Big Island Fun

We have been taking it a little slower on the Big Island, but that doesn't mean we haven't had amazing adventures here. We are using the mornings for school work and planning the days activities. Packing a picnic lunch and heading out to do whatever the weather and our mood dictates is working well.

May 8th- Mother's day. Shelli got to choose the activities and dining options for the day. She decided to slow down the pace for the day so we just walked around the shopping area near our hotel and she picked up a rashguard shirt for snorkeling and beach use. She chose a coconut shrimp lunch right by the water for lunch. For the evening we just hung out by the pool and in the hot tub, and had a relaxing dinner by the tiki torch lights.

May 9th - It was cloudy and a bit rainy, so we decided to drive to the Volcano National Park instead of beach activities. The curvy road made for a long drive, but we stopped at a black sand beach to break up the drive. There was a turtle sunning on the black sand and several more were swimming around just past the surf. We drove through macadamia nut and coffee farms and saw more papayas, sugar cane, and bananas growing right along the side of the road.

We spent some time at the park visitor's center learning about volcanoes and took in views of the caldera. We walked through the Thurston lava tubes and checked out the prehistoric looking ferns along the way. After a stop at a steam vent that was plenty hot, we headed out for dinner in Hilo around sunset. We had plenty of local food at a small diner and headed back into the park for views of the lava glowing at night. Unfortunately the flow that was making it's way down to the ocean stopped in March after a big eruption drained the lava pool down several hundred feet and closed off one of the main vents. However, the glow from inside the caldera looked really neat with the misty conditions and almost pitch black night with clouds covering the small crescent moon.

May 10th - We scheduled a two tank boat dive with a day dive followed by a night manta ray dive. Although Shelli was NOT interested in participating, we convinced her to go along and snorkel with John while Michael and I dove. The water was a deep blue as it can get on the way to the dive site and there were a lot of spinner dolphins there to greet us as we pulled in. They were swimming along the boat and putting on a show of jumping and flipping that would make any dolphin trainer proud. The first dive was a good refresher for us and the water was very clear with visibility of about 100'. Michael spotted to bottle nose dolphins swimming near us and pointed them out to the guide. Soon after four manta rays swam by and we found two moray eels, three trumpet fish (including Charlie, the local friendly fish that likes to hang out right by your face), a flounder, and plenty of other colorful fish. The snorkeling wasn't as good, with not a lot to see. Unfortunately the dolphins didn't hang around.

The sunset on the boat was nice, even though several people were not feeling well because of seasickness. Everyone crammed in the sandwich and chips anyway to load up for the next water entry. As darkness fell and the boat lights came on, the huge manta rays showed up. While we were receiving our pre-dive briefing, the rays were doing somersaults right at the back of the boat and feeding on the plankton attracted to the lights. The divers went in first and then John convinced Shelli to jump into the black water before him. Just a short swim over the divers collected on the bottom around a rock "fire pit" and pointed the flashlights up while the snorkelers overhead pointed their lights down to create a column of light that attracted tons of plankton. The mantas moved up and down the column feeding and brushing up against both snorkelers and divers. It was an amazing experience as these absolutely huge mantas swooped up and down. There were at least twenty individual mantas (identified by name by the boat crew based on unique markings on the manta's undersides) and they put on a non-stop show the entire 50 minutes we were in the water. The largest was Big Bertha with a wingspan of 16 feet! Michael and I were in the last dive group to exit the water and the mantas followed us to the boat.

May 11th - Another slow day with school in the room and then a picnic lunch by the ocean. We went to the harbor nearby and found a nice spot on the rocks overlooking the clear water full of very colorful yellow fish. We watched the boats coming in and a huge sea turtle swimming by as we ate lunch. From there we went to a national historic park at a lava flow site and went to the old fish pond made from stacked volcanic rocks. There were large fish jumping out of the water and plenty of tide pools to explore. After looking for manta ray themed dive shirts in kids sizes  with no luck, we rounded out some school lessons on volcanoes and the Hawaiian Islands formation before Michael and John spent the rest of the day in the pool.

