Hawaii Day 7 – Jan 11th February 5, 2009

Sadly this was our last day in Hawaii It just all flew by so fast and one week really isn’t nearly enough time to experience and see everything. I already have a list of things that I want to do next time I’m there.

Since our flight wasn’t until midnight we had all day to go do something. We got a late checkout at 11am and were in a mad dash to consume whatever food and liqueurthat was left around so it didn’t go to waste. So that goes without saying it wasn’t going to be a beach day after eating and drinking as much as we did. The guys all decided to wear long jeans because it was pouring rain early that day and they probably didn’t guess that it was going to get warm and sunny like it did. One of the areas we hadn’t explored yet was the North Kohala tip of the island so we set off that way driving up Kohala Mtn Rd up the spine of the Kohala Volcano. Once you get to around the 14 mile marker you can start to see the island of Maui looming in the distance like a large mountain.

 

Looking like tourists on Kohala Mtn Rd.

 

Mom.

 

Dad

 

Craig, Eric, & I.

 

Eric looking very….um….happy.

 

Craig trying to look majestic again? (notice Maui in the distance)

 

We made a little stop in Kapa’au at a nice souvenir shop across from the Kamehameha the Great statue and Craig bought me a little ceramic sea turtle jewelry holder for my Christmas present.

 

 

 

We then kept going until we got to Pololu Valley Lookout.

 

The view from the top of the lookout.

 

The Valley.

 

 

The view of the beach from part way down the trail. I didn’t want to hike all of the way down then back up again on a muddy trail in flip flops.

 

On our way south again we took 270 along the coast and stopped at Mahukona Beach Park where we got a great view of the island Maui. We hung around because we started to spot some whales and decided to hang out for a while with the other whale watchers. Sadly I don’t have any photos of them because I didn’t bring my telephoto lens with me on the trip. I did however have my camcorder with and was able to zoom in really well with that and got it on film Oh, I almost forgot to say that we made a stop in Hawi at Tropical dreams for some yummy in the tummy ice cream

 

The island of Maui.

 

 

The next stop was to see the Pu’ukohola Heiau.

 

Offerings.

 

A sign at the beach down from the Heiau. The beach didn’t look very inviting anyways, the water was very dark and creepy.

 

 

 

We made it back to the resort in time to see our last Hawaiian sunset

 

Hawaii Day 6 – Jan 10th February 4, 2009

This day we decided to head south to go see Pu’uhonua o Honaunau (Place of Refuge). I must say that this was one of my favorite days because it was so beautiful down there! Lush green, tons of palm trees, crystal clear water, blue sky, the scenery was breathtaking! It just seemed like the most genuine Hawaii experience down there, like this is how it’s supposed to look especially compared to where we were staying in the Kohala resort area where it was mostly black lava rock desert with the exception of the most wonderful beaches scattered accross the coastline.

Our first stop was at Kealakekua Bay where the Hiki-au Heiau is located at the southern end. During earlier times this was a luakini (a temple where human sacrafices were made). This was also where Captain Cook was worshiped as the returning god Lono, performed the first christian ceremony in the islands, and was ultimately laid to rest in the bay. There’s a large white Captain Cook monument about a mile across the bay which is also one of the best places to snorkel. I guess I’ll have to take a snorkel trip across the bay next time & hopefully I’ll get to see some spinner dolphins. Right in front of the heiau is Napo’opo’o Beach.

 

The Hiki-au Heiau.

 

Kealakekua Bay

 

From there we took the very narrow and in need of much work road (160) south to our destination at Pu’uhonua o Honaunau. It only costs $5 per vehicle to get in and is more than woth it. It was very peaceful and beautiful, a great place to spend the end of the day and take a long walk around. If you were a lawbreaker back in the day you could escape to this place (hence Place of Refuge) and seek foregiveness. There was also many people snorkeling in Honaunau Bay and I think I’ll have to join them next time around

 

 

Craig checking out the tide pools.

