ON THE BIG ISLAND IN HAWAII

I did not want to go to Hawaii. I don't even like Aloha shirts and fruity drinks with little umbrellas in them. And it was ridiculous to fly to Hawaii from Geneva, Switzerland where I was attending the ADB Annual Meeting. But when I got there, several things happened in my less than 48 hour visit that touched me deeply.

Volcano - I knew there was an active volcano on the island so I rented a car and drove with a friend to Volcano National Park right after I checked into the hotel on Sunday. We arrived just before dusk and it was a most eerie sight at sunset. The mouth of the volcano was huge. A few plants and trees struggled to reach up through the cracks in the black, craggy rock. The wind-swept, scrubby, little trees looked otherworldly veiled in the steam that shot up through cracks in the ground. We drove down to where the molten lava meets the sea and a towering plume of steam that reaches to the clouds. You cannot get too close as the steam contains sulfuric acid. We waited for night and what a sight! When darkness fell, the steam plume glowed bright red reflecting the molten lava. I felt like some Hebrew that had followed this column of fire through the wilderness to a strange new land.

Island Environment - The drive around the island was almost as spectacular as the volcano. I heard people say the island has 17 distinct environments, but it seemed to me more like a hundred. We would drop down into a valley and find ourselves in a lush tropical rainforest, then, less than a hundred meters later, the road would come up over a ridge and we would be on a high desert plateau. Operating the windshield wipers was a full-time job. One moment torrential rains and the next clear blue skies and sunshine. No matter what was going on in this very complex ecosystem, everything everywhere was beautifully pristine. I guess environmental perfection is pretty important if tourism is your only real industry. If guests are always showing up, you keep your home very clean.

Sea Turtles - I wanted to go snorkeling and the only time I had was Monday morning before the conference. At 6:00 AM, I was the only person in the bay in front of my hotel. Near shore where the waves were breaking, visibility was very limited, but the water began to clear when I got out to about 20 feet depth. One of the first sights I saw was a reef shark skirting along the sandy bottom in a coral valley. Having just worked with Mac on his Science report on sharks, I knew that these sharks are not dangerous, but, alone in the bay in the early morning hours, this knowledge was not a great comfort. I noticed that I was breathing a little faster as I neared the splendid coral reef. It was a carnival of brilliant colored fish. I recognized some of the fish, but mostly I felt like an alien invader in a strange and magnificent world. Still a little spooked from my shark friend, I suddenly got a start when I saw a dark shadow in my peripheral vision. I looked down and it was a four foot sea turtle surfacing directly below me. I frantically swam quickly to one side to avoid a collision with the beast and then turned to see what it was up to. The turtle was less that two feet from my mask starring curiously at me. It slowly flapped its big flippers hovering just below the surface of the water. It seemed so gentle and friendly that for moment I considered grabbing on to its back and playing Island Boy as I toured the waters with my turtle friend. But Mac had not done any reports on sea turtles and, while I suspected they were probably man's best friend here in Hawaii, I noticed that it had very big jaws. I decided to respect its personal space. It swam with me for awhile and then wandered off looking for some other distraction. As I snorkeled around the reef, I had two other encounters with sea turtles. Each time, the curious creatures swam right up to me to check out the new kid on the reef. It was a very moving experience. This was clearly their world and I didn't belong at all, but they were so welcoming.

Music - I heard several Hawaiian musicians perform in the hotels. Before I imagined that all Hawaiian musicians were Don Ho imitators singing "Tiny Bubbles" in aloha shirts. I was surprised to find out what an interesting and vibrant music scene existed in Hawaii. The music was a very innovative fusion of native Hawaiian music and contemporary folk-rock influences. Most musicians played a lot of original songs. The gentle, lilting sounds seemed to capture the magic of the islands. One of the musicians at my hotel told me a lot about the Hawaiian music scene when he was on break and directed me to a music store in Kona that had the best collection of Hawaiiana. I was able to listen to several CDs there and ended up buying a few. I especially like the music of Israel Kamakawio'ole. He was an 800 lb. Hawaiian superstar who recorded five solo albums before he died of complications of his girth just last year at age 38. Maybe it was that monstrously large body that gave his voice so much depth. All his songs have a soulful almost spiritual quality. Our house is now full of contemporary Hawaiian music and my imagination still soars.

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