Hawaii Day 4 – Diving, diving and more diving!

After my brief visit to the tropical waters of the Caribbean this Christmas, I knew I had to show Taylor how awesome it is to Scuba dive in water that’s warmer than San Diego! When we decided to make the trip to Hawaii, I instantly began looking for a good dive shop. After looking around at the millions of options, I chose a company called Dive Makai – they had good schedules, small boats, and free rental gear if you dove with them for 2 days in a row!

We wanted to do some daytime diving, and the guidebooks all said we HAD to do a night dive with the giant manta rays (that it was the most amazing thing, and you couldn’t miss it, etc, etc). I decided to throw in one more trip for fun, so overall we booked 6 dives: two on Tuesday morning, one evening dive, one night Manta ray dive, and two dives on Wednesday morning….. I may have been a little too excited and overly ambitious, but that was the plan!

We woke up bright and early again (this is not normally our specialty, but apparently on vacation I’m cool with getting up for fun stuff ;) and headed to the harbor. We found our boat, and set off with our captain, our dive guide and 5 other divers. The Hawaiian waters were actually under a small craft advisory, so there was more wind and swell than usual, so our captain took us to a sheltered dive site. We got our briefing, squeezed into our wetsuits (even thought the water was 75-80 degrees!) and jumped off of the back of the little dive boat.

We had a great couple of dives, and saw a lot of cool fish. The reefs in Hawaii aren’t that impressive on their own, and there aren’t a lot of colored corals or crazy anemones, but the fish were neat! And we saw eels, sea urchins, lots of butterfly fish, and cool underwater rock formations like lava arches. It was so relaxing to dive in clear, warm water, and we were both so amazed to be able to see the boat from 60-80 feet underwater. It’s so much fun to just float around under there! It’s like slowly swimming through a giant aquarium :)

We dove for 40 minutes, took an hour break and went to another spot, then dove again. Since we finished our morning session just before lunch we headed over to the Kona Brewing Company to refuel before our evening and night dives started at 3:30pm. We did a mini-beer tasting, had some yummy food, relaxed for a bit, then headed back to the harbor for round 2! We all climbed back into the boat and headed to the spot where the manta rays were supposed to appear later. The premise of this dive was to dive at the site during the daytime (so you know what’s in store), then wait for the sun to set, and dive again after dark when all the cool stuff comes out!

On the way to the dive site we saw 2 humpback whales and a HUGE pod of spinner dolphins. The whales we barely saw as the swam by, came up for air, and kept swimming…but the dolphins were playing all around us :) They were jumping out of the water, doing flips, and spinning in mid air, it was so awesome! I was so excited to get into the water while they were hanging around. By the time I finally “gracefully” wiggled into my wetsuit, they had all swam a good distance away, but I was hoping that once they knew we were underwater they would come check us out.

I went straight down and stayed close to the guide, hoping he would help us find cool stuff. He pointed out the garden eel, which buried themselves in the sand and retreat when they see you swimming closer. He found a huge eel which another dive scared away, so we got to see the eel swim in open water, which they never do because they are always hiding in some crevice in the dark. Finally, I heard a loud metallic tapping noise – it was our dive guide tapping a metal tool on his air tank, and he was pointing into the open water past the deep drop off: THERE WERE DOLPHINS CHECKING US OUT! I swam as fast as my little fins would go straight out into the open water – probably not the best idea- but I was so mesmerized! I saw a few mommies and babies slowly and elegantly glide past us in the water. They made it seem so effortless and there was no way that I was ever going to be able to get to them or have any chance of keeping up with the, so out of breath I floated and watched them until they disappeared back into the blue.

I could hear their squeaks and underwater whistles, and for the rest of the dive I kept looking around half-expecting them to come play. They stayed just out of sight, but it was such a great experience to even see them underwater that I was super happy. Just as we were turning back towards the boat to get out of the water, a GIANT manta ray swam over our heads. This guy must have been at least 14 feet across. He was gliding like a bird, and he never even flapped his fins or moved a muscle, he just floated over our heads and disappeared.

Once we got out of the water we were told that it was a really good sign that we already saw a giant manta ray, and that there would be plenty more after the sun went down. I was bouncing off the walls after seeing the dolphin, and was super excited to see what the night dive was going to be like. They explained that there would probably be 5 or 6 other dive boats in the exact same spot, so to stay close to the guides. We were supposed to sink to the bottom, and swim to an underwater “firepit,” which was made out of a circle of rocks arranged on the ocean floor. In the middle of the firepit would be a crate of flashlights pointing up. The lights attract the plankton, and the plankton attracts more mantas. We were also told not to touch/harass/ride/grab/assault/or bother the mantas in any way. Just sink, kneel, and point your light up! I can do this!

