Let the Adventure Begin

Aloha from the Big Island!!!!!

University of Hawai'i campus
Hilo, Hawai'i

Three airports, two airplanes, three screaming children and 10 hours after leaving Colorado...or as they call it down here, the mainland, I have arrive on the Big Island of Hawai'i. While I have been in college for a little more than two years now, I have found out that I have never actually left home. Texas has always been a second home and my parents only an hour and a half plane ride away. As I got off the plane at Hilo airport today I realized I am 100% on my own for the first time in my life. While it is a bit nerve wracking it is also exhilarating! So far I have had quite the adventure and it has only been a few hours.


Big Island Observations...

• First of all, don't ask for directions if you are not familiar with the area... the street names are all extremely long hawai'ian names which are impossible to remember and the locals give you directions based on landmarks anyway. I stopped four times in different places on campus (this campus is extremely small mind you) trying to figure out where I was suppose to go to check into the dorm. Finally after wondering around for about an hour... and having a slight freak out thinking I was never going to figure out where I was gonna sleep, I found people and my dorm!!!
• gas cost $5 a gallon. 
• Flip-flops are called slippers. Don't call them Flip-flops or people will look at you like your crazy. 
• All the street lights and outdoor lights emit an odd yellow glow which makes it impossible to tell the color of any object being held beneath them. 
• I live 29 miles away from an active volcano. 
• Finally...It rains ALOT. So far it has rained four times in the last two hours. 

I have been to Hawai'i quite a few times and I have studied its geography and environment in multiple classes over the past few years, however it was not until today as I flew from Honolulu to Hilo that I truly appreciated the magnificence of these Islands. When Mark Twain described the islands he said they were"The loveliest fleet of islands that lies anchored in any ocean" he could not have used any more accurate words. Words will not do justice to what I saw today as I flew over the islands but I will attempt to give you at least a bit of insight into the spectacular world I have entered.

Diamond Head Crater
O'ahu, Hawai'i

Each Island has its own personality, or culture if you will. Each personality for the most part can be observed from above. As we departed Honolulu I was overwhelmed by the busy city life that consumes the shores and a large part of the inner island of O'ahu. Skyscrapers jut up from the shores of the island, thousands of houses consume the mountain side and the water is polluted with boats and  people. This is the city on the sea, New York of the Pacific ocean is the best way I can describe it. However the natural land is still visible... the scars formed by the islands creation still exist beneath the bustling city. As we flew to the edge of the island I nocitced a landform. Not just any landform but a huge volcanic crater, proof of the magnificent creation of the island. Volcanic craters are circular depressions around the vent where lava, rocks and ash erupt out of the volcano (Cain 2009). Just thinking that part of this island was created by that crater, which over thousands of years has dropped back into the sea due to erosion and subsidence (sinking), is a mind-boggeling undertaking.

Flying over the islands, below the low lying clouds, we continued on our journey form O'ahu over Moloka'i. This island is nothing like the last, other than its common origin of formation. Moloka'i has very few people living on it, most of which are gathered near the coast. As the brownish-red land stretched out beneath us I could not help but think of the surface of Mars. This island looked as if it was dominated by desert and craters.

Maui was our next beauty to admire. Vast valleys lined with vegetation, cliffs dropping off into the sea, there is nothing desert like about this island. Maui has more of the tropical rainforest feel. Being one of the younger islands its mountainous topography still dominates the landscape giving rise to magnificent peaks scarred from thousands of years of erosion, which has created a habitat fit for the explorer teaming with wildlife, waterfalls and wilderness.

Finally...really after a short forty minuets... we had begun our decent onto the Big Island. As we got closer I discover this island has decided to conceal its secrets from above, hiding its grand mountains, vast valleys and ever-changing enviroment in a layer of thick, white clouds. As we begin to lose altitude we were engulfed by the the clouds. Nothing but a white could be seen and then finally we broke though, the deep blue Pacific ocean welcoming us. With the Island still out of sight it is the clouds that we just flew through that mesmerize me. As rain falls from the clouds into the ocean the sun reflects off the falling water creating sheets of the most magnificently colored rainbows I have ever seen. Deep blues, reds, oranges and then yellows present themselves as the light is reflected off the water droplets and dispersed. Distracted by the rainbows I was surprised when we made contact with the ground with a slightly startling jolt. The clouds left me with just a taste of what I have to expect from the Big Island and I am eager to discover what lies beyond them.


Aloha