Saturday, May 7, 2022

 Saturday, May 7, 2022

   I was up at 5:30 with the dawn. Hearing me walk around, Yvette texted me to have a good walk. Damon and Cylin, who went to bed at 8:30 after struggling to stay awake, were still asleep. They got up around 7. August, who went to bed even earlier, still slept at 8:30 am.  

  The bagels Damon ordered still hadn't arrived. He paid a $70 shipping fee to have Zabor's bagels shipped from NYC and delivered by yesterday. Damon called the company that shipped them- not Zabor's. They said they would be here by tomorrow. 

  This morning, our first stop was at Kona Mountain, Damon, and Cylin's favorite coffee shop. It was closed. It was only open a few days a week and a few hours on those days. Yvette explained the shop got slammed during the pandemic. It was dependent on hotel workers traveling north for its business. In addition, it was short on staff. It listed all the workers it needed on the door. Besides baristas, it listed three other positions that needed to be filled.     

   Damon texted his friend Eddie to see how he was doing with Covid while isolated in a Brooklyn hotel room. He collapsed last night while going to the bathroom. He was alone. Did he spend the night on the floor? His friend Mike drove down from Pelham to check on him. 

   Damon was fomenting plans to go to Maui on Monday because of the lousy weather here on the Big Island, all of the Big Island. In the meantime, we took a trip to the harbor beach to visit the sea turtles. Cylin developed an attachment to them on her first visit here. She makes a point of saying hello with each visit. I guided August as he drove the car. There is no way a tourist can find their way to this beach without specific directions. Many of the beaches here a deliberately hard to access. The locals resent the tourist for taking them over. We did a long walk to the beach area. I had both my walking sticks with me. It made the walk possible over the rocky terrain.  

    There were no turtles on the shoreline when we got there. We could see one a football field away clinging to some rocks. A ranger walked by. He explained they didn't come to the shore now because it was low tide. They needed high tide to float over the barrier put up by the native Hawaiians of the fishpond. 

   A fishpond is a recessed area on the shoreline. The Hawaiians put up a rock wall across the mouth of the bay. The barrier allows the small fish to swim into the shallow water and prevents them from leaving as they get larger. Then they get caught and eaten. We made plans to go back during high tide.

   We went home to change and go to Kua. They offered to wait for me before going down to the beach. The access is rocky. I told them I would call if I needed help. I worked my down the stairs, over the rocky, sandy stretch, and then walked in the dry sand down the beach in search of them. I expected them to be here when I came to the middle section where the lifeguard stand was set up; This is where they always go. Yvette will go to the far end, but they don't. I scanned the beach but couldn't spot them. I called Damon's phone. It went to voice mail. I called Cylin's phone. It went to voicemail. I was about to start crying when I spotted Damon walking toward me. They all had spread their towels and lay down on the sand. No wonder I couldn't see them. Damon didn't have his phone with him, and Cylin couldn't hear hers over the roar of the waves. All's well that end's well. Next time we do this, I will make sure they have their phones in hand so I can reach them when I need to.  

     I asked Damon if he would take me in. The water was calm, not good for boogie boarding. I held on to his hand for dear life. I was helpless in the water on my own. We got in deep enough for the waves to present a challenge. One came in, and I let go of his hand and dove into it.   On the way back to shore, I did a breaststroke in the shallow water. I experienced the same problem when I went in with Yvette; I couldn't get my legs under me when it came to standing up. This is a problem with my core strength or buoyancy. I know when I do a breaststroke, my rear end floats higher than my head, forcing my face into the water. It is scary. I bought weights, but they don't do much. 

    When we left, I walked back to the stairs as the three of them climbed  over the rocks. I spotted the man in the wheelchair and his wife, who came down to the beach via the stairs. As I clambered over the rocky area at the bottom of the stairs, I watched his wife push him over humps, and he pushed himself through the sand. Pretty amazing. I asked them if I could ask a question as I passed them. "Sure!"  "How are you planning to get back up the stairs?" "We hadn't figured that out yet." Oh, boy. Speak about trust. I told them, "The aloha spirit is real in Hawaii. Ask for help; you'll get it." I would love to know what happened. 

    We all showered and went to Jackie Rey's for dinner. Damon had tried to make a reservation for Sunday to celebrate Mother's Day. Good luck! Then he tried to get one for 6:30 or 7 on Saturday. Ha! Ha! They had a 4:30 and a 7:30 open. We opted for the 4:30. Yvette joined us there. She arrived before we did. She ordered rosemary bread, Caesar's salad, and spiced edamame beans in their shells. After the main meal, we ordered three desserts to share. When we got home, we played Rummikub.