Jul 13, 2012 - Friday

Aloha, In case anyone has noticed, we have not made it to the Volcano National Park. The kids did not seem to thrilled about going. The drive is about 3 hours to get there. So it would be a long day. They said the lava is still flowing but not into the ocean. The next few days are supposed to be cloudy and rainy over on that side of the island. So those are some of the reasons for not going. We will just enjoy the sun and beaches on this side of the island. I guess this means Octi and I will need to come back for our 25th Anniversary. It...

Jul 12, 2012 - Wednesday - July 11th

Today, we hung around the Muana Lani and Waikola Village area. We went to another resort area called the Waikola Village. They have the Queens and King shops similar to a Partridge Woods and had a farmers market there today. We got some homemade jellies, macadamia nuts and sampled some honey. I bought a Hawaiian pineapple (small) and it is the sweetest pineapple I think I ever had. It is delicious. Also bought some Hawaiian bananas which are about 1/2 the size of regular bananas and are sweeter than a regular banana. Again - Yummy. I made...

Jul 12, 2012 - Thursday - July 12th

What a fun day today! We all decided this was the best day. We went on the Catamaran snorkeling boat ride today. It was about 4.5 hours long. We boarded at the pier in Kona. They had a nice breakfast buffet and for lunch grilled burgers, hotdogs, chicken burger, etc. Food was great. The water is unbelievable. I can not get over how crystal clear and turquoise blue it is. The snorkeling reef was anywhere from 25 feet to 50 feet deep. The boat was so clean and they had nice snorkeling equipment. One of the better tours. On the way out to the...

Jul 11, 2012 - July 10th - Tuesday - Trip to Akaka Falls and Hilo

Today we headed across the state to the East Coast and went to Akaka Falls and Hilo. We thought it would take a bit over an hour to get there. Needless to say... the winding roads and the roads through and up the mountains took a bit longer. The scenary and change in landscape is amazing. Temp when we started was 83 and through the Waimea valley dropped to 65 degrees with misty rain and back to the high 70's near the coast and in Hilo. We went from barren lava fields, through the cattle ranches in Waimia and through forests and tropical...

Jul 10, 2012 - Monday - July 9th

Today we went on an excursion on the ATV - All Terain Vehicles with ATV Outfitters at the Northern tip of the island. This area is called Kohala. We drove about 45 minutes along the coastal highway (2 lane road) to get there. The further north we went the greener the area. Usually the rain comes later in the day but we had rain on the 3 hour trip. Put a bit of a damper on it. No pun intended. Needless to say the trails were a bit slippery and with the rain coming down we had some huge puddles. Octi drove an ATV and Andrew sat behind him as...

Jul 9, 2012 - Day 3 - Found a cool beach and Kona Town

Sunnay today in Mauna Lani in low 80's. Slightly overcast skies in Kona area. Today we did some swimming in the pool and then we headed out to do some exploring before lunch. We ate lunch at the Bite Me Fish Market in one of the Marina's outside of Kona. Octi got the fresh catch of the day - Blue Marlin. It was just caught and brought in. They were cutting it in the kitchen as we arrived. Must have been 5 ft long. The kids were adventerous and tried something new since the deep fryer was broken and there were no french fries or fried fish....

Jan 15, 2011 - přelet na Big Island

Uz jsme se rozloucili s Oahu a preleteli cca 250km (s Air Mokulele) na Big Island (největší ostrov Havaje, ale geologicky nejmladší s aktivními sopkami). Už kolem letiště je sopečná krajina, letiště je takové outdoorové, prostě jako na ostrově v tichomoří. Pujčili jsme si na týden auto (Dodge) a vyjeli směrem na jih (máme v plánu objet celá ostrov proti směru hodinových ručiček). První zastávka byla ve městečku Kailua - Kona (druhé největší na ostrově), kde jsme nakoupili zásoby. Oproti Oahu je to tu opravdu klidnější, vesničtější, měli...

Dec 22, 2010 - Kona, Big Island

Today I woke up very excited cause I was going to go swim with the dolphins! One of my dreams!! We ported in Kona and I took a cab to where the boat was docked. There were about 20 people on our boat and it was owned by this married couple who hires a couple teenagers to help operate the business. So, I grabbed breakfast at the snack shack, I saw pop tarts in there and I had to laugh, since many of you many jokes about being prepared to eat them if the ship get stranded! haha I had such a fun time on the boat. There was a photographer on...

Jan 25, 2008 - Port-of-Call: Kona

We were back at the Big Island today...on the other side now...in the port of Kona. This was a tender port, so we had to take tender boats to the shore. We noticed when we got up this morning that there was another ship in the harbor also. Once we were ashore, we saw the signs for their passengers. It was the Diamond Princess. This is the exact same ship that we will be on in May in Alaska, and then again next January in Australia. That ship gets around! We didn't stay ashore too long...just long enough to get a couple of t-shirts for the...

Nov 25, 2007 - Day 1

Had breakfast - our first look at things in the daylight Explored the Hilton Waikoloa Village - amazing place - just like Disney without the rides. Had lunch at a small fish & chip joint then went to Louis Vuitton - concluded that Fish & chips were more in our budget range Took a drive up to Hapuna Beach in the afternoon, swam and snorkeled. Took a drive through Waimea on the way back near the Parker Ranch. Back to the resort for a BBQ, and crash