We watched the sun go down, and hung out for a little while as 5 more boats pulled alongside us.When it was dark enough we got BACK into our wetsuits, made sure all the lights were working, and headed towards the back of the boat to jump in. It was a pretty cool sight – even from the boat you could see the lights pointing up from the bottom, and if you watched long enough you could see the shadows of the giant mantas as they swam over the lights: they had arrived!

We got in, went straight to the bottom, and swam for the firepit. It was an amazing thing to behold: there were lights everywhere which made the ocean feel like a giant lit-up pool! On the surface, there were about 20 snorkelers with lights pointed down, but on the ocean floor there was a huge circle of divers, and in the middle of the circle, in a column, was a school of fish. Circling the fish with awe-inspiring and absolutely silent grace were the mantas. These things are 10-15 feet from wing tip to wing tip and can weigh upwards of ONE THOUSAND POUNDS! (The largest known specimen was more than 25 ft across, with a weight of about 5,100 lb). They are like giant, floating VW bugs….but much cooler!

Ok – so we are kneeling on the ocean floor, swaying with the waves, watching this giant, lit-up column of mantas. They were circling the divers and filtering the plankton out of the water with their giant funnel-like mouths. Every so often they would make a perfect vertical loop over and over again above our heads. They were so practiced and coordinated compared to us clumsy divers: they would head straight towards your face, mouths wide open, and at the very last minute before they were about to knock into you face first, they would pull up and glide effortlessly over your head, sometimes skimming the top :)

It was the absolute best night dive, I have ever done. Possibly just the best DIVE ever. The entire time I just sat there, holding onto a rock (trying to get videos – go watch the awesome video RIGHT NOW!) in utter awe. There were about 12 of them all together, and I could have sat there forever. They bumped me, and knocked me over a few times, and I was cold and tired, but it was JUST SO FANTASTICALLY AWESOME!

Eventually it was time to head back to the boat, and our guide took us over the reef to see what else had come out for the night. We saw several eels, slinking and prowling over the reef, hunting for dinner. We also saw a 7 foot long white-tipped reef shark! That was super cool, but the shape of that fish is just so scary. Even though white tips are “docile,” your heart sure starts pumping when you see that silhouette and pointed fin swimming along in the darkness.

Overall , it was an awesome day. I saw dolphins, whales, eels, fishies and GIANT manta rays. Taylor and I agreed, the manta dive alone was worth the cost of any plane ticket to Hawaii and back – another epic adventure in the books!

See the pictures here: http://kristynspictures.shutterfly.com/

And the night pictures are bad - but the videos are AWESOME!

Watch the videos here: http://kristynspictures.shutterfly.com/2978

Hawai'i Day 3 – Kayaking, Coffee, and The Place of Refuge

We woke up bright and early on Monday morning to go rent a kayak and get out on the water. We were told that in Kealakekua Bay (Kee-al-a-kay-coo-ah) dolphins visit routinely in the early morning, so we were out the door at 7am to go find them! We rented a double kayak (not the best decision), somehow strapped it to the top of our convertible, and drove 5 miles to the bay.

After a little struggling to get us AND the kayak into the water without tipping it (the dock was about 5 feet above the water….) we were on our way. Let me just say that neither Taylor nor I are going to be professional paddlers anytime in the near future ;) But after a little getting used to it, we made our way across the Bay. The Bay was surrounded by tall cliffs, and the depth ranged from 10 feet to over 300 feet in spots. The water was so clear and blue that we could almost always see the bottom.

We were aiming for the Captain Cook monument – according to Wikipedia: “Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was an English explorer, navigator and cartographer, ultimately rising to the rank of Captain in the Royal Navy. Cook was the first to map Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific Ocean during which he achieved the first European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands as well as the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand. Cook died in Hawaii in a fight with Hawaiians during his third exploratory voyage in the Pacific in 1779.”

The monument lies on the site where he was killed in a scuffle with the natives. It wasn’t too terribly impressive, but it was a beautiful day, and we had fun exploring the Bay. Sadly, this must have been the only day in ages that the silly dolphins didn’t show up, so after some snorkeling, a snack on the beach, and some wading in the clear, warm water, we packed up the kayak and headed back up the cliffs to see what else there was to explore.

