Best snorkeling ever!

After going to one of the state parks earlier in the week, we were told the bay was home to lots of black tipped reef sharks and if we got there early, we’d see them. So this was the day we headed out there and sat and watched … and watched … and watched, and nary a shark. Each of us was contemplating cutting ourselves for a bit of blood to draw a shark. Susan and I even tiptoed through the water’s edge despite warnings not to wade or snorkel in the bay.

So, drat, that was a disappointment but we made up for it by making Susan sing her happy Titanic song again.

 

 

We drove down to Mauna Kea hotel where there’s a public beach and very few cars are allowed in at any one time. We donned our snorkel gear and out we went. Susan and I came across a small turtle and watched it ages! I was so thrilled!

After a drink of fredrico on the beach and girl talk, Susan, Melinda and I snorkeled on the other side of the bay.

Some snorkeler motioned for me to come over and there was a small octopus on the rock! So I had to get Susan and we watched it awhile. This was the best snorkeling area – it was like being in a different world with all the coral and different fish. As we were headed back in, we saw ANOTHER octopus that looked like a rock but when it swam, it turned purple. We found Melinda and took her back and found the octopus again.

Hilo

After Akaka Falls, we strolled around Hilo, site of “old Hawaii” where we saw (and I swung on) banyan trees and shopped some more. This banyan tree was too cool, and so are my uncle Dean and aunt Melinda!

 A time capsule buried near the cool banya tree. I don't think we'll be around to see the stuff when it's opened or we could say,"Ohhh, I remember those!"

 I am such a goof ball ...

 We got dinner at Ken’s (“jamming since 1971”), which turned out to be an excellent source of entertainment with the gong for the sumo platters and the huge plates of food. If someone ordered a “sumo platter,” a bell would ring, the gong would sound, and the whole staff would yell,”SUMO!”
The restaurant offers a Spam omlette. I forget what the big joke is on Hawaii about Spam.

What made the day was our long, dark drive home on the Saddle Road between volcanoes was when Susan regaled us with a song about the Titanic she learned in 4^th grade. It was a rousing, happy song about disaster and she couldn’t get through it without cracking to pieces and, of course, all of us were in tears over the hilarity! It's not the same as her original version, but Melinda and I made her sing it again the next day for recording purposes:

Akaka Falls, or where King Kong really lives

As with all our plans so far on the Big Island, whenever we head to a destination, it takes us about three times as long since we stop here and we stop there and we stop again whenever the mood strikes us. 

Our destination was Akaka Falls, the highest falls in Hawaii and one where the native fish actually climb UP the 400-foot-plus falls straight up. It was a beautiful walk to the falls, although I totally expected King Kong to come barging out of the gigantic trees and ferns. It was like something out of Jurassic Park and I was just thankful that Hawaii is void of any kind of snake because it would grow some kinda big in this jungle!

The falls from the parking lot:

 and then up close:

 My grandmother:

 and me (Susan made me do this really goofy pic but it didn't turn out well so you get the basic one):

 Here is the fish that suckers himself up to the top, lays eggs, descends on down to the ocean and, once mature, heads back to the birthing place to repeat the cycle. The climb alone should render these guys extinct!

Snorkeling at Kahahuu Beach Park

MawMaw started meetings at her conference so Susan, Dean, Melinda and I drove a short way to Kahahuu Beach Melinda had read about as being excellent snorkeling in a protected bay. Well, it was excellent! Of course, I didn't have my underwater camera.

Susan and I buddied up and saw hordes of fish, but the most impressive was a snowflake eel and flounder. When we got out for a rest, there was a turtle sunning so we talked to it for a bit. (Here's Susan staying the required 15 feet away.)

As we were out in deep water, some spearfisher swam by us and snagged one, which made both of us feel bad! You know, we’re admiring all the beautiful fish and holding our hands out, hoping to touch them and then here comes some dude with a spear and *kapow!* you’re now dinner. Turns out the spearfisher and his buddy were two kids suspended from school. (Oh, darn, we’re suspended from school. Let’s go swim at the beach.) In addition to harpooning several fish, they’d also caught two octopi.

