Into the desert proper

Those are the words of Chris Selwood, event director at the World Solar Challenge, while he was explaining the changing landscapes along the Stuart Highway in Australia. His words were apt to describe the surroundings I entered after leaving Los Angeles: what a desolate place, and what enormous views across desert valleys.
As I described earlier my days in Los Angeles were not very interesting. The very first day I arrived at the airport at the end of the afternoon: too little time (and sleep) to pick the van up, so I had booked a motel nearby the airport and the van pickup for just one night. The following morning I went to the 'Escape' office to hand over a lot of (digital) cash in exchange for two months of camper van use. It's a nice old beast, equipped with (almost) everything you need. She reminded me of Hardboards 'da Bull' a little bit. Also handpainted, with a rumbling old engine, rusty in some places, and panels that work like a 'drum' when you slam the doors shut: good feeling, especially as I never had my driver's license while da Bull was around.

This is the sitting arrangement, you have seen it as a bed already

Fridge and sink in the back. I will have to do without/improvise shower and toilet

The first drive on sunday is to a nearby campground, in Pomona, north of LA (this is also where the above pictures were taken). This is cheaper than a motel, and one of the few campgrounds around LA that are not crazily expensive. Actually it is an RV park, a typical American thing, where there's maybe 10 sites to put up a tent (at the maximum distance from the bathrooms) and a 100+ places where you can drive-through your immense American RV thing. Kind of a strange place. Normally on a camping you immediately have contact with your neighbors, but here everyone is locked up in his box. The staff was friendly enough, but on the next morning I didn't even get a response to a cheerful 'good morning'.... strange! For the rest it was like a typical camping: hearing your neighbors with their dead marriage arguing half  the night, etc.
I use the two nights at the campsite to get supplies for the van, get a few more showers while I still can. Ofcourse I also draw up a general plan for the trip + a little more detail for the first leg: sending out couchsurf requests, booking a hotel in Las Vegas, etc. All in all this takes quite some time, especially with all the driving around looking for various places to buy stuff. The US brands are now becoming more familiar: favorite for groceries so far: Vons or Albertsons (Walmart sometimes), general supplies and cheap warm-up meals: 99ct stores or general dollar stores.
The rough trip plan is to do a circle of a lot of the Western USA's national parks: Grand Canyon, Bryce, Arches, Monument Valley, Death Valley, Zion, Yellowstone, Yosemite, and perhaps a few more. Besides these of course San Fransisco should be visited, and the 1 highway along the coast between SF and LA. Saltlake city and its Bonneville saltflat are also on the list, and while studying I've also added Arizona: Montezuma's castle and perhaps the Tucson airplane graveyards. I could make this loop clockwise, or counter-clockwise, and due to the season I decide to first head for the desert (and the east). Sequoia national park was also on the list, but there were heavy snowstorms predicted for the coming days, with mandatory snowchains and stuff like that... didn't really sound like a good plan.
So after 3 nights in LA it is finally time to head off: into the desert! I'll leave you with some pictures of the route, and also of my first outback camping spot. The full selection on Picasa will have to wait until there's wifi again, instead of 2G.

Another sight that resembles Australia: huge cargo trains snaking their way through the desert

A portrait of the van, with a proper background

This seemed like a good view for my first night in the outback

Dinner getting ready just before sunset

It was kind of exciting to set up for my first night of camping: if anything would happen I would have no insurance because I was on a dirt road, and I have also heard too many stories about mountain lion (Poema) attacks (statistics, I know ;-)). Anyway, it felt good to cook dinner and find out that I had not forgotten anything essential. It felt even better eating it, and enjoying the sunset and amazing views with a glass plastic cup of wine.

For the next day I wanted to get as close to Death Valley, or already into it, as possible, because the night after I had already booked a hotel in Las Vegas. I had also sent out a couchsurf request to a host in Ridgecrest, one of the last cities before Death Valley, but since I camped in the outback, I had no way of knowing if it was accepted or not. Before leaving I climbed the nearby hill to enjoy the view around my first night's camping site one last time.

