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Wrapping up the helicopter photos

Both of these are of the NaPali Coast.


I don't remember where that one was exactly, but it was very dramatic in person.


And here we all are afterwards! With our pilot in the helicopter - he was awesome, excellent dry sense of humor, and lots of great info about the island and the things we were seeing. And Dave really, really enjoyed it, and was not at all motion sick, in spite of what one might think from the photo. ;)

There are so many more pictures, but I either can't settle between a bunch of different versions, or I don't feel like they quite convey the experience as well as the ones I've posted. So they may come out some time in the future.

Dreams

Where: up
When: June 25, 2010

Last night a character in my dream watched as I made less than impressive attempts at flight, and then made a comment that reminded me that the world I was in was an imaginary construct, and in that moment the dream city fell away and I raced through an empty sky, the wind ripping at my clothes and my hair.

Fly Away

We went in a helicopter! With NO DOORS!! Look how excited we were about this:



Here are some of the things we saw:


That was as we were approaching the NaPali Coast which I posted a picture from the other day. It really looked liked this, as we came up over the ridge, from terrain that had been rather harsh and desert-like, the coast nearly glowed, it looked like a backdrop, or a set.

Looking back up the coast:


You can see in the upper left where the helicopter...um... wing? Blade? got into the photo. Dave very patiently removed this from one of the other pictures, but I don't have that much patience, sadly.

Oh and just to be clear:



NO. FREAKING. DOORS. So awesome! I spent some time in the beginning testing the seat belt to see whether and where it would lock when I leaned forward. Once I knew where that was, I felt much comfier.

More pictures to come, although I'm still going through them trying to decide which to post, and this week is going to be really busy, so it may be a couple of days.

Bird's eye view

Where: The NaPali Coast, Kauai, from a helicopter
When: August 23, 2010

Many more where this one came from - narrowing them down has been incredibly difficult. I'll try to piece them into a story this week, but it's going to be a couple of days, this week is going to be really busy!

Flora

Where: Oahu, HI
When: August 22, 2010

Guest Artist: Dave Powers

Where: On top of Diamond Head Crater
When: August 22, 2010

This is a little out of order timewise, I think, although I really didn't take many pictures after the shark/coffee/coast day. I wasn't able to come with Dave on this walk because I was somewhere out there learning to surf. The apartment we stayed in was the third building in from the left of the photo. It was lovely and quiet, and we could hear the fountain in the park.

Guest Artist: Shawn Stieman

Yay! Ok, now give me my camera back.



(Where: At the top of the spontaneous hike towards the end of the drive back from the North Shore
When: August 19, 2010)

More views

Where: On the spontaneous hike towards the end of the drive back from the North Shore
When: August 19, 2010

Also, some Hawaii politics on the drive back:


I hadn't actually seen that sign while we were driving, it was only going through the photos that I realized there was a great big "take back Hawaii" billboard.

Views

Where: Towards the end of the drive back from the North Shore
When: August 19, 2010

This was a jam packed day, but we're almost done - after the sharks, and the coffee, and the drive back along the coast, we passed by what looked like a great, quick hike. So we parked and hiked it! I say hike - it was fairly uphill, but paved, so not that hike like, but more vigorous than a walk. Also it didn't take us very long. But then we were moving pretty fast. I ran most of it, because I kept stopping to take pictures and then had to run and catch up to Dave and Shawn. Anyway, great views:



I'll post some more from the drive and the hike tomorrow.

Coffee Counting (and tasting!)

Where: Waialua, Oahu, HI
When: August 19, 2010

As if getting to witness the coffee roasting experience, as well as get educated on the production and processing of coffee wasn't enough, after THAT Derek invited us back to his office to learn about grading and tasting coffee!

So, grading coffee involves taking a sample of a batch of coffee - the size of the sample is always consistent - and going through each and every bean to see whether there are any with a weird shape, or discoloration, or mold, or anything that looks funny. This sample was split up between three people, so it didn't take so very long, but I imagine doing it on your own gets pretty eye-watering, so it helps to use a nice brightly-lit magnifying glass:


Once you've separated out all the weird/funky/not-quite-right beans, you weigh them, so you can get a ratio of good to bad beans in that batch. Of course, based on the banter we witnessed between Shawn (aka Dr. Coffee) and Derek, some bean counters are pickier than others.



