made it all very entertaining! Thursday - We spent the day in the resort, did not even move the car. Friday - We decided to drive down to the south side of the island and see Waimea Canyon again.
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| A stream in red dirt on the way up to the canyon. |
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| Waimea Canyon, how do you take of picture of something so large. |
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| Na Pali coast from above, we were in cloud! |
Along the way we stopped at Opeaka Falls.
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| Opeaka Falls |
Once up in canyon country the temperature dropped to 13C! But once down at sea level it was 24C. We had heard that the pies at McDonalds were great so we stopped at tried a Taro pie. It was ok. Saturday - We were up early and drove up to the trailhead for the Na Pali coast trail. We were disappointed as we could not get a parking spot within miles of the trailhead, so we headed back towards Princeville. Along the way we stopped in Hanalai and met Patrick Ching a local artist. We also visited another farmers market. Then we were back to the resort and got in some pool time!
February 8- 15 - Big Island
Sunday - Our fight arrived late and then the car pickup was slow as well. We got to the resort after stopping at Safeway to pick up supper. Louise met us at our resort and we spent the evening eating and catching up. Monday - We were up and at the welcome meeting first thing, well for 08:45 hrs. We decided to book a flight over the volcano as there is new activity today and we had a good chance of seeing the flow. We then hooked up with Louise and first visited Kona Joe's for a coffee and then we continued on to 'Place of Refuge'. It was cool and beautiful. It was then off to the airport for our flight. We were not disappointed like we were several years ago. The Waimea area was clear and beautiful. Just off the Hilo coast we saw a couple of whales.
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| Two whales just off the Hilo coast. |
The area around the eruption was also clear and we were able to see the lava flow!
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| Lava flow. |
Tuesday - We decided to drive up to Hawi (the very north end of the island), and we actually went beyond Hawi to the Pololu Valley lookout!
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| Pololu Valley |
Very cool. We then came back via Waimea. Wednesday - We headed out to a a market to start the day and then headed to the Kaloko-Honokohau Natioal Historic Park. It was a 17 turtle day!
We saw 17 turtles some in the water
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| One of those 17 turtles! |
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| Was he looking at me? |
some sunning
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| Sunning turtle. |
themselves on the beach. We then headed back to Kona via yet another market. We then were off to the Royal Kona Resort and their luau. It was great food and then entertainment! The sunset was also amazing!
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| Luau sunset. |
Thursday - We started the day going to Costco, yes even in paradise one needs to eat. We then had a lazy afternoon after which we drove down to Sea Mountain resort (It is on the southern coast where we stayed with our friend Louise. Friday - We were up early for P & K and were off to hike into the Green Sands Beach. Well it was quite the hike, three miles in in very hot (90F) sunny temperatures. We were prepared and drank lots of water and put towels over our heads to shade us from the sun.
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| The coast on the way in to Green Sands Beach. |
Along the way we watched the whales playing off the coast. There was quite a number of them. After about 90 minutes we arrived above the beach and climbed down. The water was GREAT!!
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| Green Sands Beach, it was about the journey and the destination! |
After about and hour it was time to face the hike back. It seemed shorter on the way back, maybe because we had a breeze in our face most of the way. We managed 19,000 steps today or 7.75 miles, needless to say we were tired. But not too tired to stop at a bakery on the way back and try malasadas! They are a Portuguese donut and tasted sooo good! Not yet tired enough we decided to go to see the volcano. We drove up to Kilauea. It clouded over and started to rain, then it fogged in so we just went to the visitor center and the museum and we headed back. Saturday - Up early again, that Louise is a task master! We went straight back to Volcano Park and were rewarded today. It was a bit cloudy but largely clear and cool. We saw many great sites: the volcano caldera,
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| Looking at the heart of Kilauea. |
a lava tube cave,
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| Lava tube, the floor was very easy to walk on. |
rainforest,
lava fields, ..... We were then off to Hilo to visit a market and the Hawaii Tropical Botanic Garden .....
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| Waterfall in paradise! |
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| Who can name this flower? |
Wow!
February 15 - 18 - Oahu
Sunday - It is time to leave the Big Island and go to Oahu. The flight was uneventful and we found our accommodation at Sunset Beach with no hitches. Monday - We decided since it is Presidents Day in the USA we would not do any driving as the traffic up here on the north shore is nuts! We therefore wandered down to the beach and spent the morning in the sun. We then hid from the sun for a few hours and went back to the beach for sunset after all we are staying at Beautiful Sunset Beach!
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| Beautiful Sunset Beach at sunset. |
All in all a GREAT day! Tuesday - After the sunburn Pat got yesterday we decided to do a driving tour. We started driving south down the coast and stopped at the market in Leia right beside the Polynesian Culture Center .... it was a bust. Off to see Waikiki from Diamond Head and did not want to hike in the sun so we moved on. The day was wearing on so we started back on a different road and came across the Dole Plantation! This was pretty cool and we were able to stay out of the sun. The pineapple sundaes were delicious! And we finally got to see how a pineapple grows after many a debate with family and friends.
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| It is on a small stem up the middle of the plant. |
Wednesday - We are flying home tonight, the flight leaves at 23:30 hrs. We decided to spend the day at Pearl Harbor as there is a new museum and last time we missed some of the attractions. We first visited the USS Missouri (Mighty Mo).
It was the last battleship ever build in the world and saw action right from WWII to the Gulf War. More importantly it was on it's deck that the Japanese signed the unconditional surrender to end the second world war. We visited the Naval Air Museum and saw lots of great aircraft. We also went on board the USS Bowfin a survivor of the WWII submarine service. All in all a great day.
