Back from Oahu
This year for the holidays we decided to leave the cold Chicago weather and spend majority of December and our first days of 2024 in the island of Oahu visiting Miguel’s long-time childhood friend Jon and his fiancé Kanako.
Hawaiians have a long history with the cosmos. The first Polynesian explorers of the Pacific, who ventured the ocean, used the stars as a form of way finding and the moon to predict the tides among other things. Way finding using the night sky is part of the Weriyeng system used by the master navigators of Micronesia that remains one of the valuable forms of knowledge that has been retained in an increasingly technologically dependent world. Which is something that gives me hope to know when I ask myself how much natural knowledge is at risk of becoming lost or has been lost?
The stars and planets were very visible in the night sky of Oahu. During our time there Jupiter usually made the first appearances in the sky as the sun began to set and since we were lucky to be visiting during the full moon season, we saw the moon opposite to the setting sun. I learned that Hawaiian moon tracking cycles account for all 30 stages of the moon, each with a name and understanding. The 8th-10th night after the full moon, like clockwork, the jellyfish float closer to shore increasing the chances for a swimmer to get stung. The night of Pō Kāne/Kāne, the 27th night of the moon, the tide is lower and a belief that the veil of the spiritual world thins during this time. Mōhalu, the 12th night, the night before the start of the 4 full moons, is a night of low tide, for planting flowers that will be round and root vegetables, it is said that on this night what is hidden is meant to remain that way. Which may be in reference to something in the spiritual realm or simply be a mnemonic teaching device for the knowledge that rooted vegetables that grow in the darkness of the ground are meant to stay in that space on this night.
We visited during the Ho’oilo, wet season, mid November- early May, a time when the sun sets closer to the south produces massive stories-high waves in the North Shore of the island attracting surfers and typically being the time for surf competitions in Oahu. However, the west and east facing shores would produce comparably smaller waves for swimming. I took every possible opportunity to swim in the ocean during this trip. The lovely part of being on an island is being able to drive to a variety of beach experiences and witness the many behaviors of the ocean.
Island life was good, a few other friends also came to Oahu during our time there. On Christmas Eve, Jon’s friend took a group of people out on a boat, Jon dj’d some house, eventually a bunch of us jumped into the deep sea ocean to swim and watch the sun as it set on the horizon. Christmas Day we decided to go on a hike to Kuli Ou Ou and after a hectic trek up some seemingly endless stairs we were met with a beautiful view. New Years Eve we swam at Papa Oni Oni beach and the waves would push us in and pull us out. On one lazy day we hung out on the upstairs porch until the stars came out. Poke was good at any given spot (except for Speedway, I’m told) and the Seven 11’s have some pretty good takeaways for the road.
Unfortunately, I’ve become increasingly worst at documenting memories since my phone camera malfunctions earlier last year so I’m experiencing a bit of regret looking at my photo album. I did take some video footage on my video cam of the surfers at Bonzai beach so I may share clips of that at a later date. <3
Images from the book Fishers' knowledge in Fisheries Science and Management
Haggan, Nigel , Neis, Barbara , Baird, Ian G.
published 2007 (pages 128-131)
Kohala Center breakdown of Hawaiian Moon Phases here