Find the Van

Driving time: off to Ridgecrest, as I expect to find some wifi there. Along the way I keep getting emergency SMS's on my new US mobile: sandstorm warning in your area: do not travel... wtf?! When I pass the last mountain to Ridgecrest and can see into the valley it becomes clear that indeed there's something strange going on: it's all hazy and dusty.

Snowstorms behind (above the Sierra's: Sequioa National park)

Duststorm ahead

Actually I slept quite badly the night before due to the high winds rocking the van back and forth. I thought this was due to the location on the mountain, but apparently the weather was just being crazy (and stirring up a lot of dust in the neighboring valley). In Ridgecrest I also received a message from my couchsurf host: she had actually asked me to call here yesterday if I still wanted to stay... I tried reaching her, but got voicemail. Instead of waiting around in Ridgecrest I headed on, guessing that in Trona, the next town, I could get reception and try phoning again. 

The roadtrip to Trona was interesting: lots of contrasts: rocks straight from Lucky Luke comic books, a salt lake, an industrial plant processing the salt from the salt lake, and endless desert roads. However, when reaching Trona I had no reception... my only choice was to head back to Ridgecrest and check there. Luckily enough I got a message from my couchsurf host that it would be possible to stay. That meant waiting around in Ridgecrest for another 3 hours though... 

I did some more shopping, lots of coffee drinking and I already sorted some photos. When I headed off for the adress she provided me I ended up kind of out of town, on a dirt road, heading into a kind of trailer camp: interesting! There was no light at the trailer with her number on the mailbox, but lots of it, at the trailer next door. I parked the van, and a big dog came out barking and jumping angrily... behind the dog came Melinda however, so I had found the right place. Two more dogs joined in, but as Melinda didn't say attack, and I was not afraid I could just greet the dogs, and drive the van onto the property to park safely.

Melinda turned out to be actually working at the salt processing plant that I saw today. That, and the airforce base where her boyfriend works are the largest employers in the region. Kind of amazing, as we are really, really in the middle of nowhere: there's desert all around and then this salt lake, and a huge military base. The military base is actually the larges US R&D center for the army, during the second world war, this was the place with the highest concentration of PhD's on the whole planet (they were inventing the atomic bomb amongst others). 

We had a nice dinner together and I learned a lot about the region, we talked about the for dogs, Melinda's diving adventures (on her first open water dive, someone else died), and how her boyfriend (him being a Russian) ended up working for the US military. We said goodbye in the evening, as the couple would go to work really early and were ok with me closing the gate behind me. The next morning I got up early because the drive to Las Vegas and through Death Valley was gonna be looooong. When I wanted to pack my bags into the van I saw one of Melinda's dog's outside the gate... with a wound on her front leg as well... I had hear the dogs fighting in the night, so maybe she escaped and got hurt. I let her back in, left a note for Melinda and headed off for Death Valley.

For now I will just leave you with some pictures of the (loooooong) trip to Las Vegas, perhaps I'll talk about it a little more in a next post. The full picture set will have to wait for the next post as well because I'm on a very slow connection.

Good to finally get some physical exercise again after all this driving: climbing a small hill with beautiful rocks and the road snaking through the valley below

The actual change in landscape only occurs after you pass the mountain range

The mountain range on the west side of Death Valley, this, together with the Sierra's ensure that almost no rain arrives in the valley

You'd think that nothing would live in 'Death' valley

Inside the valley proper: this looks more like it: endless horizon of nothingness

Death valley is also the lowest point in the USA 

(and Garmin sucks, but more about that later)

'Devils Golf range': an endless field of salt (re)crystallizing

A view from the south end of the valley looking North, with the van included to show scale... this place is immense

Hawaii as expected: beaches and palm trees!

