Port #1: Hilo, Hawaii
Day 1
The difficult eight days of sailing across the rough Pacific Ocean to Hawaii was completely worth it after spending two days on "The Big Island". The quick stop at this port was quite a preview of what Semester at Sea has in store for me: beautiful sights, rich culture, friendly encounters, and crazy adventures. And I learned an important thing: flexibility is key. My best, most enriching moments from this port were through independent traveling. I allowed myself to be open minded and accepting to whatever came my way. And in return, I was blessed with unforgettable memories, indescribable feelings, incredible encounters, strong friendships, fun stories, many laughs, and the process of learning and growing through experience. The past two days have had some of the craziest adventures of my life which I will remember forever. A great way to start the voyage.
Our ship arrived in Hilo, Hawaii sometime between 3 and 5am on January 25th. I know this because I was on the deck all hours except those two. My friends and I slept on the top deck of our ship so that we could watch as we pull into the harbor and hopefully catch a beautiful sunrise. Well...that didn’t quite happen. At 3am when we woke up shivering, we realized that the ship would dock while it was still dark out and we wouldn't be able to see anything anyways. Then we realized that we would probably miss the sunrise because all passengers had to be up at 6am to go through customs/boarder patrol (since we last left from Mexico) and that the sun rises at 6:30. So at 3am we went back to our warm beds for a two hour nap. I was so excited for Hawaii, I shot out of bed and ran outside to anxiously see Hawaii. Hm..not as great as I was hoping. The port that was. But when we were done taking care of customs, the sun had casted its beams upon beautiful Hawaii. To my right I saw one of the huge volcanoes with a gorgeous pink cast around it and not a cloud in sight.
A group of eight of us set off to explore, not knowing where or what to do. Someone recommended going to downtown Hilo, so we took a taxi for the ten minute drive. (This was my first ride in an American taxi cab. Previously I have only ridden in Chinese and Japanese taxis.) From there we walked around town for half an hour and then decided to venture out. We walked along a river because we saw a waterfall upstream. This then brought us to notice some beautiful homes, so we walked around a neighborhood. We saw a sign for Boiling Pots and Rainbow Falls. It sounded nice, but we didn't know how far it was. So after asking a preschool teacher who was outside playing with the kids, we decided to take on the two mile hike uphill. An hour later we realized something was wrong so we stopped to ask for directions at a gas station. Sure enough, we had missed the turn. A very nice lady asked us where we were headed and was surprised and distressed to hear that we were walking all that way for so long. She generously insisted to go back home and pick up her truck so that she could fit all of us to take us to Rainbow Falls. She got on her moped and sped off. Well, after waiting at least twenty minutes, we thought we had been stood up. But a man who was filling his truck asked us what we were doing sitting in the middle of a gas station. We told him our situation and he immediately offered to give us a ride to Rainbow Falls. Five of us went and three of us stayed back to wait for the mysterious lady. Soon enough, the lady returned to me, MacKenzie, and Brooke. She was surprised to see only three of us but was excited for the "surprise" she had to show us. The reason why she took so long was because she had to get three of her pets situated in the car so that she can introduce them to us. There was Annabell the parrot, Pimper the puppy, and Kealoha the baby goat. Anyone else think that is a bit odd? Haha. I did; however I was happy to see them because the dog and the three week old goat reminded me of my two dogs from home that I miss so much. After getting to hold both of them, they provided me with the compassion and innocence that I miss from being around Wolf and Annie. When I held the Kealoha, she just lied in my arms like a little kitten, occasionally looking up into my eyes and giving my face soft kisses. I wonder if this is how she will be even when she grows older and realizes her true nature and goat-like ways. I want to find out, because if this adorable little goat stays this affectionate, then I am getting one as a pet too! (Sorry mom and dad). My friends got the lady’s information because we plan on each sending her a postcard from different places around the world. Her name: Thyonne Rapozo.
