Kona Part II

So, are you all bored, yet? I must say, it is kind of fun to relive the vacation in this manner. I am glad that I thought to journal every night because I caught it all fresh. That helps to bring it back, too. Well, if you are ready - carry on:

Wednesday, May 12: We were up before the alarm and before our hotel wakeup call. Time to get on the road again . . . well, at least to shower, get some breakfast, and check out of that stanky room. ;-)

We ate in an open-air restaurant - buffet style, among the birds. The view was so wonderful - we were right on the shore. Struck up a conversation with two ladies next to us (one of them took our picture as we had taken theirs for them on their camera). Fun to find out that they hailed from our "old" home state of Ohio. They were visiting Hawaii on a widows' cruise. Interesting.

After we checked out of the hotel we drove down to the pier to check in for our Atlantis adventure. Yes, we went down under the sea in a submarine. In fact, our lowest depth was 108 feet as we joined the "triple digit" club for divers. Yay, us! (smirk)

This is a shot that they took of us prior to our boarding the ferry out to the sub. The ride out was a tad rough . . . look at the horizon . . . look at the horizon. No need for the Aloha bag. Nope.

The color spectrum below is so weird - my red and white pants deepened in color to deep plum/maroon. Our teeth glowed because of the flouride in the water and our toothpaste. All was normal once we returned topside, though.

The above is one of the shots I took from inside the sub. It is really hard to take digital pics down there - but you can see a bit of an uncooperative fish at upper left there. My shutter is either too fast or too slow to get some pics - this was one of those. So, we mostly just feasted with our eyes during the trip.

and here is a view of the sub and crew as we headed back to shore. They stayed topside and waved to us just as long as someone on our boat waved back. And, as there was a small child behind our seat waving frantically, the crew got a good workout of those arms. ;-)

We said goodbye to Kona . . . after saying goodbye to the fellow at the motorcycle rental shop again - and inviting him to visit us the next time he is in Alaska.

We had decided to continue around the Big Island, to see the varied ecosystems housed therein. Leaving Kailua-Kona we headed off into miles of lava fields, old lava flow. Amid the black rocks there are white rocks and people stop to spell out messages to all to read. We saw several ALOHAs and many I LOVE ______s, interspersed with Mahalo (thank you)s.

Took several side roads looking for a lunch spot, but found that many of the GAS, FOOD, LODGING signs were a tad misleading as they went back to golf courses and condominium sales offices, etc. Found a nice little place finally in Kawaihae, called the Harbor Grill. (Had a great burger there).

As we drove up and toward Waimea (the boyhood home of a Kenai friend) we saw several Road Flooded signs, but never a sign of the flooded roads. There was a fair amount of misty rain, though, and we missed several other places we had hoped to stop simply because we couldn't see signs for turn-offs. (all the better to return to Hawaii someday).

It is easy to drive on the Big Island - always remember - the ocean to your left and the mountain to your right (reverse that if you are headed the other way, of course). Can't get very lost that way - of course we use those same directions here in Alaska, so they were familiar to us.

BREATHTAKING FALLS
We drove off the highway a bit in order to see a pair of waterfalls. The above is how hubby describes them because he was quite breathless by the time we reached them. The path was (mostly) paved, but some was quite old and falling apart. We trekked up and down hills and up and down steps, deeper and deeper into a tropically beautiful landscape in order to see . . .

Kahuna Falls
and, then a bit further to see . . .

Akaka Falls. Absolutely worth the trek. Gorgeous terrain and gorgeous falls. Nice people trekking alongside us, or passing us, or not nearly as breath-taken as us. Heh.

My souvenir from the hike was a bite over my left eye which swelled it nearly shut and itched and watered like crazy. We bought some anti-itch pills the next day and that helped a great deal.

That night I washed up two loads of clothes - I cannot tell you how nice that is - we only brought home a small bag with a few dirty clothes. Splendid!

And, with that, I am going to get off here and put the feet back up. I have been up and about for a bit today - am off the 2 days prescribed bedrest now, you see. Went to breakfast with hubby, then to morning worship service. I skipped Sunday School and tonight's service, but was blessed to be in the morning service.

Then we drove to Soldotna to pick up some groceries and then honey fixed us lunch and I snoozed in my chair for a couple of hours. So, see, I am taking care not to overdo.

Tomorrow I am off to work - yay - I have to work an extra day this week, but am still confined to 30 hours, so will have really loooooonnnnnggg lunch hours each day. It is our semi-annual workshop and I help to facilitate it - that is, I buy the goodies for the participants to eat, and I set up the room, the police ride-alongs, tell about the volunteer program, handle registration, and run for whatever the instructors need. Not gonna be running too fast, though, this week. In fact, I am going to ask my co-workers to carry in the goodies from my trunk tomorrow. See, I'm being good.

'night, friends

Posted by Purplemoose at May 23, 2004 08:26 PM