December 31, 2000 - Sunday (New Years Eve)

Picture 1 (from left to right): Pakate, Maria, Lisa, Hassan; Picture 2: Tiki at Halape - Volcanoes National Park (Big Island), Hawaii, USA

Today is the first and only "free" day we had since we started our hike. The day started with the standard oatmeal breakfast and I went exploring after that. I went along the shore for quite a while and saw some Tiki along the way. The shoreline was pretty much like Apua, where volcanic rocks scattered about volcanic sands.

Left: Endangered freshwater shrimp; Right: Yellow Wasp - Volcanoes National Park (Big Island), Hawaii, USA

There were a couple of brackish and mostly-fresh water pools long the fissure that ran along the beach and I bathed in one before it got a little too chilly for me. One pool had the rare native freshwater shrimp crawling in the still aqua water. I soaked in it for a while as a group of yellow wasps buzzed close by for their drinks.

Dave in a hammock in Halape - Volcanoes National Park (Big Island), Hawaii, USA

I continued along the shoreline until I was about a mile or two out. That's when I realized that I didn't bring any water with me so I headed back to the water catch hut. When I got there, I found Dave and Jeff getting more water for the camp and hung out with them for a while. They left to go back to the camp and I stayed in the cool hut to read a journal/guest book in the hut. Some of the entries were really funny.

Captain Chris in Halape - Volcanoes National Park (Big Island), Hawaii, USA

Chris came shuffling down to the shack about half hour later and told me he just climbed the tall mountain behind the shack. I was impressed considering the beer gut he was sporting. We chatted for a while and I found out he's a soldier stationed on Oahu and still have 2 years to serve. It's not too bad for him though since he's a Captain and he gets to go on different missions and observation trips such as Japan, Midway Islands, and Bosnia. He was more excited than I am about my world tour because he's planning on doing it himself in 2 years. We chatted some more before I headed back to the camp.

Halape - Volcanoes National Park (Big Island), Hawaii, USA

I went into the water this time and saw a variety of fish and coral in the shallow lagoon right beside our camp. Pakate, Hassan, Lisa, Maria, and Chris all joined me in the water. We swam for a while until it got too cold for me and I got out of the water and dried off.

Left: Watching fireworks in Halape; Right: Lisa making cheesecake - Volcanoes National Park (Big Island), Hawaii, USA

Maria, Chris and I lay on the sand chit chatting until sunset and we finally went back to the campfire and had a curry dinner. Christ had left by then and said he'd probably be asleep by 9 and not celebrate the New Year. After dinner, we ate some no-bake Cheesecake that Lisa made and then just laid back to enjoy the stars and the ocean again. A few hours later, Dave brought out some fireworks and shot them off a rock right by the campfire. It was actually a wonderful experience to be spending New Years Eve out in the middle of the Pacific.

Eventually, people started dropping off and we turned into our camp. I woke up at 11:45 and was able do to my personal countdown to the year 2001 before falling back to deep sleep again. It was a nice way to end the year and to start the new millennium.