February 17-18, 2024
Getting on the scale in Los Angeles, I was concerned – I was up 1 ½ pounds. Luckily, when we docked again in Hilo, my weight was back to my baseline – I guess I had a “bad bloat” day.
After a few lovely days at sea (a little rolling, but nothing like Drake’s Passage), we arrived at the Big Island of Hawai’i with our first stop in Hilo on the windward side. The showers on arrival cleared quickly and although a little windy, the weather improved for most of the day (lucky – Hilo gets over 130 inches of rain per year). We walked the 1.5 miles into town to the Saturday Farmers and Crafters market. Vendors displayed beautiful jewelry and I couldn’t resist – purchasing 3 pairs of earrings for $20 at one seller, and a really cool black and red necklace and earring set with the Murano-style glass that will go perfectly with my black and red formal dress for $65.
The town provided maps and a self-guided walking tour, with my main goal being the Tsunami Museum.
Hilo is very walkable, with coffee shops, boutiques and free public buses. The abundant parkland along the waterfront is due to the many devastating tsunamis over the years. The Hawaiian Islands sit squarely in the middle of the Pacific Ring of Fire, and earthquakes thousands of miles away in Chile or Alaska, can create waves that travel all the way to Hawaii – often the first land encountered.
The first massive tsunami of the modern era crashed ashore in 1946- an 8.6 earthquake rattled the Aleutian Islands off of Alaska and created a 36-foot-high tsunami that rolled over the growing town, killing 158 people. The town rebuilt, its railroad repairs completed in 1960 – 3 weeks before another wave hit the city. The largest earthquake ever recorded – a 9.5 on the Richter scale- hit Chile in 1960, the shockwaves through the pacific created a series of waves – the highest approximately 15 feet high (something I found out – Tsunamis are not typically a single wave, but a series, and the highest could be a later wave and can be separated by hours).
At the museum, the docent told us about a tree at Coconut tree park on the other side of town with markers of the heights of the waves. We hopped on the free city bus to go see the tree.
In line for the bus, a local told us about Richardson Ocean Park outside of town – the last stop on the bus – where green sea turtles come into the tidal pools at high tide and rest through low tide (and is free to enter). Coconut Tree Park is a local’s place, where the kids jump into the water from the tower and families picnic and enjoy the weather.
We took the lady’s advice and got the next bus to Richardson Seaside Park. To get to the turtles, you need to walk across 100 yards of often sharp basalt rocks to the pools. (One young lady walked across in bare feet – I commented she must have tough feet, she said “of course – when you live here, you go everywhere barefoot”).
I made it across with very minor scrapes, and it was very much worth it.
Kona, on the leeward/ dry side of the island, gets over 300 days of sunshine per year (we caught it on a cloudy day with intermittent light showers- this side only gets 20-40” of rain annually). It’s a tender port due to the reefs, but a short ride over light chop to the pier. Our plan for the day: walk around, go to Target and Costco. The free trolley – which does not run close to its schedule (we waited for almost ½ hour after its scheduled time) took us to Target. We picked up a few things we’d missed in L.A., then grabbed an Uber out to Costco (it took awhile to connect to one – there were not a lot of drivers out on a Sunday late morning). Even in Hawaii, Costco only charges $2 for a slice of pizza and $1.50 for a hot dog – so lunch for 2 was less than $8.
Afterwards, we dropped off our purchases on the ship and tendered back to town to wander some more as a street fair (which takes place one Sunday a month) had been set up along the waterfront.
Some of the same vendors from Hilo were present, but everything seemed a little more expensive in Kona. We met up with friends Liam and Alan for snacks and beers before returning to the ship.
Next stop- Honolulu!
History lesson:
Approximately 1000 AD, a group of Polynesians from The Marquesas Islands journeyed almost 2000 miles across the Pacific in double-hulled canoes called “Wa’a”. They brought pigs, chickens and edible plants to propagate in their new home. The cultures kept connected for close to 500 years, but eventually, the Hawaiians became isolated from the other island groups, developing their own unique culture.
The Hawaiians had a strict social structure; the chiefs – the Ali’i – governed a wedge-shaped district called a moku. Each of the 4 main islands – Kaua’i, O’ahu, Maui and Hawai’i – were divided in this pattern, with sub-divisions called ahupua’a. Prior to King Kamehameha, the islands had their own monarchs. Captain Cook was the first European to arrive in 1778, which caused concern among the kings. The islands were unified by King Kamehameha between 1795-1810. Kamehameha traded for advanced weapons and training for his men from the westerners and used the knowledge to defeat the kings of the other islands. It is likely he recognized the threat the westerners would become, and unified the islands to strengthen Hawaii’s position in negotiating with the haole (foreigners). This ideal worked for almost a century. The Kingdom was recognized as a sovereign nation, with diplomats in several countries, and consulates in major US cities. Unfortunately for the Kingdom/Queendom, businessmen eyed the tropical paradise for what they could plunder, and the US recognized its strategic location in the pacific for our growing Navy. Without any just cause, the US sent in troops on January 16, 1893 at the request of US minister (and likely approval of outgoing President Harrison) to Hawaii to “protect American lives”. In reality, it was at the request of Sanford Dole and a group of fellow sugar planters to wrest the islands from the rightful monarch. Under the threat of loss of life for her people, Queen Liliuokalani yielded her crown under protest, and hoped the incoming President Cleveland or the world court would restore her to power. Despite the fact that Grover Cleveland recognized that the “provisional government” of businessmen who had arranged the coup d’etat had no standing or rights, Congress refused to authorize release of the lands back to the monarch and officially annexed the Hawaiian Islands as a Territory of the United States in 1900. Queen’s Liliuokalani died in 1917. Hawaii became the 50th state in 1959.
I’ll discuss the Day of Infamy in the next post.
Loved the turtles and didn’t know that about the shocking history of theft of the islands!
Not one of the US’s finest hours