Big Island: if you don’t like the weather, drive five miles

Today Hurricane Hector is supposed to be arriving on the Big Island. I live on the eastern side, the direction first to get hit by rain from hurricanes. I woke this morning to a steady rain and thick humid air. When I lived in Wisconsin, we used to say, if you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes. Here on the Big Island, with 10 of 14 climate zones, we say, if you don’t like the weather, drive five miles. So I dashed to my car.

Today is my swimming day with Stacy. Last night I got a text message from her: “Hey sister, we’re going to the beach in the morning. Don’t freak out over this stupid storm. It looks like our beach is going to be beautiful. See the map.”

Indeed, the map showed heavy rain everywhere except on the interior and western shores where we swim. That’s proof enough for me, despite the ominous voice of my father in my head: “What are you nuts? Swimming when the island is under a Tropical Storm Warning?”

So I packed a nice brunch for us (freshly made guacamole and taro chips with kombucha), and headed to Waimea to pick her up. The rain turned into the fog and cold wind-blown mist that is common in Waimea. It’s at a higher elevation (2500 ft versus Honoka’a at 1000 ft), and so as you drive up the mountain, you enter the clouds.

Stacy lives almost on the divide between the wet and dry side of the island. I have seen hard rain abruptly stop and mere feet later, be driving in sunshine. So as we left her house, we were treated to the rainbows often seen here.

The drive down the mountain on the dry side showed that we would indeed have beautiful weather at the beach at the Mauna Kea Resort. I love the view of the ocean down the mountain on the dry side: moist air behind me spilling over the mountain, and sunshine ahead.

The air was warm but not too humid. There was no breeze to speak of, and even the warning sign had no posting on it today. Normally the sign has at least a yellow caution posted. Where was Hector?

We indulged in bobbing on perfect 1-2 foot waves for at least an hour, while the eastern side of the island had wave warnings for 12-15 footers, the effect of Hector. But Hector is only moving at 16 miles per hour, so it didn’t spoil our fun at all.

Driving the 26.5 miles back home, I retraced the weather path of this morning: warm and sunny at the resort, shifting to the cold sideways mist of Waimea, turning into fog on the downward path to Honoka’a and finally the warm steady rain of home. By the time I got there, the Tropical Storm Warning had been lifted. So Dad, you can relax.

Here on the Big Island, we are lucky that if we don’t like the weather, we can just drive five (or 25) miles to find something that suits us better. I like to think of this as a metaphor for my life. If I don’t like my circumstances, I can manifest something different. How about you? Do you believe in the power of manifesting?

 

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