside hills of lush growth, and we quickly passed through Waiohinu, into Naalehu, and to the famous bakery. A car pulled up, contianing the next customers who had come to the coffee farm. The young woman there had sent them along to the bakery, where she knew we would be, to deliver my glove. Glove? Yes, unfortunately she had only found one.

The bakery did have the sweet bread, but more interesting to us was a wide range of Bismarck type donuts, known here as Malasadas. We got a lilikoi (guava) iced one, and a chocolate filled one. Then, another chocolate one and a mango one! We talked to two local Hawaiians near our table, and found that indeed all the marked out roads of HOVE do exist. One of the fellows had bought a one acre plot too, some years ago, for $5,000. He has done nothing with it (covered as it is by lava) except to have a friend spray it periodically to prevent any growth (whatever that would be?) We also asked about the Hawaiian language, and as we suspected learned that there real are no or few pockets of population that actually speak it. One of the fellow mentioned that his aunt had been a fluent speaker, and that consquently he knows a few words, but that is all.

From Naalehu the road continued down to the sea, bit now the lush foliage disappeared and we were back temporarily to lava desert. Finally a left turn led us to Punaluu Black Sand Beach. Here we found busloads of Japanese tourists, and a number of sturdy shelters with picnic tables. The beach indeed is black sand, fringed by palms, and has an area where turtles have hauled out. The turtles and the place are highly photogenic, and of course covered shelters with tables are the best! We chose the largest one, which has many power outlets too, and even overhead lights. Right now, though, our giant luxury venue has attracted a group of six people and two dogs - maybe intent on partying. We are hoping they will clear off, so we can put down our sleeping bags and pass out. Tomorrow, of course, is our big pull (actually, push) up the mountain to Volcano!

Slight update: I went over and sat down among our Hawaiian partiers. Explained what we were all about. Heard about some of their past experiences - in the Marines, as a smoke jumper in Arizona, etc. Talked about the cycle climb tomorrow up to Volcano, and just casually mentioned we would in due course be trying to get to sleep. Then I just wandered off. Pretty soon, so did they, leaving our shelter deserted and quiet! Now perversely, it's a little lonely. They were just getting out the ukeleles!

You may be able to see some of the spots made famous in this blog on this map: like Manuka on the left, the HOVE subdivision, and Punaluu.

Scattered houses on the lava at H.O.V.E.

One of two explanatory signs at a lava overlook. Hopefully it's readable on screen.

Kau coffee is competitive with Kona coffee, but on paper I would guess Kona has the superior growing conditions

An interesting but derelict building in the centre of Naalehu

Tourists are bussed in to see the sand and turtles

This surfer had a good run just after I snapped him, way out in the bay.

When you see the Asian tourists, you are in the right spot!

Epilog

We were a little creeped out by some comings and goings of people in "our" space during the night, but it was ok. At 4:00 a.m. our alarm went and we turned on the overhead lights. Soon, two Hawaiians arrived and sat in a corner. Because of the social dynamics of someone entering your vicinity at a strange time, I went over to talk to them. I asked if they were up late, or up early. They seemed taken aback and said "Why do you want to know?". I replied that I was just curious. The response was that today was the funeral of one of them, and that they had a permit for the pavilion. That was accurate, as the permit was on the wall - to start at 6 a.m. Anyway, I reached out to touch his arm and said "I'm sorry". He jumped back, with "Don't touch me, man!".

So I withdrew, thinking here was one of those instances we had read about, of unwelcoming local people. Dodie excused him because of the circumstances. Besides, what they were really doing in the corner was cutting up hashish.

Later, the young man did try out some conversational gambits, like "Where are you heading?" , and ultimately we lent him a charger for his phone, and he said a nice thank you. Still, this was the first instance in any country or with any person (save a run in with a pedestrian in London) where standard Grampies puppy dog friendliness was met with any kind of hostility. It's too small a sample to mean anything, but still goes down on the record.

Today's ride: 43 km (27 miles)
Total: 126 km (78 miles)

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