ATV Outfitters - Day 10

This morning our alarm clock (not the rooster or the myriad of birds) woke us up at 5:40am because we needed to be in the town of Kapa'a (which is about 1.5 hours away) by 7:30. Kapa'a is the birthplace of Kamehameha so there is a lot of rich Hawaiian heritage up this way. We grabbed another McDonalds (the friend of late nights and early mornings) and drove north up the Kohala Coast.  As we got closer to our destination, this giant mountain looms through the VOG - it is the island of Maui. 

 I took this picture a couple of days ago so no mist.

We arrived at our destination with rainy skies, checked in, got suited up with gloves, head sock, helmet, goggles, and rain poncho. There were 4 of us going out with 2 guides. The father and son going with us rode ATVs while Tim and I rode an ATV for doubles. We received instructions on how to properly drive and then we we took a couple of laps around their 'race" track (think Disneyland Autopia) and then we were off.

This picture reminds Tim and I of the movie, "The Great Race" with Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood.

Our journey took us through privately owned land that houses cows, horses, a lot of guava plants, and a macadamia nut orchard.  We desended to ocean level and ascended to the mountains, all in all, a 22 mile excursion.  It pretty much rained the whole time but it didn't matter because we're in Hawaii.

I can't remember the name of this bay but in the winter they get 60 ft swells which rival the waves on the north shore of Oahu.  Our 2 guides, Darryl and JC, are 5th generation Hawaiians and they come out here all the time to surf. (You can tell, as they talk with you, how pride they are of their heritage.)

JC asked us if we like seafood, "yes". "Okay, I'll be right back". We saw him scurrying among the shore rocks and he came back with these beauties - "Opihi" (pronounced O-p-hee) a kind of oyster. "Do you want to try one?" How do you say no and not look like a totally ungracious idiot? "Sure", he took out his knife, pried open the shell, loosened the creature inside, and handed each of us one. "Gulp", I pried it out with my finger, popped it in my mouth, and chewed it as fast as I could. It was rubbery and salty but not too hideous (not that I'd do it again). My first and, I thought, my last try of sushi...but I was wrong. The 2 young men did tell us that if we sandpaper the top of the shells, drill a little hole, add a hook, we'd have a nice pair of earrings.

Darryl whips out this creature -("haukeuke"-haw-kay-oo-kay) - kin to 'Uni" (sea urchin). "Do you want to try it?" "Uh, no-is what I was thinking but I didn't say it", "Sure", so he cracks it in half and shows us...

THIS!

He tells us to scoop out the orange stuff and eat it. I ask, "What is the orange stuff?" Tim says, "you don't want to know until after you eat it." I put it on my tongue and Darryl says, "the liver." YUCK!

Here is a picture of Tim eating the haukeuke. It didn't have much of a taste. The worst part was the blood you get on your fingers as you are scooping the stuff up which reminds you are eating a live (or what was seconds ago) creature.

Then, he plops this (above) down on a rock and tells us that you can suck on the legs to get the meat and juice (but the bigger ones are better-more meat and, I guess, more juice).

Here is Darryl demonstrating the technique.

After that enlightening experience, it was time to get back on our machines and take off, this time for the mountains. We traversed across a very busy road (ha ha) and made our way up through a gorgeous valley which used to be entirely covered with taro plants. By the way, the area with the cows used to be entirely covered with sugar cane but the Big Island doesn't have sugar cane anymore, not a big money maker, so they got rid of it.

The machines we had were a lot of fun to ride in. I didn't want to drive one-been there, done that. I told Tim that it was nice having him drive me around!







 

Most of these pictures were taken on the fly so they might be a bit blurry.

Macadamia Nut grove

Looking back from where we had come from.

Our next stop was this beautiful waterfall with its pools. 

Tim wearing the blue head sock.

We continued our journey up and around (sometimes slipping on the wet rocky surface) until we came to our 3rd stop at another waterfall.  To see this one we had to climb down (80 ft) on very slippery surfaces and steps that were lower (or higher-depending on the direction) than my legs! Thankfully, they had ropes and branches to hold onto.  I'm not sure which direction (up or down) was tougher but I needed longer legs either way. (I didn't get any pictures because I needed both hands to make it.)

If we had brought our suits and if it hadn't been freezing (Darryl said it felt like their winter), we could have gone swimming in the pool below the waterfall.

"Shaka" which looks pretty ridiculous when done by two white middle-aged people!

The kid from Texas, of the father and son duo, braved the cold to swim in the pond.



I found this brown nut on the ground and asked Darryl what it was. He said it was a macadamia nut and we could eat it.  After my former experience with him, I was a little leery but he said he prefers to eat the nut in its raw state so we thought we would try it. "But how are you going to open it? I thought it took a lot of pressure?" "I'll use my bicep!" Funny guy.  He took a rock and with a few light taps, opened it up and we tried it.  It tasted like coconut.  Tim and I have decided we like it better this way also.

This is a taro plant which used to cover the whole valley. The root of this plant is what they make "poi" from, a staple for islanders. The consistency is like paste (a little looser) and the color is purple.  It really doesn't taste that good but when made into dinner rolls is quite good.  In the last couple of days, Tim has made a couple of disparaging remarks (in a humorous way) to the locals, about the taste of poi b uthey didn't appreciate his humor: no one messes with their poi!

It's a good thing that I was wearing goggles because our ATV hit a guava branch (on my side) and snagged us something to eat! 



Another activity done by this group is the Kohala Ditch Adventures. You float in mountain kayaks exploring the famous (at least locally) the Kohala Ditch System. I will blog about this later because we are embarking on this journey Monday.

 While we were stopped here, Darryl picked a couple of leaves off a tree, crushed the leaves, and had us sniff them and try to guess the smell.  I came close 'cause I thought it smelled like allspice but it was a cinnamon tree. It smelled "cinnamony" but with more of a floral scent.

We headed back down the mountain, the rain had finally stopped, enjoying the lushness of the area. This was a great adventure which we thoroughly enjoyed.