We were told by some friends we had to go to the Coffee Shack for lunch. When we pulled up, it seemed like a pretty unassuming place: a few tables, a short menu, decent prices… but when we were led to our table the appeal was immediately revealed – a spectacular view of the Bay we had just paddled end to end!

We had a yummy lunch of sandwiches and pizza (and an iced Kona coffee!) and even indulged in passion fruit cheesecake. While we were leisurely eating, we made a few friends – bright green geckos kept slipping in through the cracked window and licking the condensation off our cool glasses :) They were so cute! And had the coolest colors!

After lunch we headed to a coffee farm – our guidebook recommended Greenwell Farms. We learned it was the oldest coffee farm on the Island and we really enjoyed our tour. We learned that the trees flower up to 6 times per season, and that getting coffee from the raw coffee cherry is a really long and complicated process. I’ll save you the details, but it’s pretty extensive! We did some tasting, graciously accepted their offer of free fresh avocados, bananas, and oranges from the trees on their property, and made our way to the last stop for the day.

The Place of Refuge (or Pu’uhonua o Honaunau…) was a fortified area on the coast. If you were being persecuted, had committed a crime, or were too old to fight in a war, you could be saved by making it to the Place of Refuge. The only catch was it was surrounded by 15 foot walls on 3 sides and ocean on the 4th side. I guess a lot of people swam in?

Anyway, today it is supposed to resemble an ancient Hawaiian village – there are huts, temples, boats, shrines, fishponds, etc. We did the “self-guided” tour (ie – read the pamphlet as you wander around in ridiculous circles) and even came across a sea turtle! It was cool to see the statues and the old walls: they still looked pretty formidable to me.

We made it back to the condo, watched the sun set over the ocean from the golf course, and headed to dinner. We went to this amazing Indonesian place and I had fantastic satay and Tay had a great shrimp and macadamia nut stir fry. We had to stop for the local favorite for dessert – shave ice. NOT shaved ice – just “shave”….the small was about the size of my head, and we sat by the water and enjoyed the light, fluffy sno-cone-like yummyness.

Oh I forgot something! Interestingly, we ran into a young doctor we met while we were working at the hospital last year. We saw him at Greenwell Farms – and then AGAIN at the restaurant we randomly picked for dinner. What a small world! I still can’t believe we picked the same island, the same coffee farm, and the same restaurant all at the exact same time – what are the odds?

Anyway, it was another great day in Hawai’i. It was cool to get out on the water and go snorkeling (a sneak preview of the awesome water for our dive tomorrow!), and after packing up all our Scuba gear we were off to bed.

See all the pictures here: http://kristynspictures.shutterfly.com/

Hawai'i Day 2 - Volcanoes National Park

Volcanoes!

Well Taylor decided that since I had somehow planned for us to get up before 7am for 4 days of our vacation (diving x2, kayaking, and whale watching) that we were going to relax on the days we didn’t have to get up so darn early. So for our second full day in Hawaii and our first day in the villa/condo, we decided to have a relaxing morning. We got up, had breakfast on the patio, and slowly prepared for our trip to the Volcanoes National Park. We were told to devote a whole day to the park, so we packed up our sunscreen, cameras and windbreakers and fired up the iPhone to see how long it would take to get there. We were shocked to find out that it was 2.5 hours away!

Since it was already 10am I decided that we had enough relaxing for the day and it was time to move it! ;) We jumped into the car and made our way to the park. The drive there was LONG and really, really, winding. We wound up the side of the mountains, through coffee plantation after coffee plantation. About halfway there (as we rounded the Southern tip of the island) it flattened out and we were driving over huge lava fields. Around that time we also stumbled upon the “Southernmost Bakery in the US.” Intrigued, I made us stop for a break and baked goods!

We chose a passion fruit malasada: a hole-less donut that is a specialty of the island, some caramel bread pudding, and a loaf of cinnamon/raisin/macadamia nut bread for later. The malasada was great, and the warm bread pudding covered in hot caramel sauce was just what we needed to keep us going for the rest of the drive! Renewed, we set off in the direction of the world’s 2^nd most active volcano.

We arrived at the park and were surprised to find the road lined with giant trees and Jurassic Park-type ferns that towered over the car. It was breezy and kept sprinkling on-and-off, but we decided to drive the “Chain of Craters” road that led from the main active crater, past a few previous eruption sites, and down to where the lava flows into the ocean. Upon speaking with the park rangers, we were informed that part of our route was closed due to extremely high levels of volcanic sulphur dioxide gas in the air, so we had to take the short cuts.

