Saturday, November 12, 2005

I like the new snorkel spot we tried today. Lapakahi. But it needs a nickname. It was cool going to a place we'd never been to, and there are a lot of unusual fish there including ones I don't remember ever seeing before (it's near The Pelagic, so there are more big-type fish). Lots of peacock groupers. I like peacock groupers. And these polka-dotted guys and guys with a yellow pattern. I don't know what they are. There are also lots of baby versions of big fish that we see, in the shallower rocky edges. I saw a baby grouper and it looked exactly like a big grouper, but mini. I did lots and lots of free diving and I'm getting tons better at it! I can stay under for much longer, and much more easily (without struggling to keep from floating up) if I equalize and if I have a rock friend to hang onto. I found one that was the perfect weight (I think it was about five pounds) and very ergonomic to carry around in my left hand. It was sort of curved to fit the palm of my hand with my fingers wrapped around the side so I could easily hold it while swimming all around. It wasn't heavy enough to pull me under or anything (unlike the big rock I used at the Fishaholic, which dropped me right to the bottom if I exhaled), but it was far easier to stay on the bottom if I wanted to. My no-arms way of swiftly kicking to the bottom efficiently without tiring myself out is key, too. Dean uses his arms, but my arms are wimpy and my legs are strong, so using my arms is counter-effective. There was a really nice grey lei humu swimming around, with a bold yellow design on his face, sort of like the design on a humuhumunukunukuapua`a, but yellow. Very wide bands. All the other lei humus I've seen have been much plainer. He also had subtle yellow on his sides. Lapakahi is interesting.

Posted at 11:59:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

I walked over to King's this evening, and snailishly wandered around looking at everything, then came back and brushed the teeth of my unis from Iki, using my echinoderm toothbrush and bleach. The Kings Starbucks was playing a fantastic cover of "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You" (!!), maybe by Mavis Staples (?). It was really, really great. I already had a superb Kope at the Kope store in Hawi (along with a dish of coconut ice cream and macadamia nut ice cream) (natch on the mac nut; it's the best flav ever) (coconut was very good, too, though; worth having again) but I got a tall dry anyway. It was really nice because I'm sort of tired (tired isn't the right word, exactly) this evening and felt like doing something sort of brainless and solitary and not strenuous, but not like just doing nothing, aka relaxing, since I'm horrible at that. I was there until after 6:30, which is when the sun suddenly whumps down (it goes from light to dark very quickly in Hawaii, since we're nearer the equator), so I walked back in the dark, and all the eels and sea cucumbers were out roaming around. Well, they were, but not near me. But it was very dark. I liked it.

Oh, and I've been slacking re: posting my blog entries. I have a billion written in my notebook but I haven't typed any of them up yet. I am on vacation. And I'm always too tired at night after playing all day! I wrote this one directly on the computer. We have a computer here. (It comes with the place.) But I never use it. I don't believe in computers or TV while on vac.

Posted at 10:03:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

I don't think Jade brand makes li hing mui sour kids anymore!! I keep looking, but none of the stores with Jade ever have sour kids. However, about ten zillion other brands do, so I had to buy them all for a giant taste-test comparison study, of course. So far, I have Asian Trans "li hing mui sour patch kids" (from Kailua-Kona, but a product of Canada), Enjoy "li hing happy kids" (from Honolulu, but a product of China--this package is nice and has a built in zip-lock zipper!), Hawaii's Best Snax "kalakoa keiki," (which list "plum" in the ingredients, so they're clearly l.h.m. flav; these are from Honolulu), Jade "sweet li hing mui" (not a gummy product, just a scary-looking dried up plum thing, which I got so I can do a truly in-depth study) (Jade brand is from Waipahu, Hawaii), Hawaii's Best Snax "extra strength li hing yummy gummy bears" (not a sour thing, but the name sure is great), and Asia Trans "li hing mui strawberry belts" (these look good! li hing sour tongues!! weirdly, they are a product of Spain, even though the sour patch kids of the same brand are a product of Canada). That's my full collection so far. And I haven't yet tried any of them. But I hope at least one of them is as good as Jade was.

