Hawaii Caving Travelogue 2010

From the Desert of Kau and Beyond

Saturday February 6, 2010

I am the sitting room on the makai end of Rose's library, overlooking the Kula Kai Estates subdivision and the pacific ocean beyond. Directly below me and a great deal of the land between here and the ocean in my view, is the Kipuka Kanohina cave system. Jetlag is a small price to pay for this view. I promise more industry with the camera in the days ahead. For those interested enough to read along (or skim through my paragraphs to come) there will be accompanying images soon enough. We normally keep a diary. This year, with a number of friends not along for the expedition, we (Emily & I) have decided to post a travelogue. Those who have been here will not lose their place. Those who wish to be here or know more of here, perhaps having recently seen Thom Engel?s presentation at the HHG meeting or one of our prior Hawaii talks, might be takers for a more expanded description.

(P.S. Finally unpacked the camera.)

Before the Really Good Stuff we have the procedural of travel, greeting friends and settling in to accommodations. Getting there is half the fun right? The luck of the draw kept us out of weather this weekend on the east coast where a severe winter storm is keeping travelers well bottled. Missed that, already here. Two points for the home team. Bruce Dunlavy's guests will be coming in staggered over the weekend and early next thanks to extended and delayed trips. They tales they will have to tell! Tales we will not have to share (unless particularly colorful) and did not have to experience. Snow. What a concept. Seems an unlikely substance from this vantage, though it is a bit cool this week.

(Bruce's Place)

Our flight involved early departure from Hartford, Ct. Once again we were hosted by Ron Carlson and his wife in Connecticut. Ron dropped us at BDL for an on time departure Thursday morning. First leg ending in Dallas, where we boarded for Honolulu. A nice time was had by all, a short nap was followed by a meal on board. Then, after what seemed like a very short time, we de-boarded in sunny Honolulu. Only it was not sunny. Cold rain. And, not to fuss, it was not Honolulu. Some jets are just not fit to fly. This one stayed in Dallas. Thanks for not flying American Airlines. Hey buddy, can you spare a plane? I dropped mine in a puddle and it won?t light. We shunted to another gate to board a replacement jet (handily arrived from Paris the night before and waiting in the wings, with wings, to go. The view from the new gate was the normal view including the dull vista typical of any terminal window anywhere and in this case particularly expansive given the absence of a jumbo or any other size jet blocking the Good View. Flying is safer than driving, and this jet was broken too. Hundreds of us survived to sit and wait, having not flown in a second faulty flyer (something about the flaps needed attention).

End the suspense already and let's go caving. We are here, arrived late at night in Kona after rerouting through Los Angeles. Minus luggage and in bed by 1 A.M in Kula Kai Estates at Rose & Ric's honeymoon suite.

Experience has taught us those that cook together cave together: And spend much less time chasing around. More time underground. The Friday morning return to Kailua-Kona brings a happy reunion with the luggage. The jet stream is howling this year. All flights from the mainland stretching well beyond normal flight times. We took well in excess of six hours from L.A., normally five and change. Our luggage, tired and lonely, stayed with the original track from DFW, arrived too late in Honolulu to join us on the Big Island. Hawaiian Airlines personnel at KOA located everything on the following morning shuttle. An American Airlines robocall informed us our case was hopeless and luggage likely circling in the mid-pacific swirl of grocery bags. We scooped up the goods from the real people at Hawaiian Airlines and shifted our focus to Costco and the outdoor veggie market on the ocean in downtown Kailua. The mission at hand is to stock up on basics for meal planning.

A short plug for Costco, in particular the one in Kailua. Swarms of condo bound vacationers are found here pushing overloaded carts. Combining basics of chicken, sausage, eggs, ham, cheese, bagels, muffins, butter and so forth, all available at this particularly well stocked Costco with fresh market items from either Hilo or Kailua make for affordable options and many pleasant meals. Shopping options are somewhat limited in many places on the island. A day of advance planning saves a lot of money and time: This particular Costco rocks the group food world.

Friday night. Our tenth anniversary! I can never explain how it came to be that my wife cooked her own anniversary dinner for eight guests. The Bosted?s, Carol Vesley, Ric & Rose, Don & Barb all joined company our first social evening at the Coons? estate below Tapa Blvd. I feel the need to amend somehow. More and better cave trips should do to trick.

The days and evenings are full here. Tomorrow we go caving for the first time on this trip. I am now at Don and Barb?s in Kula Kai Estates. This day started in Rose's library, and concludes here after a several hour meeting over at Ann and Peter Bosted's.

They live on the same cross road mauka (towards the mountain) from Don and Barb's, but a considerable drive up, over and down because the roads do not go between this subdivision and the one the Bosted's live in. Kula Kai is a gated enclave, with a culture of it's own.

Meeting day is always a big day, one consumed with weighty conversation. I would direct interested parties to the CCH website (Hawaiicaves.org) for details, details, details to be posted as soon as I get a copy of the minutes from Ric. Send your dues today. The group is looking at buying more caves. Fifteen people participated. And, I managed to sort the camera out of the present and accounted for checked luggage and insert the surrounding photos.

Caving plans all around. People moving in various directions Sunday as we finally move underground. Photos and a little cleanup and the original Kula Kai station to follow. Aloha to Christy with Semaki & Bird, and Steve & Christine from Bamboo. They help us come to Hawaii by providing so much wonderful bat jewelry we can sell! Get cracking on new designs guys, we love it here!