Kiholo Bay

One morning while on our trip, we gave Son1 a few options on how to spend our day. He asked to go on a hike. We got out our guide book. Kiholo Bay looked relatively close. Relatively is the operative word. A saltwater bay with freshwater floating on top, turtles, and a lava tube with a fresh water spring 80 feet from the ocean intrigued us. The guide book even stated we could take an alternative path and drive much of the way. What could be better with two small kids, right? So we decided on a bit of a later morning start. We took the smooth gravel road from the main highway almost straight down to the ocean. We walked some yards from the parking area and were met with this sweet sight:

At the time we were not totally aware that behind us was the far side of Kiholo Bay.

That's me on the black sand beach.

Son1 entertained himself much of the way skipping white coral pieces into the ocean. We walked and walked for a long time until we came to this big yellow house loaded with security cameras, tennis courts, and guards. It belongs to the guy that invented the pacemaker. Now this was more than a house. It was more like a compound. I couldn't get the whole house in the picture...this is about a quarter of it. The house actually spans the entire frame behind the palm trees. See the little guy in red? Just to give some perspective on the enormity of this house.We walked for a little more and came upon this house, another house that wouldn't fit in the camera frame. It is owned by the guy on TV that runs the Paul Mitchell hair products.

He paid 200 Balinese workers $1.50 a day for two years to create the intricate carvings and build the house. He then had it taken all apart, and had it shipped to Kiholo Bay. The big green logs from the Borneo rain forest shrank and split in Hawaii,

By this point Son1 was getting tired. But I was in denial. He ran over and sat down right in the front garden.

Those big round things we are perched on are coconuts. We walked a while more and we looked out on Kiholo Bay. It was still quite a walk to the ocean inlet, and we had traipsed a mile across the rocky coastline with two little guys. Hubby peered at me with eyes squinting at the sun and suggested turning around. Son2 was trying his best to take a nap, but couldn't find rest. Without hesitation, but with disappointment in my voice, I agreed. No ocean inlet. No turtles. No mix of saltwater and freshwater. He asked if I was upset. Nope. Not at all. Life is just different with the little guys. And life has its limits. We weren't too far now, maybe just another half mile. But the kids are more important than turtles and an ocean inlet. No worries. We will see more in another season of our lives. We were just about to come upon the yellow house, when Son1 eyed some flat rocks covered in coconuts. He pushed the coconuts aside and....

Hubby and I couldn't just let him rest like that! Hubby had an idea. My backpack would make a great pillow. We gave him just a few more minutes of rest, because we still had a long walk back. He got his hike, alright!

After a bit of a breather, we pressed on along the black shoreline. On the way back, a group of local folks were gathered around by their different 4WD vehicles with music blaring, blocking my view to something behind them, about 80 feet from the ocean. So I kinda casually walked up, with Hubby and the kids following...and was greeted with a "HOWZIT!" (Local for: How is it going?) I looked below and I found what I thought I had missed, Queen's Bath! The Queen's Bath is a super clear waterhole, lava tube bath, made of fresh spring water, not ocean water! The water level rises and falls each day with the tides, though. There is a wooden ladder that drops from the top of the lava tube down to the bottom of the clear spring. It is attached to a dry lava tube cave where you can find petroglyphs in the dry cave. It has two openings to the sky. I am sitting in one below.

Lava tubes are a characteristic of young, growing islands. That's why you primarily find the good lava tubes on the Big Island, the youngest of the islands.

So the locals were so cool with me getting in with my clothes on since I didn't have my swim stuff on, but you know...again, it just wasn't meant to be in this season of our lives.