Wow, Oahu (especially North shore) is the Hawaii I actually expected: roads directly on the beach side, palm trees, waves, and beautiful beaches! Due to the high burn rate in Kona I am now staying at a hostel. It got pretty bad reviews online about it cleanliness, but it is cheap, right on the North shore beach (Pipeline within walking distance) and looks like it would also have the nice surfer atmosphere. When arriving there I was met by a completely disinterested staff member, he accepted my money, gave me a key and told me that it would be number six, 200m down the street.
I drive up to the 'garden village', park the car and find cottage 6. Ok, it looks kinda worn (broken planks, rust, dust, etc. but it is not as bad as some of the stuff online would make you think. One of the 'cottages' has been turned into a lobby, so I head there to say hello. There's a few people there, and some surfers coming back in, reporting on their days adventures. I discuss where people have been and what their plans are. There's a nice group of Alaskan friends who are celibrating their spring break and share my college background: engineering.
They've been snorkeling and hiking on a nice site, but when I check where it is, it is right on the other side of the island: I'm not falling for that again :-). What I also learn from them is that on Oahu, there is actually no need to have your own car: there is a perfectly working bus system that gets you almost anywhere. Well, since I have the car now I decide to make a roadtrip with it tomorrow, so see what the beaches are like, and to go up North to another spot that should be great for snorkeling.
Since I haven't visited a proper beach yet I stop to enjoy the first one. Making selfies is difficult in the bright sun so the smile does not represent how I was feeling inside :-). The waves were quite nice as well, and there was even someone surfing them.

This same thing happened at a few other beaches: I was thoroughly enjoying driving around the island, stopping when there was a nice beach, sit or swim for a little bit and move on to the next great site. My GPS unit apparently didn't correctly mark the snorkeling beach, which I noticed when I was about 15 miles past it. Change of plan: go to the 'Chinaman's Hat' landmark and then turn back to snorkel on the way back. Along the way were a number of perfect postcard beaches, you can view them on picasa, link later on. Chinaman's hat wasn't that impressive, so I entertained myself by making jumping selfies... I'll have to work on that as the jumping style resembles that of a Chimpansee ;-). Chinaman's hat is the island in the background by the way.

The scenery around the site was totally impressive. Apparently a few scenes of Jurassic park have been shot around these cliffs and I can totally imagine why: they look so impressive rising up out of nothing like that. There were also a lot of para gliders enjoying themselves near these cliffs.
On the way back I did some snorkeling, but it was actually not that impressive: very little coral, few fish, and a current which was on the brink of being dangerous. Back at the hostel I cooked myself a nice meal (for the first time in ages) and had a nice evening with the other hostel guests. We started talking and drinking in the 'lobby' and later on moved to a nice beach fire. The party ended when the local police dropped in to tell us that 'All fires are illegal' and that we should put it out or be fined and arrested. Always the same guys that spoil a party...

So, off to bed at a reasonable time for a party night: 23:00. Actually not such a bad thing! I had been looking to do a hike on Oahu as well, but with little time it had, this didnt really seem feasible in the end: I had to some surfing first! I did first ride to the point which I would have liked to hike, because it was quite near to the surfshop where I was told to go by the locals the evening before. Today the waves were a lot higher (of course the locals also knew this already), so this made for a pretty impressive coastline.

Near the rental shop I first went to the local beach, to check the conditions. It was a nice calm bay with lots of surfschools in the water, so I knew I should be fine. The rental price at the place the locals told me to go where great: $ 18,- for a board for a day and a free shaved ice. The guy even lend me a set of straps to put the board on the car as the beach was 5 mins away. 

Surfing went ok, I took some waves and could keep on standing a lot of the time. However, the fun quickly ended when I jumped off at the end of a ride and the rocks were a little closer than expected: no problem there, but when getting up I stepped in a sea urchin... lots of pain and about 20 needles sticking from my foot (with barbs, so the wouldn't get out in one piece) ended the surfing. 

On the beach I asked around a little for some vinegar, but nobody had any. One of the surf school guys told me that the needles would come out after two days or so, but that he would usually sit down immediately with a nail clipper and some pincers to open the skin and get them out... not a nice thing to look forward too. However, there's no poison or anything, so I had just a little pain to deal with... which is an emotion, so you can shut it off :-). I went snorkeling to get my mind off it, and because I had seen a lot of green turtles in the bay. There was one actually right in the beach break where people waded into the water (the only piece of sand in between the rocks). This immediately made for some nice snorkeling. Later on I was just kind of floating around on the currents, when I noticed a turtle kind of doing the same, but on the bottom, and about 2m away from me. I gently followed him around a bit (keeping him at the edge of visibility of about 2m due to the heavy surf). This creatures was immense: I guess he must have been at least 80cm across. When he came up for air he actually swum up towards and stuck his head out of the water for a quick breather about 30cm's away: so cool! Sadly no pictures this time though :-(.

