Earthquake Again !!

This one was way bigger than the last one......a 4.4 on the richter.

It happened last night, and strong enough to wake us up. Diksha and I came awake at almost the same moment, and while I was still wrapping my mind around it, she identified it right away, saying "earthquake ma".

It lasted about 10 to 15 seconds, and as feeling.....it felt like being on a boat, no... it felt like being the boat, and on a wave. Crazy feeling. Kamlesh aunty who was sleeping in the lanai next to the brick wall said she heard the bricks rumble around too.

Next morning everyone is comparing notes, and that's when we checked, and found it was a 4.4 on the richter scale. Pretty big.

Right time to put a picture of the earthquake caused crack in their house, from the initial Kilauea eruption. It's on their dining room wall...and guess what, it sits prettily draped in a saree.

Aunty has this sari hung over the area to cover the crack. A nice, banaras pattu saree...and then she says "this is ammamma's wedding saree, didn't you recognize it...I wore it to your wedding too". It gave me goosebumps. Ammammas wedding saree, my god !

And when she's like "you think I should change it...maybe it's not right to have the saree here?" Nammu and I are like "no, no, it's lovely, it's way better than just preserving it in the cupboard".

Just to touch that saree, letting it bring in ammamma's presence, become aware that it's over eighty years old, almost a family heirloom....and then the conversation.... just became this profound and bonding moment for all of us.

Well ...some cracks can even bond :)

Excitement Overload - Mauna Kea

Star Gazing

Mauna Kea Observatories - pic courtesy google ofcourse

A clear night sky.... a sky full of stars, is always high on my list.  I've tried catching one anywhere I could. And it's not easy....what with Hyderabad or any city, or for that matter town or even village having so much light, that the haze pretty much blocks out possibility of any decent star gazing.

I've tried mountainous regions, small towns, highways....Bidar, Ooty, Munnar....none worked.

Early this year when we were at Corbett, Dhruva, Diksha and I tried going down the mountain just to get away from the resort lights, but couldn't get too far because of the elephant hazard of the area.

The best night sky I've seen has been at Kufri, base of the Himalayas, fourteen years ago...... a sight I've always hoped I'd see again sometime in life.

All this is context for what's coming.

Tomorrow we're going on a 'Star Gazing Tour', to Mauna Kea, the highest island mountain in the world. Per lonely planet, Mauna Kea is "possibly the world's best place to observe stars", and home to the world's largest observatories.

Now you get the excitement !

And it's also so wonderful how it came about. 

Aunty told me about the observatory in Hawaii, at Mauna Kea, and says check and see what tours they have.

I'm sitting on my laptop this morning, and the tours are looking all booked out, right until mid august, plus there is no pick up from Hilo, and I'm sitting all confused and disappointed.......when aunty's spontaneity blew me. She says "I know where the tours office in Hilo is, close your laptop, lets go ask". And I'm like "right now?!?", and she says "yes, why not... come". 

Within five minutes, we're in the car and on our way to the tours office. And such a good thing that was. We got bookings for Monday, a 'star gazing and sun rise tour', one that starts at 2.30 at night...... and I can't contain the excitement. 

I read that Mauna Kea's altitude and isolation in the middle of the pacific ocean make it the best possible location for an observatory. And while the summit is often covered in snow, it offers one of the clearest skies as the air is extremely dry....and altitude is so high that we'll mostly be above the clouds. Temperature is freezing, 0 degrees C, said the tour guide. The summit is so high that visitors have to stop half way up at a visitors station for atleast an hour, to acclimate to atmospheric conditions before going to the summit. It's the worlds quickest climb from sea level to that altitude. But none of this is fazing me. No threat of the cold, no fear of asthma, no nothing.

I just want to see that sky

That's at the tour office, and as I'm taking this picture of the guy showing Kamlesh aunty where she needs to get to, he says " not just us, I want you to come here and get a picture of this map, for you to get from Hilo to Mauna Kea from where you'll get picked up"

And I did. 

Tom night we need to report at that point at 2.30 at night, and it's an hour from home. Gosh, I can't wait :)

Papakōlea - Green Sand Beach

When I say things are different in Hawaii, trust me.....it's just about with everything. Who has "green sand' beaches right?

Well, they do here in Hawaii. While they boast some of the most beautiful white sand beaches in the world, they also have a 'green sand beach' and a 'black sand beach'.

The green sand beach is crystal green sand, formed because of the olivine green crystals from the Mauna Lea volcano lava flow of 49000 years ago. This is actually a vent or cone from one of it's ruptures.

The green sand beach, located at the southern most point of the island, was a long drive from home.......over two hours..... and was then a five mile trek. There was a lot of contemplation and discussion at home on who all would go, as it's not just a long ride, but a rigorous trek.

Aunty inspiring whoever would listen, was like "this is on the list of top ten beaches in the world, you should go".

We set off fairly early, 6 am,  in the hope of avoiding some of the heat.

Some trivia: it is believed that taking sand from the beach makes Pele, the goddess of the volcanoes, angry. I actually wanted to get back some green sand as souvenir, but in deference to Bablus saying that I need to respect local folklore and belief, I didn't. 

