Kohala Coast Vacation Rentals

August in Waimea

written by Bill Jardine, long time Big Island resident & realtor

August seems to have the right name to those of us lucky enough to live in Waimea, and I was reminded of that on a recent morning walk through the rain forest with good friends. The weather has been typical of the summer season this year, with blowing mists at Puu Kapu and bright clear days over Lalamilo and the sunny stretches of Ouli beyond. It is quite an experience to travel up from the sun baked leeward slopes into the emerald pastures above under a deep, blue sky. From a distance we could see puffy white clouds struggling to top the Kohala sea cliffs and knew that we'd better hurry before the forest filled with white mist.

Since Waimea lies in the saddle lands between the ancient Kohala Mountains and the awesome slopes of Mauna Kea, we get the most amazing weather extremes within a very short distance it seems as though you can drive from the misty moors of Scotland to the sun-baked mesa lands of New Mexico in ten minutes or less! That has blessed us with a mixed up reputation. Are we rainy and wet or sunny and dry? Of course the answer is "Yes take your pick!"

As our old diesel truck crawled slowly up the steep pasture lands above Waimea we were crossing the same lands where Kamehameha I had sent his elite warriors to train in the stinging kipuupuu mists to strengthened them as they practice their martial arts and perfected their abilities in hand-to-hand combat. How the hills must have echoed then with their bellowing! Now those same hills echo with the bellowing of cattle, and the trodden mud bogs are choked with kikuyu grass as pasture laps up against the rain forest fence.

Passing through a gate has always been an metaphor of sorts for the passages in our lives, and there is a moment of pause as you leave one lovely experience and move into another. A rain forest gate possesses a huge amount of relevance, standing as it does at the entrance to a cathedral built of soaring trunks and dappled shafts of sunlight falling through the forest canopy far above. It is truly an entrance to another realm, and the rich, fetid smell of the thin soil mixes with the tangy perfume of blooming ginger and the fresh scents of wet bark and bright new leaves. We pause. We are inspired and humbled. It is an august experience in Waimea. A hui hou. This article is written by long time Kohala Coast resident Bill Jardine who is the owner of Jardine Investment Properties.