Lava Land Part 18: Pohoiki

By Jill Steele

Author "Blood on the Orchids
Owner Hawaiian Magic Tropical Flowers

Christmas Day Family Photo

As I look across Hilo Bay at the lava plume faintly in the distance I am worrying about what is happening 33 miles south and a few bays over at Pohoiki Bay.  I am imagining the waves glassy and the water sparkling in the morning light.  I am holding this picture in my mind as I pray for Pohoiki to be spared.  I yearn to be there watching my children surf, either sitting on a flat rock at Shack’s or on the little sand beach near 2nd Bay. It was always hard getting them out of the water.  You must have seen me.  I was the mom frantically waving and getting the one finger response, which meant one more wave.  Ten waves and one half hour later…  
Passages in my book “Blood on the Orchids” are about Poho'iki.  I am not my characters but their thoughts come out of my experiences.

Making Haupia 

“Pohoiki was beautiful in a wild way.  There were lush trails through the jungle along the coast by each of Poho'iki’s different surf breaks. The weekend afternoon scene could be a little hectic near the boat ramp because it was an ‘anything goes’ beach park.  While Violet and Ryan surfed, Lauren and Bruce sat on the picnic bench at Shack’s wishing everyone who walked by “Merry Christmas."  How could it be anything but, spending the holiday at the beach?  They watched everyone trying out new surfboards and body boards and winced watching the stand up paddle board newbies endangering other surfers as they careened off their boards.  It was a similar show each Christmas with everyone showing off their new bikinis and board shorts.  Christmas at the beach was their family tradition.  On this day, the ‘uncles’ were sitting around a picnic table telling fishing stories.”

Later on in the book as told from another character's point of view:

“Jenny went bodyboarding after work at Pohoiki. It was uncrowded since it was a weekday.  The water was warm and she felt better than she had all day from the moment she entered the water.  She loved looking at the dense jungle coastline from the vantage point of her bodyboard and seeing the peaceful expressions of other surfers and bodyboarders.  There was no need for conversation. She also loved the weightless feeling of when she first caught a wave- traversing the diagonal slope and then carving a path to the top once more if she was lucky. Her head felt clear after her time in the water.  While she was watching the sun go down behind the mountain it came to her that she was enjoying being on her own.  It had been a long time since she’d had this much time to herself.  She liked not being tied to a schedule.  She felt more creative.  Happiness bubbled up inside her. She had forgotten what it was to feel happy.  She didn’t remember what was possible, because she had been living with unhappiness for so long.  The unhappiness had made her feel dull and had carried over to every area of her life.”

Community 

Pohoiki isn't just about the surfers, it's about family and culture.  In 2016,  "Aunty" Luana Jones began organizing monthly Hawaiian cultural workshops.  One weekend my son Shelby and I, along with our neighbor Susan, learned to make haupia (coconut pudding), a process that began with the very physical husking and cracking of mature coconuts. It was an all day process that promoted community while passing down the recipe to a future generation.  

Please let the lava stop and Pohoiki be spared so we might spend another Christmas in her waters and on the coastline with our Pohoiki “ohana”. 

By Jill Steele

Author "Blood on the Orchids"
Owner Hawaiian Magic Tropical Flowers