Our Hawaiian Vacation - Photos and Notes . . .

We woke up to every morning to the crowing of feral roosters, warm weather, and this view from our friend's back deck.

The finger of land at the center of the frame (with palm trees and waves) is the point of land that is Pu'uhonau O Honaunau - a National Historical Park that was once the king's private royal com-pound, and is now a wonderful public beach and world-class snorkel area, as well as a preserve for protected sea turtles. Sometimes I could see the "smoke" of humpback whales splashing about just beyond the point.  Close up photos of Honaunau follow below.

A small coffee drying

facility.  This is Kona, so the area is full of small coffee farms and processing concerns like this one.

Ripe coffee beans

The trees

The flower

Looking over Kailua Kona from one of the main north-south roads; the Inter-Island Cruise ship calls twice each week.

We booked a snorkel raft trip with Sea Quest charters (highly recommended.) This was the "snorkel limo" that took us to 3 different premium snorkeling spots. Sea Quest provided all equipment, took excellent care of us, gave clear insructions and tips, and fed us snacks and a good deli lunch.

Captain Liam was also an excellent tour guide who knew where all the little inlets and sea caves were, and told a story of a whale coming right up under his boat and just staying there so her baby could swim around it and check it out.  He knew his local history and that, when Mauna Kea gets snow, the locals drive up, load up their pickup beds with snow, then drive down and build snowmen on the beach.

Leaving the little inlet in which we'd just snorkeled (near that big rock).  Fellow passengers in this photo.

Liam would blow up full speed to sea caves (lava tubes) like this one, then cut the motor so we could drift in.

In another sea cave.  The water really was that color.

One of our 3 snorkel spots was Kealakekua Bay, and it's gorgeous, world-class snorkeling: shallow, warm, crystal clear water; the bottom covered with corals, which are covered with feeding schools of colorful fish.  Just beyond the boat is the great blue drop-off: the bottom there drops abruptly to 150 feet.  This is the area and the drop-off used in Finding Nemo.  A monument to Captain Cook stands onshore where he was killed by the Hawaiians.

This is my husband who, after working so hard in the cold waters of Alcova Lake to learn to swim and float, swam and snorkeled like a pro in the buoyant salt water of the Pacific.

On the Sea Quest raft trip we saw a lot of the shoreline.  When we later hiked along that coast to old villages, burial caves and temple sites, it helped to know what the coast line looked like from the ocean.

These holes in the cliff that look like eyes were used by the ancient Hawaiians in religious ceremonies; they evidently lit fires in them.

Lava beach near the start of that hike along the coast.

A View from the hiking trail.

The coastal hiking trail.

Old stock pens seen on the coastal hike, complete with old, rusty wire.  The history of beef cattle in Hawaii is a story in itself; if you're interested, there's a great documentary available, Holo Holo Paniolo, one of the "Vaquero" series DVDs.

Crossing lava flows on coastal hike.

Wild goats climbing down the cliff on old lava flow, seen from the hiking trail.

Back to our raft snorkel trip: A humpbacked whale showed up . . .

So did 2 bottle nose dolphins - and while spinner dolphins are quite common here, it is almost unheard of to see a bottlenose.

They played in front of our bow as we skimmed along.

Paddle boarders at Honokohau, where the Sea Quest charter docks.

We also went on a half-day share charter fishing trip on The Sea Wife II (seen in Honokohau Harbor, where many of the sightseeing and fishing trips begin).  Share charters carry several passngers and the catch is split between all.

My husband on the left, another fisherman on the right and Doug, the deck hand, keeping everything running smoothly.  I got seasick that day for about an hour, but then I was fine and enjoyed the boat ride very much. My fellow passengers commented on how nice my coloring was compared to the green color I'd been.

The day's catch - skipjack tuna.  We were a little disappointed, as this was the season for ono, mahi, yellowfin tuna, and for billfish, such as marlin and swordfish (especially since we'd had an ono on a line and lost it).  But we had fun and enjoyed the grilled tuna fillets.

Driving through rugged lava field country on the way to Waimea.  Lava from mountain to sea.

