Wailua Falls

You'd think that living on an island would eventually get old, that the number of new places to visit is limited. To an extent this is true. With the highest speed limit being 50 mph and the longest drive being 2 hours, our world is quite small. Still, this doesn't mean that adventures and new discoveries are impossible. Sometimes you just have to look a little harder.

I've been driving by a sign pointing to a waterfall for years now, and I realized recently that I've never actually followed  it. It's been there in front of my face the whole time, and not once have I turned off the main road to explore. So recently I had a little extra time after teaching, and I found myself soaring up a winding road into the green green hills in search of a little adventure. 

A few miles and a couple of shouted-out-loud Decemberists songs later, I came to the dead end where tourists and their shiny cars were collected in a cramped parking lot. There were a couple of locals weaving hats out of palm leaves, and many were the visitors with their cameras. The flurried rush of heavy waters floated across the air, drawing me to the overlook.

A few steps away was one of the most impressive waterfalls I have ever seen (and living in Hawaii, I've seen quite a few). The whitewater of Wailua Falls surges off a cliff of eighty feet into a round pool at the bottom of the valley. It is said that the ancient Hawaiians would jump off this waterfall to prove their manhood, and I wonder how often they proved their death as well. 

It didn't take me long to realize that a better view could be seen from standing on top of the protective wall. From there, I could see the whole prospect from a birds'-eye view. The incessant downfall of water, the peace of the pool, the incredible greenery in all directions. Elegant tropicbirds danced above the mist, gliding through the rainbows. They seemed in no rush to go anywhere; they were perfectly happy flying around in circles above the waterfall and trees. It was a lovely afternoon to be a tropicbird, peacefully floating along

 without a care in the world.