Hawaii, the Big Island – Part 7

A new day in Hawaii dawned and it was going to be the busiest day of the trip. Carrie, Allison and I were heading to South Point, which is the southernmost spot in the United States. We had other destinations in mind as well, including Place of Refuge and Volcanoes National Park, if time allowed. (Spoiler: it did not.)

We started the long drive south later than I would have liked, as usual, although I wasn’t exactly upset that we were taking things easy. I was also relieved that I had chosen to bring my hiking shoes and some hiking socks as the sole (heh) alternative to wearing my sandals, because the additional padding meant that my cut heel didn’t make me wince with every step.

We’d been hoping to include the Green Sand Beach on this outing as well, but there were some problems. Since we didn’t have a 4×4, we’d have to walk to the beach and back, to the tune of something like 2.5 miles each way. So challenge #1 was that chunk of flesh missing from the bottom of my left heel. It generally didn’t hurt when I had the hiking shoes and socks on though, so I was still eager to go. Carrie wasn’t thrilled at the prospect of the hike though, particularly with Allison along. While Allison had previously managed longer hikes, the prospect of any terrain challenges like the lava rocks she’d tripped over on Day One was troubling.Also, we just weren’t going to have enough time to make that long of a hike, especially at the speed of a perpetually distracted six-year old. Green Sand Beach would have to wait for some future visit.

Hulihee Palace, built in 1838.

We drove south past the airport and to the town of Kailua for gas and to take a quick look at a couple of points of interest, including the Transit of Venus benchmark on the grounds of Hulihee Palace. This mark commemorated the expedition here to observe the 1874 transit of Venus and was one of many scientific observing stations set up around the globe. This was one of three stations on the Hawaiian Islands. The palace was at the time the residence of Princess Ruth, who granted her permission for its use. It is said that she preferred to live in a grass hut on the palace grounds, rather than inside the building.

The setting bears the date 1929, when the marker was created, but also “1829” and – oddly enough – no one knows why the latter date is there. Probably an error by the person that created it.

It seems that these scientific astronomical observations – the first recorded on Hawaii – caught the interest of the Hawaiian king at that time, King Kalakaua, who developed a keen interest in astronomy. He later visited Lick Observatory (my local observatory and one of my favorite places) and expressed a desire to see an observatory built in Hawaii. I imagine that he’d have been pleased with the Mauna Kea observatories that we were to visit the following day.

At Kailua, there was an enormous ocean liner at anchor in the bay, and things were bustling. I made a brief visit to the palace, the Transit benchmark, and the old church across the street. The we topped up the tank in the rental car and continued south along  the coast. Soon, the surroundings again turned to lush, dense tropical foliage, which we liked better than the lava fields. Before long we’d arrived at the Pu’uhonua o Honaunau (thank the gods for cut and paste!) National Historical Park, aka the Place of Refuge.

Apparently the Gods frown upon relaxing in the sun.

In the old Hawaii, this area was the royal grounds for the chiefs, and was fenced off from the adjacent Place of Refuge. This was a sanctuary for those who had transgressed the kapu or traditional laws, or perhaps been defeated in battle. If you could manage to reach this place alive, you could find absolution from the priests and escape death.

“Well sure, I escaped certain death, but I was really looking forward to some sunbathing.”

Upon our arrival, at the little shop area, one of the park rangers gave Allison a representation of a fish on the end of a fishing pole, woven out of indigenous leaves. All of the rangers were really nice here, and Allison was thrilled with her new toy.

We took the self-guided tour of the royal grounds, which were in an idyllic location of amazing beauty. White sand, tall palms, clear light blue waters… This place had all the makings of a stereotypical postcard from a tropical paradise. There were a couple of sea turtles on the beach, near the replica huts and tikis. While nearing the end of our walk, we heard a loud cracking and crashing sounds, which turned out to be a cluster of coconuts falling from a tree perhaps 50 yards from us. Thankfully it hadn’t landed on anyone!

Guardians on the stunning bay shore.

We probably could have spent a lot more time in the park and the beautiful bay waters (there were many scuba divers and snorkelers) but we had to get moving. We continued south, admiring the land, and stopped to grab some drinks and sandwich wraps at a small roadside shop. We pressed onward until we finally reached the South Point Road, where I’ll pick up in the next post.