HILO – first port of call in Hawaii. It is a Monday, I think. The sun is out, cloud cover makes the temperature bearable. A slight wind and such a beautiful place.
From our balcony I see an out crop of black rock, out past the break water. Past the island trees and lush vegetation that is natural to this island port. A couple told us this morning, this their 7th time to the islands and the first when it was not raining in Hilo!! What a gift for them, what a gift for us. How lucky for us to see this place on this lovely day.
I see the rock, out into the ocean. Some moments it looks peaceful and sleeping, with quiet calm water surrounding it …. seconds later, a moment later in time a huge splash of white water as the great sea meets the black solid volcanic bare rock. Splash from behind, splash from in front … all around the black rock is seen white splash of angry sea … as if to argue that it has the right to that space … and takes it’s place.
I wonder how much volcanic rock erodes with each wave. How much has gone already. Out to sea, with the mighty wave claiming the spot where once liquid lava, molten and moving has claimed its place past the land and out into the ocean. Miles and miles of sea …. nothing as far as the eye can see. No white caps, no islands, just water, and that out crop that stands in defiance of the water trying to reclaim what was no doubt, once where the sea was one.
I want to remember this Hilo. This spot, this lava land and angry sea. I want to remember watching this lovely spot, from our secure balcony on the lovely cruise ship. Waiting for folks to come back aboard and our late night sailing to another port and another port ……. until it is time for us to leave these islands.
How magical Hilo is. A small town on the largest island in this grouping. Larger by double than all the other Hawaiian islands put together. We are on the island that is growing each day … fighting with the sea as the hot molten land claims it’s spot only to defend itself as the mighty sea pushes back again and again as the waves roll in. Is it tide, I wonder, is it just the natural course of the sea?
Is it some magical place and I am the only one watching the dance? Will I remember the struggle – something lost and something gained and the eternal dance of taking space … and re-claiming presence.
I am feeling moved by the vision and comforted that there is nothing to do … I don’t need to solve this mystery but to enjoy being in its presence and noticing. Just simply to show up and bear witness to one of the most beautiful sights in nature. A perfect dance of sea and land, liquid turning to solid and solid dissolving in liquid all claiming the same exact place in space, where no air ever exists.
The space between land and sea. No shore, just ragged edge and ocean face ….
have to get ready for dinner
I wonder what tomorrow will present for my sight??? I am very grateful for the visions of today and the awareness and mystery of this magical place.
Mahalo (thank you, in Hawaiian language) and Aloha (hello and goodbye)
with love, P

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