Oh hi Shawn! You just drink your coffee there, no one's talking about you. ;)

The reason that the coffee grower wants to do this, is that coffee is assigned grades by the state, so there's an inspector who is going to do this. And if you can estimate what grade the inspector is going to give the coffee, then you can estimate your profits, because of course the better the grade, the more expensive (and, in theory, delicious) the coffee.

While counting beans, we got to drink some delicious coffee and also taste some awesome chocolate!! Coffee and cacao like similar growing conditions, so they are usually grown on the same plantations. At least, I assume that's why that happens, I'm not actually sure. But the point is - chocolate!!


That's Derek in the back, explaining stuff. The big hunk of chocolate in the front there was a gold medal winner at a recent chocolate convention, apparently - it was awesome. It was a milk chocolate, and had a lovely, delicate, complex and slightly fruity flavor. Delicious. And next to it on the right is some dark chocolate, which was also fabulous.

I am currently savoring a delicious cup of Derek's Waialua Peaberry coffee which I got to take away with me from this, and it is probably the most delicious cup I've had since I've gotten back to the mainland. I'm going to be awfully sad once this is gone. I'm going to have to go on a hunt...

If any of you happen to be in Hawaii, and want an awesome coffee education and to get to taste some delicious coffees, get in touch with Shawn! While he primarily consults with coffee growers on how to grow the most delicious coffee possible (apparently growing conditions have a tremendous impact on the taste of the final product - coffee is a lot like wine, actually), he also does private cuppings/tastings for us every day folks, and every time I talk to him I learn something new and awesome. Plus, he is delightful to hang out with.

Beach Break

Let's take a break from coffee for the day - just head up through these trees...



And turn right...



ahhhhhhh.

(Where: On the drive back from the North Shore somewhere
When: August 19, 2010)

Where: North Shore somewhere, Oahu, HI
When: August 19, 2010

That is a photo of our dear friend Shawn Steiman, aka Dr. Coffee, explaining how coffee is graded while holding some green coffee beans. Let's zoom in:


They don't look nearly as delicious when they aren't all roasted, do they?

The greenery you can see behind Shawn in the first photos are actual coffee plants, with actual coffee fruit on them - here is a highly mediocre shot so you can see what the fruit, which is called a "cherry" looks like:


In the way of most fruit, ripe = red. We got to snack on some - they have a lovely mild, sweet, honey-like flavor. You are supposed to bite the end, then squirt the seeds into your mouth, and suck on them for a while, as the fruit bit is a thin film over the seed. It's quite refreshing when standing in the hot sun.

The coffee is harvested by hand or machine, it depends on the plantation. It can either be harvested selectively, so that only the ripe cherries are picked, or it can simply be stripped, with green and ripe cherries going together. Once you have the cherries, you dump them into a machine that separates red from green (ripe cherries sink in water, green ones float), then into another which takes the skin off and starts to take the pulp off. There are apparently a bunch of different ways to do this.

Derek, Shawn's friend, who manages this plantation and was kind enough to show us around and explain how all the machines worked, went through all the reasons some ways are better than others - for example, if you leave more fruit on the coffee when it goes into the drying process, you can alter the flavor. BUT if you are trying to dry beans in less than desert-like conditions, with some nice, sugar filled fruit on it, you will primarily get rotten fruit.

I'm afraid my reporting on this subject is awfully thin - I was more focused on taking pictures than on the explanations. So with that said, here is a photo of said machinery:


And here's one of Shawn explaining said machinery to Dave:


And one of the drying racks:


Tomorrow, more on sorting and grading coffee!

Mmmmm coffee

Where: North Shore somewhere, Oahu, HI
When: August 19, 2010

This was basically the coolest day ever - it started with the sharks, then Shawn took us to a coffee plantation, which was right next to a shop owned by Bill Martin, who is a local coffee roaster. So we got to hang out with Bill and chat with him while he roasted couple of batches of coffee. And can I just say that coffee roasters are simply the most awesome looking machines ever?? I mean, how completely steampunk is that?

