What a dilemma. With only five days to see, hear and taste the unique sights, sounds and savours of Hawaii's Big Island, I can't decide. Do I laze about on my private fifth-floor lanai wearing nothing but SPF-45 and a smile or put on my civvies and wander down to poke my toes into what Gourmet magazine once called the world's best beach?
My view from the ocean-side balcony at the Westin Mauna Kea Beach Hotel is more intoxicating than the colourful and potent mai tais the convivial Joanne whips up at the beach-front bar. But vistas are for postcards; I slip into my trunks and mosey on down to the food magazine's favourite shore.
Pure, white sand arcs gracefully between a pair of jagged lava promontories, catching the little breakers that make this such a family-friendly beach. It's completely secluded -- the only uninvited guests are the baby crabs hiding in tiny holes left by the bubbling surf.
Five days, and three are fully committed to "intensive research," that is to say, eating and drinking my way through a series of food and wine labs at the Mauna Kea's annual Winter Wine Escape. Every year about a dozen of Hawaii's finest chefs and some from the U.S. Mainland converge at the Mauna Kea and the nearby Westin Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel to strut their stuff. The Winter Wine Escape is a showcase of indigenous raw materials prepared using the latest culinary techniques from the international scene.
Far from poi -- the sour, purple paste produced by grinding and fermenting taro root -- and nothing like the old clambakes and luaus of Hollywood hokum, this annual presentation of regional gastronomy has become the island state's premier food and wine event.
Mainland chefs freely admit they come to see the oeuvre of local cuisiniers. They spy the innovations of their comrades-in-arms and scout out new suppliers of unusual products to show off at home.
The evening prelude to the food-fest sees several Mainland cooks eyeing the Singha Thai cuisine of Honolulu's Chai Chaowasaree as he prepares kataifi and macadamia nut crusted black tiger prawn with pineapple vinaigrette. The single bite is visually striking while its taste has me swooning with gustatory delight.
Equally stunning is the treat offered by Corey Waite, executive chef of the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel. His pesto lobster tail with truffle spring roll and Kahua spinach salad tickles my fancy. It's a magical mingling of softness, elasticity and crunch.
I'm enthralled with the imagination of Goran Streng, who presides over the team at Oahu's Hotel Waikiki. His paper-thin slices of reindeer tongue, billed here as venison and wild mushroom ragout with red Askin mashed potato and ohelo berries is a benchmark for its balance of divergent flavours.
Then I note how well it complements the 1999 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese from the Selbach-Oster winery in Mosel. Winemaster Johannes Selbach eloquently explains how his wine's sweet-tart-spicy nuances play with the richness of the dish.
Another day, it's chef Hiroshi Fukui of Honolulu's L'Uraku who has my tongue spinning with glee. Seared sea scallop served with tobiko and chili beurre blanc ignites a new passion on my jaded palate.
Of course, nothing tops off a fine three-day meal like a great cup of coffee. The place to get it is at Greenwell Farms in Kealakekua, less than a kilometre from the Captain Cook monument. For more than a hundred years, Tom Greenwell's family have grown and processed much of the best single-estate Kona coffee. His regular blend came in third at this year's coffee cupping contest. He doesn't enter his best beans in the competition.
"Too little," he says. "I sell much of my coffee by Internet and mail order."
When I ask him why Kona coffee is so prized around the globe, he explains that there's only enough to serve one six-ounce cup to 65 per cent of the coffee drinkers in the United States. Everyone else has to do without.
Unfazed, I pour myself a second cup.
The lavish Mauna Kea -- built 30 years ago by visionary hotelier Laurance S. Rockefeller and restored to even greater heights of luxury in 1995 -- and its sister hotel, the Westin Hapuna Beach Prince are a pair of sparkling jewels in a vast field of brown lava. Literally. It's a 30-minute drive to the nearest town, Waimea, and 40 to the airport. The bleak highway runs through a desert of rough lava heaved up eons ago by the Mauna Kea volcano, the highest in the state. The isolation of the two hotels is balanced by a comprehensive array of facilities, including more than a dozen restaurants and bars, a wide variety of shops and galleries, tennis courts, two first-class golf courses, spa, beauty salon and fitness centres, watersports, a business centre, conference rooms, signing privileges throughout and a free shuttle between the properties.
Prowling shopping malls, though, is not my thing. And since there really aren't that many rental cars on the island -- they've all been booked ahead anyway -- I feel myself stressing out again.
There is, however, no shortage of helicopters. Three tour companies operate here. The Volcano Deluxe Tour, conducted by Sunshine Helicopters, is not cheap, but it's priceless. A frequent flier, I typically strain my neck looking out the plane's tiny porthole windows for a foggy glimpse of earth. Here, the view is wide and clear and unforgettable. Our shuttle driver warns us many children under 12 quickly fall asleep from the rhythmic whirr of the chopper's blades so, despite its exceptional value, its worth is sometimes mitigated. One grownup on our flight enjoyed a very expensive snooze.
