夏威夷島（大島）| Hawai’i (Big Island)

在可愛島上盤桓數日後，我們前往夏威夷島。夏威夷島又稱「大島」，顧名思義，是夏威夷群島中面積最大的，位於群島最南端，是除了三亞之外，我到過最南邊的地方。夏威夷島面積雖大，但人口密度低、觀光客少，感覺比可愛島更鄉下，但在大島上，我們每一天都有新的驚喜。

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在大島上，我們第一次嘗試夜間浮潛，也第一次見到了傳說中的鬼蝠魟。鬼蝠魟也被稱為「魔鬼魚」，是世界上最大的魚類之一，雙翼展開最大可達九公尺，體重可達三噸。鬼蝠魟雖然身形巨大，性情卻十分溫和，是濾食性動物，也是瀕危的保育類物種。我以前只在書本和網路上看過牠們的照片，巨大的身軀、翅膀似的雙鰭和形狀奇特的頭部讓牠們看起來彷彿是外星球的訪客。我看見一大群鬼蝠魟在海底自由自在地展翅翺游、接二連三地「後空翻」上來覓食（我還好幾次不小心被牠們撞到了…），在海洋夜晚的螢光襯托下，我彷彿置身一場玄幻離奇的夢境，直到上岸後我還不確定我是否身在夢中。

大島上農業發達，所以我們拜訪了兩座農場。我酷愛巧克力，所以其中一座當然是巧克力農場。我們2019年去科隆時，曾經參觀當地的巧克力博物館，認識了工業化的巧克力製程（也吃了不少博物館裡的免費樣品）。但在夏威夷，我第一次見到了巧克力的源頭：可可樹，也見識到了夏威夷島上的小戶農家是如何在企業巨擘的夾擊下，靠著自己的特色在市場中佔有一席之地。

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在另外一個農場，我見到了我許多我常用的香料的廬山真面目，諸如丁香、多香果、咖哩、肉豆蔻、肉桂……等等。我們向大島上的壁虎一樣品嚐著可可豆莢裡的新鮮果肉，農場主人的女兒也招待我們吃了許多新鮮的熱帶水果，有芭蕉、龍眼、楊桃、紅毛丹、夏威夷豆……等等，不完全是我以前在台灣吃的熱帶水果，但依然讓我感到十分親切。農場主人的女兒告訴我們，孤懸海外的夏威夷，在疫情下暴露的農產品供應鏈的許多問題：因為觀光客銳減，當地以迎合觀光客為主的農產品失去了銷路；因為來自美國的班機停飛，美國本土的商業化農產品也無法進入夏威夷。這造成了夏威夷農場裡的農作物滯銷，超市裡的農產品貨價卻空空如也的怪象。對夏威夷人來說，雖然疫情重創了他們的農業，但希望這對他們來說是一個轉機，讓他們能藉此建立一個以當地農場和消費者為主的農產品網路，而非完全由美國本土的大企業和觀光客主宰。我也反思了自己的消費習慣，以後不管是在家裡還是外出旅行，我都可以多多支持當地的商家和中小企業，而不是無意識地讓錢流進大企業的口袋。

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我們也造訪了夏威夷火山國家公園。我對火山地形並不陌生，除了以前在地理和地科課堂上學過的許多知識以外，我在美國西岸也見過不少火山地形：猛馬山一代的火山口、拉森火山國家公園的地熱和地下熔岩洞、奧勒岡碧藍得不真實的火山口湖、聖海倫娜火山爆發的遺跡和石化森林、火山岩床國家風景區的岩洞……等等。但在夏威夷，我第一次看見活生生的火山活動：噴著熱氣的火山裂縫、火山灰造成的綿綿陰雨、十幾公里以外就看得見的火山雲，以及我們在夜色中冒著雨走了快兩公里才看見的汩汩流動的岩漿。炙熱的岩漿將半邊夜空染成了橘紅色，讓我想起了大學時晚上在密西根湖畔散步，也常常看見風城芝加哥以一己之力點亮了半邊夜空。當我看見火紅的岩漿時，我心裡湧起了和在阿拉斯加第一次看見冰河時同樣的激動，因為我終於親眼見證了書本上學過的知識、再一次體驗到了「讀萬卷書，行萬里路」的喜悅與感動。

