Living La Vida Loca

We were so blessed to have the opportunity to share a week in the sun with Ruthie and Simon – on the Big Island of Hawaii. The timing could not have been better.  Simon is in his third year of neurosurgery residency (4 more to go) and on rotation to LA Children’s Hospital. Ruthie has been working incredibly hard at FIGS having been promoted (she was working hard before that!).  Andrew and I have been in a transitional time workwise, combined with supporting family members dealing with medical challenges…it was a perfect time to get away and recharge all our life batteries.

We chose the Big Island for a couple of reasons…We’d never been to this island and knew it would have a very different landscape from Maui and Kauai – mostly lava terrain with verdant oases of resorts along the waterfront. It also is much less crowded than the other islands we’d been to.  In addition, Simon – being a North Carolina native – had never been to Hawaii at all. Those reasons were plenty to get us booked and packed!

All four of us agreed that our main goal for the trip was simple:  Chill. Period.  Sleep, good food, a bit of diving and snorkeling, more sleep…and so it went.  We stayed at a VRBO condo in Waikoloa just north of Kona on the west side of the island (called Halii Kai).  This area is mainly a cluster of condo villages and high-end resort hotels and honestly that was perfect for our agenda.  We weren’t looking to be in the center of the action, but we were close enough to basic amenities and the few activities we wanted to do.  Not an exotic trip, rather an R & R opportunity. 

So, what DID we do for the week?

The real highlight I think for all of us was our diving and snorkeling adventures.  I’d highly recommend the dive company we used – Big Island Divers – super professional and very experienced crews.  One morning the four of us went out on a boat for two dives – one to a spot called Rabbi’s Arch (seriously) and the other Tako Bell (again, seriously).  Legend has it that weddings were performed under the arch of coral at the first spot that we swam under. I guess we could have renewed our vows on that dive.  The other spot is names after a “tako” (Japanese for octopus) that supposedly was resident there in the past but hasn’t been seen in recent times.  We did get to swim through some very cool coral channels, and Simon and I saw a large eel that kind of freaked us both out with his wide-mouthed greeting. 

Even more spectacular was our close encounters with manta rays.  Ruthie and Simon dove down to about 30 feet and sat on the bottom of the cove with torches lighting up the water.  Andrew and I chose to snorkel above, holding onto what looked like an oversized surfboard with embedded lights.  Then the show began!  The divers were treated to what truly looked like something out of underwater Fantasia with mantas gliding in all directions, scooping up their dinner and putting on quite a show.  From above, we had some of these majestic creatures do barrel rolls not more than a few inches from us, again scooping up small fish and plankton.  We could see directly into their huge mouths – no teeth – but a cavern for scooping and an incredible skeleton-like structure on the inside top. Their “wingspan” can be up to about 29 feet!  Truly awesome.

We also had a couple of lazy afternoons at the local beaches.  Two that we really enjoyed were 69 Beach and A-Bay beach – especially because they had both a sandy beach area and shade trees for lounging.  It was quite hot while we were there – in the upper 80’s and sunny most of the time – so the shade was important to keep from burning.  We did do some random snorkeling and saw lots of multi-colored fish along the way.  Playing “Go Fish” at the beach was a fun pastime too – it was surprising how much swearing went on during such an innocuous game. 

On one of the days, Andrew and I ventured off alone to a place locally known as the “Refuge” which has great historical and spiritual significance. Set on the rugged and beautiful south Kona coast, the ‘place of refuge’ or ‘city of refuge’ was a safe haven for those that broke the Kapu laws, which in old Hawaii were punishable by death. If you reached the Puʻuhonua, you would be pardoned by Kahuna and given a second chance at life. A sacred site, carrying the powerful mana of 23 interred Aliʻi chiefs, the Puʻuhonua and Royal Grounds were used by the Hawaiians for centuries. For more information, check out: https://www.lovebigisland.com/state-national-parks/puuhonua-o-honaunau/

Another highlight was having piña coladas at sunset…daily.  Hard to admit given that we are not big drinkers, but man, those things were delicious!  The running joke was that I couldn’t finish one without at least two “ice cream headaches”.  Worth it!!!

The most precious thing about this trip was the time we got to spend with Ruthie and Simon.  It’s a rare opportunity with our kids all grown up that we get uninterrupted time to talk, to laugh, to compete in Connect Four 🙂 – and just enjoy each other’s company.  We hope we can do the same with our boys (and their significant others) as time goes by.  We are blessed to be able to do this, and even more thankful that these amazing young people tolerate us crazy seniors.

Mahalo and Aloha!

Esther