Rain Rain Go Away

Aloha Kakahiaka

Good morning fellow adventurers! I am here in paradise, ready to explore and adventure my way through another day!

Now that the tropical storm has cleared up, it gives us some time to explore on our side of the island! Yesterday we decided to hit up Maku'u and afterwards we hiked into Shipman's Beach.

Shipman's is a beach I found on google earth, and then spent hours upon hours trying to find its name. Once I did, I spent even more time looking into how to get there. It was a bit of a tedious process but I told myself it would be well worth it.

I found it prior to Hurricane Iselle, and had intentions of seeking it out on our last trip. My mom and stepdad came a month prior and told us the trail was closed. When we arrived, we found the same thing. Then come spring when my parents returned, the trail was finally open. They had hiked in, and when she sent me a picture of this picturesque bay, I knew I had to visit.

My stepdad was not interested in making the hike again, so he stayed back with Jaxson. My moms memory must not be as great as she likes to think.. because the hike was a bit brutal.

Now, it is not that you have great elevation changes on the hike, because you dont. For the most part it is pretty level. I would say you dont climb more than 30-50 feet at any given time. However, muddy, mucky terrain, uneven lava rock, dodging flooded areas.. it does test you. Now if you are like me and know there is gold at the end of the rainbow.. the beach being my gold. I had my hustle on, I imagine if I took my time I would not have felt the trail was as bad.

We first started to make our way through the open grown over lava field, but soon came to a cave of over growth.

The shade was welcomed on our hot hike, in the exposed sun. However, once we got into the think of it, there was tons of fruit that had fallen from the trees and was rotting. Not only did it smell horrible, it also meant a TON of fruit flies. I am not a huge fan of annoying bugs and they certainly were that.

As we continued to trudge along, we would find abandon vehicles, many of which we wondered how they even had gotten there. We found an old WWII bunker, and beautiful trees.

In the phone of the right you can slightly see the orange on the ground at the bottom of the picture. That would be some of the rotting fruit that was so disgusting. Despite the smell, I couldn't help but take picture after

picture. It amazed me how the trees grew to create this perfect tunnel. Sure, someone tends to the trail.. but it didnt matter. I loved every second of it.

Eventually we came to a fork in the trail. I had read that the shorter and less hot path was to go straight and not very off to the right. Most people want to head towards the ocean.. and I can't blame them. By this point we are covered in sweat, it is muggy and hot. The trees prevent there from being any breeze, and despite the shade. It is still warm with stagnant air. However, my understanding is that, that route takes you to the coastline and then you follow a very rocky route to the beach. Additionally there is no shade. I know I will eventually have to take that route.. as I suspect it is beautiful. But having my 9 year old with me, was not the right time to take the longer and harder path.

At various points where the path was flooded or wide spread with very deep mud. We would have to go off road and find vines to assist us in crossing some of the areas. I loved it, despite knowing I would pay for it later.

We figured when we reached this point of the hike.. it was our half way mark. Now keep in mind, it is like 1.5 miles in. But we had been on the path for about 45 min. Clearly not making good time, and for good reason. This particular area was beautiful. I really wanted to explore the lava cave, but wanted to hop in the ocean even more. So be continued to press on.

We became exposed to the elements once again, and it was a good 20 degrees hotter, or so it felt.. once we were in the sun walking across lava rocks.

But I knew we were closer, I could feel it.. so I kept pressing on. At one point I was so far ahead of everyone else I stopped at waiting 5 minutes before I saw Brady. I was on a mission. Yes part of it was to see that beach in all of its glory, but the other part was to get into the ocean and cool off! I was on a mission, and nothing was stopping me.

At this point the scenery began to change, and I knew the end was near. Tho I didnt realize some of the greater hurdles were ahead of us to reach the treasure. Nothing could stop me.

The trail became more tropical and I could hear the ocean.

Each turn and hill became more beautiful than the next, and the anticipation was KILLING ME!

At this point I knew I would be arriving any time. My camera was at the ready, as I tried to keep my footing. Each turn I thought.. here it is.. we are here! Only to find another hill or turn. My mom offered to help in the memory department in letting us know if we were "almost there". I totally felt like the kid on the road trip... "are we there yet?" I was likely just as annoying as well!

And then we came to this. A completely flooded out path to the beach. Tho you can't see it from this picture. At a higher elevation I could see just beyond here where the beach was. So to our right was another flooded area, but I saw a way to bypass it without getting wet. So we worked our way around. Shipman's put us to work, that is for sure. If you want to see the beauty, you will absolutely work for it.

Finally I made it to the ocean... knowing that to my left was the very view I had been anticipating!