May 12th - We stopped at a beach park for a picnic and ended up right by an old memorial site and monument. One of Capt Cook's men was was buried there in 1779 and that was the first Christian service held in Hawaii. We had been doing school lessons on the formation of the Hawaiian Islands and this area was particularly good for observing the effects of erosion and formation of the sandy areas and cliffs. Along the beach there were a lot of rocks and coral and Michael and John spent a lot of time stacking rocks and then throwing other rocks to knock them down. The waves were rolling the rocks back and forth in the surf and making a really relaxing sound.

May 13th - We went to a really good snorkeling area that was loaded with sea turtles. There was one feeding right at the edge of the water and we were able to walk right in and swim alongside him. Michael and John found four or five more further out where they were snorkeling and were able to film them up close and take pictures of them. There were plenty of colorful fish to chase around. For lunch we pigged out at the Big Island Grill on huge hamburgers, coconut shrimp salad, a great big hot fudge sundae, a big banana split and cheese cake with coconut and mango sauces. Later that afternoon we stopped at a huge roadside lava tube that had collapsed partially and was a neat place for exploring. We drove way out on a very long extremely bumpy road through an old lava flow area. After everyone had enough we went to an area with $10M homes and took advantage of the fact that all beaches in Hawaii have to be public. Even the most expensive places can't exclude anyone from the shoreline, so the guards gave us a pass and we went to a very secluded beach area that only had one other family on a really nice sand area with very neat tide pools and rocky outcroppings. We found a turtle sunning on the rocks and just hung out there right beside him. At that point it was just us and him on the entire beach as the sun was heading down. We decided to leave the beach to the turtle and head down closer to where we had done the manta ray dive to watch the sunset. We found a great spot with big waves crashing and watched the sun disappear below the horizon and we saw just a bit of the "green flash" phenomena at the end. I had been looking along the road all over the place as we drove trying to find a spot to get a fresh papaya straight from a tree. Although I had seen many, they weren't in areas where they could be picked by the general public. We found a papaya tree with some ripe fruit right by where we had parked for the sunset and this one didn't have any signs saying it was prohibited to take fruit. The tree was very tall, but we were able to shake loose a few and catch them as they fell. With the exception of the manta ray experience, I think this last day on the Big Island was the best one we had.

May 14th - We had some great bucket list experiences on the Big Island and we had great chances to study it's ecology, geology, history, and culture. However, leaving on the 5:30 am flight wasn't such a great idea. We got the best price, but trying to get the rental car turned in and make it to the gate was an adventure. Alamo didn't open until 5:30 and they didn't have an after hours drop off. They said they could meet me at 5:00 and get me to the flight on time. That wouldn't work anywhere else in the world but there. The flight was on a Cessna Caravan operated by Go! Mukelele airlines and they didn't even use the standard gates or security. Apparently there are so few of us on the plane nobody really cares what we are carrying. The single pilot plane is used for tours and had great visibility with plenty of windows and an open door so we could see the cockpit the whole flight. The rising sun was cutting through the clouds and the lighting was really nice along the mountains and water. The flight was great because it was smooth as glass all the way on the 30 minute flight to Maui.  We were picking up our rental car before the winds even started to stir.

 A Mother's Day to remember. (Shelli)

Hot tub after dinner by the pool on Mother's Day. (Joey)

Bananas growing right outside our condo. (Joey)

Black sand beach with sea turtle warming on the sand. (Joey)

Black sand between the toes. (Joey)

I liked the contrast of the black sand and the white froth of the waves. (Joey)

Shelli pointing out an incoming turtle. (Joey)

In front of the caldera at the Volcano National Park. Although there was some steam coming from here, the active area is just behind the dome to the left of John. The road circles around from here, but the whole section around the left side of is closed due to dangerous gases. (Joey)

The entrance to the Thurston Lava tubes. (Joey)

In the lava tube. It was damp and water was dripping on us. (Joey)
There were a bunch of slugs in here. (Michael)

In the area near the lava tubes. It felt pre-historic with the giant ferns all over the place. (Joey)
Michael isn't really this much taller than me. He is standing on a rock. (John)

