Postcard from Hawaii - VIII

After 5 short days and nights on the "Big Island" paradise of Hawaii, it was time to head back to Oahu for our last hours in the islands. Hawaiian Airlines took us and our luggage back to Honolulu Airport right on schedule and for whatever reason, this time Avis was a bit friendlier and much faster so we only waited about 20 minutes for our rental car.

We had arrived before check-in time for our hotel, the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort, so we decided to cruise around Honolulu for a couple of hours of site-seeing and lunch somewhere on the beach. While researching Hawaii before our trip, Youngest-daughter and I had started watching a few Hawaii-based TV shows. One of these was "Dog The Bounty Hunter" so of course we had to find the Da Kine Bail Bonds office. We had little trouble locating it, but didn't see anybody inside. The area of town where it is located isn't exactly the greatest, but not bad like a lot of bail bond offices. The parking lot where they are seen in the show leaving for a bounty hunt is a lot smaller than you would think. There's also a small souvenir shop right around the corner which sells overpriced t-shirts, coffee mugs and other show-themed items. We didn't see Dog or Beth or anybody else, but it was still kinda cool seeing the place in person.

The Mama-woman and Youngest-daughter in front of Dog
The Bounty Hunter's bail bonds office

After driving around town for a while and sometimes finding places we remembered seeing on Hawaii Five-O, it was check-in time at the hotel so we gratefully (being the driver of the car, that is how I felt anyway) headed toward Waikiki Beach. Even on a Sunday, Honolulu is very crowded and busy just like any other large tourist city. You'll need a good amount of patience and a laid-back attitude if you plan to drive in it.

Hilton Hawaiian Village on Waikiki Beach

Checking in at the Hilton Hawaiian was a bit of a challenge. It is a very popular destination, for good reason, but that made it a patience-trying affair driving the car along narrow streets lined to the edges with shops and what seemed like thousands of people running around willy-nilly anxious to spend their money. I finally just stopped the car near the check-in entrance, unloaded our luggage onto the hotel property and dropped off the girls to get us checked in while I found a parking place. After about 20 minutes, I was able to get a parking spot and return to the check-in line to find the Mama-woman 2 people from the front of the line. Fortunately, check-in went smooth and we were in our room a few minutes later.

Youngest-daughter in our Hilton Hawaiian Village 
hotel room 

We were not disappointed with our room. It was huge! Very clean, the decor was nice, the beds comfortable and it had 2 nice balconies with good views and cushioned patio furniture. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the room, sitting on the balcony with a cold drink enjoying the surroundings, exploring the hotel property and walking on the famous Waikiki Beach.

View from one of our balconies

The next morning we were scheduled to see what was beneath us under the water in a submarine! The Oahu Atlantis Submarine Tour is rather expensive, about $125 per person, for a 45 minute dive, but who knows when we will be able to return to Hawaii, plus it's a pretty cool thing for the Mama-woman and Youngest-daughter to see and say they did so I broke out the credit card. It was actually pretty darn neat so I think it was worth it.



The Atlantis submarine rising from beneath the waves

The sub waiting for us to climb aboard!

Sunken ship

Tons of fish swimming around that sunken ship

 

Turtle, turtle!

Depth gauge - we went on down another 10 feet beyond this



After a particularly inquisitive fish came up to 
Youngest-daughter's window and stared at her for a while, I
asked her what it looked like.

Back on the ocean's surface, we cruised by Diamond Head
on the way back to the beach

Waikiki Beach

The rest of the day was again spent relaxing, shopping the many, many interesting stores and hanging around the pool and Waikiki Beach. It was to be our last full day and night in Paradise as the big iron bird taking us back home would be leaving the next afternoon. That night from our balcony, we watched a great luau show below us. We had perhaps the best seats around to watch the announcer telling jokes, performing tricks, embarrassing some of the paying tourists, Hawaiian musicians playing "authentic traditional" Hawaiian tunes, hunky Hawaiian guys swallowing fire and beautiful Hawaiian maidens doing the hula. When the show was over at midnight, we went to bed and let the sound of the waves lull us to sleep one more time.

 

Postcard from Hawaii - VII

One more day in the paradise of Hawaii on "The Big Island." Time to drive along the coast, to hike around Rainbow and Akaka Falls and time to see what's above us via the Mauna Kea Observatory.

Back to Oahu tomorrow for a couple of days in Paradise on Waikiki Beach!

Rainbow Falls outside of Hilo in the Wailuku River State Park.
On bright, sunny days, there is usually a large rainbow, but
this day was overcast so no rainbow. Known in Hawaiian as
Waianuenue (rainbow water), the falls are 80 feet tall and
flows over a natural lava cave, the mythological home to
Hina, an ancient Hawaiian goddess.