The rest of the afternoon was uneventful: I brought back the surfboard, enjoyed the shaved ice and got back to the hostel. The guys there gave me the tip to put some hydrogen peroxide on my feet (mmm). I first tried the first tip with the nail clippers and pincers, but this did not work at all (the guy had told me that a lot of patience was needed, but this was too much!). At the local superstore they had hydrogen peroxide, but since I had never used the stuff, and also because I would have to carry my backpack around again tomorrow I decided to try it in two days (with a little luck the needles would be gone already). Instead of working my foot more I decided to see the world famous 'Pipeline' waves: a good way to end the day: enjoy a sunset while looking at pro surfers riding large waves. 

Back at the hostel I tried to the local Thai food cart, Oahu is dotted with little food carts selling all kinds of nice and cheap food, and this one was no exception: I had a very good meal, although waiting for it for 25mins probably made it the more tastier was well. The evening ended really, really early, as my flight would leave at 07:20 in the morning, from the other side of the island. My alarm clock was set to 04:00 and I parked the car in such a way that I could just drive off with my drowsy head (Wouter had taught me in Lake Garda that accidents happen at 05:00 in the morning, while trying to get out of your parking spot). The flight would take me to LA, so more about mainland US in the next post.

A (large) selection of Oahu pictures can be found here:

Oahu

More of Big Island

As promised the rest of the Manta diving story:

The night dive is kind of a tourist attraction: all dive operators come with divers and snorkelers and bring lots of lights. Crates of them on the bottom shining up, and surfboards on the surface with lots of light mounted on them shining down. On the bottom all divers sit in large circles on the bottom around these lights, and on the surface the snorkelers hang on to the surfboards: giving the Manta's lots of space to roam about.
The effect of using all these lights is that it attracts the plankton, which in turn attracts the Manta's: lots of people, lots of Manta's. Seeing this surreal night time ballet was amazing, but all in all I again have mixed feelings about this dive. Attracting the Manta's is not really natural, and having all the people sit on the ground really destroys the reef. However, I think this is the best possible compromise: having all these people all over the reefs will damage lots of places, in this way it is only one site that is damaged, the people go home happy having seen Manta's and the Manta's go home happy (oh no wait, they're home already) because they have had their bellies filled again. And all the operators go happy having earned some cash from the divers.
Sitting on the ground while diving was totally awkward and very difficult for me: I'm used to controlling my buoyancy, and never touching anything, as a good diver should. Trying to sit down, even with maximum deflated vest was awkward, and due to the waves we were being pushed back and forth, constantly bumping into rocks. Also, where to put your legs? You have fins on, you want your legs outstretched as far as possible so that you can push off against the current, but there's rocks everywhere... haha, and try to keep track of all this while you are enjoying the incredible Manta's all around you: interesting dive :). Anyway, I wouldn't want to have missed it and seeing these Manta's was an amazing experience! More footage (this time at 'night') below:

http://youtu.be/Ks5JK_dFk8U

All the 'dust' you see in front of the camera is actually plankton: the stuff the Manta's are here to eat. If you would hold your lamp still for a certain time a little cloud of plankton would swarm above it: really cool to see.

The day after the night dive I had planned a roadtrip. Due to the late nightdive, I didn't get up as early as I had wanted and ended up leaving at around 11:00. The target was the Volcanoes national park: where there is a lava lake, and occasionally you can see lava flow into the ocean (not this year though). There is also a site where lavaflows have crossed the road, which I really wanted to get in a picture. However, first I will have to drive for 2 hours: Big island is so incredibly big! I expected to drive alongside the ocean, and when not, to see a lot of great views. However, the road is kind of boring, most of the time you don't have views and when you do there wasn't really much to see (and it was quite hazy). There were some notable things along the route though, which you can see on the pictures below.

