Alright... on to the good stuff... the REALLY good stuff.
On our 4th day on the island, we hiked to Kealakekua Bay to see the Captain Cook monument and (more importantly) to do some snorkeling! In January 1778, Captain Cook stumbled upon Hawaii. In this bay, Captain Cook was killed by the Hawaiians due to a petty skirmish over a stolen British rowboat.
Anyway, enough about HIS adventures... let's get back to OURS!
Let's discuss our adventures in pictures, shall we?
Any objections?
I didn't think so.
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| THE TRAIL DOWN TO KEALAKEKUA BAY... NICELY GROOMED AND MAINTAINED, RIGHT? |
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| NOT ALWAYS! ONE STRETCH OF THE TRAIL WAS REALLY OVERGROWN. I WONDERED IF WE WERE EVEN ON THE RIGHT TRAIL! ALSO, IMAGINE RANDOM CHUNKS OF LAVA ROCK IN THE PATH THAT YOU DON'T KNOW ARE THERE (UNTIL YOU STUB YOUR TOE ON THEM). SOMEWHERE ALONG THIS STRETCH OF TRAIL, MY LOVING HUSBAND MADE PIG NOISES THAT SOUNDED SO REAL, I FROZE IN MY TRACKS. THANKS AGAIN BABE, FOR SCARING THE SNOT OUT OF ME. |
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| THERE WERE A FEW SHADE PROVIDING TREES ALONG THE TRAIL. I HAD NO IDEA HOW GRATEFUL I WOULD BE FOR SOME SHADE ON THE HIKE UP!!!! |
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| WE PASSED A COUPLE OF RANDOM COWS ALONG THE HIKE. HAD TO WAIT FOR THEM TO MOVE OUT OF THE TRAIL. MOOOOOO!!!! |
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| THE TRAIL OPENED UP FOR THE BOTTOM HALF. NOT TOO BAD ON THE HIKE DOWN... BUT TERRIBLY HOT ON THE HIKE UP!!! |
The thing about hiking in Hawaii is that the terrain can be steep. I mean, not steeper than anything we have in Tahoe but still, you can gain some legitimate elevation. The problem for Mike and I, was the HUMIDITY! Five steps in to any hike and my entire body was dripping in sweat (dripping off my earlobes kind of sweat). SOAKED. And on the hike back up we had to pace ourselves to fend off heat exhaustion. Every slightly shady spot warranted a rest break! And as motivation to keep walking, we talked about what flavors of Hawaiian shaved ice we were going to get once we got back to the car!
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| CAPTAIN COOK PLAQUE (WHERE HE WAS KILLED???) |
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| THIS MONUMENT ACTUALLY SITS ON BRITISH SOIL |
We snorkeled for about an hour, had lunch, then got back in for another round of snorkeling.
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| URCHINS AND YELLOW TANGS |
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| A WHOLE DIFFERENT WORLD UNDER THE SEA |
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| WE FOLLOWED A TURTLE FOR A WHILE... |
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| THAT'S ME, JUST FLOATIN' ABOVE A TURTLE... NO BIG DEAL. |
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| SWIMMING THROUGH A SHALLOW NOTCH IN THE ROCKS... THOSE BUBBLES ARE FROM MIKE'S FLIPPERS AS HE SWIMS THROUGH THE NOTCH |
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| AFTER LUNCH, WE SWAM OUT TO WHERE IT DROPPED OFF INTO THE DEEP.... |
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| ... THEN HEADED BACK TO THE SHALLOWS TO SEE A FEW MORE FISH BEFORE STARTING THE HIKE BACK TO THE CAR! |
When we got back to the car, we just sat with the air conditioning on FULL blast for several minutes. When we were finally cool enough to function again, we headed into "downtown" Kona - an adorable little colorful town to walk around. We finally refreshed ourselves with some shaved ice!
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| THE MOST DELICIOUS AND WELL DESERVED HAWAIIAN SHAVED ICE EVER... OUR FLAVORS: PINEAPPLE, BLUE HAWAIIAN, AND MAI TAI (WITH A SCOOP OF VANILLA ICE CREAM IN THE CENTER). SO DELICIOUS! |
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| VIEW OF THE SEAWALL IN DOWNTOWN KONA... THIS IS ON ALI'I DRIVE WHICH IS A POPULAR AREA FOR SHOPPING AND DINING. |
From here, we headed to the harbor. We met Pam and Michael and headed out with Sunlight On Water for a NIGHTTIME SNORKEL WITH MANTA RAYS!
