For this blog entry I'm excited to collaborate with the talented Ms. Alexandra K. Ambrose who is a dear friend and co-adventurer. She paints this adventure so eloquently with her words as I draw with light ... Enjoy.
Ka Lae - South Point Big Island Hawai'i
For most people, jumping off a 40-foot cliff would be enough excitement for one day, but apparently Asim and I have an affinity for more than just the typical vacation. He had been to South Point, the southernmost point of the U.S., multiple times and not jumped, but it was my first time. We’re both afraid of heights (and blood which begs the question of what the hell we’re gonna do should disaster strike), but I wanted to say I faced the fear. And I hoped his first time jumping would be with me.
When we walked up to South Point the first thing we saw were signs saying danger: jumping or diving could be fatal. There’s a real confidence booster. Then we watched people jump into a giant hole in the cliff while the water churned and crashed around them. This made looking out over the side of the cliff, where people usually jump, seem somewhat tame by comparison… But not that tame. It would still be a feat of courage and insanity to take a flying leap into the cerulean waters below. Literally cerulean too, like a Crayola. I’ve never seen such beautifully tempting water.
Regardless of this, we almost left. We went back to the car and talked about it for a while. We stood by the cliff again and stared down at the water. An older couple came up the ladder and the woman offered to jump back in with me. I watched her jump and had that cartoon gulp moment. No fucking way.
She suggested we climb halfway down the ladder and jump from there; Asim surprised me by going first. I looked down at them, bobbing in the water with big smiles on their faces, and then he yelled, come on babe. As usual, I couldn’t say no. I climbed down the ladder, taking one step at a time till I could finally get the guts to turn around and… I jumped. No other swim has felt so good. Like giving fear the finger. Asim even encouraged another couple to jump off the ladder too; we were an inspiration.
Things got tricky coming back up though. I heard another jumper mention seeing a tiger shark (turns out it was earlier in the day, thank god) so I was out of there. Meaning I had to climb up a rusty ladder swaying back and forth with the tide while my hands and feet were wet and slippery and shaking. Asim waited at the top and, realizing how scared I was, started coaching me back up. I’m pretty sure knowing he’d be there to hold me was the only thing that got me to the top.
Again, this is where I thought we’d experience the most danger. We planned to visit Green Sands Beach nearby, one of only four of its kind in the world, but I had no idea that’s where things would get dicey.
First, we paid a local to drive us the 2.5 miles over rutted dirt roads to the beach. We stood in the back of the truck, rocking and rolling and clinging for dear life to a pipe held together by pool noodles and duct tape.
Ride over to Green Sand Beach
When we got there the tide was high and rough; we were warned to stay back from the cliffs.
Green Sand Beach
We had plans though. The green sand is caused by a precious stone called olivine (if you look at the sand closely it glitters like a gem) and we wanted to find some of our own in a nearby cove.
Papakolea Green Sands Beach
We traveled around the outside of the cliff, Asim taking pictures of the cliff bowl the beach is nestled in, and were about to go find our cove when a family asked to have their picture taken. They took one of us as well, the man making a comment about us being on our honeymoon… to which his wife replied shut up. It was nice to have a picture of us together, though they were the last ones that camera lens would take. Asim pulled out his camera to take a picture of me and the lens went rolling off the cliff.
My first instinct was to run down after it, but Asim stopped me. He gave me his camera bag and said he’d go look for the lens. He traveled down the cliff, smiling up at me reassuringly, but I was freaking out. If he hadn’t stopped me I would’ve gone rolling off the cliff and now I was watching him without being able to do anything to help. At one point, he even laid down by the edge of the rock and the waves crashed behind him. They could’ve swept him away. Then, I got distracted watching the sun peeking through the clouds, and Asim disappeared. I stood up, hoping to have a better vantage point, but I didn’t see him. It seemed like forever till he resurfaced. He crabwalked the rest of the way back; any misstep would’ve sent him tumbling, like his lens, into the sea.
I’m sure I spent the drive back staring at him obnoxiously, but I really didn’t care. I felt lucky just to get to look at him. I’m always happy to see him and we pretty much hang out every day, but I never thought I’d watch him almost fall to his death.
Asim asked our driver about the olivine stones and he said that we could find them in the parking lot at South Point. A lady who makes jewelry out of them often flicks out her blanket there, scattering the stones on the ground. Incidentally, they even have holes in them so now I have a beautiful bracelet made of precious stones from the parking lot.
Olivine Bracelet
To me, the bracelet is a reminder of what I take for granted. It’s pretty extreme to be reminded to be grateful for someone when they almost fall off a cliff. As much as I look forward to more adventures with him, I hope they have a more boring ending.