 

I really didn’t expect to see so many sea turtles on our trip to Hawaii but they seemed to be everywhere sunbathing.

 

Mom exploring.

 

Just beautiful!

 

I think this must be Craig’s favorite pose.

 

Me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hawaii Day 5 – Jan 9th February 3, 2009

This day we went back over to Hapuna beach and I decided to give boogie boarding a go again. I must say that the waves were a bit more harsh than the last time. Most of the time even if I caught a good one it ended up pummeling me. The worst one was when I was waiting for a wave by some local guys and one starts paddling out further and signals to his buddies. I could see that there was a huge wave forming and they were going to try and catch it. The crazy guy next to me yells out “paddle you f’ers, paddle!” So the rest of them paddle further out to catch it and I start going in the opposite direction trying to swim out of the way. Lesson leaned – you can’t out swim a wave.

 

I love the “dangerous shore break” sign because that’s how it really feels. I guess that Hapuna is the most dangerous beach in Hawaii because of all the spinal cord injuries that happen there.

 

 

 

A sand sculpture of a shark chasing a swimmer.

 

 

I like how you can see his fear.

 

 

Mom, Dad, & Eric. Craig just doesn’t like the beach/sun/ocean for some reason I would like to know so he didn’t come along this day.

 

 

 

We went to one of the resort restaurants to eat dinner where there were crazy hungry sparrows. It was all fun until a stupid cat came by and scared away all of my little bird friends.

 

 

 

 

We stuck around for the sunset. It seems like everyone stakes their place by the buddha each evening for a good view.

 

 

 

Eric & Craig

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hawaii Day 4 – Jan 8th February 1, 2009

This was the day that we decided to take the long trip to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park because what would be the point of staying on the big island without visiting the active volcano?

 

On our way there we got stuck in a traffic jam because of an accident and were at a standstill for a long time. Since we weren’t moving I decided to get out and take a picture of  Mauna Kea (yes, snow in Hawaii). Then we heard that it was going to be a two hour wait so we turned around and drove to Honoka’a for a bite to eat. From there we decided to go further down the road for the scenic lookout of  Waipi’o Valley.

 

 

 

 

The family at Waipi’o Valley.

 

We figured that the traffic jam should be gone by now so we got back onto Highway 19 and were back on our way. The guidebook said that Akaka falls was something not to miss so we made a stop there on the way.

 

 

Kahuna Falls

 

 

 

 

The breathtaking Akaka Falls – 420 foot drop!

 

Hot steam vents at Volcanoes National Park. The East side of the island was sure wet and misty that day. It made me want to run back to the dry sunny west side.

 

 

How often do you see both sides of the rainbow?

 

 

The Kilauea Crater.

 

 

Dad

 

And now the family touching a piece Loihi – the youngest of the Hawaiian islands-

 

 

 

 

 

We decided to take the 1 1/2 hr drive to the ocean to see the lava flow. Unfortunately this was the closest anyone was allowed to get.

 

 

Hawaii Day 3 – Jan 7th January 31, 2009

This was a pretty laid back day since my parents were in a timeshare meeting for a long time. While they were at the meeting the boys and I decided to take the shuttle over to the resort’s lagoon to snorkel. We saw plenty of fish and even swam with a sea turtle!

 

 

 

 

The turtle kept swimming after me trying to eat my bikini. We found out that sea turtles like the color yellow. Another snorkeler came by wearing yellow flippers and the turtle decided to go after those too.

 

 

Butterscotch the salmon crested cockatoo.