442-foot high Akaka Falls

In Akaka Falls State Park along the Hamakua Coast is a
0.5 mile walking trail through a rain-forest filled with
wild orchids and groves of bamboo and ferns.

Rain-forest

Waimanu Valley. Known as the Valley of Kings because it was
once home to many of the Hawaiian kings, it has both historical
and cultural importance to Hawaiians. Before the arrival of
Captain Cook in 1778, about 4,000 people lived in the valley.
In 1946, the most devastating tsunami in Hawaii's history
struck the valley covering it with water 4-feet deep. Many
people were killed and nearly all the survivors left afterwards.
Today only 50 people live in the secluded valley which has no
roads in or out and no modern conveniences such as electricity. 

One more stop on our itinerary was the astronomical
observatory on Mauna Kea. Very interesting and well worth
the trip up the mountain. What we didn't count on though was
while it was in the 80's along the coast, at the top of the mountain,
it was in the mid-30's with a strong, very cold wind blowing.
We bought jackets at the gift shop and still almost froze!

Looking at the moon through one of the telescopes at the
observatory on Mauna Kea.

Our last stop for the night was for a very late supper at Ken's
House of Pancakes, a legend in Hilo and one of the very few
24-hour dining establishments. It is owned by the family of
"The Rock," Dwayne Johnson, a professional wrestler and now
a budding movie star.

Postcard from Hawaii - VI

We chose Blue Hawaii for our helicopter tour. Good choice!

Up, up and away! It's a little expensive, but when you go to Hawaii, one of your splurge items should be a helicopter tour. You'll get a bird's eye view of some of the most beautiful scenery in the world! On the island of Hawaii, you'll see volcanoes, flowing lava, gorgeous coastline, rain forest, and waterfalls there is no other way to see. Plan to take lots of pictures and plenty of video because it will be a memory for a lifetime. A word of caution - even if you think you don't need it, take your motion sickness medicine!

Almost ready for takeoff

Youngest-daughter a little nervous as this was her first
helicopter flight, but ready to go!

Coastline of cooled lava. You can see under the water where
the lava flowed into the ocean and over time is adding
land making the island bigger.

Greenery is coming back in an old lava field.

Recent lava field which reached the ocean. You can see how
thick the lava was!

Active lava flow. The lava stream looks small from this height,
but it was actually rather large.

Double waterfall. This is on private property and the only way
to see it is from the air.

I want to live here!

Back safe on the ground. It was a rush!

Postcard from Hawaii - V

Honu'apo Bay along the southeastern coast. There are Fish Ponds
here that have been fished by Hawaiians for hundreds of years.

Day 7 in Paradise and Day 3 on "The Big Island" is the 4th of July, time for America to celebrate freedom and for us to take a leisurely road trip along the coast on Highway 11 to the most southern tip of the U.S.

Youngest-daughter overlooking Honu'apo Bay.

The Mamma-woman and Youngest-daughter at the Punalu'u
Bakery in the town of Na'alehu. This is the most southern
bake shop in the United States. Stopped here for lunch and
snacks for later. Yummy!



When we came out of the bakery, a 4th of July Parade had
started so we took our sandwiches and ate lunch sitting
on the street curb while enjoying the festivities. 

Small-town USA was on display and a thoroughly good
time was had by one and all!

Along the rugged southern coast

Waiahukini Park near the southern tip of Hawaii. Note the
cars on top to judge how high these cliffs are. That's
a long ways from the top to the water!



Waiahukini Park. Older teenagers were jumping from the cliffs
past the rocks and into the water far, far below. This girl wanted
to get even higher so she jumped off a wooden pulley casing.
We saw her back up and doing it again later. Hope she lives
to tell her grand-kids about this during her old age!

In 1866, Mark Twain spent 3 months living on this island. He
visited Waiohinu, a small town not much more than a sugar
cane plantation, and planted a Monkey Pod tree at this site.
The original tree died a number of years ago, but a seedling
from that tree was planted on the same spot.

On the way back "home," we stopped at the famous Punalu'u
Black Sand Beach Park, one of the most famous black
sand beaches in Hawaii.

The picturesque Punalu'u Beach

We were lucky to be in the right place at the right time and
were privileged to see 2 nesting Honu (Hawaiian Green Sea
turtles). Adult males live their lives in the ocean, but
females, like these, come back to the same beach where they
were born to lay their eggs every other year. Babies will eat
jelly fish and other small invertebrates, but the adults
are vegetarians. Weighing around 400 - 500 pounds, they
are 2nd in size only to Leatherback turtles.  

Time to wrap up another fantastic day in Paradise.
Aloha y'all!