May 9, 2007

I'm really looking forward to my trip to the mainland for the summer. I just got my tickets, I'm going to SF on May 18 and will hang out with friends and family until June 6. Then, I'm hoping to go on a cross country motorcycle trip if all pans out.

One of the highlights of the past few weeks here was a trip on a sailboat over on the Kona side of the island where bunch of us got together and spent one of the most fun afternoons I've had in a while. It was a beautiful day and we all lounged around the deck while sailing slowly north from Kawaihea harbor. It was so peaceful until someone shouted WHALE! We all jumped up to see a humpback whale's back and full tail come out of the water ....awesome. Then a few minutes later, someone shouted DOLPHINS! We all got up to see a frenzy of dolphins in the distance. The captain said "quick get in the water, they're headed right for us", and so we did.....it was the biggest school that any of us had seen, well over 100 dolphins. They dove down to avoid the boat, but the water was so crystal clear that we could see them even 100 feet down. It was like a undulating carpet of dolphins below ....everywhere you looked you could see them, the image is still burned in my brain. Luckily, Bob had a waterproof camera to capture some of the action.

They all past and we caught our breath after the amazement. Then, a group of 20 or so decided to come back and play with us. They only stayed for a couple of minutes, but at one point, a few swam right in front of me checking me out. One looked right at me from about 5 feet away and started jerking his head up and down....he was obvioiusly saying "Hi" to me, and I swear he was smiling.

The water was so clear that day, probably 200-300 foot visibility. The color combined with the shafts of light disappearing into the depths left quite a magical impression itself.

After the dolphins were gone, the caption threw out a floating rope behind the boat, and as we slowly sailed along, you could jump of the boat and grab the rope and pull yourself back up, or just hold on to the rope and watch the fishes and coral go by. It was so much fun, we were all grinning ear to ear.

Here, Hayden's smile says it all!

After our arms were all sore from swimming and hanging on, we had a picnic feast as Tim and Robert serenaded us with their ukuleles.

What a Day! I could see images of dolphins every time I closed my eyes for about a week.

A Few weeks back, I went to the Merrie Monarch festival which is the worlds biggest Hula contest. I went to the Kahiko night which is ancient hula characterized by primal chanting and dancing. I ran into Uncle Paul and Dorothy there.

Last sunday, Robinette, Denis and myself went to one of my favorite places on the island...shipmans beach. It's about a hour hike to this lush secluded and protected bay.

The sand is super fine and is powdery soft on your feet. Very uniquely, there is a layer of fine white sand on top of the largely black sand beach. The mixing of the two colors leaves fascinating patterns as the water washes them around.

At low tide, the river of fresh water comes welling up through the beach and churns the black and white sand in fascinating patterns. Click the picture below to see a movie of it. (It's large though ~16MB so be warned)

It will swallow your hand or foot if you're bold enough to stick it in there!

Other than that, I've just been working and enjoying the peace and beauty out here. I tiled Denis' patio and put in some lattice around the outdoor shower. I'm really happy with how it came out.

I've been painting a lot with Robinette, and as you can see here we sometimes have a marvelous view from the job site!

And, I'm still working a day a week at Kalani. Here, Chris and I are milling some huge slabs of Mango to make tables and countertops for Kalani's new office. I had never used an Alaskan mill before and it was fun to figure out what kind of jigs to make and to plan out our cuts to get the best use of the wood. Unfortunately, I was having so much fun that I didn't stop when I tweaked my back before lunch. By the end of the day I couldn't stand up straight. I took four days of bed rest before I could stand straight again...it's been a good realization that I'm not indestructible and that I need to take better care of my body.

And Finally, here are a few flowers from my yard. I'm not sure what the first one is....let me know if you know.

And this is one of the many varieties of haleconia

Aloha,

-Jacob