除了火山以外，另一個讓我有「讀萬卷書，行萬里路」的感動的就是毛納基。毛納基在夏威夷語中為「白山」之意，是夏威夷第一高峰，海拔超過 4200 公尺，是夏威夷人心目中的聖地，也是全世界公認最佳的觀星地點。因為以前讀書時對地理和地科涉獵稍多，我知道毛納基有許多全世界最好的天文望遠鏡，許多關於天文和氣候研究的重要數據都是在此收集的，我以前在芝加哥的阿德勒天文館當志工時，也常常跟訪客介紹毛納基的天文研究。雖然我離開科研工作已有數年，跟最新的地科研究有些脫節，但是毛納基在我心目中依然擁有崇高的地位。在我們到訪之前，毛納基剛經歷了幾場暴雪，我們原以為沒有機會朝聖，但幸運的是，在我們旅途的最後一天，天氣放晴，我們從大島東部的希洛就可以看見毛納基白雪覆蓋的峰頂，所以我們就開著租來的大吉普，顛顛簸簸地上了山（沿途看還見好多夏威夷人載著一卡車一卡車的雪下了山）。上山的路上怪石嶙峋，幾乎寸草不生，我們彷彿到了另一個沒有生命的星球。過了雪線，我們看見了許多壯觀的火山錐，彷彿是灑滿糖粉的巨大薑餅屋。山頂上是零下一度的低溫（我上一次經歷零下的低溫，好像還是在芝加哥），在刺骨的寒風中，我見到了傳說中的天文台，也在瑩瑩的白雪和遼闊的雲海中，看見了最令我屏息的一次日落，為我們的夏威夷之行劃下了完美的句點。

2021年對我來說又是跌宕起伏的一年：反覆的新冠疫情讓我回不了家、我尚未完全走出喪母之痛、最近工作上又碰到了瓶頸；但是我們八月時成功舉辦了延遲一年的婚禮、十一月底和好久不見的摯友們重逢、造訪了美國本土之外了兩個州（阿拉斯加和夏威夷），留下了難忘的回憶。這次的夏威夷之行，讓我印證了許多以前書本上學到的知識，更時時讓我有一種回到台灣的錯覺。以前我總是習慣把自己的生活規劃得妥妥當當；這兩年，我漸漸學會了如何在計畫完全被打亂的情況下，依然讓每一天都過得扎扎實實、不留遺憾。希望2022年對我，和對全世界來說，都是更美好的一年。

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After a few days in Kaua’i, we traveled to the Island of Hawai’i. Hawai’i is also known as the “Big Island.” As its name suggests, it is the largest island in the state of Hawai’i. It is also the southernmost island and the second southernmost place I have been to, after Sanya. Although the Big Island is big, the population density and number of tourists are low. It felt much more rural than Kaua’i, yet we were wowed by new wonders on the Big Island every day. 

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We snorkeled at night and saw the legendary manta rays for the very first time. Manta rays are also known as “devilfish” — presumably their horn-shaped cephalic fins make them look evil (even though they are totally harmless). They are one of the largest fish species in the world: their wingspan can go up to 29 ft and can weigh up to 3 tons. Although manta rays are giant, they are filter feeders and a harmless endangered species. In the past, I have only seen pictures of manta rays in books and on the internet. Their giant bodies, wing-like pectoral fins, and uniquely shaped heads make them look like aliens, and I couldn’t imagine seeing them in real life. When we snorkeled, we saw a large group of manta rays swimming freely right above the seabed, backflipping to the surface one after another. (My arms accidentally got hit by them several times.) In the glowing ocean, I felt as if I was in a bizarre fantasy, and I couldn’t tell if I was in a dream even after I got out of the water.

The Big Island is known for its agriculture, so we visited two farms. I love chocolate, so of course one of them was a chocolate farm. When we went to Köln in 2019, we visited the Schokoladenmuseum (Chocolate Museum) and learned about the industrialized chocolate production process starting from cacao beans. (We also ate a lot of free chocolate samples). But in Hawai’i, we got to see the origin of chocolate, the cacao trees, and learned about how small family businesses in Hawai’i competed with giant corporates by finding their niches in the market. 