I picked up a hitchhiker along the way... some stinky guy who had stranded in Hawaii 20 years ago and was doing all kinds of chores to stay alive. He just got back from a hardware shop where he had gotten a replacement head for his gas strimmer... he was earning some money by mowing someone's lawn. He told me some interesting things to see on Big Island though: Green Sand beach. I saved the coordinates in the GPS, dropped him off and moved on.
What the roads did remind me of was the World Solar Challenge in Australia. Kind of the same landscape as in the North of Australia, and also long straight hilly roads. Some of you might be able to find the picture of the WSC that really resembles this one:

After 2,5 hours of driving I finally arrives at the Volcanoes National Park: also my first contact with the USA style National Parks: They seem to be (over)organizes as some kind of theme park. Gates, visitors centers, parking lots, talks, video's, guided walks, pffft. I am used to parks being unkept wildernesses! After getting a map, and checking out which roads are closed due to SO2 and lava I plan a route: first see the big crater, and then drive along crater road to the Thurston Cave, some more craters and the final destination: the lava fields across the road on the beachside.
First downer: the view of the big crater is all hazy, and you can see a little smoke, but not the Lava (you can on the Lava-cam in the visitors center though). Also it is very busy, so I snap some pictures and move on. In my memory the volcanoe crater we saw on Java was much more impressive (even bigger and with far of smoking cones).

The next crater was not hazy, but had actual clouds drifting into it, totally obscuring the view. You could walk through this crater (which was massive), but because I wanted to get to the lava flow on the beach I quickly got back in the car. You can see how big this crater is though, by looking at the marked person in this picture:

I passed the Thurston cave on the way into the park, there were 4 tourbuses and a full parking lot there, so I chose to do it on the way back, when there would be perhaps less people there. While driving to the beach it became apparent how much further I should actually still go. On the map it was marked as a 90min return drive (if I remember correctly), but when I was about halfway I could see to the ocean.

This still looked so far, and by now it was 15:00 and I had already been driving for 4 hours... if I wanted to get back before dark and also take a look at some of the beaches on the way back I would never make it. So I decided to take a final view of the huge lava fields and turn back.

On the way back I got a parking spot at the Thurston cave, put on my hiking shoes, took my headlamp from the trunk and went in. The Thurston cave is an old Lavatube: the outside solidified, but the lava flowed out, leaving a nice tunnel. It lies right in the middle of the jungle, so this was also a nice change of scenery after all the lava. The first part of the cave is lighted and paved, and my guidebook said that the second end was still natural and could be explored on foot if you brought a lamp. However, arriving there after about 100m it was closed :-(.

On the way back to Kona I visited the black sand beach, and due to the time constraints had to skip the green sand beach. All in all this day was kind of a desillusion: way too much driving, with way too little to see. My diving buddies had given me other options: such as going to the top of Mauna Kea (above the clouds), or perhaps I would have liked it more to do some snorkeling in a Marine reserver. I chose volcanoes park however, and it kinda was a disappointment. Too bad, nothing I can do about it, and tomorrow the rental car has to be brought back and I will fly back to Oahu.

Dropping the car off was a breeze: 442km driven in two days... not bad. While waiting for the plane I come across Scott: he's flying back home. Perhaps I'll go and meet him in Portland later on. The flight to Honolulu was uneventful (however, with some nice views):

This time I did have a car reserved in time, so I picked it up, got some cash and drove off to North Shore to my hostel. More of my adventures on the famous Oahu North shore in the next post.

Here's the link for all the big island pictures again: Big Island Picasa

Aloha

Wow, it's been some time since I lasted posted anything. Especially anything related to my day-to-day travels instead of stuff from what feels as weeks ago. Today I hope to do that differently and cover both Hawaii and my first days in LA (as they have been rather uneventful travel-wise: just getting my bearings, getting the van fitted out completely).

