lisap

In classical schools of thought, the world and everything in it was comprised of four elements: earth, air, fire and water.

Water – a morning snorkeling trip via the Sea Paradise (a 46 foot catamaran) to the Captain Cook monument, a marine sanctuary at Kealakekua Bay. The morning was beautiful, and we had the boat practically to ourselves (there were 10 snorkelers and three crew: our captain Phil, and his skippers, Bill and Jessica). We sailed for about an hour (eating muffins and fruit), then we watched spinner dolphins jumping out of the water, flipping and showing off right in front of our boat. After that we dove into the impossibly clear waters at Kealakekua Bay, some of us with large pink noodles (ask Nina), others without. The bay houses a tremendous coral reef, and hundreds of fishes… I don’t know most of their names except for the yellow tang, butterfly fish, Moorish idol (NOT an angelfish, though Nina and I both thought it was), various wrasses, parrot fish, puffer fish, crazy big eyed black fish that swims really oddly and weird see through stick looking fish. Guess which of those names I made up…

After an hour or so there, we went back on the boat, made sandwiches for lunch and sailed to another spot (I can’t remember what it was called). The water was much deeper, so it was harder to get close to the coral. Our captain jumped in and said he was going to find something fun for us to play with, and after a short while (a half hour or so), most everyone was back on the boat. I was kind of stalking the captain (staying about 20 feet away from him), but when I saw him heading to the back of the boat, I figured he couldn’t find anything, and I clambered back on to the boat myself. As soon as I threw my sopping fins on t he deck next to Nina, the captain popped up on the side of the boat, holding an OCTOPUS, so I threw the fins back on and plunged back in with my underwater camera. I think I can safely say that very few people have the opportunity to hold an octopus, and now, for the second time in my life, I have held an octopus (and I will have a picture to prove it!)

Nina gave the best description for how the octopus (Roger Moore) felt: the way hair feels when you put too much conditioner in, and before you rinse it out… it’s smooth, but almost furry and soft. This octopus (probably a day octopus) had surprisingly strong suction cups, much stronger than I remember from the last octopus (Octavius). When Captain Phil detached Roger Moore from his own arm, the little cephalopod latched right on to mine. Roger Moore did not want to let go of my watch when we tried to detach him, either... he was very clingy. Eventually, Captain Phil dove back down (about 40 feet) to bring Roger Moore back home.

Air – sailing in Hawaii. There is a part of Hawaii (I can’t remember the exact place) where the air is so pure that scientists use it for tests… it’s considered “virgin” air. Nowhere is the air quality in Hawaii more apparent than when you’re out in the middle of the ocean on a catamaran. I don’t know what else to say, except that I would rather breathe in Hawaii than anywhere else.

Earth – new earth is being formed every second in Hawaii: lava. There are two kinds: a’a (pointy) and pahoehoe (ropey). We went with flashlights at sundown to see new earth being formed. Though the ground appears scalded or dead, eventually, bright green ferns emerge from it. Nina and I walked for about 2 miles through a charred, but regenerating lava field in order to see the next element.

Fire – the lava flow. While both Nina and I thought (naively, perhaps), that we would be able to walk right up the lava, this was not the case. What we did not expect to see was a road on fire… the lava had burst through a new area and a road was aflame. We did not expect to walk over a half mile of lava to see magma flowing to the sea, or to look back up to the heights of the mountain and see a glowing red trail of annihilation. Rain, by the way, does NOT extinguish magma…