Yep... ridiculous awesomeness is about to follow:
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| HERE WE GO! |
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| THE BOAT RIDE TO THE SPOT WASN'T BAD |
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| PAM'S WORKPLACE IS LITERALLY BEHIND HER... ... SEE THOSE BUILDINGS? ONE OF THOSE IS HER OFFICE! EVERYDAY SHE WORKS THERE... WITH WINDOWS THAT FACE THE OCEAN! THE GUY BEHIND HER SEEMS PRETTY BORED WITH IT. |
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| THIS IS THE SPOT WHERE WE SNORKELED... SUPER CLOSE TO THE SHORELINE! |
ARE YOU READY FOR THIS AWESOMENESS???
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| YOU JUST FLOAT ON THE SURFACE, HOLDING ON TO A RAFT WITH LIGHTS THAT ATTRACT PLANKTON... ... AND THEN MANTA RAYS JUST SWIM RIGHT UP TO YOU AS THEY ARE LITERALLY DOING BACKFLIPS WHILE EATING! |
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| THEY COME SUPER CLOSE TO YOU! SUPER DUPER CLOSE!!! NO WORRIES... MANTA'S ARE GENTLE GIANTS. THEY ONLY EAT PLANKTON... SO THEY WON'T EAT YOUR FACE OFF. AND THEY DON'T HAVE STINGERS! |
Now, I know what you're thinking... "Yeah, that looks pretty close."
Allow me to show you in better detail... please enjoy this video compilation of our experience snorkeling with MANTA RAYS!!!
After an awesome adventure, we headed home, threw some pineapple sausages on the grill, took hot showers and hit the sack (the typical routine when you're packing your day full of adventuring).
Ok faithful blog readers, are you tired yet? 'Cause we were still going strong!
This brings us to Wednesday: MIKE'S 33RD BIRTHDAY!!!
We packed up our things, loaded into our rental car, and drove to Hilo in search of waterfalls.
Have no fear! We found some!
Have no fear! We found some!
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| RAINBOW FALLS! YOU DON'T NEED A FANCY DEGREE TO KNOW WHY IT'S NAMED THAT! |
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| 4 MILE SCENIC DRIVE ONOMEA BAY |
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| NOT A BAD PLACE TO HAVE A PICNIC |
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| THE DONKEY TRAIL |
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| WHERE THE DONKEY TRAIL ENDS |
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| RIVER MEETS OCEAN |
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| AKAKA FALLS |
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| AKAKA FALLS: A 420 FOOT DROP! |
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| WE DROVE THROUGH BANYON DRIVE IN HILO... |
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| ... THEN HEADED SOUTH TO AHALANUI WARM POOL. EVEN HAWAIIANS WANT TO KEEP TAHOE BLUE! (THAT STICKER WAS THERE... WE DIDN'T PUT IT THERE)! |
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| THE WARM POOL... ...IT'S OCEAN WATER THAT IS GEOTHERMALLY HEATED. WE DIDN'T HAVE TIME TO SWIM BECAUSE WE WERE EAGER TO GET TO OUR NEXT STOP: |
KAPOHO TIDEPOOLS!
Such an awesome spot. I LOVE tidepools!
And these tidepools were FULL of coral and fish (and eels... we avoided that pool).
And... my GoPro battery was totally dead.
We did snorkel here but I have no pictures or videos of it. Honestly, the view from above water was just as beautiful as the view below the water.
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| LOOK AT ALL THESE POOLS TO CHOOSE FROM! |
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| A RAINBOW OVER THE OCEAN AND MY HANDSOME HUSBAND SCOPING OUT A TIDEPOOL FROM THE ROCKS |
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| CLEAR WATER, BEAUTIFUL CORAL, TONS OF FISH! AMAZING EXPERIENCE! |
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| AS THE SUN SET, WE PACKED UP OUR STUFF AND HEADED TO THE QUAINT LITTLE TOWN OF: VOLCANO!!!! |
You all are very smart... you can probably figure out what adventures were in store for the next day based on my previous paragraph. If you can't... well, then I guess you'll have to stay tuned for the next blog to find out! Hope the suspense doesn't kill you!
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