Honi Honi on the Big Island

Greetings from the Big Island!

We feel at home here at our ohana, at Krisann and Samuel’s “Old Hawaii Rustic Charm” rental in Kapaau. A restored plantation home built in 1941, Krisann grew up here, and is a third generation family member of Puerto Rican descent, whose grandparents arrived from their home country to live at the top of the Big Island and work in the sugar cane fields. We stayed last year and felt so at home, we booked four days in 2024.

We arrived in Kona on April 21, our 45th anniversary, to be greeted later by our friends and former neighbors, Jim and Tracey Gilmore. We’ve known them more than 40 years, and we were each married the same year. Tracey prepared a delicious picnic dinner for us where we met at Holoholokai Beach in Waimea. After eating we walked down to watch the sunset. Tracey was greeted by folks she sees at her work, Kohala Divers. The couple live in Gig Harbor WA and frequently visit the Big Island.

We stayed with the Gilmores our first night and enjoyed talking story with them the following morning while Tracey prepared a hearty breakfast. Afterwards, we rode together to Hilo, stopping first at Lapāhoehoe Point Beach Park, a scenic park with craggy lava rocks framed by a turquoise ocean. Once a sugar mill village was built on the site. Sadly an April Fool’s Day tsunami hit in 1946, sending three deadly waves–one 56 feet high–into the village, killing more than 150 people. According to a newspaper story, 47-year-old Lucy Akiina was washed out to sea. She survived for three days clinging to a door that floated on the ocean. She recalled sharks nipping at her dress. She remained unhurt and was rescued after waving the remains of her dress at a passing plane. The surf is rough here, not recommended for swimming.

Driving into Hilo, we parked and hoped to eat at Pineapple, an open-air restaurant on Keawe Street, that Jim and Tracey have eaten at before. However, it was closed on Monday. As we stood wondering where to go next, a friendly face appeared, seemingly from out of nowhere, introducing himself as Mr. Tea. He pointed us to Jackie Rey’s Ohana Grill down the street, telling us their food was the best.

We walked down the street a couple of blocks and entered the former bank building–there are still a pair of bank vaults in the back. Our server Liz sat us by the window so we could watch the world go by. Right away we loved Liz’s warm welcoming ways. At one point she saw friends walking by and ran out the door, saying, “honi honi.” She hugged her friends and came back in to take our orders. I asked her what honi honi meant, and she said, “Kiss kiss. Even Hawaiian men do this.” We loved the word so much, I said I’d name this story Honi Honi in Liz’s honor.  Today I read that honi honi is a traditional Hawaiian greeting whereby foreheads and noses touch, exchanging one another’s sacred breath.

Mr. Tea walked in smiling, and by then we were swooning over our food. He mentioned that he lives above the Pineapple restaurant, and prefers eating at Jackie Reys.

Mr. Tea sells fresh tea blends at farmer’s markets with his company, Kilauea Tea. Mr. Tea is Christian Louis, whose Haitian roots and Miami upbringing found him immersed in the healthful benefits of herbal teas. Educated in political science, biology, physics, and Caribbean and African American studies, Christian worked as an executive with George Washington University, and other mainstream jobs before returning to Miami to be with his mom, who had cancer. As her caregiver, Christian reconnected with his roots, and nursed his mom back to health using teas and herbs to help restore her well-being. Later, he moved to the Big Island, and founded The Kilauea Tea Company, to promote traditional herbal medicine and work with the island’s mana. Tracey and I saw Mr. Tea once again, today where he sold his tea blends at the mid-week farmer’s market in Waimea.

Tuesday, we sat on our deck during the morning, reading and looking out at the pasture with Krisann and Samuel’s flock of sheep. Gentle breezes stirred the tall mimosa trees. We felt like we could stay here forever. The love of family and land is a strong current here, evident in the family dishes in the cupboards, and the preservation of Hawaiian-printed linoleum that Krisann and Samuel discovered when pulling up the home’s outdated shag carpet. A part of the history lies framed under clear epoxy.

We visited the Pomaika’i Cafe in tiny Kappau town, buying a slice of butter mochi cake, and drove to Hawi for coffee at the Kohala Coffee Mill, where the Yellow-billed Cardinals–they’re actually tanagers–hoped for some crumbs to drop from guest’s outdoor tables. Wild hens prowled the sidewalk as well. Learning that there are no public restrooms in Hawi, we drove back to Kapaau, where the North Kohala Public Library hosted clean restrooms. As we do when visiting libraries, we scanned the book sale shelves and saw Christina Baldwin’s book, Storycatcher.

I had cooked for Christina’s Circle Way retreats on Whidbey, and for her writing workshops, which is how I came to know her and her lovely partner Ann.

Emailing Christina about my lucky find, she wrote back, commenting on our luck of finding her book so far away, and giving me permission to quote from Storycatcher: “What sweetness—to know it’s circulating around in the middle of the islands. (I love the Big Island and Ann and I led trips there for several years, as well as touristing once ourselves.) And how sweet that you took the time to send and show me… sometimes I think books make their way like seeds that birds drop—mysterious. Page 222: …”‘Story is a singing bird: when we let it out of the cage of the mind it loves freedom. …it will fly places we cannot imagine.’”

Tuesday afternoon we met Tracey and Jim at Kohala Divers and rode with them to the Mauna Kea Resort. We were given a public beach parking pass at the attendants’s gate. Carrying picnic fixings, beach chairs and snorkeling gear, we sat in the sand enjoying poke and lettuce wraps, fresh tortilla chips and locally made pico de gallo.

As the sun set, we put on our snorkeling gear and swam out with flashlights. Mauna Kea resort shines a light from a point, which attracts the manta rays, who feed on plankton. About a quarter mile off-shore, a couple of tourist boats anchored with guests. Lights were shown in the water. Tracey and another young woman, wearing cosmic whale print leggings and matching jacket from Kohala Divers, swam out with flashlights toward the boats. Here is Tracey’s YouTube video, which she uploaded. “Swimming with magical mantas at Mauna Kea Beach 4/23/24.  Never gets old!” she wrote on the link.

Bill, Jim and I stayed closer to shore. A big manta swam by. After we left the water, we packed up, and walked to the point and looked in awe with others gathered there. There was a beautiful big manta ray, charcoal gray on the back and white underneath, doing flips. A little Green Heron stood by watching the scene. The full moon rose over the resort. A night to remember.

Today, Bill and I swam at Māhukona Beach Park, about 10 minutes away. A former sugar mill shipping pier, it’s now a great place to climb down a  ladder attached to the concrete dock, and swim with schools of yellow tang and other colorful fish. Feeling relaxed, we ate breakfast, and drove to Waimea to meet with Tracey and Jim at the farmer’s market. I enjoyed some Thai spring rolls from a food truck, and Tracey and Jim shared a dish of octopus dumplings.

While Tracey was getting her nails done, Bill, Jim and I visited the Isaacs Art Center, where we stood admiring the collection of Madge Tennent’s art depicting larger than life Hawaiians. Celebrated as an important artist depicting Hawaiian culture, the website notes: “As an artist in her own right, Tennent was active in Hawai’i from the late 1920s until the 1960s. “The Hawaiians are really to me the most beautiful people in the world,” she once said, “no doubt about it – the Hawaiian is a piece of living sculpture.”

Back at our ohana now, I’m typing this story in the office, a little cubby, on the former desk of Krisann’s late father. Tomorrow she will tell us his story and the story of how Samuel found his father after 50 years.