Taken from the parking lot of Waimea town center.  This is lovely, rolling green ranch country much like you'd see between Colorado Springs and Denver.  The Parker Ranch surrounds the center and the ranch HQ is nearby.  It's a great place to stop for lunch or dinner, or grab some supplies from their very excellent natural foods store, or nice local supermarket.

Beautiful little Japanese cemetary just along the roadside near Honoka'a.

This is Waipi'o Valley - photo taken from the Waipi'o Valley overlook. There were people surfing the day we were there.

Waipi'o Valley is an agricultural ranching valley with wild horse herds descended from horses originally left by the Spanish.

 Scenic Akaka Falls in the hills above Hilo. You walk down to this overlook through dense, astounding tropical rainforest, filled with giant stands of bamboo, ancient enormous banyan trees, banana trees with 9-foot-long leaves, flowers of every description . . .

You can get an idea of the scale - I'm on the trail with bamboo below me in the background.

Full view of Akaka falls: over 442 feet high.

Rainbow Falls, another favorite spot in Hilo.

Hilo is a small city with a funky 1920's feel and all the young people wearing flip-flops and backpacks that you'd expect to see in a college town (the University of HI has a campus here).  It also has all the cool shops, hole-in-the-wall cafes, and used bookstores you'd expect, plus at least one "Kava" bar (which I didn't expect).

Hilo: Many of the older buildings are painted and trimmed in tropical pastels.

A used bookstore in Hilo.

Pu'uhonua O Honaunau, or the City of Refuge, was the king's private compound. It's surrounded by an ancient lava rock wall, gorgeous stands of palm trees, fish ponds, and the king's private bathing pools.  A tiny moon-shaped lagoon was once the private royal canoe landing, but is now a protected area for green sea turtles and part of a National Historical Park.  Visitors can walk around the sandy beach but are not allowed to be closer than 20 feet to the turtles that come there to rest.

One turtle seemed to prefer a tidal pool on the "people" side of the lagoon.  She'd feed for an hour or so in the tidal pool (hence this photo - she's under-water), then slip out into the sea to feed along the lava walls, giving snorkelers there something to see and talk about.

Then she'd wash back into the pool and hang out there for a while.

We spent quite a lot of time here snorkeling, swimming, kayaking and (me more than the guys) people watching and sunbathing.

Pu'uhonua O Honaunau - looking from the cement pier where small motorized craft and kayaks put into the lagoon.  In the background is the ancient royal compound, with its lava rock walls, temple and bathing pools.

We went kayaking twice around the rocky point and south to the inlet below the Park.  (I found it a little scary the first time we paddled away from shore and into the ocean swells.  The second time I knew what to expect, so it was great fun.)

Our friend lives on the mountainside above Honaunau, so we just loaded up his kayaks and equipment into his truck and headed down to the water for our morning kayak adventures.

Looking across the lagoon from the pier/boat launch to the homes that line it. The water here is crystal clear and protected from sea swells and chop, so families bring their young children here to splash and play; it's also a good place for non-swimmers to start their snorkeling adventure.

Honaunau is called by the locals "Two Step" and these are the actual "two steps" - a place where the lava is naturally layered into steps that make it easy to enter and climb out of the water. (You launch from the steps into water that is about 6 feet deep and goes right away to maybe 10, then 15 and 25-30 feet in short order. Then it drops to abyss depths in the middle of the inlet.)

The "steps" are pocked with small holes that would be perfect finger holes if they weren't occupied by spiny sea urchins!

This is the view looking across the inlet to the other side - the deep blue depths start about half way across.  We've had wild spinner dolphins come up to swim with us here, and on this trip saw a giant whale shark out there.  (We weren't out there with it, but maybe that's not a bad thing - I'm not sure how I'd have felt!)

The water at Two Step was full of yellow tangs, little golden-yellow fish that looked like yellow cottonwood leaves in the bottom of a stream, or gold coins tossed into a fountain.

My husband floating effortlessly in the calm water at Two Step.

This says it all, doesn't it?

Me.  Warm and lovin' it!

Mahalo