Back out we went and, while the tide was in, swimming over some coral gave us only about 18 inches of room and that was unnerving, trying NOT to touch the coral even accidently. What was more unnerving was swimming flat over some rocks and looking down to see that dadgum snowflake eel right under me. Amazing how fast one can move in water when scared!

Homesteading at the Hilton Waikaloa

I thought I'd give you some pictures of our hotel since we spent a quiet day exploring the beach and snorkeling the hotel lagoon.

There is a dolphin pool at the hotel where you can swim with them. We lunched next to the dolphin pool just to watch them swim and play.

It's an enormous resort and, not only does it have a tram to take you from one end to the other, but it has a BOAT. I was determined to ride the boat but it got to be the last night and I missed my chance.

The lagoon inside the hotel has fish. My uncle Dean said there wasn't really any need to go snorkeling since these beautiful fish were right there.

 This is on the way to the beach where we snorkeled.

Going to Hawaii, I was expecting sandy beaches but it was lava rocks and white coral. Not suitable for barefoot walkin'!

  Since we’ve been doing a lot of running around and had yet to get in the water, we stayed around the resort and took Melinda and Dean to the tide pool that had been so exciting two days prior. Well, it wasn’t so exciting today. There were hardly any fish, at least colorful fish, to speak of. I saw plenty of sea urchins and since I was barefoot, trying to navigate coral and sharp lava rocks, I was on high alert for slipping and landing on one. I did find a bone from a cuttlefish, which was cool. Some locals were catching parrotfish for their dinner. Again, see Dean’s blogpost  (http://theketelsens.blogspot.com) for a thorough recap of the local fishermen.

Susan, Dean, Melinda and I went to the resort’s lagoon to snorkel. Well, it was COLD in the water and it took us 10 minutes to tiptoe in. Finally, we found beautiful fish swimming near the rocks.

Then I thought Susan was on my left and when I looked, it was a green sea turtle. No, TWO green sea turtles within a foot of me! Susan was on my right and one turtle approached her, and kept approaching her and kept at her, so she ended up backing off.

 The other was eyeballing me and it made me nervous so I swam off with Susan. Like Susan said, ”They say not to approach the turtles but what do you do when THEY approach YOU??” So, I’d come to Hawaii to see and, hopefully swim with, sea turtles and I did it!

 Whale rider:

 This is the view from our balcony. On a clear day, you could see Maui.

Hawaiian Volcano National Park

We made it to the National Park and saw several steam vents, which freaked me out when I got close. I wasn’t expecting the heat, truly!

 Susan looks like an apparition!

Up at the Jagger Museum to see the plum smoke from the crater of lava, we were told to come back after dark so we could see the glow of the lava against the back wall of the crater. The lava had been rising just prior to our visit and we were hoping we would actually get to SEE the lava lake but by the time we got to the park, the level had dropped quite a bit.

 Before getting back to the park, you could see the steam glowing orange from the road. On the approach, the site was pretty amazing! Steam pouring out and the entire place was orange. Our pictures look like we see the lava fire but we didn’t. We had to go inside to see a real time webcam picture of the lava lake, which was large enough to fit a football stadium and its bleachers inside. See my Uncle Dean’s blog post for an excellent view of the crater (http://theketelesens.blogspot.com)

 During daylight hours, we walked through a lava tube you could fit a train through.

Prior to Volcano Park: the turtles!

This is what my aunt Melinda texted before we left for the park: It’s 2.6 hours to the park so if Johnny travels at 47 miles an hour and stops 7 times, how long will it take to get there? And that about summed it up too. We kept stopping in all the cool places.

On our way to Volcano National Park, we stopped at this beach to see the black sand.

 And the best part is that there were three sea turtles resting on the beach. Now my day was made!

Took this picture before reading the sign that said stay 15 feet away from turtles. Oops. My bad. But I just couldn't HELP it.

 Turtle kisses! (actually that one was trying to push out the other one)

Susan next to the turtle.

 It was an exquisite beach!

Prior to leaving for our trip, my aunt Melinda reminded me if any black sand was lurking around, now was the time to take it back. My aunt Vicki had actually had a canister of black sand and Melinda took that bad boy back and dumped it right on the beach! So she is the Poster Child for not removing black sand from Hawaii. The goddess Pele approves, I'm sure!