Yes.... that is a house. The shoreline in Hawaii is public land. The Shipman House however, does not allow you to use their private driveway to access the beach. They do however, allow you to skirt their expansive estate to reach it. So, if they didnt, you WOULD have to walk the shoreline all the way there. No doubt taking 2-3x the amount of time and much more grueling.

I imagine it is not as magical to everyone, as it is to me. But on the east side of the island... finding something like this is rare. If you knew the east side of Big.. you would understand.

I was surprised to find the water extremely cold when I put my feet in. I was initially disappointed. But, I was hot enough, I didnt care.

So with that, my mom and I started to wade out into the water. We found the further out we went... the warmer it became. After looking back at the shoreline, we found a stream with fresh water pouring into the ocean. So we assumed that the cold fresh water was the reason for such cold temps. Seeing how the further you went out, the warmer it became.

Our adventure in the water, as mother and daughter was ended somewhat abruptly when my mom went to step on a rock... which moved. She was freaked out and decided no more water time for her. We soon found out it was two large Honu.

They were not keen on nearly being stepped on, so they decided to get out of the water while we were there. I can't blame them. We relaxed, had a snack, drank our water and after about 30-45 minutes we saw the clouds rolling in. We knew our time was limited, and there was a good chance for a big downpour. So we decided it was a good time to head back. We were prepared for the hike, but we were not prepared for getting stuck out there on the already flooded and muddy trail. We knew certain areas would become impossible.

I really couldn't get enough of the view, but I knew I would return soon. As we made our way across the lava rocks, I was looking out at the turtles and taking pictures. Then I noticed in shallow tide pool, a turtle. He looked like he might be trapped. When I took in the surroundings, I couldn't figure out how he would get out of the area he was in. I assumed he washed up there when we had the high surf advisory during the big storm. I make my way closer to him, knowing it is illegal to touch him. He was very dry and appeared to have been there for awhile. I moved even closer and noticed something was wrong with him. He had tumors growing out of both sides of his mouth.

My heart broke for this sweet honu. I carefully splashed some water on him, and he didnt seemed bothered. I looked around for a food source and found none. I didnt want to leave him, but there was not much I could do. I saw when we reach the beach a sign that talked about hone sightings and the laws. There was a number for NOAA and another program about the species. I tried the number and it was disconnected. I didnt have good enough cell service to google another number. So I knew the only way to get him help was to hike out.

So after a painful good bye, and constant worry.. I started back to the path. I couldn't help with every step to think about the sweet honu. My fears and concern grew when we past a group of three women with two children. Granted, the older women seemed like she was Kama'aina, it didnt mean that she was law abiding. Plus.. people set their kids free and dont have a care in the world. But they seemed nice enough, but my thoughts went back to sweet honu.

The hike out, as usual didnt feel as long, and despite my knee screaming at me, my moms knee giving out (she forgot her brace), and the heat... I was on a mission to get to good enough cell service to help honu.

When we reached the car, a van pulled it. Seemed like some local taking a group of 8 tourists on a hike, plus another car with 4 others who seemed to know the hike but were on vacation. We spoke with the smaller group (I didnt bring up honu, hoping people wouldn't see him), and then we spoke with the larger group. He was less than friendly and certainly didnt appear to be the type to care. So we moved on, and all I could think about was hopefully honu would be safe. It is hard to say how long he had been there without food.

Once I had enough service I was able to call a number I found online, which then prompted me to text another number. This went to a student at the university. The young lady called me and asked many questions. I was prepared with all of my details about the condition, location, tumor sizes, and overall assumed size of the turtle. She thought he could fit in a large dog crate and I assured her he was too big for that.

Then she asked if the next day, if I could hike out with her and assist in the rescue of honu. My heart ached, because 1. I knew physically I could not do it again so soon, and 2. I had a full mother/daughter surprise date planned out for my mom. I asked my mom if she would be interested and she was not as expected. I wanted nothing more than to say yes, but I also knew for me it was the wrong thing to do. My heart broke when I responded to her later to let her know I was not able to do it.

I kept in touch the following days. Her team was not able to get out there for days later. Unfortunately they are a volunteer program, and to haul out a honu takes four people. One for each corner of the crate. Provided they see reason for him to be removed. She did say once they got there, they did not find him there. I can only hope that he healed and made his way back to the ocean. That is what I tell myself, and the girl had said.. they come ashore to heal and rest.. then return.

No matter what, that honu will forever remain in my heart. I still think about what an incredible experience it would have been to assist in the rescue. I just wish my overall health was better to be able to do that.

Anyway... that was our adventure for the day and quite an adventure at that. A Hui Hou!