We explored old craters, hiked over some old lava flows, and eventually made it the 10 miles to the ocean. It was a cool drive and it was fun to see where these huge, black trails of lava had cut through the green forests, making their way to the sea. When standing by the shore and looking inland, you could see the green or brown landscape interrupted by massive black winding fingers of lava that had crushed and burned everything in its path.

Sadly, there was no lava flowing into the ocean while we were there, so after hiking to the beach to see the “famous” lava sea arch, we went to find dinner and wait for nightfall.

Being Californians, we sought out the only vineyard on the island: The Volcano Winery! More of a novelty than a serious vineyard, we had fun tasting their tropical fruit wines, and their dessert wine made entirely out of honey and yeast…that’s it….just honey and yeast. It was not as sweet or thick as we expected, but it was ok for a dessert wine. We grabbed a bottle of the “Volcano Blush” for later and went to find dinner. We found a little Thai place in the town of Volcano and had dinner.

Once it was beginning to get dark, we headed back to the park to go see the main crater. We were told it was the only place in the park where you might be able to see the glow from fresh lava, so we were psyched to investigate. We passed through a field of “steam vents,” places where water seeped into the rocks and was heated by the volcano underground, then returned to the surface as plumes of steam! After a quick volcano "sauna" treatment, we found the main crater, the Kiluea crater. It was spewing huge clouds of volcanic gas, and we hung around while it got dark. We were surprised by the weather though – we thought it was going to be hot and dry, but it was about 50 degrees, super-windy, and raining/misting….I was FREEZING! We hung out inside the museum near the crater until it was really dark, and braved the rain in our shorts and sandals for a few minutes to try to get some pictures of the lava glowing.

It was pretty cool – inside the crater about 200-400 feet underground apparently there is a giant lake of lava, and you can see the glow reflected in the giant plume of gas it emits! I attempted to get pictures with my new, fancy camera…but it was raining, my fingers were numb, and I had almost no idea what I was doing! I managed to get a few shots before I thought hypothermia might be setting in (ok, ok, I’m exaggerating a little, but I was cold!) and we jogged to the car to start the long drive home.

We finally made it back to the villa, took super hot showers, and packed up for the next day (kayaking and snorkeling!). It was really cool to see the awesome power of the huge volcanoes, and we got to at least see the orangey glow of the lava! Good day!

See all the pictures here: http://kristynspictures.shutterfly.com/

Hawai'i Day 1 - From Waipio & Ponolu Valleys to Kona!

Hey Everyone,

I've decided to chronicle our trip through the Big Island of Hawai'i. I won't be able to post this until after we get home (internet is hard to find!), but we are doing some really fun stuff! We were only able to take this trip due to a free plane ticket (got bumped from a flight - score!) and the generosity of the Brights, who let us have their timeshare for a week - thank you so much!

Anyway, our trip started early on Friday morning (March 26, 2010): we woke up bright and early, hopped into my car, and drove all the way to LA to catch our flight. We parked the car, caught the shuttle, stood in a ridiculously long line for security, but were still 3 hours early to the flight (yes, I am neurotic about being early for flights…). Surprisingly, for such a huge airport there was absolutely NOTHING to do or see near our gate, so we just sat and waited.

Of course, the flight was delayed by about 2 hours because the pilot’s altimeter was malfunctioning, but lucky for us they replaced it and we were on our way to Hawai’i! Even from the West Coast the flight takes forever…but we landed safe and sound and rushed to our rental car. We had previously decided to spend as little as possible on the car (ie get a Hyundai!) but the appeal of a convertible was immediately apparent when we landed in the warm, beautiful Kona airport. We let the rental car guy talk us into renting a convertible Mustang, which we affectionately named Sally.

Since we flew in on a Friday, but we weren’t able to check into the Bright’s condo in Kona (on the West side of the island) until Saturday, we thought we would explore the opposite side of the island. This was a great idea when we were supposed to arrive at 4pm. But with the delay we arrived just as the sun was setting, and it was dark by the time we had Sally all packed up with our bags. Undeterred, we set off for the Northeast corner of Hawai’i, aiming for a town named Honoka’a.

The drive wasn’t too bad (even though we couldn’t figure out how to get the top down in the dark….) and after about 2 hours of winding through the mysterious, dark countryside we arrived at our little hotel. The room wasn’t much to look at (I didn’t even take a picture), with just a bed, a sink in the room, and a tiny, ridiculously old and outdated bathroom. We were starving, but were informed by the hotel manager that the town “rolls up the sidewalks at 8pm” and that nothing but the convenience store would be open. We took a gamble and drove back to a town we had passed on the way in called Waimea. We made it there in about 20 minutes, and found a Thai place just in time to place the last takeout order of the night.

