Guide Blogs

Aloha kakou,

 

I recently got caught up in a conversation with some visitors about traffic in Kona.  It was an interesting discussion and, like a good drive, travelled through several topics by the time we said good-bye.  I think I sold them on doing one of our Nature Adventures at least.  But the one thing that struck me later in thinking about our talk, was how much interpretation on daily life in Hawaii we do on our tours.  Our guests want to know why the traffic is so bad in Kona, is it really expensive living here, do you get island fever, how are the schools, what do you do for vacation, where’s Costco, how often do you go to other islands, the mainland, and of course, how’s the real estate market?

 

Our Interpretive Guide staff come from a diverse background and demographic make up.  And while our core topics and themes on our tours are very consistent from guide to guide, I would imagine the discussions about living in Hawaii are as diverse as our staff.  A kamaaina and “more mature” Interpretive Guide like Danny Almonte, I’m sure has a different perspective on Kona urban growth than someone like Anne Michels one of our newest and youngest guides who was raised on the mainland. 

 

I’ve been in Hawaii almost 18 years now.  When I first started HFT, I could leave my home (and at the time HFT headquarters) in Holualoa, drive down to Buns in the Sun and pick up lunches, then head back down to Keauhou and pick up guests all along Alii Drive and be at the Waikoloa resort in about an hour.  Can’t do that anymore!  But still, despite the growth and challenges that growth has brought Kona,  I can’t help but be thankful I live in this place.

 

It’s easy for us here to be frustrated by the changes happening.  But that change is happening everywhere to lesser or greater extent.  Yes, it’s expensive living here.  Yes, the traffic is a pain in the butt at times.  Yes, a gallon of milk can cost seven bucks.  And yes, people not only want to visit our home, many would also like to make it their own home.  Hawaii, like the rest of the world will get more and more crowded—people are living longer and still making babies—and this is a great place to be.  And yes, I still love my island home.

 

How do you feel and what do you think about living in Kona or Hawaii in general?  Please feel free to comment and share your perspective on Da Life in Hawaii.

 

With Aloha,

 

Rob P.

Aloha ahiahi,

I've driven Hilo to Kona over a thousand times but today was probably the
best bird run ever. This is driving straight over for a meeting, no stopping, but going as fast as the traffic allows.

I started off seeing 3 peafowl below the Makalei golf entrance. At Puu WaaWaa I saw 4 Nene flying towards Puu Anahulu and then a male Black Francolin flew across the highway.  Shortly after the Big Island Country Club entrance a small flock of African  Silverbills flew up from the fountain grass. Crossing just before the Waikoloa junction were 2 Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse. On the Saddle Rd. between the junction and Waikii I saw several Erckel's Francolin, a few Pacific Golden Plover, 1 Ring-necked Pheasent, 6 Wild Turkey, 1 Pueo, 3 Kalij Pheasant, and several Skylarks. No new birds between Waikii and the Mauna Kea State Park, but after that I had a couple Amakihi cross over the new section in the Mamane; on the way down through the forest, slowing down for the new construction an Iiwi flew from one tree to another just before the Puu Oo Trail entrance. Farther down I saw an Apapane and finally, just above Hilo, there was an Io soaring.

Not bad for a mornings drive.

With Aloha,

Rob P.

Aloha kakou,

 

What a crazy weekend.  Friday started off with a hike with the Society of Hawaiian Archeologists to Kaawaloa. Best known as the place of Captain Cook’s Monument, Kaawaloa is also an incredibly rich resource of archeological sites, history, and marine life.  We hiked out for about 3 miles on the old Government road remnant and walked back around 2.5 miles on the Cart Road.  Both alignments included lots of rocky terrain, overgrown California grass, koa haole, and the prickly seeds of ilima.  Hot, interesting and rewarding day.

 

Saturday found me up at 3 a.m. to rendezvous with a Travel Channel film crew to watch the sunrise of Mauna Kea from the Mauna Loa Weather Observatory road vantage point.  From the hot and humid lowlands of Kona, I found myself pre-dawn in the freezing sub-alpine of Mauna Loa.  As the cameras were set up to film a time elapse of the sunlight washing across Mauna Kea, we were greeted with a view of four mouflon sheep making their early morning migration across the lava.  But even better were four Nene hunkered in the pahoehoe who slowly rose to soak up the warmth of the sun and then gracefully, one at time after being warmed up, took flight and flew off to the lower grasslands.  After an on-camera interview we then did a short forest segment at Puu Huluhulu before parting ways.

 

The film crew were impressed with the cold, the lava, and the breathtaking morning on the mountain.  Poor souls were then on their way to Waikiki.  The show is “Ten Things You Didn’t Know About Hawaii” and will debut on the Travel Channel December 17^th.  Speaking of TV shows, Weatherventures, a new television series that debuts tonight on The Weather Channel features Hawaii Forest & Trail Adventures with three HFT guides Buck, Anne, and Joel.  Check it out if you can.  It repeats every week through December.

