Exploring Lost Hawaii: Spent the weekend on the Big Island and researche...

Exploring Lost Hawaii:
Spent the weekend on the Big Island and researche...: Spent the weekend on the Big Island and researched some sites for the next Exploring book - "Exploring the Lost Big Island of Hawaii... ">">

Spent the weekend on the Big Island and researched some sites for the next Exploring book - "Exploring the Lost Big Island of Hawaii." We visited Halemaumau Crater to see the new rising fiery lava lake. Wow! Make sure you go to see #Halemaumau at #HawaiiVolcanoesNationalPark!

We ate Thai food first in Hilo and then drove up - the drive was quick, just over 30 minutes. By 7pm cars were leaving Volcanoes National Park which was great as it meant that we found parking at #JaggarMuseum. It was a five minute walk to the crater overlook. Freezing cold. Icy up there in the mountains. But totally worth the effort - the lava lake was magical, moving and changing shape, shimmering, sending up bursts of flames and rocks. We could hear accents and languages from all over the world as watchers gathered at the overlook. The main expression: Oooh! Oh! Look! Wow!

NEW BOOK IN EXPLORING LOST HAWAII SERIES!!  TAKING A TRIP TO THE MAGICAL ISLAND OF MAUI?  READ THIS BOOK!  DISCOVER THE STRANGEST, MOST FASCINATING THINGS ABOUT THE PLACES YOU EXPLORE.

EXPLORING LOST MAUI -- PLACES OF POWER, HISTORY, MYSTERY AND HEALING

An alternative travel guide to Maui's sacred places, a hidden Maui that most travelers and residents never experience. Exploring Lost Maui takes the reader on a cultural tour of massive ancient stone temples, healing stones, places of refuge and places of power. The award-winning authors have visited and researched all sites and include stories from Maui's past and present that are fascinating, informative and often dark and mysterious. Discovering Maui's intriguing past will enhance your visit to this beautiful island.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"All the islands have their stories. The best way to experience the magic is to go in person. Get the book and start planning your adventure."-- Michael Breckenridge, photojournalist review of Exploring Lost Hawaii, Places of Power, History, Mystery and Magic series.

"If you have an curiosity about the ancient Hawaiian civilization, its legends, folk-tales, religious beliefs and practices, and society, this book should be on your reference shelf." -- Christopher T. Carey, historian, researcher, writer, and consultant

"A good deal of research went into this book, and Ellie Crowe cites her sources...she adds her personal experiences at the sites, or that of someone who lives nearby...an effective technique." -- Columnist Bob Krauss' Review Honolulu Advertiser review of Exploring Lost Hawaii, Places of Power, History, Mystery and Magic series 

"What I found particularly fascinating about this book was the way it linked specific places throughout the islands, which can be seen today, with historical lore and people from Hawaii's past." -- Bookhills 5 Star review

"Should be in the collection of every public library in Hawaii...would be a welcome tool to people planning trips to Hawaii...I could imagine it being popular in California public libraries" -- Elisabeth Kittredge, LIS (Library and Information Services) Student, University of Hawaii at Manoa.

NEW STATE SCENIC BYWAYS!

SCENIC BYWAYS ON OAHU

So great to see that the State is adding four more scenic byway roads to Hawaii's existing four. Each of the areas is designated under the state's Hawaii Scenic Byways program so the views will be protected. And that's so good as a lot of views on the islands are being spoiled by developing.

Take a drive this weekend and explore:

Diamond Head Scenic Byway encircling Diamond Head and called "The Lei Around Leahi." Leahi was the name for Diamond Head in ancient Hawaii. The word means Brow of the Tuna (ahi is tuna)

The Maunalua-Makapuu Scenic Byway, a 6.8 mile length of Kalanianole Highway from Hawaii Kai Drive to the Makai Research Pier.

The Kauhale o Ho'okipa Scenic Byway in Waikiki

and The Red Road Scenic Byway in Puna on the Big Island.

You can read about Diamond Head in my ebook Exploring Lost Oahu -- there's a lot of fascinating history both ancient with temples of sacrifice and modern with details of the tunnels built during WW11. LOST was filmed in those tunnels which is also interesting history!

And of course the history and stories on the Makapuu Scenie Byway are just as juicy with Pele and Healing Pools. There are two chapters devoted to those.

The Kauhale o Ho'okipa Scenie Byway in Waikiki is based on the historic Waikiki walking trail and you can read about the strange Sorcerer Stones in Exploring Lost Oahu.