[Edit, 10:10: Tried the gummy bears, since they are different. (Not sour.) They have a pretty good amount of li! But li + sour is better.]

Posted at 8:13:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

I need to figure out how to breathe better. I felt like I was just barely getting enough air in my lungs, like being really wheezy. I breathe really shallow normally, so that's probably why. It was easy to do all the things in the pool, except breathe naturally and stay warm (even though I was wearing all my gear). I'm going to have to wear about 20 wetsuits or something when we go in the deep ocean. I liked our instructor.

[Edit, 12/1: Wrote this after we tried a PADI Discover Scuba Diving intro at the Hilton to make sure I didn't hate it, before going through with our plan for the real course at Big Island Divers to get our Open Water Diver certification. (The plan to take a scuba course was spontaneous, thought of on Wednesday... we didn't discuss it before the trip.)]

Posted at 12:45:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Friday, November 11, 2005

Past Self was right! (And Zi is the greatest.) O's (formerly Oodles) duck napoleon and spinach-tofu potstickers are ono. Note to Future Selves--the whole back page of the menu is now vegetarian and the thai iced tea (Dean) is great. The Kona coffee press is pretty good, but a little bitter and non-rich tasting. It doesn't live up to the food. I like my seared ahi (raw in middle) Caesar salad & Dean likes his southwestern thing w/side of tempeh (the tempeh is key). This is an extremely good Caesar salad. My lips are all tingly now like I kissed a jellyfish.

I am perfecting my diving-down technique. No arms; short, constant kicks w/fins. Didn't get whaled at all at The Whale, going in or out. Easiest Whale ever. We saw a surfer there. And a small eel. I like those eel-ular looking fish (groupers?). [Yes.] And there were zillions of fins-both-ways. I saw a baby humu in the whale area, while swimming out past the rocks & waves.

I swam around deep under the water, in the deep area, and stayed down a long time! (For me.) (No weight belt.) It's a lot easier to stay under if you are swimming, vs. trying to stay in one place looking at something. I also dove down really deep in one area, and got an ear squeeze. I don't usually go down that deep, so I didn't equalize. The water was so clear in some spots, it was like Cook. Lots of details. I noticed yellow tangs have a white dot on their tails.

Gotta trust the Past Selves: Hawaiian cream cake. (I need to leave a note for the Future Self not to bother with the Kona coffee.) Past Selves were right!

Posted at 6:15:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Thursday, November 10, 2005

I picked him up and he clung on my hand (gloved) with his big tube feet. He was much more eager to cling than any other echinoderm I've ever made friends with, and kept his feet out the whole time, waving them around, reaching. He even crawled across my hand and I could see him walking with individual feet moving independently of one another, they were so big. His underside is beautiful. And he has a HUGE mouth. A couple inches across, always open. I brought him up to the surface (he was originally down pretty deep) and we took lots of pictures.

Originally I was looking at him up really close way down on the bottom (hanging onto a rock to stay there), and I noticed most of his thorns were in a softer/more relaxed/less stiff & sharp state than most c-o-ts, and I touched the end of one arm and it lifted up (it wasn't clamped down) so I could see his feet. I pried it up a little and was able to flip him over, and he was upside down on the bottom, all beautiful and pale yellow and feet-y. Right away, I ran out of air and had to go up, but I went back down again as soon as I got a breath, and took hold of him by the end of one arm. It didn't puncture my glove or anything, so I held on lightly and brought him to the surface with me. Feet, feet, feet, reaching. Lovely and voracious like a flower, underneath. Then I held him and turned him over and all around and he clung onto me and we looked and he was my pal. His thorns were sort of messy-looking, like rumpled hair (some lying down, bent over in different directions), and when I briefly lifted him out of the water he looked like a wet cat.

