Yesterday we finished up our first work week, and my first five day work week since new grad orientation at Salem Hospital almost eleven years ago. To celebrate (and to attempt to use some of our smaller chunks of time to see closer sites) we had decided that we would take the kids to Pohoiki Warm Pool after work.
Work went well although I think I will write an additional post to sum up my work week. Chad and the kids picked me up from the hospital at 3:30 and in scrubs and all we headed towards the warm pool. Chad headed in I the general direction, but some how our guidebook with the names and maps got left at home so we winged it and punched in hot springs in the GPS. The location that came up looked on the map to be in the same general location as the one I was thinking so it wasn’t until much later that I noticed in the guidebook that we had infact visited a separate warm pool very close to the first called Ahalanui Warm Springs. (That just means we have another place to check out later) the drive was very green and always interesting as most of the plants are new to us. We drove past a papaya grove or was it guava. A sign said papaya but that was down the road a bit and could have been for a different grove. The fruit on the trees looked like it could be either as they are all clustered up and there is no way to know, being new to the crop, where it is in it’s gestation. We made one wrong turn before we turned to the GPS and ended up on a dirt road (there are lots of those).
We were close, we turned around and found that we were on the right road just had turned the wrong direction. The weather was cool for here and a bit breezy. Shorts and a tee shirt were fine but the thought of getting wet would give you shivers. Less so since we knew the water was warm.
The kids found more coconuts a young man was picking them all up and breaking into them for a refreshing drink; he left three for the kids to collect. He asked us if we wanted him to break them open for us. We politely declined stating that we would take them home and break into them later.
There were port-a-potties but no good place to change so we made our own changing room for the kids. What else is a trunk really for?
The pool here is fed both by a spring that is volcanically heated and by the surf that comes in via a controlled channel. The guidebook claims that the water temperature varies from 91-95 degrees which is warm but definitely not body or hot tub temperature.
The initial warmth was followed by a realization that it was cooler that the YMCA therapy pools and we were going to have to keep moving a bit to stay warm. We all stayed together for a little while. We discovered that at no part was it too deep Caleb couldn’t touch and the kids started spreading out a bit. Chad, Eve, and I talked for quite a while with a lady visiting from Northern California she and her two year old son were quite conversive and you all know Eve by now. Everyone is her new best friend. We stayed until nearly dark when amorous couples started showing up. Yep, that’s our cue to leave. We all just about froze getting out. The showers were not cold, but cool and we all heald our breath in anticipation. The cold was short lived. As soon as we were dry and in our normal clothes it was all better. 70 degrees is warm unless you are wet with a healthy breeze going. The locals here have warned us that it has been unseasonally cool and rainy this past week. All the same for our snorkeling debu today (Saturday) we are going I the sunny warm side of the island.
Owens Endeavors 