Thyonne first dropped us off at The Boiling Pots so that we could take a look at the beautiful sight. Standing at a lookout point, we looked down into a ravine where a past lava flow created holes in the ground and then dried in other areas as it flowed through the mountains. The holes fill up with water and create pools to swim in. Unfortunately the pools were only partially filled and the falls were dry. But the sight was still beautiful with trees and flowers surrounding the river of black lava.
We hopped back in the truck and were on our way. But we suddenly stopped because Thyonne saw a man walking on the side of the road who was clearly a tourist. She went through her entire speech of what she said to us: “oh you poor thing, it is so hot out and you look sunburned. Where are you heading?” This man was headed to Rainbow Falls as well so she told him to hop in the back with us. This man, who appeared to be in his thirties is named Dave from Yosemite. So now the four of us including Kealoha were riding through Hilo in the back of Thyonne’s truck. She dropped us off at Rainbow Falls where the other girls were able to meet her and her pets. After we said a sad goodbye, all of us girls hiked down to the falls and climbed across the lava rocks. A couple of the girls went swimming but I didn’t. Sally, Toree and I had to start our long venture back to the ship for our field trip that night.
That night a group of my friends and I went to a lu’au sponsored by the University of Hawaii Hilo. First they took us on a tour of their campus and then we went to the school’s farm/agricultural center for the lu’au. It was definitely not what I was expecting. I guess I was thinking something more along the lines of Hollywood’s depiction of lu’aus. I don’t know, it was nice though. We made our own leis out of palm frawns. I had to let mine dry so that I could save it but it is still pretty sticky. So that was the end of a long day.
Day 2
I woke up early to get ready for a field trip with fellow Semester at Sea’ers to go Snorkeling on the opposite side of the island in Kona. Well, the bus was scheduled to leave at 8am, and our ship had to change piers between 8-8:30am. So I get down to the gangway at 7:45, and a crew worker stopped me in the line and said the gangway was closed. I thought he was joking at first, but then I realized he wasn’t. I didn’t understand how they could shut it down all of a sudden when the boat wasn’t scheduled to move for another 15-45 minutes. Another guy named Alex who was scheduled to be on the snorkeling trip with me didn’t make it through either. We tried talking to the workers, but they wouldn’t let us through, even though the door was wide open and the small ramp was still in tact. (Well, none of the workers seemed to mind except for this one guy who is head of security for the ship. Alex and I have given him the name “Mr. Mustache Man” because he has the thickest black mustache I have ever seen, partially hiding his lips which never move anyways, only to yell at students like me.) But the thing is, it only takes 3 seconds to swipe our card and exit. We spent more time arguing than if they had let us two run through. Mr. Mustache Man was pretty rude and slammed the door in our face a few times. I was tempted to swipe my card and bolt through because I know I could have made it across to the pier, but I also had a feeling that Mr. Mustache Man would run after me and soon I would be tackled by Hawaiian boarder patrol and possibly taken in. So I decided it wasn’t worth the risk.
So….there was Alex and I sitting next to the closed door that separated us from our group who was about to leave on a beautiful snorkeling adventure in Kona. This is the time when Alex and I introduced ourselves and talked for a bit. He asked me what my new plans for the day were since my original plans were shot. I looked at him and said “I’m going on this trip, if its the last thing I do”, and he just laughed at me. I convinced Alex that we would do whatever we could to go snorkeling. We figured that if we took our own transportation to the other side of the island, we could beat the bus there. It was a good plan, but we had no idea how to go about this. Well… turns out, Alex’s roommate’s family visits Hawaii a lot. They have a condo in Hilo and a CAR! After a lot of begging, we convinced Alex’s roommate, Tallon to drive us 2 hours to beat this bus. We were already an hour behind them though. Two other people, Kelly and Ben, came with us to visit Kona. Suddenly I was sitting in the middle seat of a five passenger Jeep with four other students who I have never met before surrounding me. But after spending seven hours together, we became very close friends.