And what an experience again. It's not just the beach...... but even the trek, almost all alongside the ocean, that was quite spectacular.

Rest in pictures;

At the parking lot....getting set, and in picture are Jessa, Seneca, Diksha, Jimmy, Tejas, Isaac and Nammu.

On the walk

In about ten minutes you come to the ocean and after that we're pretty much walking alongside the ocean. It was pretty much just us.....this is no touristy beach.

 Bablu and Seneca

Diksha and Seneca

Nammu and me

Just the ocean

A cute candid picture..dikshas shoelace got undone

A picture with her, as I got a chance to catch up, thanks to the shoe lace above

The green sand beach. It's this really small little bay, set within the cone of an ancient volcanic cone.......so the green sand..... and super big and rough waves

 Going down looked so treacherous, that I initially decided I wouldn't go down

That's the way down

After about twenty minutes of sitting alone on top, and getting a couple of pictures of myself, I was just too hot....there's zero shade, and I saw that no one seemed intent on getting back up anytime soon, so I figured I'd try.

That's one part of the path down

And this path. I even grazed my elbows in one place where I thought I would slip right down, and in that moment the fear was so intense, as I knew I had to walk back that whole way :) (the smile's only in retrospect :)

The green sand. And I must add, way back, I was so washed out, I found myself someone to give me a ride back, though nammu said I'd cheated :)

Aparna, Deech, Isaac and Senaca

The waves are so huge that at times they seemed to cover the entire beach till the cliff end....and with really strong suction back....scary waves

Jessa, Tejas, Nammu and me....we were happy to sit by the cliff face and watch...managing the wind was bad enough 

A picture that so clearly brings out the difference between the deep blue of the larger ocean and the turquoise blue of the bay

Way back we stopped for lunch here, a place that claims it's the southern most restaurant of the USA...... 'Hana Hou', in Hawaiin meaning 'come back again'.

That's the whole lot of us. Aparna, Isaac, Jessa, Jim, Nammu, Bablu, Seneca, Diksha, and Tejas. I had the best ever 'fish and chips' here.

Well aunty, one top ten beaches of the world done..... nine more to go :):)

A Sunrise from Home

This morning, 5.20 am, I'm fast asleep and I feel aunty's hand on my shoulders "leya ve, come out and see the sky".

I tumbled out of bed, eyes yet half closed...... and stepped out to this; a still dark horizon, and a sky of pretty pink serrated clouds.

Within minutes the bugs start getting to us (we're still in night clothes), and I'm like going back in and she says "why don't you wait till the sun rises" and I'm like "ayyo aunty....when will that be?", to hear "phones in your hand, check what time sunrise is".

5.30 am and I'm googling sunrise in hilo. Well google told...it said 5.43, and wait we did, nammu and me.

And then we see a silver lining, the one that says the sun must be behind that cloud

And then it's coming up from behind the clouds

And further up....but kind of bright as it was coming up from behind clouds

And it's full on bright in under three minutes

Pretty huh !

Kilauea by Helicopter

I wish I had new words.....seriously, this is how I feel right now as I sit down to right about this experience.

I've been following Kilauea online since it erupted, yet nothing prepared me for the actual sighting.

Initially the thrill was just being in a chopper.... the take off...the ocean... the boats......and then she, Esther, our pilot, slowly drew up to the sighting of the erupting fissure, a fissure which had grown tall enough to now be given it's own name. It was a sight, or rather a feeling that's hard to articulate.

I was just spellbound, breathless almost I think....goosebumps ..I think my eyes teared up too....was dumbstruck...literally, just couldn't talk .....it was more of a gut level feeling, a bodily reaction so to say.....face to face with something awe inspiring and overwhelming. 

I think it was about being witness to one of the most primordial forces of nature, raw and fierce. Molten lava pouring out and the flowing river of fire...a force that can only evoke awe. And that's when you realize that any other such force of nature is normally spread out and you don't get to see it's origin or core, like there's no one place it's focused on, as it is in a volcano. 

Plus knowing this is in a sense creation......new land getting created.......likely to last millions of years, and to be watching it happen. There's also something lethal about it's singularity and ferocity......plus the perspective of destruction and creation.

It was all of that that came together to create that experience.

The experience in pictures:

At the reception. 

Waiting for our helicopter. Kamlesh aunty and diksha...and Sailesh and Marion Joe.

As we took off

The coastline

Leveling with the clouds :)

The lave flow

The force and speed with which it's flowing out is quite scary...just guzzling out

These areas have all been evacuated

The lava river

Where the lava river flows into the sea

Deech in flight, Esther our pilot and Sailesh behind

Another picture of where the lava is flowing into the water. You can distinctly smell the sulphur in the air.

Way back we flow over the river Wailuku, and some of the waterfalls

A waterfall

More waterfalls from the air

Getting off

A picture with the chopper

Kamlesh aunty, for the insane experience.....thanks, thanks, thanks.... for the chopper treat, for having inspired and insisted that we come to Hawaii....and for thus enabling this once in a life time experience.