 

After my filming I finally made it back down to Kona at the Keauhou Beach Hotel for the in progress Society of Hawaiian Archeologists conference.  I was able to catch a few presentations on studies from North Kohala including a look at the different agricultural types found in Pololu Valley and another study that analyzed sources of five different basalt adze found in the valley.  Good stuff.

 

I finished the weekend after a hard day of work on our property with my son Ben by taking a visiting young man caving.  We went up to a friends property mauka Kona and explored for a little over an hour in a large tube that has lots of evidence of big water moving through it intermittently.  We did a few crawls, a couple climbs, and a lot of sweating. 

 

So let’s see:  hot, humid tropical hiking, ancient and historic sites, a conference of archeologists, filming a TV show in the netherlands of Mauna Loa lava at 35 degrees Fahrenheit, sheep from Corsica, Italy, endangered geese, walking in sub-alpine forest, and caving in a lava tube.  A weekend to be had only on Hawaii Island.

 

With Aloha,

 

Rob P.

Good Morning,
 

Hawaii really is an amazing place.  I was reminded of that again while reading a short article by Rose Kahele in Hawaiian Air’s inflight magazine.  It’s about a story I often include on tours but one very few people know—Charles Keeling’s air collection study from Mauna Loa.  In 1958 Keeling came to Hawaii’s Mauna Loa Observatory to test a hypothesis about carbon dioxide accumulating in the atmosphere.  Keeling came here because the air above our islands is some of the cleanest on earth.  The study is still ongoing.  Scientists collect samples twice a day.  That data set has given us the Keeling Curve, which has documented an annual increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide.  His data is one of the foundations which global warming theory is built upon.  Kahele writes, “Because of its longevity and accuracy, the Keeling Curve is the most important data set in climate science.” 

 

 Keelings study is just one of many from an incredible diversity of disciplines that use Hawaii as place to understand earth and life processes.  From the depths of our oceans, across our volcanic slopes, deep in the rainforests, from the alpine summits, to the mysteries of the universe, Hawaii is a stage and showcase that is unequalled anywhere on the planet. 

 

I’ll close today’s blog with one of my favorite quotes about Hawaii. The February 1924 edition of  The National Geographic was all about Hawaii—the whole issue.  In the forward, N.G.’s founder and editor, Gilbert Grosvenor recalls how he and his wife were asked by several folks how they could entertain themselves for eight weeks on those “tiny specks” of islands in the Pacific.  Grosvenor writes in response, “The members of this Society know that the Hawaiian Islands are one of the wonderlands of the globe; that Nature conceals in them more of her mysteries to attract and chain the attention of the student and more of her masterpieces to enrapture the visitor than in any similar area”

 

With Aloha,

 

Rob P.

Aloha kakou,

After my Land Board Meeting in Honolulu on Friday, I travelled to the Ewa/Waianae coast to do some birding.  I hoped to spot a visting Bar-tailed Godwit at Honouliulu and a Whimbrel at Mailiili.  Missed the Godwit but got the Whimbrel.  Nice to add a species to my Hawaii list!

Saturday also provided some birding, this time closer to home on the Big Island.  While much of Kona was watching or avoiding the Ironman Triathalon (which, are very own Tour Manager, Lisa Nelson, finished in a little over 13 hours—her ninth Ironman competition!), some of us Kona folks took advantage of the annual Open House at Hakalau National Wildlife Refuge.  Each year HFT donates a couple vans and employees volunteer their time to drive up Kona residents that don’t have four-wheel drive vehicles to access the refuge.  This year we took up a little over 20 folks who joined another 500 island residents on this unique day to visit an area usually closed to the public.  Lisa Kummer and I volunteered this year and were treated to a rare cloudless day.  Puu Oo vent was clearly visible as we made our way along Keanakolu Road to the refuge.

We spent the morning and lunch in the Pua Akala meadow birding and enjoying the forest.  Even with such a large crowd, we managed to see all the forest birds except the Akiapolaau and Omao.  HFT past and present were well represented at the Open House with past guides Geoff Gilbert , Dr. Pat Hart, and Dan Nelson along with current employee Kim Hata and Lisa and myself.  It was wonderful to share the forest with so many folks, especially all the kids who were there, but it also made me realize how blessed we are at HFT to do tours there and have the place to ourselves most of the time.


Hakalau is one of the great conservation success stories in Hawaii.  In the fifteen years since I’ve been visiting the place, it’s very uplifting to see the change in the forest health and amazing to witness pure grassland pasture returned to a young thriving koa forest.  An area that I first saw with no trees is now habitat utilized by Akiapolaau and other forest birds.  And finally, it was great to catch up with my friend and mentor Jack Jeffrey who is the heart and soul of what Hakalau is all about.  Jack has touched thousands of lives, won numerous awards, and when you spend a few moments in the field with him you realize what a great naturalist and person he is.  It was a great day to cherish.

 With Aloha,

 

Rob P.