We start off on the same day as I left Japan and did a day-hike there: the 15th of March. So incredible how much you can do in a day that has 33 hours! You'd think that Honolulu is a small tropical paradise, but you'd be mistaken. I only learned this from on board the aircraft as I didn't spend any time in Honolulu itself:

After landing in Honolulu at 10:00 am in the morning (while having left at 22:00 o' clock at night) I waited around the airport a little bit for my connecting flight to Kona, Big Island. The airport was a completely different type than I had expected from a hugely trafficked american airport: kinda old and badly organized, reminding me of landing in Jakarta. Also: Americans want to be paid for anything: luggage carts costs $5, wifi is avilable, but only via creditcard, airline food and beverages only for a fee, etc.
The connecting flight to Kona was on Go! airlines, your typical Hawaiian Ryanair. One problem with Big Island is that there is zero-to-none public transportation. Only one near-free bus that runs to the airport only once a day at 08:00 in the morning. I had sent out requests for a quote for a rental car in Kona, but since I couldn't get any wifi to check the quotes out and because I was so incredibly tired I just took a cab to the hotel. The place got pretty bad reviews online (it has 'royal' and 'resort') in its name, but is actually just a good hotel in a nice place, with some postponed maintenance in various places. You've seen the pictures already: perfect ocean view from the balcony on the 6th floor, airco, a great shower and a fine bed: perfect for these couple of days. The first thing I did after sundown: sleeeeeep, finally!

The next day was half-full of arranging stuff: getting the latest blogpost online, orienting on activities in Kona, and finding out how I could get the rental car from the airport, where to get a pre-paid phone and mifi for my 2,5 months in the US, etc. Halfway the afternoon I got out to explore Kona a little bit, and ask around for the possibility of diving. The company that got the best reviews didn't want to cut me a deal for a full day of diving, so I first walked the village to find maybe a better deal somewhere else. In the village there was some kind of market going on, which gave a good atmosphere and also a good view of all the too fat and too badly dressed (me also) tourists. There was live music, fresh fruits, shaved ice, lots of trinkets, generally just fun to (slowly because of the heat) walk through. As I was in America I treated myself to a good American style pizza for dinner :-D.

The next morning started really early, around 06:40, because I had decided on getting on the free local bus to the airport. I had found a bus stop nearby, and luckily enough the bus also turned up! Getting on the driver waited for me to pay 1 dollar... which I luckily had... never trust the online publications from the Hawaiian authorities for being true ;-). We dropped off several locals in various places and I ended up being the only one going to the airport. There I picked up the rental car and used it to get to the few places I had on the to-do list: check where the cheap fuel station was, check in the harbor for one of the boat dive companies (I found the boat, but there was no one there to inform me about possible tours), and get the T-mobile Mifi. This last action took almost an hour because the bloody IT system at T-mobile doesn't work: the guy thought it had to do with his account, so a colleague tried, another colleague tried, and then ofcourse the manager also had to try... in the end we had to do the whole registration process by phone with the mainland (by now the clerk had memorized my birthday, requested pin-code and address...). Afterwards I booked a diving trip with the original company I had visited, but now only for half a day (the others were full, and with my limited time I wanted to spend not a full day diving). What I had planned for the end of the afternoon was a snorkelling trek in one of the natural reserves that one of the locals had told me about in the Captain Cook area. 

I got underway but after about half an hour driving I still wasn't in the area and it was getting darker so I turned around. No-use snorkeling in the dark, and also not such a good idea for the first day of driving in a new country.

Next morning I had another go: at 14:00 I had to be at the dive-shop to prepare for the evening and night dive, so I used the morning to snorkel the bay a little bit. Getting in was quite a challenge due to all the rocks, but once in the bay there were some nice fishes to be seen. However, nothing really spectacular and quite a bad visibility due to the nearby shore break. This did not promise very well for the dives.

Normally, the daytrip dives go to sites where they take huge loads of tourists, and especially tourists with very basic, or no dive skills at all. This means that the reef gets damaged and that there is much less wildlife to see. Since you pay a lot of money to go diving I especially asked the clerk at the dive shop if this would be the case, but he of course ensured me that the Big Island reefs are in pristine condition and the best of the whole Hawaiian chain of islands...

Meeting the divemaster and fellow divers was fun. The crew provided a good atmosphere with lots of joking around, funny stories etc. My fellow divers were also quite interesting people, all with totally different kind of lifes: Scott, a young entrepreneur from Portland Oregon would be my buddy. He owns two karaoke bars and has travelled the world before settling down in Portland. Hila, a Israelian girl also on a round the world trip (and ticket) after serving in the military for 10 years. Tim, owner of a family business car dealership in Ohio and Peter, a cook turned electrical engineer, working in an interesting semicon startup in San Fransisco. It was fun sharing our different lifes, adventures and challenges. But ofcourse we were here to do diving:

The trip I booked was the evening and night Manta dive. The Manta dive is something you really have to do here because, well, Manta's are amazing. However, I wanted another dive to also explore some of the beautiful coral and lava formations on Big Island. First bad news: we would do both dives on the same location as there were some people in the group who had never done a night dive before. This was bad news, because the Manta spot gets 35.000 visitors per year: so the chance of it being destroyed were high.

