Exploring on foot, May 8 2010 Saturday

"YeeeeeEEEeeek" I shrieked and twisted away, as Kenon attempted to catch the gecko that he found hanging on the ceiling beams out on the balcony, and place it on me, as we both stretched our sleepy limbs the next morning.

I ran into my room to grab my camera. Earlier, Kenon had found another gecko on the hammock at the corner of the balcony, but it had disappeared by the time I reached into my bag to grab my camera. Now, I was ready. Shooting happily away, I was at the same time marvelling at the bright green creature, truly dotted with orange spots and pink stripes, which I had previously thought an artist's imagination, but to my great surprise, was true. This creature really looked like a painted lizard! That cute little creature, despite my usual opinion of lizards being stupid and slimy [they really are! at least cockcroaches run away from humans, but lizards always seem to bother me. I can't recall exactly how many lizards have run TOWARDS me and then making me touch their sliminess or step on them, or leave a tail on my foot, yucks], this one was truly, rather cute. Especially since it has a knack of looking right at their camera with azure-ringed eyes, while I shoot away!

Kenon had showered and changed by the time I got tired of chasing the gecko all over the ceiling, and I too, gave up my morning sport and went to change. As we walked towards the beach for breakfast, Kenon educated me on why a gecko is called a gecko, "It makes a noise at night, Gecko, Gecko, it says," as I listened with disbelief. "You're bluffing." "Really!" "No, I don't think any animal says gecko. I'll watch out for it at night."

Stopping a moment to admire the famed Hawaiian surf, I took more photographs of that beautiful scene, marvelling that as the surf rises up, that tone of opaque icy blue created by such rapid movement of water seemed utterly solid, capped by beautiful white foam, but only lasting a short moment, to repeat again as another surf crashes onto the rocky shore. We continued walking along the shore, admiring the lava beach on Kailua. A certain yellow moss was growing at the edges of the lava rock that was in constant contact with seawater, as yellow tufts on the jet-black shore. Also, mirror pools of still water were created by the uneven surface of the lava beach, where the water had been left behind by the receeding tide, creating natural swimming pools.

We had reached an artist's gallery which displayed Wyland's pieces. Wyland was very famous for his large outdoor murals of marine life. I was greatly inspired by his paintings of whales and dolphins which looked very life-like, and mused to myself, that a diver who paints well can truly bring these creatures to the rest of the world who do not see them underwater. I had hoped to be able to put on paper some of the most amazing experiences that I have had so far, including swimming with turtles in Phuket 2 years before.

"Look! It's Forrest Gump's restaurant! WOW!" Kenon exclaimed and joyfully hopped down the stairs to a small doorway next to the Wyland gallery. It was BubbaShrimp Co. restaurant's entrance. I was slightly puzzled as I had not watched Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump, "You mean he has got a restaurant?" "Why are you so dumb, you didn't watch Forrest Gump?!" "No, I didn't. It's not my generation!" I teased back.

Sitting on the veranda which was built on the rocky beach itself, the soothing rhythm of surf crashing onto the rocks below was a peaceful accompaniment to sipping my morning cup of coffee. Ahh, I was completely enjoying my life at that moment. The sun had come up to its highest and we ordered "Dumb Luck Coconut Shrimp" for me and "Shrimp Heaven" for Kenon's brunch.

 

We found a bench with Gump's shoes in stone and also his briefcase and box of chocolates on the side, for a photo "in Forrest Gump's shoes", literally. Also, a notice-board has clipped the famous quote "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get." that set the mood for the day, in fact, the whole trip.

***

Our aim for the day was to find a dive-shop that was cheap and good, so we walked around the whole town searching for one. There were about 5 operators in town, and Kenon busied himself collecting brochures from everywhere. By the end of the day I had a whole pile. Along the way, I bought myself a pair of Hawaiian classic design suede sandals, and we had shared their version of shaved ice. For some reason, it was free for the day, we were just glad.

We finally found Big Island Divers at 5pm in the evening after walking the entire Ali'i Drive and onto a less popular stretch, where retail stopped and warehouses began. The staff was extremely pleasant and friendly, and the prices were the fairest so far. We signed up for morning dives the very next morning, as both of us had gotten tired of shopping after half a day. Along the way home, we discovered Walmart, a relatively new and their largest hypermarket. Everything was surprisingly cheap, sandals were only $2! We stopped to eat at Denny's, which was not very good at all, as all fast food joints go, but truly, the burgers were 3D. Our eyes were big and round as the waitress brought out a burger which was almost 10cm in height and served another customer. Our dish was a little more modest, being a 4cm high mound of rice topped by burger and a weird sticky sweet-salty brown sauce.

Walking home, we took a wrong turn and as we turned onto the highway, we wondered where it would bring us. Vowing to explore where the road went, we turned back and had to call a cab to bring us back. Having walked the whole day, I slept the moment my head touched the soft pillows, and dreamt of the morrow's dive.