Day 21: Hawi to Hapuna Beach: Iron Grampies

December 7, 2014

Hawaii came up with one of the best possible rides for us today. We began with a last look at our lovely hotel, with the tropical plants in the central courtyard, and we powered up with the fresh papaya we had bought at the farmers' market. It was amazing how within 5 km of leaving Hawi, heading West and then around the corner of the island, to head South, the landscape changed from lush, with flowering shrubs, to lava rock scrub. It was still beautiful, though. To our right was the blue ocean - that unique brand of Hawaiian blue - and views of Maui in the distance.

The road was great, with a wide shoulder and gentle slopes. This is at least part of the Ironman route. One downer though - a white bike by the roadside. It was there to mark the death of Jesse Taylor in 2012. The story according to HawaiiNewsNow is:

"NORTH KOHALA, HAWAII (HawaiiNewsNow) -

Big Island authorities have identified the man killed in a crash on Akoni Pule highway Thursday.

Police say Jessie Taylor, 52, was riding his bike when he was hit from behind by a Nissan truck. Taylor was part of a cycling group that was doing a four-day ride around the island.

A longtime friend of the Kailua-Kona man says he was riding a couple miles in front of Taylor when he heard about the fatal accident.

"The interesting thing was that recently he said, 'If I ever have to die, I want to die riding,'" said Franz Weber, who was riding down to Hawi when the accident happened. "It was his passion. It was the perfect way to go."

Police say the driver of the truck was a 16-year-old girl, who was driving with her mother. Hawaii News Now has learned she was driving with a learner's permit.

The teenager told police she fell asleep at the wheel, but the crash is under investigation.

Friends of Taylor say they are planning a memorial ride in his honor.

Ah, one other downer - today is December 7 - the 73rd anniversary of Pearl Harbor.

In almost no time we arrived at Lapakahi State Historical Park. Lapakahi is the site of a 600 year old Hawaiian village, that was extensively excavated and archeologically analysed it the late 1960's. It amounts to a large number of enclosures formed by lava rock walls, and identified as houses, canoe storage, holy places, etc. It was moderately interesting, though the one staff member on hand was supremely uninformative, and the signage and pamphlet left a lot out, including very significantly which was the way to the next numbered stop in the pamphlet.

Rather than the various piles of rocks, it was the stunning blue of the sea, and its contrast with the dry lava of the land that most fascinated me. The clear blue sky must have intensified the colours, and it was glorious.

Now we passed various dirt roads heading off toward the sea. According to our guidebook, each of these roads leads exactly to nothing of interest. Soon, though, our road began a rolling descent to Kawaihae. We passed the occasional well landscaped entrance to some exclusive gated community or suchlike. It was remarkable how power macinery and irrigation could create beautiful patches, unlike the rocky and barren lands that the residents of Lapakahi village had had.

Ouur maps showed that at Kawaihae our highway 270 just joined in to highway 19 and continued on toward Kona. It turned out to be not so simple, and we got diverted for a while to the Port of Kawaihae. There are two main features to this area overall. One is storage tanks and various ugly stuff associated with the port, and the other is the Puukohola Heiau (Temple) pverlooking the water. We were getting a bit beat by this time, having been in the bright sun and heat for several hours, so we did not take the road down to the Heiau. From the distance, it looked like an extra large pile of stones. From the guidebook we learn that a priest had told Kamehameha's wife's grandmother that he should build this if he wanted to conquer Hawaii. The stones were dragged here by thousands of workers. Many were sacrificed at different spots to keep the gods happy. As seems to be hs pattern, Kamehameha helped with the construction, hefting rocks with abandon. Lifting rocks seems to have been his "superpower".

There is no camping at Hapuna Beach. Camping is at Spencer Beach, near Puukohola. However at Hapuna there are rental A frames, and that is what we went for. Any image of a cabin on the beach was erased when we found that things are arranged with pavillions by the beach, backed by a large parking lot, and then backed (across the road and up a hill) by the cabins. No matter, the cabins were actually quite lovely, with large sleeping platforms and a serviceable small picnic table within. That's it, though. For $55 there are no sleeping mats or curtains or linen. There is, though, one light bulb and two electric outlets. We have our camping gear, so we are really snug in here. And there is lots of room for our bikes too. We always feel better when sleeping with our bikes!

We set out on the hike past the other cabins and though the parking and pavilions to see the darn famous beach we had come to. It was worth it. As we had read, here was a long and deep white sand beach, with a gentle but still exciting surf coming in. We are much less prone to do snorkling or other water activities than most, but still no one can ignore the therapeutic feel of sand and warm salt water waves from a bright blue ocean. Dodie tentatively inched her way in, and I hoped her knees would appreciate the experience.

Tomorrow offers a bit longer distance than we have been doing of late, but we are planning to extend it even more by detouring to see petroglyphs and fish ponds on the grounds of two of the mega resorts near here. We are very excited about it, and plan to get up extra early to have at it!

I thoought this tree had its branches weighted by burlap sacks

But no, these are fruits, or more like potatoes - what is this thing?

A great road and great weather for bike riding.

Like Jesse, we would be ok, if necessary, with dying riding.

Fallen down walls where walls and a roof once stood

Great sleeping platform inside the demo hut

Could have taken a hundred shots like this

The village extended for several hundred yards along the shore

The wall on the left has been reconstructed

Entrance to some sort of luxury development. There were several along the way

Our guidebook says a Japanese company purchased 3,000 acres of this in 1990 for $45 million. They sold in 1998 for $5 million. Hmmm.

Walmart? No, Hapuna beach - the most idyllic spot on the coast!

Look Amelia, there are no squirrels on this island, but they do have Mongooses, like this guy.

I love the way the Americans use acronyms and euphemisms. UXO indeed. These could be bloody live bombs in a campground!

The hill leading to the cabins. We took this shot because of the sign, which says in part "no bicycles". You can imagine our response to that latest example of bicycle touring indifference/hostility from county or state government!

Today's ride: 37 km (23 miles)
Total: 640 km (397 miles)

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