 

I also have a video of the sea turtle here on facebook – http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=54958862027

Hawaii Day 2 – Jan 6th January 31, 2009

Okay, I’m waaay behind on my Hawaii blogging and I think I should try to get it all done especially since this blog is supposed to be an online scrapbook or journal of mine-

Since the world famous Hapuna beach was only 10 minutes north of where we were staying we figured that we better check it out. I was expecting crystal clear calm blue water and sugar fine sand but the water was anything but calm. I can see why it’s one of the world’s best beaches though. It was perfect! I loved loved loved this beach! I was expecting a swimming beach but this was much better in my opinion because it ended up being perfect for boogie boarding. After about 10 minutes of walking around, taking pictures, and watching the boogie boarders I knew that I had to go rent a board so I could try it out for myself. I was not dissapointed once I got the hang of it. I could have stayed there all day! I must say that those waves can really pound the crap out of you though. My head was smashed to the ocean floor countless times and every time I wiped out my bikini top would pop up so I hope I didn’t flash too many people. Next time I go I’ll have to wear one of those board shirts so there aren’t any more wardrobe malfunctions.

Funny side note – Later on in the evening we were sitting out on our condo’s lanai and a fountain of water and sand randomly started pouring out of Eric’s nose

 

 

 

Eric about to try boogie boarding

 

Eric trying to catch a wave too late.

 

My dad decided to try it out and ended up having tons of fun.

 

Later on we decided to go back to the petroglyph fields with my brothers.

 

 

 

 

Our condo.

 

Back at the clubhouse during $3.00 mai tai night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hawai’i Day 1 – Jan 5th January 19, 2009

I’ve been back for a week now and want to blog about the trip before I forget the details so here we go -

Technically this was actually day two but our first day mostly consisted of sitting on airplanes, plus we didn’t actually get to Hawai’i until sunset. So this was our first actual “day”.

We stayed at the Hilton Grand Vacations Club condos and weren’t actuall staying in the Hilton Waikoloa Village Beach Resort but were allowed to use all of the facilities and pools over there. I guess that staying at the condos are better than staying in the hotel because you get two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a full kitchen & dining room, a living room, a balcony/back yard, a place to grill, and are next to the clubhouse. As for getting over to the resort there is a free shuttle bus that takes you to various places within the gigantic resort area or you can always walk or drive. We decided that our first thing to should be checking out the resort.

 

We took a public foot trail over to the resort that winds around the coastline.

 

Craig & Eric.

 

Mom & Dad.

 

A small part of the large pool. Under that waterfall there were more waterfalls, two more pools, and a hidden hot tub under the cave.

 

Another section of the same pool. This thing was gigantic! Even further down from this there was another large section connected to a sand bottom kiddie pool.

 

There were Japanese statues everywhere. I think I would’ve liked to see a Polynesian style instead.

 

They also have a dolphin encounter program there but be ready to shell out some bucks.

 

A sea turtle in the lagoon. These cute guys were everywhere! I swear we must have seen turtles every day because they come up to the shore to sunbathe.

 

The ocean fed lagoon.

 

The Ocean Tower. (well, part of it anyway).

 

Afterwards we decided it was time to go check out a beach. That is what Hawaii is about after all, right?

We went over to ‘Anaeho’omalu Bay since it was the closest to where we were staying. Eric & I decided to try and snorkel there but the water wasn’t very clear and there wasn’t much to see below the surface. Plus it’s super freaky to snorkel in murky water. I kept thinking to myself  ” a shark could be swimming towards me and I wouldn’t even know until it was way too late since I can’t even see more than a foot in front of me.”

 

That afternoon at the clubhouse they were serving free icecream cones. I chose Kona Coffee with a scoop of Chocolate on top. Holy Cow! That Kona Coffee flavor was to die for! It was the best damn ice cream that I ever tasted! This was the point where “We are on vacation!” really sunk in. I guess that’s what eating the best ice cream of your life by the pool with live music playing in the background will do to you.

 

Some time before sunset my dad and I went on a walk around the golf course. Oddly there was a wild turkey standing there. For some reason I don’t think that turkeys really “fit” in a tropical setting.

 

We kept walking and found some ancient petroglyphs and King’s trail – a very old path that goes straight through the lava field for about 32 miles.