It wasn't till the end that I got poked--he didn't do anything, I just must have touched the wrong thorn and it was sharp and went right through my glove quick like a spindle. It hurt a lot more than just being poked by a pin or something--a really cool kind of pain, exciting, not bad. You can't have a true c-o-t encounter w/out something to show for it! Being pricked made me smile. After I put him back down on the bottom I pulled off my glove to look, and it was bleeding. I feel a lot better (unhappy/worried this morning because of scuba) after being pricked by my crown of thorns pal!

"...this is an unusual star, the more so because the spines are venomous. Puncture wounds cause sharp burning pain that subsides to a dull ache and disappears after a few hours. Swelling, numbness and discoloration of the puncture site are common, usually disappearing within 48 hours."

[Edit: I don't have a very good picture of the top side of a crown-of-thorns from this year, because I was trying to show off his amazing underside and at the same time trying not to get poked. Here are some I posted last year if you want to see what the normal c-o-t view looks like: 1, 2, 3, 4.]

Posted at 7:45:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Li hing salt is really good. A lady in the bathroom at Cafe Pesto said, "What amazing hair you have." I went in there to wash up because I'm still all wet and ruffumed from the Sug. My thumb feels slightly numb/tingly.

Best crown-of-thorns encounter ever! No contest.

Posted at 6:05:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

THORN! My thumb still hurts. It's a little swollen/bulgy and blue just around the puncture spot.

Posted at 5:29:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Tropical Dreams ice cream is the best ice cream in the whole world. Mac nut flav in particular. And the kope place has great kope. (Same brand as last year.)

[Edit: I didn't write much Wednesday night, Thursday or Friday because I was going through extreme mental anxiety about scuba. (We were studying and watching the DVD in preparation for our course, which Dean really wanted to take and I really didn't.) I couldn't write about it. Eating Tropical Dreams ice cream in Hawi helped, though.]

Posted at 3:25:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

D: This is a nice bathing suit.
L: Why?
D: It's just real nice...

I guess Dean likes my new bathing suit! He usually doesn't say stuff like that...

Posted at 9:48:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

SCUBA. I don't know if I even want to.

Posted at 9:00:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

"The air has a cool crispness to it" = Dean, on Waimea. (It's cold!) Hawaiian Christmas SBUX cards! (!!!) The Waimea SBUX has a fireplace! And it feels good. [Because of the elevation.]

Posted at 6:08:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Wow!! The Greenwell lady gave us 3 navel oranges and 2 avocados, picked right off their trees. [Because I noticed the orange trees and asked her about them.] She also told us to take the last 2 bananas, but we didn't. Our trunk space is full of fruit! (Practically.) It would be easy to just go around and sponge food all day long in Hawaii and never have to buy any. (But you couldn't do it repeatedly at the same places.) The trees were short & you could just reach up and grab the fruit. We'll have to have a big S.K.F.S. vs. Greenwell fruit competition.

Posted at 3:43:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

I love strawberry quavas!! Pop it in da mouth. Dean says they're a little tart. Tart = yum. Total score at South Kona Fruit Stand: SNAKEFRUIT!!! Hiss hiss. The lady says they're the perfect car food, and she put them in a different bag from my starfruit so they wouldn't "beat them up." They are so cool & weird looking! Scaly. Dean got about ten million dif. kinds of oranges, and avocado & a puh-paya. [Edit: Oh and I got a lime that looks like a clem. It's little and round and orange. But it's a lime.] [Edit: It was really good, too!] I bet they won't have s. quava next time we go & I will be teased. [Edit: I was right. They didn't.] I got the last bag. Dean keeps chanting, "Snake fruit! Snake fruit! Grab one by da neck!" but they're in the back, so I can't. (Plus, they don't have necks.) Strawberry quava would make a great shave ice flavor. I want to eat them every day. I wish we had them at home!!

Posted at 3:19:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Li hing mui is definitely the best flavor for shave ice! (I think I said that exact thing last year.) I got ½ li and ½ passion-orange and it was the best combo ever. It was also extremely pretty (all different shades of pink/red and orange variegating and combining). I massively wanted to take a picture. I LOVE li hing mui shave ice. My shave ice-eating skills are also extremely honed.

