Day 29: Kona to the North (and back)

February 8, 2016

Our objectives for today were all hidden treasures that lie somewhere between Kona town and the airport, about 15 km north. These hidden treasures are not really hidden, just sort of hiding in plain sight.

We notice the first treasure each time we pass. There is a building covered in solar panels, and behind it a large solar array. The sign says Natural Energy Laboratory. The second treasure is just something Dodie spotted in a brochure somewhere - Ocean Rider Seahorse Farm. Ocean rider offers "Magical Seahorse Tours", and is in the same general area as Natural Energy Laboratory.

Our understanding of what this was all about jumped by leaps and bounds as we entered that building with all the solar panels and met Candee Ellsworth, the Executive Director of "Friends of NELHA" (Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii). Candee was rushed, because her Center was pretty much closed today to host some private tours (some farmers from the Midwest in a tour bus). Still, she took the time to try to explain things to us. It took a little time for the thing to sink in, but I'll spare you our twisting path to understanding and skip to the bottom line.

NELHA is an ocean science and technology park that capitalizes on Kona's well known benefits - lots of sun, low rainfall, no winter and adds three major pipelines drawing fresh sea water. On the one hand, water is taken from the deep sea, 2000 or 3000 feet down. This water is ancient and pollution free. Plus its temperature is 4-5 degrees C. On the other hand water is taken from the warm surface, about 25-28 degrees C.

With the sun and the water at two temperatures it is possible to do an amazing range of things. I was confused at first because the first thing described was electricity generation. It seemed like that was what it was all about. Certainly producing electricity from the water temperature differential is interesting. What they do is to pump ammonia into a heat exchanger where it is warmed by the warm water. The ammonia boils at low temperature, and the ammonia gas then drives a generator. After the generator, the ammonia s cooled by the cold water source, and the cycle continues. Unfortunately, with the hot and cold water pumps and the ammonia pump all needing power, the net power production of the test unit is not all that much. It makes for great posters and photos, though.

But the waters and sun also support at least 40 other schemes. It's a playground of what you can do with pumps, tanks, exchangers, and suchlike. Here they are growing abalone, octopus, and lobsters, making pharmaceuticals, and even desalinating the pure deep water to yield clean mineral water. Even the visitor centre is a user of the waters, not only for air conditioning, but with a scheme (that I did not catch) which captures condensed moisture to have drinking water.

Complicated design of the visitor centre

The seahorse farm, it turns out, is just one more scheme taking advantage of the waters and the sun to grow something that needs sea water of a specific temperature. The company, Ocean Rider, had been producing seahorses for hobby aquariums since 1998. However when at least some species were placed on the CITES Schedule II list (somewhat threatened) they found themselves as the world's only living and breeding gene bank of seahorses. They then seemed to have mostly morphed into a seahorse preservation foundation.

Seahorses, when you see them up close, are super super cute and really have the head of a horse. They back this up with a tail like a monkey, a kangaroo like pouch, and true male pregnancy. Touring the facility would have been highly interesting, but the fee is $42 each. Yikes. We found that very pricey, even if they do promise that a seahorse will wrap itself around your fingers and make goo goo eyes at you. We settled for a tour of the gift shop, which actually was pretty interesting!

The next hidden treasure turned out also to be part of NELHA in some way, and that was Wawaloli Beach. The beach is on the NELHA lands and seems very well known to locals. It should have been very well known to us, since our guidebook deems it " A Real Gem". It's hard to know all the beaches, though, since there are dozens and dozens of them. Wawaloloi features a large tide pool, protected from the crashing surf beyond. At low tide (which is what we found) it is only a couple of feet deep. Still, there were several types of fish to be seen (only recognized the Convict Tang) plus many anemones clinging to the rocks. I know all this because I am now the proud owner of a mask and snorkel, purchased at the ABC store. Don't laugh, it actually works!

I was sorry that Dodie, who needs her glasses, could not look under the water and see the fish too. She was really nice to sit at a table while I followed the fish around. She took some photos too:

Heading down to the beach at NELHA. Unless landscaped, it is very barren on the lava here.

Growing algae in some sort of contraption

Don't get tired, because there are still three more stops on this north of Kona cycle. The next one was the Ellison Onizuka Space Center, right at the airport though perhaps not widely known. Ellison Onizuka was the astronaut raised in the coffee lands of Holualoa just south of here. He flew a space shuttle Discovery mission in 1985, making him the first Japanese/American/Hawaiian in space. Hawaii was jubilant with his safe return and he was an instant hero. Then in 1986, he was on the ill fated Challenger.

