The Big Island Trip - March 2009

Marriott Waikoloa Beach	Our initial plan for our visit to Hawaii was to head to Honolulu, but several friends said we should try "The Big Island". Luckily, we heeded their advice and ended up at the Marriott Waikoloa Beach Resort.	Waikoloa Beach	This is the view looking back towards the hotel. Only a few of the guests ventured out to the edges of the beach so this was a really nice place to get away from everyone else.
Waikoloa Beach	On Wednesday, the sun came out and the sea turtles came ashore to catch some rays.	Waikoloa Beach	Sea turtles look pretty much the same from either direction.
Waikoloa Beach	With the sunny weather on Wednesday, the sea turtles ventured closer to shore to get some beach time. Here Sharon is swimming with several sea turtles one of which is visible just in front of her. This was no more than 50 feet off-shore. We also watched some feeding whales, which were just beyond camera range. That went on for several hours.	Waikoloa Beach	Sharon REALLY loved the beach. I guess it was her chance to be the focus of fashion as she demonstrates that just like hats, she can wear just about any snorkel gear made.
Waikoloa Bay	This was one of a number of boats that were seen zipping through the bay. Racing the outriggers is apparently a sport over in Hawaii. A boathouse was near the public access to the bay.	Waikoloa Beach	You could see these little crabs scooting by at near the speed of light, but actually seeing what they were was next to impossible. Their camouflage was excellent to say the least.
Waikoloa Bay	The tide wasn't all that much. I guess that goes with being wide-open ocean and not an enclosed bay. There was plenty of sea life to be found in the small pools that dotted the shore.	Waikoloa Beach	Here, a deadly sea urchin waits in the shadows for some unsuspecting whale or possibly even a penguin. Able to devour the largest of creatures, the sea urchin looks harmless enough until it strikes. Its spinney protrusions each contain enough poison to kill an adult brontosaurus. Thus, there are few dinosaurs remaining in Hawaii.
Surfers	This was out in the bay at our hotel. The surfer dude is actually airborne here as he does a jump turn.	Surfers	Another surfer with para sail attached. This guy just fell in the water to turn.
Waikoloa Beach Petroglyphs	Near our hotel, the Marriott Waikoloa Beach Resort, on the Big Island was a site that contained many petroglyphs. We wandered through the site which was just a featureless outcrop of lava. The sign posted near the entrance suggested that the petroglyphs were carved by native warriors who were guarding a border from intruders.	Waikoloa Beach Petroglyphs	There were hundreds of these petroglyphs carved all over the area. I thought that this one was interesting. The human-like figures were the most popular, and lots of the petroglyphs looked like simple doodles of someone trying to kill time at a lonely outpost.
Waikoloa Beach Petroglyphs	This is a well-carved example of the native rock carvings. While it looks like one of the figures is carrying a hockey stick, it was apparently a hooked sort of spear.	Waikoloa Beach Petroglyphs	A footpath heading to the beach was apparently a strategic route that required some sort of defense or regulation. Guess controlling the traffic was important even back then.
Waikoloa Beach Petroglyphs	These rudimentary shelters were designed to protect the warrior-guards from the wind and the sun.	Lapakahi State Historical Park	The entrance sign announces the site as the location of a village dating back some 600 years.
Lapakahi State Historical Park	There were several structures standing in the village.	Lapakahi State Historical Park	The beach along the village looked a bit rugged and seemed like an odd place for a settlement.
Lapakahi State Historical Park	Part of a 600-year old village that was just to the north of our hotel. Perhaps it was the small bay that made the site attractive to the original settlers.	Kohala Coast	On Sunday, we drove north of the hotel along the coast and eventually into the interior. The terrain rose to over 4000 feet in elevation and turned a lush green. Despite more moisture, some large cacti were living at the higher elevation. The trees that were there looked to have been planted to shelter the road. This view is looking back south along the coast.
Kohala Highlands	I've seen a lot of cactus, but they seem to be consistently in dry places regardless of the altitude. Here's a large Prickly Pear at around 4000 feet elevation in an area that looks well watered.	Kohala Highlands	It was so green at the higher elevations on the northern tip of the island. It was obviously good pasture land as cows could be seen everywhere.
Akaka Falls State Park	On Monday, we drove across the island just to the north of hotel and followed the eastern shore to Hilo and beyond to Volcano National Park. This was some of the vegetation at a small park not far from the ocean that included a couple of waterfalls.	Akaka Falls State Park	Here is the lesser of the two waterfalls. It was listed as something like 150 feet in height. I need longer arms.