We saw a really cool dragon-looking fish at the Fishaholic. I have to look it up in my book, because I don't know what it's called. I don't remember ever seeing one before. [We did! It was checked off in the book. It was a dragon wrasse.] It was drifting all around like a leaf. I dove down and swam near it & looked at it up close and it didn't even run away. I spotted a nice little eel, swimming back in. We are on our way to Surfin' Hilary and the South Kona Fruit Stand right now. (Jeep handwriting.)

Oh also I had a rock friend and it worked really well! Dean was trying to photograph me swimming near a turtle, but I was having a hard time staying under so he could get a good picture, so I found a heavy flat red/pink looking rock, dove down, and picked it up off the bottom. I could stay down easily with the rock--if I breathed all the way out, I sank right to the bottom!! I swam around holding it and used it to go to the bottom/swim underwater a whole bunch of times, but I finally let it go because I was getting all out of breath. It was really too heavy for me (a bunch heavier than Dean's weight belt), but it was so cool being able to do that.

Posted at 2:23:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Forgot to mention, I had a tall dry cappuccino from the Kohala SBUX yesterday morning, and it was excellent. Very creamy foam, quite dry, a little bit strong. I don't think they are foam artisans particularly--they have the humidity on their side. It takes a lot more care and skill to make great foam in CT. Still, it's a good cap. I also procured 2 Hawaii SBUX cards, so I've already reached my quota. If all goes as planned, S.K.F.S. today! I am excited.

Posted at 9:50:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

- Black-lipped pearl oyster (pulled out)
- Banded coral shrimp (2) (Dean saw and photographed under ledge)
- Orange Fireworm (pink) - `aha huluhulu - stretched itself out long!! very cool looking; had white bristles
- Spiny scale worm - cute, tiny (1"?), orange; sort of like a mealybug [pillbug/sowbug]; book says they have 13 pairs of overlapping scales; it and the fireworm were under rocks with brittles; crawls in a cool way; liked me and didn't want to leave after he got on my glove; crawled around on my glove as I swam around picking up rocks and looking at brittles
- Brittle pal! big, black, all his legs intact -- tube feet -- love the feeling on my bare hand -- scared in open water -- settled down & felt safer when I held him close to my body -- he curled up & hid in my hand like under a rock -- swam all around w/him for a long time -- squashy center -- he can fold legs straight up in the air, close to the body

I LOVE IKI

Millions of echinoderms! Calm water today. FEAST!

Posted at 10:00:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

D: Individually baked banana cheese cake on macadamia nut crusted wasabi-honey drizzle, and shiso leaf chocolate souffle?
L: Shiso leaf chocolate souffle??
D: Yeah! Doesn't it sound horrible?
L: *cracks up*
D: We gotta get it.

Dean says all dessert menus should have pictures. He's right.


(not a dessert menu picture)

Posted at 7:55:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Salmon roe. What the heck. How can something be this good? It's impossible.

Love LOVE the s.p. & s [sour plum & shiso] roll.

Spider tastes like brittle stars. Eel is indescribable.

Uni = eyes flying out of head. So sweet, creamy, liquid, melts on tongue. It's much lighter yellow than home uni, not orangish at all. Beautiful.

Salmon roe, I can't take it.

1 - roe / uni (can't decide)
2 - eel-on-top / plum & shiso (can't decide)

-OR-

1 big Can't Decide

AAAAGH.
Food this good is unimaginable at home. And its extremeness is impossible to hold in the memory.

I keep thinking how ELEMENTAL Hawaii is. (Not just now--for the past days.)

Posted at 7:27:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

D: Which one's that? Eel?
L: *nods blissfully*
D: I could tell by your reaction.

Posted at 7:14:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

IMARI. I ordered plum & shiso roll, salmon roe, uni (so I can EAT what I played with), spider roll (never got one at Imari before--I just felt like one) and, of course, eel-on-the-top roll.