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On the other farm (O.K. Farms), we saw what a lot of spices look like in their natural habitats before they go into the spice jars in my kitchen, such as cloves, allspice, curry, nutmeg and mace, and cinnamon. We tasted the flesh in cacao pods just like the geckos on the Big Island, and our tour guide (who is also the daughter of the owner of the farm) treated us with a lot of fresh tropical fruits, including apple bananas, longan, starfruit, rambutans, and macadamia. Not exactly the same as the tropical fruits I used to eat in Taiwan, but they still felt familiar. She also told us COVID revealed a lot of underlying issues with the produce supply chain in Hawai’i.  Since tourists stopped coming, resorts and restaurants stopped ordering produce from local farms to feed the tourists. On the other hand, produce in their grocery stores used to come with passenger planes from mainland US. When passenger flights stopped coming to Hawai’i, goods from mainland US also could not be imported. This created a very strange phenomenon, where the local farms had huge surpluses with nowhere to sell, but grocery stores had tons of empty shelves. COVID hit agriculture in Hawai’i really hard, but it created an opportunity for Hawaiians to create a food network that is based on local farms and consumers. Hopefully, they can become less dependent on US corporate giants and tourists in the future. I also reflected on my own spending habits. Perhaps when I buy things, whether I am at home or traveling, I can try to support local businesses more instead of absentmindedly letting megacorporations make all the money.

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In addition to the farms, we went to Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park. Volcanic landforms are not new to me. I have been learning a lot about them in geography and earth science classes since high school. I have also seen a lot of volcanic landforms on the West Coast: Mono-Inyo Craters near Mammoth Mountain, hydrothermal areas and Subway Cave at Lassen, the pristinely blue Crater Lake in Oregon, Petrified Forest resulting from an eruption at Mt. Saint Helena, the lava fields and lava tubes at Lava Beds National Monument…etc. But in Hawai’i, I saw live volcanic activities for the first time: smoking fumaroles, mist and drizzles caused by volcanic ashes, volcanic clouds that could be seen from miles away, and active, flowing lava (after hiking a mile in the rain at night). The glowing hot lava dyed half of the night sky orange, which reminded me of Chicago — at Northwestern, when I used to walk by Lake Michigan at night, I could always see Chicago singlehandedly light up half of the night sky. When I saw the flowing lava, its bright flames, and the glowing network that looked like a giant spider net, I felt the same excitement as when I saw a glacier for the first time in Alaska earlier this year — I finally got to see what I learned from books in real life. Once again, I was thrilled to live up to the spirit of “read ten thousand books, travel ten thousand miles.”

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Other than the volcanoes, another place that also touched me deeply was Mauna Kea. Mauna Kea is an abbreviation of Mauna a Wākea, which means “white mountain.” It is almost 14k ft tall, making it the tallest peak in Hawai’i. It is sacred in Hawaiian religions and is the best place for astronomical observation in the world. I know Mauna Kea has some of the best telescopes in the world, and a lot of important data for astronomy and climate research were collected there. When I used to volunteer at Adler Planetarium in Chicago, I often talked about the telescopes and research at Mauna Kea with museum visitors. Although I have not been doing scientific research for a few years and am behind on the latest earth science research, Mauna Kea still holds a special place in my heart. Mauna Kea got hit by a blizzard a few days before we visited, so I thought we would not have a chance to go. Thankfully, it cleared up on our last day in Hawai’i, and we could see the snow-covered summit from Hilo. Therefore, we drove our giant rental Jeep Gladiator to the summit. (As we were driving up, we saw many locals coming down with their shovels and truck-loads of snow.) The way up was very rocky and deserted, and it felt as if we were driving through another lifeless planet. There were many spectacular cinder cones above the snow line, and they all looked like giant gingerbread houses covered in confectioner’s sugar. At the summit, the temperature was below -1ºC (the last time I experienced such cold weather was probably still in Chicago). In the biting cold wind, I saw the legendary Mauna Kea observatories, as well as the most breathtaking sunset among the pristinely white snow and a vast sea of clouds, ending our trip to Hawai’i on a high note. 

2021 is another year filled with many ups and downs for me: I am unable to go back to Taiwan because of COVID, I still have not recovered from losing my mom, and I hit another major bottleneck at work right before our trip. But thankfully, we were able to have our wedding and celebrated with our friends a year later, we finally got to reunite with Team Turducken during Thanksgiving, and we visited the two states outside of the contiguous US (Alaska and Hawai’i), building a lot of precious memories. In Hawai’i, I was able to validate a lot of knowledge I learned from books, and the surroundings made me feel as if I was back in Taiwan from time to time. I used to have a detailed plan for my life (and many backup plans if my original plan fails); in the past two years, I learned to live my life to the best I can when my plan was disrupted and none of my backup plans worked. I hope 2022 will be a better year, for me and for the rest of the world.