The active part of the volcano just after sunset. It was cold and misting, but the conditions really made the lava glow look spectacular. (Joey)
We could have roasted a lot of marshmallows :( (John)

Michael at the start of our first dive in Hawaii. (Joey)
Hi. (Michael)

The water was clearer than it looks in these photos. (Joey)
Hi again. (Michael)

This moray eel seemed to be getting tired of us hanging out by him and looked like he was about to come out to run me off as I was taking pictures. (Joey)
The eel said "Hi". (Michael)

Charlie the trumpet fish is a friendly local that hangs out at this dive spot. He is a close talker and hung our right by us on the night dive too. (Joey)
Charlie said "Hi". (Michael)

Next two picture captions - Michael wasn't feeling well on the boat. He hoped he didn't throw up the great sandwiches they served us. We watched the sunset and then got ready for the dark. (Shelli) 

Just before jumping into the dark water. (Shelli)

Michael with two of the twenty manta rays that were swimming around us. The dots you see all over are the plankton that were attracted to the lights - manta dinner. (Joey)
The mantas kept scraping the top of my head. The plankton all said "Hi". (Michael)

The mantas were stacked right on top of each other from Michael's head at the bottom to John's belly on the surface. The spots and markings you can see here are unique and can be used to identify each manta. (Joey)
The mantas didn't say "Hi". (Michael)

We saw these big open mouths coming at us over and over. The first couple of times, it is pretty unnerving. The mantas were big enough to easily fit my whole upper body into their mouth. (Joey)
The mouths were huge and they kept coming right up at John and me. John talked me into going on the trip and when it was time to jump into the dark ocean, he looked at me and said "you go first Mom ". (Shelli)

John is talking to his aunt Suzy while while we walked around a national historic site. (Joey)
Aunt Suzy said "Hi". (John)

Tree climbing by an old fish pond that had big fish jumping. (Joey)
Almost there. (John)

Michael building one of his rock statues. The white blur in the treeline to the left of him is the Capt Cook memorial. Capt Cook let the locals believe he was a god on his first visit; on his second they realized he wasn't and tested his mortality. The memorial marks the spot where he failed the test. This was also close to where he had done the first Christian service in Hawaii when one of his crewmen died. (Joey)
This was fun. When the waves crashed they pulled the rocks in and made a cool sound. (Michael)

John's creation. (Joey)
This is harder than it looks. (John)

John's rear end says "Hi". He didn't know I was doing this. (Michael)

A great place for throwing rocks. (Joey)
The rock says "Bye". (John)

Michael and one of the many turtles we have seen. We were so excited to see the first turtle on Oahu in Waikiki and I jumped off a rock wall into the water to get some video of it. On Kauai we saw a couple and snorkeled along side them thinking it was about as good as it  would get. The Big Island topped all that with turtles sunning close enough to see easily and many swimming and feeding in clearer water. None of them seemed to mind us being close. (Joey)
I got even closer than this after taking the picture. (John)
The turtle's fin slapped me in the face. (Michael)

John right after he had been snorkeling and filming several turtles. (Joey)
This was the best snorkeling place for seeing turtles. (John)

Lava tube right by the side of the road North of the airport. (Joey)

One of the old lava flow areas along the extremely bumpy road we drove down. (Joey)

Walking along the rocky edge of the beach in the $10M per home neighborhood. (Joey)

This turtle didn't pay to be in the neighborhood either. (Joey)
I named this turtle Jim.... he said "Hi". (Michael)

This tide pool reflection looked neat to me. The area behind them was like a big bowl that filled and emptied as the surf came in and out. It was kind of like a mini Niagara Falls when emptying, then it would fill with water that would make a big dome of froth at least 20 feet wide. (Joey)

Nice crashing waves as we waited for sunset. (Joey)

I couldn't resist a classic silhouette shot here. (Joey)

The tall papaya tree we had to shake to get fresh fruit. (Joey)
We caught them as they fell. (John)

Click here for a video of the dive/snorkel trip.