Iki snorkel = all the brittles you can turn over. Under every rock. Brittles, running. Legs.

Posted at 7:10:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Uni heaven!! I walked all the way up the beach and looked at dead urchins for at least an hour, then tromped back up here and examined all my special findings in detail, and took closeup photos and, finally, dismantled the big banded urchin I found. It was very recently dead (tiny flies were still buzzing around it) and completely intact, with long striped spines (2 ½" long) and ultra thin stinger spines (1 ¾") (no longer stingy). I pulled all the spines off by hand and fingered the neat smooth knobby places where the bigger ones attach onto the shell. Then I used two lava rocks (one as a stand) to smash it, and it was still all full of guts!! Most of its insides looked like a million little yellowish-green (chartreuse?) eggs that spilled out. I didn't really touch the guts but I played with them/observed them by looking at them really close and poking/manipulating them with a spine. I also took pictures. [Edit: Warning: don't click on link if you don't want to see what a sea urchin's innards look like. The white (partially obscured) thing in the center is the Aristotle's lantern, its mouth.] I saw an organ that's connected up to the mouth--it must be part of the digestive tract. [Edit: It was the esophagus! You can see it in the picture, hooked up to the Aristotle's lantern on the left.] It looks almost like a human-like organ (intestine-ish). Reddish brown. Uni guts are cool. Fascinating, I mean.

My collection mission was utterly absorbing. Crashing waves, the endless tromp tromp tromp tromp sound of feet on black pebble sand, and larger black pebble rocks. Then, hundreds of unis, strewn everywhere. I crawled around on my hands and knees in places, looking up close close close at the tiny details. Urchin shells smaller than the tip of my little finger. All sized urchin shells. I didn't bring anything to carry them in, so I only selected what I could hold piled up & balanced in one hand.

I found four heart urchin shells w/spines clinging on (all only pieces--none intact). One is fairly big and full of incredible patterns. (I have never seen a live heart urchin.) Found a totally cool cutaway uni shell which I photographed to show how they are constructed (the Aristotle's lantern is completely intact, including the teeth!) [Sticking through on the bottom]. Found a sputnik urchin, whole, also including the teeth. (I don't remember ever seeing one in Hawaii before, alive or dead--and I only saw a live one once in St. John [at Salt Pond Bay].) The stripes between the blunt spines are an incredibly beautiful echinoderm-purple color. I also picked out a bunch of the nicest tiny urchin shells for my collections--some are unusual types--and I found 5 more dried up brittle stars. (!!!) Those were amazing finds--they are so tiny and brittle and delicate and are black and half-buried in the black pebbly sand. I have no idea how I saw them (all separate). Oh I also found a couple of loose brittle star legs, clinging onto pebbles and not letting go even though they're just disembodied arms. The 5-part echinoderm symmetry design is really fascinating--I was observing it over & over when taking photos. It's beautiful. Five.

[Edit, 12/1: This is what Ke-awa-iki Beach looks like. (Notice that it's gigantic, and we were the only ones there.) Dean took this photo after I came back from my Unitown mission, way way way down the beach (in the direction that the photo points).]

Posted at 2:20:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Iki! Dean made me walk by the Unitown Massacre and go all the way up to the log. What a humongous tongue massage! I'm going to walk back.

I explored all the way up past the tree branch on the far end of the beach (log end). My feet are black. I love how there are some lava rocks that are so smooth they feel wonderful--almost soft-on-the-feet--while others will cut you to shards if you merely touch them. I found a dried brittle star in the Unitown Massacre section!! I hope I can get it home intact. That would be quite an accomplishment. It's in a cool configuration, too.

Posted at 12:20:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Monday, November 07, 2005

So salty. I have surfer dude hair and whiplash. I love the tidepools at The Herb. They were so calm today. Full of echinoderms. I think there are millions of brittles hiding in the cracks and they come out at night & roam.

