In 1953 I was in the Navy and stationed in Hawaii. There was a remote radio
station in the mountains called Mauna Kapu (mountain keepout). The fellow
who worked there asked if we liked avocado's, he said there was a valley
where someone had planted some trees years ago. Four of us hiked into the
valley looking for avocados. We finally saw a few scattered on the ground
and while we were picking them up we noticed something round and bigger than
a grapefruit. It was huge avocados falling from trees so big that we
couldn't even climb them. The ones on the ground were broken open from the
force of the fall. We looked around and finally found a tree with a fork
eight feet from the ground. Three of us were able to lift one fellow so he
could get in the tree. He scooted out on a limb and started dropping
avocados down to us. They came down with such force we were barely able to
catch them. They were so big one person could only carry about four. We
loaded up and went back to the base where we lived. One fellow said he
didn't like avocados and asked me if I wanted his. I said sure and took him
in the house, and cut one open. The seed was about the size of a regular
avocado surrounded by beautiful meat. I mashed some up put it on a slice of
bread with a little salt and pepper and told him to try it. One bite and he
changed is mind about avocados. I had talked myself out of four of the most
beautiful avocados I have ever seen.
Ernie