We took a walk around the neighborhood early in the morning before we left the B&B. The air in Volcano Village smells funny. No, it's not the smell of fresh air which I, as an Angeleno, would know nothing about. It smells like mildew. It truly is a rainforest, so green and lush, there's even green moss growing from the telephone lines. The residences were interesting. From pre-fab to pre-statehood, mansion to shack, they had everything in one block. I'm not sure I would like to live in the rainforest, but if I did, I'd like to live in the house we saw that truly looked like a rainforest house. Far back from the road, you would have to walk or drive through a true forest to get to the front door. They had rigged an alarm system on the gate on the driveway: a bunch of aluminum cans on strings hanging from the gate.
On our way out of town, we stopped at Volcano Winery for a free wine-tasting. They make 6 different wines at Volcano Winery and they are fantastic. One of them is made from guavas and that was my favorite. They also make one called Macadamia Nut Honey. It has neither nuts nor grape juice in it. It's just a honey mead which they say tastes like mac nut because the honey was made by bees which only pollinate mac nut trees. Ok, that one, I didn't like so much. But we bought bottles of Volcano Red and Hawaiian Guava. The guava wine is awesome. It has 3 distinct flavors, said the retailer behind the counter. First, sweet. Then, it becomes a nutty flavor. Finally, something like buttered popcorn. He narrated the wine as I was experiencing all the flavors, like some magical Willy Wonka. Lucky for me, they ship to CA.
Our next stop was a black sand beach. There were turtles in the water and sunning on the beach, to our surprise.
Next stop was a national park that I forgot the name of. It is considered to be a sacred place, where ancient Hawaiian draft dodgers and battle losers could go to be forgiven. The guide map was somewhat educational and pointed out different areas in the park where various activities had taken place. Immediately next to the park was a small beach with sunbathers and families and barbecues and such. I thought it was kind of sad. For a sacred place with such history, the presentation lacked the solemnity I thought it deserved. When I mentioned my thoughts to Mike, he said maybe the presentation is exactly appropriate, in a strange reversed kind of way. This is an American presentation of a Hawaiian place. If the place had been sacred to Americans, it would have been given the treatment of the JFK museum or some other somber US memorial. But instead, we see an American presentation of a place that is sacred to a conquered people.
Our guidebook told us to spend 4 hours in the park. We stayed about 20 minutes and saw the whole thing.
We tried to stop for lunch on the way to Kona. It was 2:10 and we found a restaurant recommended by our guidebook. But they closed at 2:00 and wouldn't let us in. A lot of restaurants in Hawaii are like that. Lunch from 12-2 and then dinner from 5-9. If you come in at 8:30, expect to get turned away or get lousy service. I witnessed this several times on the island.
We checked into the Sheraton in Keauhou Bay and then drove to a marina to register for a manta ray nighttime snorkeling trip. Mike tells the story like this: Here are the things that were missing from the trip:
- The boat
- The captain
- Manta rays
- The scuba divers
- The light that's supposed to illuminate the dive
- The other half of our time
Here is the story from the beginning. We show up at the marina and check in at a beautiful boat which I won't say the name of because I really did enjoy the trip regardless of how it turned out. The captain tells us that there's something wrong with his boat, so his friend is going to take us out instead. The boat is outfitted for snorkelers and scuba divers, and we're going out at night to see manta rays, we hope. The rays are 18 feet across and harmless and they eat plankton, which is attracted to our flashlights and a big light that someone has placed on the bottom of the ocean. I've never been in the water at night, and Mike's never snorkeled at all, so we're very excited. Though I admit I'm a bit nervous to see manta rays. There are 4 people scheduled to snorkel, and a party of 6 scuba divers. I felt kind of intimidated by the scuba divers. It was only my 2nd time snorkeling.
Before we even get on the boat, the divers announce that they forgot their regulators. The stand-in captain (the original captain didn't join us) says he has some on his boat that they can use.
We get on the boat and on the way to the bay, one of the divers is bragging about swimming with 30 sharks. Another diver and his wife say they're having 2nd thoughts about diving, given that they'll have borrowed regs. The leader of the pack (I guess) starts heckling the guy and basically calling him chicken. I listened to this in shock and amusement. A woman wearing police academy shorts and another woman wearing a Tshirt saying "I'm cooler than my kids think" just smile and let the guys argue.
