Why not, Chuck wrote once, come experience \u201ctheir\u201d side of Hawai\u2019i Island on our next visit? He suggested a little oceanfront cottage nearby took vacation renters\u2026hmmm\u2026maybe?<\/p>\n
What you need to know, though, is that Chuck\u2019s neighborhood has no wells for water\u2014so it\u2019s \u201ccatchment\u201d water only. There\u2019s no electricity either (which makes for nicer views since there are no wires interrupting the skyline of coconut fronds and jungle-y trees) and, to top it off, there\u2019s no cell phone reception for at least a 10-minute drive (at least for Verizon).<\/p>\n
Chuck and Bonnie operate their businesses (ukulele and custom Hawaiian jewelry<\/a>, respectively) with solar power only; they have a high-end water purifier and they are now connected to the Internet via satellite.<\/p>\n No “connectivity”? We love it!<\/p><\/div>\n In contrast, the place we were looking at renting nearby had very limited 110 lighting (no power-gobbling hair dryers there!), a water system that provided the liquid stuff only for bathing (bring in bottled drinking water) and no wifi or connection or cell phone coverage (but I already said that, huh? \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcJust wanted to reinforce for you how \u201cunplugged\u201d it truly is).<\/p>\n Sign us up!<\/p>\n While being oceanfront on the not-so-traveled Red Road in the Puna District really appealed to us, an equal appeal was being able to visit Chuck\u2019s shop and see where my ukulele was \u201cborn.\u201d Chuck and Bonnie emailed their invitation to visit them while there and we looked forward to getting to know them better than I had the year before when I bought my MBU (that\u2019s Moore Bettah Ukulele in the slang of the uke world) the year before (see here for the tale of that quest and the prize<\/u>)<\/a>.<\/p>\n [Brief travel notes follow, we\u2019ll be returning to the main ukulele program shortly\u2026]<\/em><\/p>\n Falling coconuts on the rental car? I hope not!<\/p><\/div>\n We marveled at the fruit briefly before tumbling into bed. Visions of koa ukulele, coconuts and bumpy unknown tropical fruits danced in my head. The breeze and an evening rainstorm came up, rustling the fronds and resulting in the deep thumps of ripe coconuts hitting the moist soil (Second note to self: Do not park the rental car anywhere underneath coconut trees). We slept well.<\/p>\n Yes, it looked like this. No Photoshop. Really.<\/p><\/div>\n Like most visitors to Hawai\u2019i we awoke \u201cearly\u201d due to hurtling through multiple time zones the day before. I have truly never seen such a sunrise as we enjoyed that morning: pinks of every color heralded the sun\u2019s rising in the sky as the waves\u2019 white foam ripened from purples to pinks to frothy cream under the lightening skies.<\/p>\n Yes. That puddingy one. What is it???<\/p><\/div>\n The fruits (what is<\/em> that one with the white puddingy-like center called???) were our breakfast and, while we\u2019d planned to head over to Chuck and Bonnie\u2019s in the morning, we hadn\u2019t asked \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcem ahead of time what hour would be a good time to arrive. No cell phone coverage meant we couldn\u2019t call so we just relaxed and didn\u2019t worry about anything.<\/p>\n Mark explored the grounds (avocado, oranges, a pond, lots of coconut palms, brilliantly-colored flowers and birds) while I pulled out my ukulele and strummed, sitting on the front lanai and watching the waves crest and break against the black lava (Third note to self: It doesn\u2019t matter how well you play ukulele when you\u2019re sitting on a lanai; everything sounds great, so just keep playing). \u201cAloha,\u201d I suddenly heard. I looked up. There was Chuck, beside his pickup at the gate entrance to the cottage. We hollered him in and he bounded up the outside stairs.<\/p>\n \u201cDoing the tourist thing, playing ukulele on the lanai, huh?\u201d he laughed. Geesh, and I\u2019d thought it such an original occupation that morning\u2026<\/p>\n And so began our visit to return to the land of my ukulele\u2019s birth.<\/p>\n We swam at Warm Pond, we snorkeled nearby in a collection of tidepools and we enjoyed a Wednesday night at Uncle Robert\u2019s in Kalapana (definitely a community happening you don\u2019t want to miss).<\/p>\n Chuck and Bonnie are the kind of people that make you feel at home, even though the surroundings are really nothing like your home. I don\u2019t know anyone back home who live beneath the shady leaves of a mango tree\u2026<\/p>\n![\"cottage\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ukuleletonya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/cottage.jpg?resize=305%2C228\")
<\/a>![\"note_from_chuck\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ukuleletonya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/note_from_chuck.jpg?resize=300%2C225\")
<\/a>I was not disappointed. We arrived at the cottage late at night after flying in to Kona side (Note to self: next time fly in to Hilo and save the drive over Saddle Road). But waiting for us on the cottage\u2019s front porch was a cardboard box, loaded with tropical fruit (some of types I\u2019d never seen before) and a warm note from Chuck and Bonnie welcoming us.<\/p>\n![\"I](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ukuleletonya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/rental-car.jpg?resize=300%2C225\")
<\/a>![\"view2\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ukuleletonya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/view2.jpg?resize=300%2C225\")
<\/a>![\"Yes.](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ukuleletonya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/morning_fruit.jpg?resize=300%2C225\")
<\/a>![\"lanai_playing\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ukuleletonya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/lanai_playing.jpg?resize=345%2C259\")
<\/a><\/p>\n
![\"clober\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ukuleletonya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/clober.jpg?resize=407%2C305\")
<\/a>![\"dr_chuck_and_my_tenor\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ukuleletonya.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/dr_chuck_and_my_tenor.jpg?resize=540%2C405\")
<\/a>