Hawaii - Holoholo Hualalai PinzTrek Adventure and Petroglyphs
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This morning Maria and I took the half day Holoholo Hualalai PinzTrek tour, again from Hawaii Forest & Trail, and today’s guide is Danny and our transportation is a 6-wheeled off-road vehicle that looks like it was made for carrying military troops. We first stopped at the Mountain Thunder Coffee Plantation for breakfast and watched a video (#11) of the show Dirtiest Jobs that was shot here in 2005. Next we were off to private property to explore a volcanic area. We climbed Hualalai Volcano into the mist and fog and enjoyed views of deep craters and explored a lava tube (well, the others explored it). We could see the city down below, but it was like being in a world apart up here. After lunch, we went over to the Puako Petroglyph Archaeological District and walked the short Malama Interpretive trail and looked at the hundreds of petroglyphs that are preserved there. Afterwards, a little beach time ended our last evening in Hawaii.
Hawaii - Kilauea Volcano Adventure
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Today’s adventure took Maria and I back to the volcanoes. We took the Kilauea Volcano Adventure tour from Hawaii Forest & Trail. Our guide Travis took a small group of us on a more in-depth tour of Volcanoes National Park. We started east across the Saddle Road, which the rental car companies won’t let you drive on, and we stopped for breakfast at the top of the road. This road goes between two volcanoes and we enjoyed the backside of them. We headed to the park and stopped and looked at various calderas, steam vents, went down the Chain of Craters Road to the sea, and stopped and looked at tree trunk stumps that had been molded by the lava and searched for Pele’s hair and tears (types of lava stones). This time I went down Thurston’s Lava Tube since now I was told that even though the path is steep going down, you don’t come back out that way, you loop around and it’s a gradual return. Some of the others in the group went off the main path and down an unlit shaft of the volcano tube, not feeling prepared to do that in the brace, I waved goodbye to them as they were soon engulfed in the pitch blackness. Travis told wonderful stories of the island legends all day, making it a very enjoyable trip.
Hawaii - Submarine Adventure and Luau
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Today’s adventure plans left our morning free, so we slept late and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, played with the house cat, Rambo, and then posed for some pictures in the picturesque front area of the Bayview Inn B&B. For the afternoon, we headed over to the Kona to take a submarine tour. At the Kailua pier, we found the Atlantis Adventure office, got our boarding passes and then Maria and I took a boat out to see a bit and then we transferred to the submarine. Down we went, to a depth of about 100 feet, and without the sunlight, everything becomes blue that deep. This was my first time ever being in a sub and it is really a neat experience. We saw two shipwrecks, the Predator and the Naked Lady; both of which are becoming reefs for the fish. We saw numerous big and small fish, a huge eel that poked out of a pipe at us and I saw the tail end of a shark as it hid under something. The guide was surprised that we saw a shark, but he confirmed it was one. Later, we headed over to the Royal Kona Resort for our luau and show. The resort is beautiful and the mai-tai’s were flowing, so that by sunset when they started the show, we were all feeling good. To start the feast, they unburied the whole pig that had been roasting underground. The hunky male dancers and beautiful female dancers entertained us all night with a variety of Hawaiian dance styles. The highlight of the evening was a spectacular fire dance and then the finale of having audience members dance on stage. A fun evening.