We get to the bay and there's another boat there too. The captain's assistant says now we just wait for it to get dark. We suit up in wetsuits. Due to the recent rains, the sea is very choppy, and the woman wearing the cool Tshirt complains of being seasick and sits on the end of the boat. Assistant tells us that the other boat was supposed to put a big light at the bottom of the ocean. When it gets dark, we'll be able to see the light and that is where the snorkelers are supposed to go. The divers will be on the bottom with little flashlights. Then the manta rays will come. When the sun goes down it is indeed very dark, and very obvious that there is no light at the bottom of the ocean. In the end, there were only 3 divers, including Assistant. They go down first and promise to shine their little lights up so the rest of us snorkelers will know where to go. 8 snorkelers. The first pair is the other pair that was always a snorkeling pair. I think it was the woman's first time too, cuz she needed help putting her mask on. They jump in and swim away without incident, with their little flashlights.
The 2nd pair is the shark hunter and his wife, who evidently chickened out of scuba after all. As soon as shark hunter hits the water, he complains of a leg cramp and clings to the boat. His wife clings to the other side, waiting for him. The stand-in captain tries to politely tell him that clinging to the boat is not safe and that if his leg hurts, he should just float in the water and use his snorkel to breathe. He refuses and this argument goes on for several minutes.
The 3rd pair are the 2 women. Cool Tshirt decides to stay on the boat, due to seasickness. I'm really surprised that someone prone to seasickness is a scuba diver, but whatever. Policewoman jumps in alone and swims away with a flashlight.
Last to go is Mike and me. Mike jumps in first, since now there is only room to de-boat for one person at a time. Seasick woman is sitting on one end and the captain is still arguing with leg cramped shark hunter on the other end. I'm nervous for Mike since now it is pitch black and the only thing he knows about breathing through a snorkel is what I mimed for him in the car on the way over. I jump in after him.
The 2 of us swim toward the designated spot, but we're some distance apart since he got a head start. As I swim toward the center of the bay, the policewoman is swimming back. She's screaming, "I need help! Please help me!" which naturally freaks me out. I'm cautious and I look at her (in the dark) to see what is wrong. Does she have a leg cramp? Is she seasick? Is she hurt? Is someone else hurt? Oh my god, is there a shark?! She seems fine to me, aside from the screaming for help. In the meantime, Mike the EMT is screaming at me from the other side. "Don't touch her! Get away from her! She'll drag you down!" But I'm not going to leave her so I'm just treading water and staring at her. I guess she was just panicked for no reason. Finally the captain hears her and talks her back to the boat. So I keep swimming toward Mike.
The assistant told us we'd have 45 minutes. Mike and I join what is now a big group of snorkelers floating on the surface. The other boat has emptied into the water too. We hover on the surface and shine our lights down. The 3 divers are on the bottom shining their lights up. All we see are lots of silver fish. We wait. After less than 10 minutes, I look up to see that there's now only 4 of us. Me and Mike and the original 2 snorkelers. "Where'd everybody go?" I yell, over the wind and waves. They just shrug and put their faces back in the water. So the 4 of us now shine our lights down and I try to will a manta ray to appear. After about 5 more minutes, I notice that the divers are gone. There's no more lights on the bottom of the ocean. So now it's really just us 4, floating in pitch dark between the 2 boats. 5 minutes later the assistant swims out and tells us that there's no mantas tonight and there's seasick people on the boat and it's time to come in.
The policewoman shows no sign of panic. She's chipper and trying to cheer up the seasick woman. Everyone else seems sort of embarrassed. We go home.
Mike and I ate dinner at Kai, the restaurant at the Sheraton. The service was SO BAD that I will say it again. The service is terrible at Kai, don't eat there.
We went to the outdoor bar at the Sheraton and looked out over the ocean. The Sheraton has put 2 big lights on the roof that shine down into the water. Mike points out movement in the water...a turtle, or...could it be? Manta rays. Two ginormous manta rays playing in the surf. They swim fast and all the way up to the surface. All of the sudden the thought that I might have been in the water with manta rays terrified me. What would I have done if a manta had actually shown up? I honestly don't know. Shut my eyes, no doubt. Could I have remained calm? I'm not sure. I'm glad we didn't see any mantas on our excursion. It was enough for me to see them from a safe place on land.
No comments:
Post a Comment