Okay, so I'm out of the rains, and hanging on the beaches of the sunny / "Kona" side of the island for a few days to take a break from work, recenter myself, soak up sun and seawater.
Swimming, goggled, at "beach 69" (just south of hapuna, south kohala coast) I encountered a massive creature that at once startled me and brought a smile to my face. an elegant sea turtle, the size (but not shape) of a medium-large dog, cruising around through the shallows. its waving arms reminded me of wings (I thought later of how to small insects, gravity affects them mildly, "as if they were moving through water," someone once told me) and it tail legs just hung out behind. a graceful creature, unworried, not stressing. I could have placed a hand on its shell or head but I decided to just hang with it for a bit. I have trouble holding my breath very long while I'm swimming, so it was a lot of ups and downs as it just aqua-frolicked....
last night was so windy that I had to secure my tent with rocks and lean into the windward side of it with my body to prevent it from folding up and sandwiching me... across the way I heard some bellowing and laughing childrens voices. I peeked out of my distorted rainfly to see that their tent had overturned entirely, perhaps taking them for a bit of a tumble ride , hopefully well cushioned by bedding...
this morning I lost the bout with some beautiful goldenbrown coconuts, and gained some well chafed forearms, inner thighs and chest in the process. I tuckered out about 3/4 the way up the 15 or so foot tree. with more of the right muscles and some technique pointers... Oh, if I'd have a long pole and a saw to lash on it I could have succeeded!!
For my foraging pleasures I had to settle for a bite of noni (which I am still working up an appetitite for--it's kind of like juicy effervescent blue cheese fruit), reported to heal all that ails ya.
Last week I ventured to the Puna area, where I met lots of kind and warm people, fresh black lava rock (some less that a year old), Ohia trees growing up through it, more geologically advanced regions with actual soil and thick jungles... warm pools heated by volcanothermal power... a couple communities that both felt warm, welcoming and exciting to visit...
soon it will be time for me to choose between them, figure out a way to actually earn a bit of money, so that I don't return home close to broke...
now though I'm taking some time to relax and reorient and reenergize.
I've got another night at spencer beach, and then will probably proceed south to camp at Ho'okena, where I can take a day trip to kealakekua bay for supersnorkeling.
the internet time expires soon.
aloha
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