Ben's Hawaii Adventure

Friday, July 26, 2019 Another great day!   We began the day after checking out of our Hilo hotel, by going to the Kaumana Caves.   These are a giant network of underground lava tubes, widely connected, which result from the flow of molten lava and the cooling which leaves these enormous channels.   The floors are extremely uneven with irregular sharp wet slippery lava to walk over and the tubes narrow in places so that it’s necessary to crawl.   Joyce went only a short way in; Ben and Victor did the full excursion. The entrance is down a steep stairway to a steeper opening in the earth:   Inside the dripping wet caves are roots hanging from plants on the surface: On the walls are masses of white and colored deposits which our cave guide said were from giant mats of bacteria which belong to a completely unique genus. I was skeptical of that, and then he said that one of the bacterial examples was aspergillus.   I didn...

Thursday, July 25, 2019 Today was devoted to service.   The Volcanoes National Park is in some trouble as it was closed for most of the year after the huge eruption in 2018, and this allowed invasive species to flourish.   We were given our jobs by volunteers from the local organization which supports the park.   Our job was to work on the eradication of ginger—not the kind we eat, but one which spreads rapidly in the rain forest.   It has a large and beautiful flower, and proliferates with incredible vigor. Because pulling the plant up by the roots is very damaging to the forest floor, the preferred method of control is to cut the stems one to two feet above the base.   The next crew which comes in will put one drop of poison on each cut stem which will destroy the plant with minimal damage to the rest of the forest.   We were issued loppers and gloves: We hiked down and down and down into the caldera: Finally, we reached t...

Wednesday, July 24, 2019 Up early this morning to get to the Honolulu airport for a flight to Hilo on the east coast of the “Big Island” named Hawaii (but everyone calls it the Big Island).   At more than 4000 square miles, this one island is almost as big the state of Connecticut, and is home to five volcanoes including Kilauea which erupted so spectacularly in 2018.   On arrival we drove to the 4000 ft. level to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.   We went to the Kilauea Visitors Center where we had lunch and then met our volcanologist who spent the rest of the day with us.   Here’s the view over Kilauea from the restaurant: Our first walk was along part of the circumference of Kilauea where there were many wild orchids: We came across a number of fumaroles, vents of sulfurous steam which smelled very bad: The huge caldera held a giant amount of lava (which term, we learned, may be applied to molten or solid material from a volc...

Tuesday, July 23, 2019 What a full and varied day!   Up early, we got to Waikiki Beach shortly after 8:00 for our surfing lessons and outrigger canoe trips.   The beach is beautiful, with Diamond Head in the background: We first had our on land surfing instruction, and then, got into the water with the surfboards.   Joyce chose not to try right from the beginning, but Victor gave it a shot.   There were multiple problems, however, all orthopedic, with two bad shoulders and a neck which wouldn’t allow paddling and looking up at the same time.   Ben, however, took to it instantly.   Here he is starting to paddle: And out they went to the gentle but serious, nonetheless, surf, where he was up like a pro: So now we have another surfer in the family! We all took the outrigger canoe out with guides, and what a hoot!   They use the canoe as a surfboard, and we paddled out and surfed the waves back.   It ...

Waikiki, July 22, 2019 We had a long but uneventful flight to Honolulu, leaving Sunday morning at 9 AM from Rochester and arriving the same day (plus 6 hours time change) at 4:00 PM.   We took a Lyft to the hotel on Waikiki, where the group leader was at a table in the lobby.   We all got orchid leis: We checked in, washed up, and went to an early dinner with the group.   We are 24 grandparents and grandchildren, and there are two other 13-year old boys which should make things nice for Ben.   We went to bed at 8:00 and slept until 6:00 AM on Monday! Monday morning we had an orientation after breakfast, with expanded introductions.   The day was devoted to learning about Pearl Harbor, the entry of the USA into WW II, and the end of the war with Japan with the signing of a surrender. We drove to the Pearl Harbor National Memorial: We spent the morning at two small museums on the site, one relating the events leading up to the ...

Our wonderful grandson Ben Rosenhack became a Bar Mitzvah in May, and we are so proud of his accomplishments.  He led the service beautifully and chanted his Torah portion and his Haftorah with grace and fluency.  His d'var (teaching) was very insightful. Our gift to Ben is a trip to Hawaii (his choice), and we will leave on Sunday, July 21 on a flight to Honolulu where we'll meet up with a Road Scholar grandparent/grandchild tour of two islands, Oahu and the Big Island (Hawaii).  If all goes well, the next post will be from Honolulu next week.