When we got in the water my expectations were kind of confirmed: no spectacular coral, a lot of damage and very few fish, although more than I would expect on such a reef. I saw some nice fish, got quite cold which was unexpected, and altogether didn't really find the dive worthwhile. Until, while we were ascending near the boat our dive guide made the ticking noise he had explained would mean that he was seeing something awesome (you can hear it):

http://youtu.be/yW0z4sp1mag

As you can see this Manta chose me to swim to and dove up and down right before me: what an amazing sight! The dive guide later told me her name, as they know about 150 Manta's here. This one is very recognizable because there is a fishing hook stuck to the right of her head. Anyway, this totally made up for the rest of the dive: what an amazing sight, such an enormous and graceful creature turning loops right on front of you: wow! 

The atmosphere on deck after this dive was kind of the same: everyone was awe-struck. During our safety stop there were even 2 more Manta's swimming by: we were very lucky to have seen this. On deck we had some snacks and a sandwich and more chats with each other while waiting for the night dive.

Big Island pictures on Picasa:

<SPOILER ALERT> Big island

I will continue with the night dive in another post, because it is getting bedtime and the post is already long again! Darn: this means Hawaii will also need at least three posts. Let's at least add a spoiler of what my bed looks like for the coming two months:

The last days in Japan

Today was spent as a tourist in Nagoya. With my bags at Ryuji's house, its key in my pocket and by making a breadcrumb trail of photos nothing could possibly go wrong.
First on the list was a visit to one of the three holiest shrines in Japan: Atsuta-jingu or 'sword shrine'. I was expecting to see a nice park, temple and perhaps a sword, but none of this. The shrine area consisted mainly of quite modern buildings. The park surrounding it wasn't really beautiful (a forest with a wide gravel path through it) and the shrine itself, and actually all the little shrines where people prayed were all closed wooden boxes. English explanations or personnel were nowhere to  be found, so this place was kind of a deception.

Next on the list was the Tokugawaen. A museum and park dedicated to the Tokugawa family (which has delivered a number of emperors). The Tokugawas donated their archives to the state, and the contents now form a very nice musuem. Unfortunately no pictures were allowed and there were guards in every room to supervise this. There were some really nice samurai outfits and swords, furthermore handwritten battle reports from the 1400's. Quite interesting to see. Another strange thing: there were very old manuals for all kinds of things: how a woman should wear here make-up, how you should fold your clothing, how tea should be pored, all these kinds of things. The Japanese didn't become very neat and precise this century... they've been like that for hundreds of years!
The surrounding garden was once again very nice. There was a large pond with Koi in it, and one very beautiful little Japanese tea house overlooking this pond from a perfectly laid out garden.

With my zen-levels high I went back to being a proper tourist again: off to the Meijo park and the nearby Nagoya castle. I mainly wanted to go to the park to see the dutch windmill. The rest of the park is mainly used for sporting, which is fun to see, but the park itself wasn't very beatiful or anything like that. I did see the windmill. It had been a gift, and apparently has stood liked that in the park since the moment it was given. Its woodwork looked rather rotten and the actual blades were fixed to the ground with steel cables: the mill has probably never turned. So if anyone is looking for a hobby in the Nagoya area: go restore and operate this windmill :-).

The castle looked the same from the outside as the other castles, and the entrance was on the other side of the park, so I skipped it. Instead I went back to city center again for more modern landmarks: the Oasis 21 building and the TV tower. The Oasis 21 building is actually one of the cities' bus terminals, but it has a special roof: it is made of glass and there is a few inches of water on top of it: giving a strange kind of effect. Snapping a picture of these buildings was enough, so I headed back to the station area again, where I had an appointment with Ryuji in the Irish pub, after he finished work. We shot a few games of pool (for free :)) and drank a beer. Afterwards we went to a Japanese Sushi restaurant where we had a very nice plate of sushi.

