Sunday Swim

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Jesnne's run group invites us to a BBQ yesterday down the coast at their house. Jeanne, Larry, her friend Susan and I took the smaller ElJobean and headed sourh. Once we exited the harbor, Larry opened her up and we practically flew. We were going over 35 knots, which is probably about 40 miles per hour. Doesn't sound too fast until you factor in the different conditions on the water. Let's say it is a good thing that bathing suits are rather restricting in the chest area, I was bouncing around quite a bit. 25 minutes later we arrived at their house. If we had gone by road would have taken us closer to an hour just to reach their driveway, then the long haul down to the beach house.First you had to account for traffic, speed limits and other cars. Secondly, yesterday was a state holiday here with a parade for King Kamehaneha so that would have caused problems too. The house is part of a large family owned area, and do I mean large. Now starts the really interesting part. In Hawaii there are not many docks to pull up too unless you are talking about harbor slips. Otherwise a boat is either moored out or anchored. So there we were dropping anchor about 50 feet or more from shore, sending dry stuff in by kayak and diving off the boat transom. I am used to swimming at a beach or pool, but now we are talking about the deep blue Pacific and a lava, not sand beach. Jeanne gets worried about me, but i am not THAT old and definitely not feeble yet. The swim in was not too bad, getting out of the water was a little tricky though. You had to time it for a wave to get you high enough to grab unto and slide butt first on to a smooth step like rock. Wait again until were really steady, then stand up and grab someone's waiting hand. Lava is fun stuff. There are two kinds, the slow flowing and the really lumpy, sharp stuff. It is slightly easier to walk on the smooth stuff, but you have to be careful because as it cooled it left ridges and uneven spots. As for the sharper stuff, it also slips a lot, so walking up the "beach" is not a really good time to survey your surroundings. You have to be watching every step you take, and... if you have soft feet like me you better be wearing protection. While the women headed to the house, Larry headed out with five of the guys to go fishing. I really liked the house, it was a great place for family gatherings. The had three bedrooms and a huge open wall in the living room covered with three more mattresses. It was a big family party house. A large open deck surrounded three sides wth a huge covered porch facng the water. Cinda, out host told us about their BBQ the day before. They made Kailua pig and ham in a native imu, the way luaus have been done forever, over hot stones in a pit. Know we have pulled pork at home, but nothing like this. They also made corn dogs from scratch and cooked them in a wok. We had been there for about an hour just chatting and learning about the ancestral home when we were invited to what I assumed (oops there goes that bad word again) was a short walk further down the beach to a place where that swam. Well, short walk turned out to be about a mile over lava rocks and sand. When my feet weren't being poked by lava, they were sinking into the sand. I probably should have been smart and stayed back at the house, but no, along I went. The view at our destination was amazing. By then the sun was far enough overhead to reveal all the beautiful deep blue color of the water. I have described it before as Tidy Bowl blue, but that is not quite right.you need to water that color down by at least two shades. Judging the depth is not easy, it is like the natural springs we have in Florida. You look down below your feet while floating in the water and it looks like you should be touching, and then suddenly a scuba diver swims by and you realize it is way deeper than you thought. So, here we all are standing by on this cliff. Two of the group climbed down the ladder but the rest of us were up top. CInda was the first one to jump feet first. No one dived facedown, everyone who went in what they called a "pencil dive", feet first holding your nose. Jeanne and Susan kept debating whether they were going to do it. I am not a big fan of heights but when I looked down I realized it was about the same height as the tower we had to jump off of in OCS, so I said I was going to do it and challenged Jeanne. Not bad at all and my sinuses got cleared out. So all of us ended up in the water. It was 16 feet down at low tide if we had waited five more hours it probably would have been about a six foot jump.Getting out was more tan tricky. I really needed to ne about four inches taller and 10 years younger. Big gap between top step of lower ladder and solid rock. Finally got me up and second ladder was a cinch. About this time I am really regretting the whole walk. Jeanne cut her hand and foot on the lave, but i was the big show. They had loaned me shoes to walk tomorrow there, but they were too big and kind of slippery now that they were wet. I managed to fall down twice I need about 10 feet.no real major injuries, just scrapes and bruises on my hands. They all thought it was amazing that they were all I got, to I i was truly embarrassed. One of the women who was used to walking on lava insisted I take her sneakers. Was definitely better then and the hike back much easier. I felt badly about her having to give me her shoes though. The guys had. gotten back yet so we ate lunch and chilled. Fed them when they finally arrived, fishless,nand then because it was around four we decided to head home. Tide was definitely higher then and sea rougher. We had to dive off the end of the lava and swim out to the boat. I thought they were crazy having us dive in but again they were right, deeper than I thought. The swim back to the boat was much rougher, but I took my time and made it pretty easily. Getting onboard a rocking boat was harder, but I am here to tell the story. Heading back to the harbor, the sea was running higher and we were surrounded by storms, but only got a little rain. Bed was early, not even 8 pm. Hands and feet are sore this morning, so going to my favorite SAND beach for a little relaxation while Jeanne and Susan run about 16 miles in preparation for Jeanne running a marathon Saturday after next. Enough for now. Aloha!

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