The Edge of the Island: Yokohama

This morning, after I dropped the kids off at school, I headed out to Waianae for the Friday Rehab thing. Although the drive takes a while, I got out on that side of the island pretty early (the Rehab thing starts at 10; I was out in Waianae by 8:30 or so). Since I had time to kill, I decided to follow the road as far as I could, perhaps reach Kaena Point (from the Western side).

To those of you who don't live here, and don't know, Waianae lies on the western edge of the island. At the "corner" between the western coast and the (popular for surfers) northern coast is Kaena Point. There is no road connecting the western and northern shorelines. Farrington Highway, the road stringing the largely Hawaiian communities on the western side of the island, eventually turns into a pathway that can only be traversed by hardy off-road vehicles... I've heard that there's a hiking path that can eventually take you to a natural sanctuary for frigate and booby birds...

So anyway, I followed Farrington past Waianae, past Makaha Village, past the army's set-up at Makua Valley, and just past the Satellite Tracking Station. The mountains look really beautiful there; they are rugged with dark boulders peeking out from beneath a smooth coat of light yellow grass. This morning, in the light breeze, the grass swayed in gentle ripples, all the way up to the summit. A large white "golf ball" shaped building, and another smaller "golf ball" a little distance away were just over the crest of the summit; these were, I suppose, the satellite tracking stations. Funny, but from the other side of the Waianae mountains, you can see what looks like an observatory on the summit of one of the higher plateauing peaks. It looks as though these satellite tracking stations could be the same "observatory" buildings seen from the other side of the range; however, from the western side, it doesn't look as though they are all that high up... It looks as though I could hike up to them in twenty minutes or so, from the western vantage point.

Yokohama Beach (the old name for the stretch of sand) was beautiful. The sand was pristine. The waves were powerful and glassy, and when they crashed and thundered, they left a spray in the air that shimmered and hovered. At times, the waves sent frothy fingers up over the lip of the sand-hills, as though struggling to reach me. Then, as the waters receded, I could see the abandoned salt-water "evaporate" or soak into the sands like water off a newly waxed car, drying in the sun...

I did a little Zhuan Zhong, and then practiced Chiu Style Taijiquan (Push Hands Form and "Taijiquan" form), carving strange and deep pathways into the sand... My shadow stretched long and clear behind and before me... All in all, it was a beautiful morning.

I want to come to Yokohama more, if I can, just to drink in the peace and rugged isolation of the place.