It was raining and chilly (well, I’m a wimp so chilly starts at about 70 degrees), so we sat in the car, scarfed down our Thai, made a quick stop at the grocery store to get snacks for our morning hike, and returned to our teeny little room. It was awesome to fall asleep to the sound of the frogs croaking through the gentle rain, which we could hear amazing well thanks to the fact that our windows were just screened in :)

We woke up pretty early on Saturday morning thanks to our different timezone and the bright tropical sun. We enjoyed our free organic breakfast (homemade breads, local fruits, and Kona coffee :) and set out for our first Hawaiian adventure. We were aiming to explore the whole Northern point of the island, and started at Waipio Valley. The guidebook said it was the “greenest green you will ever see” so we were excited to get out and see it!

We arrived at the top of the valley as a rain shower was ending, and stepped out of our little car just in time to see an awesome rainbow hanging over the 2000-foot sheer vertical cliffs overlooking the amazingly blue ocean. It was a quite a site and motivated us to attempt the hike down the 30% grade road/trail.

We made it down the HUGE hill, and explored the valley. There were 2 giant waterfalls on the inland end of the valley, and after snapping way too many pictures, we hiked to the ocean. It was so cool to come out of the dense, jungle-like vegetation and be on a pristine black sand beach between the towering cliffs. We wandered the beach, ate a snack, and decided not to scramble over the slippery rocks at the mouth of the river to get to the other trails in the valley. Instead, we mentally prepared ourselves, and hiked UP the 30% grade 2000 foot hill.

I made Taylor time us on the way down (26 minutes) and I was prepared for an epic hour long struggle up the cliff. Amazingly, somehow we made it up in about 35 or 40 minutes, and we were psyched to know that maybe working out a little was helping! :)

We tore ourselves away from the amazing vistas at the top, and headed back towards town. The hotel manager had tipped us off, and we stopped at a little roadside art gallery for amazing homemade ice cream (I had passion fruit sorbet, and Taylor had strawberry ice cream). Going further north, we crossed over grassy ranch land (there is a huge ranch on the North side of the island – it’s about 225,000 acres!) and up a mini-mountain (3000 feet) to reach the Northern point of the island and a town called Hawi (pronounced Ha-vee). It used to be a sugar town, but once the sugar industry abandoned the island, it was deserted. Now revived, it’s a cute little town, full of tourist shops, art, and food. We stopped for lunch and had a fantastic meal. I had kalua pork and cabbage (so good!) and Taylor had 3 sliders (one pork, one chicken with pineapple, and one hamburger).

Fortified, we set out to find another valley and more beautiful scenery. We found Pololu Valley – another valley which meets the ocean with sheer cliffs and dramatic views. It looked pretty similar to the last hike, so after watching the wild horses wander the flat valley through the locals taro patches for a while, we headed on. Every turn on the winding road back revealed a waterfall or an incredible view!

We took a long drive down the coastal road on our way to Kona and the condo. We passed through grassy scrubland along the water. We quickly learned that the East side of the island is the “wet” side: it gets all the rainfall, and as the clouds pass over the huge mountainy volcanoes, they dump all the rain on the East side, leaving most of the West side dry and barren. We crossed ancient lava flows and about halfway home I almost ran us off the road – I saw a humpback whale from the road! I quickly pulled over and we watched the whales play for a while. After considering safety, I reluctantly let Taylor drive the convertible (we figured out how to get the top down) and I watched whales for the next 40 minutes of our dive. Every few miles there would be another whale in the water – I was so fascinated that we could see them from the road and had a blast staring at them almost all the way into town.

We arrived in Kona and checked into our condo at the Kona Coast Resort. We were asked if we would like to pay for air conditioning…we hesitated, but decided to see if we could survive without the A/C and picked a 3^rd floor golf course view room. It was great! We had a full kitchen, 2 bathrooms, a dining table, and a balcony with a table overlooking the golf course. Just after we put our bags down there was a knock on the door. Mrs. Bright had sent us chocolate-covered macadamia nuts, champagne, and a beautiful flower arrangement! Thank you so much, Mrs. Bright!!!

After unpacking a little, we ran to the market, grabbed dinner, and had pasta on our balcony before heading off to bed. It was a great way to start our first full day on the island!

See all the pictures here: http://kristynspictures.shutterfly.com/