So the roaster has to sit by the machine and monitor the roasting process - he (or she, as the case may be) has an idea of how dark he wants the particular roast to be, so he's watching the internal temperature, the color of the beans (through a little window), and he also has a scoop that he can use to pull some of the beans out mid-roast to taste them and see how it's going. Once he decides it's been roasted sufficiently, he pulls a lever, and dumps it all into this bin:


See that wooden handle just below and to the right of where his hand is? That's the scoop - if you pull it out there will be beans on it.

As the beans fall into the bin, those big metal arms are rotating, cooling the beans off.


There is an opening on the side of the bin, which the beans gradually get pushed through, landing into the bag they get stored/transported in:


It was so cool to get to watch the whole process, and to chat with Bill about the techniques involved. Here he is in action:


You can see the opening where the beans will get pushed through in the lower right of the photo - towards the end of the cooling process there aren't enough beans to allow them to fall out on their own, so he is using a brush to push the remaining beans towards the opening.

So much fun! Plus the shop was in a big warehouse, so it had all kinds of fun things to browse through - things carved out of wood, shirts, saris and furniture, coffee and chocolate and glass art.

Then behind the shop is what I am calling the plantation but that particular section was where they process the coffee, starting with the whole beans. More on that tomorrow, hopefully with Dave's help because I am never going to remember all the bits and pieces involved.

Define "infested"...

Where: North Shore, Oahu, HI
When: August 19, 2010

Whee sharks!! This was one of the coolest experiences of my life. The sharks we saw were primarily Galapagos sharks, which prefer to hang out at about 200ft of water depth. The area we were was a crab fishing area, and over the years the sharks have learned that when they hear a particular type of engine, there's going to be food, so they come up.



We probably had 12-15 or so, and they were anywhere from 8-10 feet long. Some were pregnant.



They are apparently very picky eaters - according to the guide if he were to throw chicken or pig into the water, they would not be interested. According to wikipedia: "They feed mainly on bottom-dwelling bony fishes and cephalopods; larger individuals have a much more varied diet, consuming other sharks, marine iguanas, sea lions, and even garbage".

More on this type of shark here.

I was most impressed with the economy of movement. There was only thrashing when a piece of food was tossed in, and half the time the birds got the food first. When the shark did get to a piece of food, his or her mouth would only open as little as it had to - just wide enough to engulf the food, no more no less.



There was also a school of mackerel under the boat which the sharks weren't at all interested in - the guide explained that the amount of energy the shark would have to expend to catch one would be more than the amount of energy he would get from the fish. However, if one of the fish happened to be injured then the sharks would be all over it.

Here's the cage we went into (although that's not us, obviously). You can see two sharks circling it:


They never seemed particularly interested in the people in the cage. They would get quite close, and they were clearly looking, but none of them decided to try us out.

I had bought a throw away underwater camera specifically for this adventure, but by the time it was my turn to get into the cage I was SO EXCITED that I forgot to bring it! And it was so fascinating to be in the cage watching the sharks cruise by and under and around INCHES from us that I didn't even think about cameras until I got out, which ought to give you some idea of HOW FREAKING AWESOME an experience this was! When I forget that I could be taking pictures something extra weird is going on.

Sun Worship

Where: Diamond Head, Oahu, HI
When: August 18, 2010

First sunset of our first day - this is the view from our apartment. We rented a studio apartment that was on a little strip of land between a beautiful park and the water, it was an absolutely perfect location. The apartment was beautiful, and the people who rent it are incredibly sweet and helpful, I could not have been more pleased with our choice. It was so quiet there that we opened the (floor to ceiling) windows and just left them open the whole time, and got constant lovely breezes all night. We never had to turn on the air conditioner. It felt like sleeping on a big, airy, peaceful, bug free platform 12 stories up in the air.

Here's a preview of the next day, while waiting at the docks to go and see some... wait for it... SHARKS!!



And finally - the first shark! Well, I don't know if it was the first. But it was certainly one of many:



Tomorrow - MORE SHARKS!