Posted at 9:20:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

- Wild goats (4) (biggest one, dk. brown, had horns & beard; they are good at climbing on the impossibly rough lava rocks)
- Lolis w/ruffly tentacles - feet - squirt
- Baby butterfly fish in tidepool
- Unis--all kinds
- Brittle star amputee (the coolest--he was missing all his limbs but still alive; looked dead on land but in the water could still move pretty fast on his stumps; slow for a brittle but still fast; neat because he was slow enough to watch, unlike crazy regular brittles)
- Snorkeled sans gear (felt nice; could feel the water on my skin; I didn't even get super cold for a surprisingly good amount of time; warm and sunny in water; windy above)
- Unicorn fish
- Baby humus

I liked The Herb.

Posted at 7:20:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

There's a star in the sky so bright, it must be a planet. It should be writing about The Herb but I don't want to. It's too nice leaning back in my chair in the warm dark air and relaxing. My shoulders are tired from the wind & the Unimproved Road.

Posted at 6:50:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Hapuna Beach Hotel's Coast Grille seared ahi w/green papaya. Mac nut crusted mahi mahi. Beautiful open-air ocean sunset view and there's almost no one here.

Posted at 6:30:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

The Long Hot Walk Through Endless Fields of Lava took ~35 minutes from the Tree Beach parking lot to our tree at The Herb. We played the guess the animal game and it wasn't bad at all! It's not windy here! [Edit: Yet!]

Posted at 12:05:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Mauna Kea Coffee Co. stand in Waikoloa! I'm a fan of the stand. It's not my fav Kona coffee, though (but it's good). Dean likes their iced chai tons. The coffee is a bit bitter for Kona. But it's rich & intense, and freshly ground & brewed. It took 4 minutes to make, and it smelled wonderful. The Boothby massively liked my package.

Posted at 10:43:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.

Wind!!! The winds are back!!! We're driving up to get our package from the Boothby (with all my stamps in it!) and then The Herb. Dean thinks The Herb will be a haven from wind. Dean keeps calling it, "Your friend, the wind..." Evil!

Last night I dreamed of a whole bunch of wandering animals. The polar bear was my pal and we walked side by side with my arm around his shoulders (he walked on 4 legs, but his shoulder was the same height as mine, since he was big). It was nice! The wind is crying & the Jeep is going flap flap flap flap. I'm wearing my new Longs shirt!

Posted at 10:08:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.

Sunday, November 06, 2005

So tired. We were tired at 7:30. I woke up at 5 this morning by mistake. I really like the smell of coconut.

Posted at 10:00:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

I got a new Longs shirt!!! Longs is the greatest. They have everything. Even kukui. I was all excited about my first Longs visit of the trip, and Dean said it would be my only Longs visit. No way.

I can sense where things are now.

Posted at 4:35:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Tragic! The South Kona Fruit Stand is closed on Sunday. We are fools. [No, we're not--it was open on Sunday last year!] But we're having lunch at the Coffee Shack as a consolation prize. There's a marvellous breeze blowing and I have a great view of the avocado tree, laden with avocados! I ordered a weird kind of bread (instead of my usual croissant), just to be different. Greenwell was closed too, so we stopped at Royal Kona (next to that cool tree house) and I sampled a bunch of different Kona coffees. Not Royal, since that's boring--I tried some Lions. It was good.

I didn't even get cold at Honaunau, and we swam around everywhere. I put my layer suit on wrong by mistake, and maybe it's better that way. [Layers in a different order.]

- big yellow puffer (polka dot)
- 2-tone Whitley's boxfish
- 2 eels (I saw one almost as soon as I got in. Tan polka dot color)
- blue long and skinny streamlined fish (can't figure out what it was)
- 2-tone uni pal (blue striped); swam with him in my hand the whole time; he clung on with his tube feet, and even crawled around onto the back of my hand

My new mask doesn't leak at all, and I wear it really loose. I love that carbonation sound. Tiny bubbles. The fish seemed big. There were lots of humus, including Reef, black with yellow ear fin [Pinktail], fins-both-ways [Black], grey, and yellow [both kinds of Lei]. I got wheezy when I first got in (!) but it went away. Things feel familiar here.