While exploring in the Nagoya station area I discovered that there was a cafe on the top floor of one of the towers. After dinner I had a coffee there with Ryuji, to see if the view was any good. The coffee was very expensive, but with free refills, so we halved the price :-). Later in the evening this proved to  be not such a good idea, since at 03:00 am I was still wide awake. After the coffee we went to Ryuji's neighbours: a jazz cafe. A very nice Japanese lady was playing piano there and making some very enjoyable music. Add a nice glass of wine and it was a perfect last evening in Japan. My flight the next day, however, was only at 22:00pm, so there was still one more day in Japan.

 I asked Ryuji to plan something for this day what he might also enjoy, because I had done all the things I wanted to do in Nagoya. He came up with a daytrip to an old post-route in the mountains, where there's also two historic villages. He heard about this from one of his couchsurf guests and hadn't been there himself. It would involve a 2 hour trip to get to the start of a 3-6 hour hike, so I discussed the options and time limits with Ryuji, as I wanted to make sure not to miss my flight.
In the morning we took 2,5 hours to get to the place, so I was kind of worried about getting back in time. The view, however was amazing: we were quite near to the Japanese Alps and could see snow covered tops.

The old village was quite nice to see, a bit touristy, but full of nice old buildings with beautiful gardens. We tried some of the local snacks, but soon started our hike, with a good pace. The path is actually an old messenger route from the days of the samurai, and it really also has that kind of feeling about it. A winding little road made out of old stones, little or no civilization in sight and deep and dark forest nearby.

We soon also found ice patches on the path, which were very, very slippery. Quite amazing to be warm and in full sunlight one moment, and walking on snow again the next. After about 2km we came across a worrying sight: a bell that you had to ring to chase any bears away. Except for pandabears I didn't know Japan had bears!

 About halfway along the route we came across a lonely old Japanese cottage with a very nice tatami, rice paper walls, and a kettle of boiling water on top of a hole in the floor: right out of the history books. In front of it was a bent old man, inviting us in. He immediately put some dried and fresh plumes and a cup of tea in front of us and started telling stories and asking us questions. After offering us a cup of plum-sake he even started singing. It sounded like a song he might have been singing his whole life during work in the fields. He actually talked with Ryuji in Japanese a lot, because mostly foreigners walk the route between the two old villages. Japanese people (and actually most tourists) take the bus. He really enjoyed seeing a Japanese person there, and shared a lot of his stories. He and his friends actually put up the bear bells after an American tourist scared a bear away by screaming really loudly (it was the first bear sighting on the path as well).
Since we were in a hurry we took or leave from him after spending the time that courtesy asks for such a friendly and inviting person. We dropped some money in the tipping box, wrote in the guestbook and headed on.

Walking on this old path, in the forest again after all these cities, and hearing the stories from this old man really gave a good feeling. We walked the last bit of the road in a cheerful mood. We encountered a nice waterfall along the way, and after 7km came into the other touristic village. I found this one to be more beautiful than the first, but also here we had to hurry through it to make it to the bus stop on the other side on time.

The travel on the bus was uneventful. The connections to the station were actually bad, so it consisted of a lot of waiting: a good time to write some postcards :). We were back at home about half an hour later then when I would have planned it, but still with lots of time to spare to get to the airport. As Ryuji is a very thorough and meticulous person I wouldn't have expected otherwise! I packed my bags together and said goodbye to Ryuji at the metro station: time to move to the next country!
The trip from the train station to the airport was more difficult than I anticipated: normally an airport train is a very simple thing, and just takes you to the airport. Not so in Nagoya: there are three branches on the airport line, and even though it is branded as an 'international airport' no announcement is made in English in the train itself. Once I started asking other passengers it was already too late and I was 2 stations past where I should have switched to the correct train. On the way back I immediately asked the conductor for directions and he made sure I got on the right train in the end. I made it in time to the airport, and was off to Hawaii!

Full picture sets here:
Nagoya 1: Touristic sites
Nagoya 2: Daytrip