Akaka Falls State Park	Akaka Falls. It was listed as 420 feet. Looking down, it would have been one heck of a fall to the bottom.	Local Lizard	As we drove south to Hilo, we took a five-mile scenic detour and stopped at little shop along the way. The woman in the shop was almost apologetic about the little lizard on the counter. I thought it was cute.
Kona Coffee	The lovely blooms of the coffee tree smell wonderful. Here are some coffee beans in the early, green stage.	Kona Coffee	The coffee bean matures to a red or cherry color. According to the tour guide, they have only a few days to pick and process the now mature beans. The red cover is stripped off and the two beans inside are soaked to remove a sweet, slimy covering. The beans are then sun dried in large, rectangular frames.
Kona Coffee	Another picture of the coffee blooms. It looked a lot like jasmine, but to me it smelled better. The Kona coffee growing area is 8 by 22 miles in size and contains a mere 25,000 trees or plants. Some of the plants at the processing facility were more than 100 years old, but production supposedly dropped after about 25 years. The total coffee production from Kona amounted to two tenths of one percent of the world total.	Kona Coffee	No, this isn't a coffee tree, but rather an avocado tree. The processing plant had several of them on their property.
Fair Wind II	Sharon booked a morning trip on the Fair Wind II. The four-hour cruise and snorkeling trip took us to the bay where the legendary Captain Cook met his end at the hands of the locals. This trip was the most relaxing thing that we did in Hawaii. The crew was so enthusiastic that you couldn't help but have a good time.	Fair Wind II	Captain Mitch Stauffer of the good ship Fair Wind II. The captain admitted to being addicted to deep sea fishing, which he paid for by taking tourists out to snorkel. He also cooked lunch, which wasn't half bad. A spartan meal of burgers, hot dogs and vegieburgers was welcome fare while anchored in the bay. Unpretentious, it was great fun even for those of us couldn't swim.
Cook Bay	Sharon is out there snorkeling. She had originally gone out without the "bouyancy enhancer", but wisely came back to get one. She said it was much easier getting about with it.	Cook Bay	A close up picture of the Cook Monument that I took as we headed back to port. We had been anchored in the bay for 2 1/2 hours, but it went by very quickly. Most everybody hit the water soon after we had stopped and came in for lunch after an hour or so. A few hearty souls went back in afterwards, and a several daredevils took to the waterslides and diving platform.
Cook Bay	One of the Japanese tourists was kind enough to take our picture together. The overcast sky kept us from roasting onboard. It rained lightly as we sailed back to port, but we never really got wet.	Cook Bay	The bay where Sharon snorkeled and we ate lunch on board the Fair Wind II. The whole location was surreal. It is hard to imagine working in such an environment. How could that ever be work?
Hawaii Volcano National Park	The entrance to Hawaii Volcano National Park. It was murky, misty day at the park, but it was still enjoyable. The area is classified as tropical rain forest, so the moisture was to be expected. Luckily, it was just misting while we were there. The drive back to the west side of the island was through some pretty intense rain.	Hawaii Volcano National Park	A picture from the rim. The easier trip was to walk to the western end of the crater and then down and back up. The guidebook was spot on with that advice.
Hawaii Volcano National Park	At the western end where we descended into the volcano. The surface rises to the west making the climb down all the shorter.	Hawaii Volcano National Park	The surface at the bottom of the volcano. The differential cooling and the sinking material below created an irregular surface of large cracks.
Hawaii Volcano National Park	A fissure had formed were settling had caused the surface to break and separate.	Hawaii Volcano National Park	As smooth as a paved road, the surface heaved and broke into large pieces of concrete. Steam can be seen venting out in the distance.
Hawaii Volcano National Park	The rising steam was quite the attraction. There were vents all over the area sending small clouds of steam. It looked like white calcium carbonate was condensing near the vents, but otherwise there was little else to see. There wasn't any real odor to the steam either.	Hawaii Volcano National Park	You can see the white residue near the vents. I tried to see if the white powder was salty or whatever, but there wasn't any real taste.
Hawaii Volcano National Park	The Thurston Lava Tube was an underground tunnel where lava had flowed through and eroded out.	Hawaii Volcano National Park	Me in the lava tube. It was really amazing as the tube looked as if it had been dugout with a nice round form to it.
The Black Sand Beach	On the southern end of the island were green and black sand beaches. We made it to the black one as it was just off the road back to the westside of the island. The sea turtles like to stop there to warm up; but on the day we were there, no sea turtles were to be found. Even the beach visitors were few and far between.	The Black Sand Beach	Photomicrograph of sand at the black sand. You can see the tiny chips of lava or obsidian that make up the beach. I had been burying my feet up to my ankles in the sand when standing in the water, but I ended up with something looking like a sunburn. I'm guessing the lava chips in the sand irritated my skin. The grains are about the same size particle that you would find on any beach.