At the memorial space center, a poignant film reviews his life, in the words of his friends and family. It really was quite something to come from a backwater agricultural area and achieve what he did. The film also carefully develops the story of Ellison's devotion to children, and the extent to which he would visit schools or clubs, looking to inspire the kids.

With that background, it is fitting that the space center is mostly devoted to kids' activities. It is almost all hands on, and thoroughly enjoyable.

One thing Dodie picked up on right away (from a newspaper photo on a wall) was that the lady who collected our $3 entry fee was Ellison's sister. We found that very special. On the other hand, we are distressed to learn that the center is slated, after 30 years, to be closed forever at the end of March. Apparently the TSA at the airport wants the space for some kind of further inspection area. The educational items may then be dispersed to schools, while the Onizuka memorabilia would go back to the family. Other stuff would go back to NASA. What a shame! In Canada, a stunt like this would be equivalent to tearing down the Terry Fox statue in Thunder Bay to put up a McDonald's. We would like to think that could never happen. It's strange, too, because in America national heroes are pretty much forever, as in Canada.

Dodie spent some time talking over the situation with the center curator, Nancy Tashima. We were thinking that that upper area in the Koehnen Building in Hilo (see Day 17) could be a possible space to move to. It would require interagency cooperation, so dunno.

Look Laurie, they like your toy here too

Hard to see behind glass - but here is front page news when Onizuka returned from Discovery. Note the sidebar about the next flight.

Lots of kid level space books at the Onizuka Center

Onizuka Center was almost all hands on for kids

Dodie discusses the closure of the centre with Nancy Tashima

If you can read this - it's Onizuka's inspirational message to future generations

Finally we began to head south, back toward Kona, to check out Costco. Costco is a hidden treasure firstly because while you can easily see it up on a hill, it is not so clear how to get there. Usually Costco has a discreet sandwich board with an arrow, but not in this case. Last night, though, the GPS showed us the secret, so off we went.

On the way, we ran into what became the second last hidden treasure - Aloha Woods. We have been including photos in the blog of various KOA things - like cabins, staircases, rocking chairs, and slabs for sale at markets. Lots of that was because son Jeremy is very interested in woodworking. He had emailed us, jokingly we hoped, about which slabs to buy at the markets. But here was Aloha Woods, a legitimate large vendor, with the ability to ship in flat rate boxes. We had fun running around looking at the gorgeous raw woods and at finished products, with the guidance of Donna. Donna helped by showing us the various species and sizes, and rubbing down pieces with a damp sponge to display the grain and colours.

We took a couple of (expensive) lumps in hand and were ready to carry or ship them, but realized that we had no idea if Jeremy could find a use for a given piece or a given size. So I did the modern thing and phoned him. More modern would have been to show the things to him wth Skype, but our internet does not work to that extent. Even so, we came up with some good choices, which rode away on the back of my bike.

The Saffron Finch is so cute. We see them here usually in small flocks

Heading into Kona in the afternoon, we are going faster than the traffic

Ah, the excavators are now playing in the mud!

At Aloha woods, we got an individualized tour

This matched KOA set, enough to make a guitar, cost $400

Look at the joineery on this table, and the way the edge is scalloped out.

Now finally we reached Costco. Costco, as many know, has a lot of products that are not commonly found elsewhere. But on the mainland, you certainly can find good substitutes all over. Not so on Hawaii. Probably 70 percent of the Costco things can not be found anywhere else on the Island. On the other hand, we really had not come to buy a camera, a salmon steak, or at this stage, not even a bread. We came away with a container of fresh turkey wrap sandwiches. They were good, and had a normal price. But buying just one item on a Costco trip is very strange behaviour. Shoulda picked up a few cameras and a birthday cake while we were there!

We now know the way from up north on into the Kona Seaside quite well, and we actively swooped off the road and on in to the Seaside lobby. There are no hotel doors in this tropical place. Of course we politely dismounted and walked our bikes right into our room, for a rather well earned rest.

When we walk out of our hotel at night we pass Splashers (bright lights) and end up at the ABC store. This photo will remind us of the gentle summer like evening warmth, though it is February.

Today's ride: 40 km (25 miles)
Total: 991 km (615 miles)

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