When there's any chance that cloud cover will impede a good view of the sights, this operator cancels the flight ensuring every tour conducted is a complete success. Yoshi Sawamura, our pilot, humorously narrates throughout the hour and 45-minute trip that takes us over the desert, several volcanoes, two tropical rain forests and along three of the island's four coasts.
The northwestern Kohala coastal district, from which we lift off, is the driest with less than eight centimetres of annual rain. The terrain is desolate and unwelcoming to man yet teeming with life. Wild donkeys -- abandoned after the demise of the sugar cane industry a decade ago -- roam the hills along with wild boars, wild turkeys and mountain goats. Bushy cactuses bloom huge yellow flowers but the short grass cover is adequate to nourish over 50,000 head of cattle on the 91,125-hectare Parker Ranch, the largest privately-owned property in the United States. The ranch covers 7 per cent of the entire state.
Much of the island is covered in lava. From the air, you can easily differentiate the more recent flows by their dark, tarry colour and light sheen. Older flows have a ragged milk-chocolate surface while the oldest are a pale greyish-beige colour, with outcroppings of plant life emerging from the desicated soil.
The Big Island is itself the result of eruptions of five major volcanoes, the youngest of which last erupted in 1983 and continues to spew gasses into the air and molten lava into the Pacific Ocean. Not only is it the biggest land mass of the 20-island state, it is the only one continually getting bigger. By the time you've finished reading this page, its surface area will have grown by more than seven square metres.
Our chopper, equipped with five video cameras to record the tour, flies around and over Pu'u O'o, the living volcano, clearly revealing its massive dimensions and shocking power. Black lava, cooled and crusted, coats everything in sight. Tiny islands of vegetation are surrounded by cinder and scorched soil. Little chimney-like lava tubes remain where once healthy palm trees stood.
Kilometres away, the boiling magma continues to flow under the hardened crust, oozing out at the edge of the island, spilling into the water and sending plumes of sulphurous steam into the air. When the trade winds blow, this stinking, toxic, volcanic ash and fog, called vog, curls around the southern tip of the island toward the town of Kailua-Kona. Asthmatics and those with other respiratory ailments often shut themselves indoors for days at a time.
In several places, the surface rock collapses into the molten lava below, creating deep holes and exposing glowing volcanic goo. The hair stands on the back of my neck when I imagine these cavities as spy-holes into hell.
A few kilometres to the north, paradise returns as the land turns a rich green, speckled with red-roofed houses. Here, annual rainfall can reach 1,000 centimetres although just a few kilometers away it drops to less than 127. Hawaii's Big Island gets eleven of the world's 13 recognized climate types. Where else on the planet can you find pineapples, coffee, bananas, and, wait for it, a winery?
Volcano Winery is nestled between the majestic Mauna Loa volcano and the smouldering crater of the Kilauea. It could just as accurately have been named Earthquake Winery as it rests on a fault line where two of the earth's tectonic plates collide.
The tiny operation that was started 14 years ago by Lynn (Doc) McKinney now produces 5,000 cases of wine from estate-grown grapes, imported grape concentrates mixed with tropical fruits, and exotic local honeys.
Its success depends on the fact that the vines freeze, albeit briefly, every year. I appreciate the perfume of the symphony grape wine, but I can not resist bringing back a bottle of Macadamia Nut Blossom Honey wine, likely the rarest wine in the world. Before doing so, I taste it to discover a most intriguing, floral, nut oil nuance perfectly suited to the delicate flavours of sashimi, the Japanese raw fish delicacies I enjoy as much at home as I have at the Winter Wine Escape.
IF YOU GO
Accommodation. Westin Mauna Kea Resort Hotel and Westin Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel, Kohala Coast, Hawaii. Toll-free (800) 882-6060. Restaurants. Chai Chaowasaree, Singha Thai cuisine, 1910 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu, Oahu, (808) 941-2898; Hiroshi Fukui, L'Uraku, 1341 Kapiolani Blvd Fl 1, Honolulu, Oahu, (808) 955-0552; Goran Streng, Westin Hawaii Prince Hotel Waikiki, 100 Holomoana St., Honolulu, Oahu, (808) 956-1111; Corey Waite, Westin Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel, 612-100 Kaunaoa Dr., Kohala Coast, Hawaii Island, (808) 880-1111. Tourist information. Contact the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau at (800) 464-2924, Internet http://www.gohawaii.com. For Big Island information, call the Hawaii Visitors' Bureau, Kona office, (808) 329-7787, Hilo office, (808) 961-5797. Other resources. Sunshine Helicopters, Hapuna Heliport, 62-100 Kauna'oa Dr., Kamuela, Hawaii 96743, toll-free (800) 622-3144, http://www.sunshinehelicopters.com; Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hwy 11, (808) 967-7184; Volcano Winery, next to Volcanoes National Park at the end of Pii Mauna Drive off Hwy. 11, Volcano, Hawaii, (808) 885-7655, http://www.volcanowinery.com; Greenwell Farms, on Mamalahoa Hwy., P.O. Boc 248, Kealakahua, Hawaii 96750, toll-free (888) 592-5662, http://www.greenwellfarms.com.