Posted at 2:05:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Saturday, November 05, 2005

Valrhona chocolate-marshmallow (cuke guts) lava cake w/cinnamon ice cream = me. Grand souffle = Dean.

Posted at 7:12:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Pokes: ono (3), ahi tartare (1), hamachi (2).

Posted at 6:35:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Tree Beach! My tongue tastes yummy and tingly from Dean's Tim. Tim wasn't there, but Tim's woman was. I have my first injury already, on my little finger. I think I got it scrounging in the lava rocks looking for the weights. First injury already = eXcellent. I also already lost my pen. I hope not permanently. They sell kukui at the Waikoloa Market but we foolishly bought it at Whaler's first. I recorded it in my Splasher for future ref. Wiggle isn't here since it's Saturday. It's breezy and perfect and Dean's Tim smells good. So does my backup pen. We got our official spot at our tree. It's so relaxing here.

[Edit 11/29: We never saw Wiggle at all, ever! And I never found my pen.]

Posted at 3:52:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Wow, man. Wow. (That's all I keep saying.) Kailua Candy Co.'s Kona coffee is good. The reason I thought the coffee at breakfast (Palm Terrace) was pretty good was only that I hadn't had any real Kona yet [this trip]. It's so dramatic. Intense, rich, smooth. KCC's is really really good, too--one of the best. But they don't have mac nuts anymore!

Posted at 3:19:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Wow!! I found our hidden dive weights (and special rock). We searched for about 10 minutes among all the hot and shifty lava rocks, realized what a foolish and futile place to hide something it was, and were about to leave. Dean asked me, "Are you ready to give up?" I said, "Yep," and he said, "All right, just let me check over here again first..." and while he was checking, I suddenly just FOUND them. I don't even know how. But the second I saw them, through a small crack between the rocks, I knew with total certainty that was it. I am a Finder. Dean is amazed.

Posted at 2:08:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

I woke up at 6 by mistake, but I feeted until 8. Then I just had to leap up. I started smiling the instant the plane landed. This condo is the best one ever. (I mean that.) Gorgeous spare, sleek, modern Asian decor, stocked with books and entertainment, the perfect size, and there's extra fish pillowcases in my closet. Super cute ones--I'll have to take a picture. I also love LOVE the prints on my wall, and want to steal them. They're Japanese and really colorful--one is a whole bunch of fish swimming around, and one is chickens!! With a rooster with a big round eye and a pink fluffy comb. I love my keiki room. When I lay down in my bed last night, it immediately felt familiar. One of the DVDs they left for us to watch is Finding Nemo, but it should be Lilo and Stitch. Not that I believe in watching TV while on vac, but anyway. They even have my fish book that I lugged all this way (but not the creature one), our Hawaii book, and a complete set of pocket guides of Hawaii stuff (trees, flowers, sea life, and birds--I only own sea and trees). And my bathroom is nice and bright!!

Posted at 8:46:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.

Friday, November 04, 2005

[On the second flight; 7:45 PM Hawaii time; 12:45 AM home time:] Coloring a sea cucumber is hard work. I'm officially dumping Bob for The King, man. For right now, at least. Plane travel is hard. But my coloring book is relaxing and absorbing. I am getting tired. Elvis is great. Only an hour and a half till Hawaii. It's not easy but it's worth it.

Posted at 7:45:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Wow, man. Smoothest smoothliness ever. It only took us two hours to get to the airport, despite the fact that it was rush hour. We never even had to slow down. The Reily (Ronald--he was good) thought we were magic and gave us his card so we'd request him on the way back. It was easy getting up at 6:30 and I'm not tired at all! The Admiral's Club is nice. I had half an evil bagel and a tiny decaf cafe au lait (since drinking coffee isn't allowed, per my hydration schemes), in a real cup. I dunked the bagel in it. And now I'm drinking glasses of water with lemon snagged from the tea area. I like the A.C.! And this shiny new terminal is pretty.

Posted at 10:40:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.