Silent Sunday... Sunrise

My view this morning!

Happy New Year!

2011 has come and gone. Time for a New Year! I wish you all the very best and know that this year holds some exciting changes ahead. I hope each of you has a year full of joy and love. It HAS to be better than 2011!

I am starting a new blog, just on food this year and hope it will become the basis for a book. It is called The Sassy Spoon. Starting this week I will be sharing recipes and food photos there. Come on over for a visit and follow the blog. It is hosted by Wordpress which I find to be a great format for blogging. I will still be posting here about life and food here in Hawaii and some posts may cross over.

Aloha from Hilo Bay.

Wordless Wednesday: This Mornings Sunrise on Hilo Bay

Wordless Wednesday: This Week's Sunrises

Wordless Wednesday : Sun and Moon

Test Tsunami

At Sunrise All Was Calm

Anyone that knows much about the Big Island of Hawai'i will tell you that Hilo has been overdue for a Tsunami for a long time. Traditionally they have hit this side of the island over and over, causing death and destruction. It is for that very reason that Hawai'i County Civil Defense has a well deserved reputation for handling disasters and protecting the islands residents, property and visitors. They did so Saturday in an amazing way. Most of the world was watching our little island for a while then.  

Tsunamis can be scary things and any place along the coast of any land mass in the Pacific is susceptible to them, though few locations are in such a direct line of them as Hawai'i Island, sitting like a little target in the middle of the pacific with no other land to protect her. 

My house sits on a cliff over looking Hilo Bay. We are very high up on the cliff and in no eminent danger from a Tsunami, at least not directly. Of course there is always danger of loss of infrastructure and maybe damage to our cliff. Many people on the mainland do not fully understand Tsunamis or what they do, and so when they hear of one, they thing that all of us in Hilo are in danger. We all would feel loss if a significant one should happen here of course. Chances are that in my lifetime that will be the case. Much of the downtown area of Hilo, as well as the area where major hotels are would suffer some damage. A lot of this has to do not just with those areas being waterfront, but the actual shape of the ocean floor in and around our harbor. In addition to that, many of our valleys and inlets would be the worst hit, including our blessed Waipio Valley. 

Coconut Island in the Bay on Friday Morning

All Was As Usual on Coconut Island Friday

So, here is how yesterday  played out for us. 

My friends Ray and Marsha had spent the night after we had attended a dinner party together down in Hawaiian Paradise Park. They live 45 miles north of me in Honoka'a and own 2 lovely vacation cottages there. 

At 4 am, I got up to make coffee  and turned on the News. To my surprise they were talking about the Tsunami, which at that time was projected to have 8-12 waves. Still in the big picture, that would even be a small Tsunami, 1946 (54 feet) was the worst and 1960 (35 feet) also was very destructive. Today we have lots of warning systems in place. The sirens (VERY loud and lasting 5 minutes) sounded, the actual arrival time was set at 11:19 am. I woke our friends and they decided to go back to let their guests know that there was no danger for them.  As the time drew nearer, mainland friends started sending text messages & e-mails. Phones continued to ring and many of my friends checked in via Facebook, one even staying with me through the entire ordeal. It is true that in times of eminent danger you find out who your friends are! 

The Last Boat Out of the Harbor

The boats in the harbor were instructed to leave and to go to the safe depth of 1200 feet. They had completely cleared the harbor by 9:30 am. 

Here, you can actually see the time lapse video of the Tsunami and as we watched this we all breathed a sigh of relief. This is another video of the water coming and going in and out quickly. 

 You can learn more about Hilo's devastating history of Tsunamis here at the Tsunami Museum web site. They also have a web cam there that shows live views of Hilo Bay. There are interviews with survivors and a multitude of photos and films to view in their archives.  

Still Fairly Calm at 10 am. 

The Surf Picked Up and the Color of the Water Changed

The Boats Returned to the Harbor, Last One Out, First One In

In the aftermath of the entire event, the mayor of the island of Hawaii gave his take on the entire event in this video.   If you watch it you will see the spirit of our island at it's best. In the end, our public servants, residents and visitors all worked efficiently to clear the danger zones. We had a first hand experience seeing what would happen in far more dangerous conditions. Everyone I have talked to about the situation feels the same way. We are prepared for a bigger disaster when it does come our way. The scare of 2010 was a very real one with no disastrous effects, next time we may not be so lucky, but we will be ready. 

Wordless Wednesday Voggy Sunrise

What it is like to sit at my desk

A typical morning finds me up at 4 am and after walking the dog, feeding the cat, making coffee and turning on the computer, this is what it is like:

Magnificent Moon and Salacious Sunrise Over the Pacific

Last night's moon was spectacular over the pacific and this morning's firery sunrise was equally amazing. I Just wanted to share them with you... as they say on postcards, "Wish you were here."

Wordless Wednesday : Honu Sea Turtles

Moonrise

The moon has been spectacular for the last several nights. It's reflection on the water is incredible, but difficult to capture on camera. It has been just bright enough to show up in these pictures. Here is last nights "moon rise" looking out from our lanai.