Met Nina Wu from the Star Advertiser today. She was interviewing me about my book "Nelson Mandela, The Boy Called Troublemaker." I've added a link to the book -- can't believe it, but its No. 2 bestseller on Amazon today :) Mandela said that everything he needed to know in his complicated life he learned while growing up in the little village of Qunu.  The book is about Mandela's childhood. I hope you enjoy it. I grew up in South Africa and lived there for 20 years before coming to Hawaii. http://www.amazon.com/Nelson-Mandela-The-Boy-Called-Troublemaker-ebook/dp/B00H5ARQWI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1386642868&sr=8-2&keywords=nelson+mandela+the+boy+called+troublemaker

Anyway -- back to Hawaii. Nina had just written about the turtles at Laniakea and she knew a lot more than I did. I love what she wrote so have added it here as I think everyone will enjoy it. The volunteers at the little cove have been tracking more than 20 turtles which are identified by their markings and scars and by tags.

There's Brutus, a 35-40 year-old male who lost part of his flipper to a tiger shark. Brutus has been hooked and entangled by he naps almost daily at Laniakea.

Hiwahiwa is a 35-year-old female with a fissure on her shell, likely from a watercraft collision. She has swam to the French Frigate islands several times.

Kaheka is a juvenile who was entangled and hurt by a fishing line and rescued and treated by a vet.

For a $25 donation you may symbolically adopt one of these honu and the funds go towards education and outreach. And you can also volunteer to be a Honu Guardian. See malamanahonu.org

Princess Kelea of Maui - a beautiful, daring princess from long ago

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D6X6XBI

Read about Kelea, a Hawaiian princess who lived long, long ago. Kelea loved to surf and she was so good that she was called Kelea-who-was-born-with-a-fin. Kelea was daring. She was also very beautiful. Sometimes that is a dangerous combination. One day the beautiful princess went surfing and was stolen away.

Turtle Beach North Shore Oahu

                                          Photo by Brain Kusko

38. LANIAKEA BEACH or TURTLE BEACH

Laniakea Beach is where the turtles hang out—200 pound, friendly turtles who seem to actually like swimming and hanging out with humans. Of course the seaweed here must be tasty too, but that still doesn’t quite explain why the rock star turtles keep coming up to bask on the beach surrounded by their many fans.  Luckily for us, they do.

You are almost sure to see a green Hawaiian turtle in the pretty little cove at the right hand corner of the beach. Turtles make their way to shore through the channel and the boulders and coral reef act as a deterrent to the turtles’ natural predator, the tiger shark. Little turtle heads pop up and down out of the ocean and swimmers swim alongside turtles. Although you are supposed to keep six feet away, one turtle was so enthusiastic to get close that he nuzzled my friend’s tummy and pushed him right over.

Green Hawaiian turtles are an endangered species and the turtles are protected. Volunteers at the beach know many individual turtles by name. As some turtles are fitted with satellite transmitters, they can even tell you what a turtle does all day. For instance, Ipo, whose name means Sweetheart, during a monitored year spent a third of her days basking in the sun at Laniakea. During the nesting season in March, she swam 500 miles in 35 days to the French Frigate Shoals in the remote North Western Hawaiian Islands. During this long swim Ipo made sixteen deep ocean dives. She returned safely to Laniakea in September. Read about other turtles on www.malamanahonu.org/meethonu.asp.  In Ancient Hawaii, turtles symbolized the navigator able to find his way home again and again over hundreds of miles of open ocean. Some legends say turtles guided the Polynesians to the Hawaiian Islands as did the golden plover. Turtles were also revered as aumakua or guardian spirits.

One of those mighty voyaging chiefs arrived at this beach from Tahiti in around the 11^th or 12^th century and called the cove Laniakea, meaning Wide Sky. In his voyaging canoe he brought large lava rocks from the terrible, human sacrifice temple of Taputapuatea. Further up the coast, he built a temple or heiau and included the sacred rocks in the foundation. He called the heiau Kapukapuakea, a name showing how kapu or forbidden and sacred it was. It is said to have been a navigational heiau.

Laniakea also is known for its world-class waves. There is no restroom or lifeguard here—just a perfect cove, shade trees, and turtles.

DIRECTIONS: When you leave Haleiwa Town on the North Shore of Oahu, drive towards Waimea Bay. Roughly two miles along the Kamehameha Highway you will see a farm with lots of cows behind a white fence. You’ll also note lots of cars parked in the dirt on the mountainside of the road and people crossing the road. That’s where the turtles are.