I realized that night that this day ended up being a race against the clock. It was as if the five of us entered ourselves in a game show, like the Amazing Race. All day, with everything we did, we were rushing Hawaii with the clock ticking. Let me tell you the different scenarios: First Alex and I missed exiting the gangway by seconds. (Which is how this entire adventure of the five strangers begun.) Then, we were racing the bus to Kona so that Alex and I could hopefully snorkel with the group. We called this mission “Operation: Hang Loose but with an Agenda”. We knew it would take two hours, praying that the bus would take a more scenic route, giving us more time. My friend on the bus called me and gave me updates. We thought we were fine, until she called me saying they had arrived, and we were still 15 miles away. By the time we showed up at the harbor in Kona, we thought that we could see the boats leaving with our fellow snorkelers on it. Mission #1: FAIL. After that had happened, we decided there was nothing we could do about it, and Alex and I finally accepted the fact that we weren’t going snorkeling. So we went to a nice little bakery called “Buns in the Sun” where we all got sandwiches and a free loaf of bread because it was Tuesday. After a delicious meal, we found a nice beach. It was so beautiful. Alex and I went in the water, (since we weren’t able to go snorkeling, we had to at least go in the water and make the most of it) and it was so beautiful. The water was so clear and blue, the sand was so soft and pure, the waves were gentle. We only stayed for twenty or so minutes because we had to get back because our driver, Tallon, was required to be back on the ship at 3pm, but all of us by 6pm. So we got back into the Jeep and were on our way back. Taking a different road back, we realized we were again pressed for time. This mission: “Operation: Eagle-eye Tallon”. Well what do you know, we made it to downtown Hilo and were sitting at a streetlight. To our left we could see our ship. We only had five miles to go but three minutes left. Mission #2: FAIL. So we get into port and drop Tallon off, five minutes past three. (Later I saw him and he said he wasn’t punished severely. His “dock-time” was moved to Honolulu instead since he was five minutes late. The punishment could have been much worse.) Now the four of us were sitting in Tallon’s car in the middle of the port. Next mission: “Operation: Return Car Safely and be back by 6”. We had been extremely unsuccessful with everything we tried to accomplish throughout the day, but we figured we had three hours to do this simple task, so it should be easy. Thankfully, we returned the car to the condo and took a taxi back to port with plenty of time to spare. We had trouble going through security though. Mr. Mustache Man was there once again to through a fit. That free bread we got from “Buns in the Sun”, he made us through away. However, I refused to through perfectly good, fresh bread away. I wanted to give it to the homeless or a shelter, but he didn’t care. So luckily I found a Hawaiian boarder patrol lady that offered to take it for us. Secondly, Alex and Ben had bought pounds of fudge. Well, Mr. Mustache Man didn’t like the looks of it because, although it was wrapped, it didn’t have a company logo on it to prove that we didn’t bake it ourselves and hide drugs in each square of fudge. So we sat down right in front of him and ate it. But we couldn’t eat it all. There was way too much pure chocolate fudge to get down in one sitting. So we just put the fudge into places where they wouldn’t be able to see it in our bags, and it worked. That night I crashed. I was so tired from a very eventful two days; my first two days ever in Hawaii, and my first port on this trip. What an experience!
Although I am very upset about loosing the snorkeling money and the experience, I believe everything happens for a reason, and I wasn’t supposed to go on that trip for whatever that reason may be. I still had a very enjoyable day. And I met four friends, who I may not have met otherwise on this ship. My experience that day I can’t help but relate it to the movie, The Breakfast Club. A situation/problem/event brought the five of us together for the day, and we had to work together to try to accomplish things and make the best of it. And each of the five of us are all different, coming from different places around the country: Florida, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Wisconsin, and California, with different backgrounds. Going through something like this automatically bonded us. And then, at the end of the day, we went back to our own lives. But it is exciting to see each other in the halls and say hi. It was honestly a great experience to spontaneously agree to do this adventure, and although not the outcome Alex and I was hoping for, we came out of it with new friends and one hell of a story to remember forever.
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