Wordless Wednesdays Whale and Cruise Ship

Cruising Hilo Bay

As most of you know, I live over looking Hilo Bay and one of the things I love about living here is watching ships come and go. Most every morning I am up well before sunrise and in my office over looking the bay. Many times early arriving ships have all of their lights on and are quite a sight to see coming in with a sunrise for a backdrop. I like knowing who these ships are that are visiting us, and so after a little digging, I found some information for the ships that will be visiting us this week. On average we get 2-3 ships a week. This week we get three. On rare occasions (like last week) we even get two on the same day. Hilo is a very deep port and can accommodate the very large cruise ships. Here is what we are looking forward to seeing, starting tomorrow (Sunday) morning:

The Pride of America (Norwegian Cruise Line) arrives at 7 am on Sunday with it's brightly painted stars and stripes bringing 2,250 passengers and 900 crew. It will depart at 6 pm. Although the Norwegian Cruise Line Itinerary says it arrives at 8 am. The disembarking generally begins at two hours after docking and all passengers are to be on board two hours before departing. Gotta count those heads! It is a 7 day cruise and we are their first port after leaving Honolulu. From here they go to Lahaina Maui, then Kahului Maui, next on to Kona, then they spend the night at Kauai and finally head back to Honolulu. The Golden Princess (Princess Cruise Line) arrives at 7am on Monday with 2,400 passengers and 1,100 crew. It leaves our shores at 6 pm. This ship is on a 14 day cruise from LA and will visit Honolulu,Kauai (Nawiliiwili), and Maui (Lahaina) before heading to Ensenada Mexico and then to LA. Just in case you are wondering, it takes 4.5 days of sailing to reach Hawaii from LA, so those folks will be very happy to depart the ship when they arrive in Hilo. This same ship has another identical itinerary later in the month and will arrive in Hilo on the 23rd of February.

How does this look for fun? It is one of many activities aboard the Pride of America. Seems to me it is a counter sea sickness idea... This same ship goes to Alaska during the summers, so we only see her in the winter. On Tuesday at 7am the Mz. Zaandam (Holland America Line) arrives with 1400 passengers and 650 crew members. It departs at 5 pm. Here is how they describe their ship: Designed to carry fewer guests while providing more space for maximum comfort, the ms Zaandam is a prize in the mid-size ship category. Offering spacious public areas and plush accommodations, many staterooms have private verandahs(can't we say Lanais?). Here is a veranda stateroom:The musically themed ms Zaandam offers a unique shipboard atmosphere. Inspired by the world's great music, artifacts and memorabilia from a variety of musical genres decorate the ship. You'll find musical instruments such as Bill Clinton's saxophone and signed guitars from Queen, Iggy Pop, Eric Clapton and the Rolling Stones used as art objects throughout the ship. At the heart of the ms Zaandam, in a soaring three-story atrium: a Baroque-style Dutch pipe organ, inspired by the traditional barrel organs still found on the streets of The Netherlands. Enjoy an onboard IPod self-guided tour of the complete Zaandam art collection.This is the ship that is black on the bottom, most others that visit us are all white. Remember that these folks arrive in Hilo after 5 days at sea, we are their first glimpse of Hawaii. Just imagine walking thorough that ugly port as your first time on dry land in 5 days.

This is a real issue to me, because I believe that it is a shame that every week thousands of people are introduced to our little city in a most ugly manner. The port is almost three miles from downtown and 2 of those miles go through what is truly the most unattractive place in Hawaii with big ugly industrial buildings and other icky and sometimes smelly things. On top of that if we are getting a morning shower, they have no place to hide from the rain. Our town is not the Disneyesque Tropical Paradise that Kona or other ports are in the first place, and I like that about it, but taking people through the industrial waste land to get here is really pitiful.

Back to the ship…This ship is on a 15 day circle tour from San Diego, California; Visiting Hilo, Hawaii; Kona, Hawaii; Honolulu, Oahu, United States; Nawiliwili Kauai, Hawaii; Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii; Ensenada, Mexico. It will return on the same schedule two more times later in February and again in March. It also has a 21 day tour and a 19 day tour later in the year. The 21 day tour leaves April 6th from San Diego, California and visits; Hilo, Hawaii; Nawiliwili Kauai, Hawaii; Honolulu, Oahu, United States; Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii; Kona, Hawaii; Ensenada, Mexico; Avalon, Catalina Island; Astoria, Oregon; Victoria Canada; Vancouver, British Columbia.The 19 day tour in October leaves from Vancouver, British Columbia; and visits Victoria Canada; San Diego, California; Hilo, Hawaii; Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii; Nawiliwili Kauai, Hawaii; Honolulu, Oahu, United States; Kona, Hawaii; Ensenada, Mexico. The ship spends the summers in Alaska.

Here are a few pictures of the ships passing our house, the first one is of Valentine watching a ship come in on the Lanai off of my office:

Anchors Away!