Seeing Nature

Over the holidays this past December, we broke with family tradition and, instead of gathering around tree and hearth as we’ve done as a family every year since 1982, all of us headed to the Big Island of Hawaii for an entirely new sort of celebration.

My wife and I had been there once before, staying at what was then the newly opened Hyatt Regency Waikoloa for a meeting of the National Spa & Pool Institute’s Board of Directors. (I recall that Skip Philips was chairman at the time.) After that meeting nearly 25 years ago, Judy and I had taken several extra days and motored around the island at a leisurely pace, staying in tiny motels and spending most of our time exploring natural wonders.

I didn’t recall it clearly amid everything else we saw, but one of Judy’s strongest, fondest memories had been of Akaka Falls. From the start of our discussions about our return visit, she always came back to her desire to take our daughters to see it.

That visit almost didn’t come to pass, at least not for me: I spent most of the trip limping along on an ankle I’d injured just before the holidays. We’d planned on seeing Akaka Falls toward the end of the trip, and up to that point I was mostly content to stay close to our base in the middle of nowhere on the island’s southwestern shore.

Happily, I rallied when the big day came and was able to make the short walk to the falls with Judy, Leah and Chloe – and Akaka Falls was every bit as magnificent as Judy had recalled and as I came to appreciate all over again. It is natural splendor on the highest level, right up there with some of the falls in Yosemite and other parks much closer to home.

What I like most about Akaka Falls is the fact that, far from being a single, plummeting torrent, the large, horseshoe-shaped expanse with the big central drop is teeming with offshoot falls and small cliff-clinging washes and rivulets populated by birds, lizards and various creatures and plants that thrive in the moisture-rich environment. The whole scene rewards long, careful examination, in other words, and should involve more than a quick stop as you move around the island.

We may not have enjoyed tree or a hearth this year, but we have more than enough memories of snorkeling among sea turtles and tropical fish (although none of us were lucky enough to see the pod of dolphins swimming through a reef that one of our party had seen on a previous trip) and of numerous food- and wine-focused events (including a luau that took us back to the place we’d first stayed, although it’s now known as the Hilton Waikoloa Village) to last us another 25 years.

Hawaii is famous for greenery punctuated by bleak lava fields, but I most remember the water. It rained like crazy one of the days we were there, and it was remarkable to see the place come to life with little freshets and springs and waterfalls that hadn’t been there a day earlier. It was everything Judy and I had hoped for – and much, much more.

To see my super-brief video of Akaka Falls, click here. For a more languid experience that shows highlights of the entire park (including the awesomely named Kahuna Falls), click here.