Big Island Day 3-4: Water Sports, Water Slides, and Waterfalls

The vog started to clear in Kona on Day 3, making everything brighter and sunnier. This is the Kona Temple, where Steve Young got married. It is our temple right now, while Laie is renovated.We visited Kahalu'u Beach park, which reputedly has excellent snorkeling. It was crowded, but again with excellent visibility. Big Island is not known for it's beaches, but the water is the clearest in the state.

Here is Zac getting ready to "swim like a fishie."

He provides entertainment to the tan/burn crowd on the beach by getting as sandy as possible.

While I thought the snorkeling was nice, all I really wanted to do was check out the break to the right.

Brady was nice enough to give up some of his only "resort time" to let me surf for an hour. He was husband-of-the-year, staying in the car with sleeping Zachary while I got the surf itch of my system. It was an exceptional hour for me! The break was even, and best of all, the rides stretched on for ages. I don't know if I've ever had rides that long and so many of them! There were at least 30 of us out there, but the break went so far across the beach that we all had space. (Brady also discovered just how far our zoom lens can stretch--all these are taken from the road, forever away from the break.)

Brady had a Manta Ray Night Dive (he will post on that), and Zachary and I had hours to ourselves at the resort. He died over the baby slides and pools, although walking under this waterfall terrified him. Hands-down the best part of the resort for Zac was watching the "fishies" again. It was obvious that he recognized they were the same type of fish we had seen in the bay, and he watched them for an hour. They did tricks with the trainer, jumping, clapping, and spinning around in the pools.

That night, we gave into the resort's antics. They leave a dolphin on the pillow, complimentary as long as you're good with another charge on your card. ;) How could we resist, though? Zac was in love with it, and sleeps with it daily ever since.Our days were also highlighted with beautiful coastal runs in the morning. The resort took the abundant volcanic rock found everywhere, crushed it up, and created a crunchy coastal path. We both took turns running it in the early am, and also checked out the King's Trail, which leads to hundreds of ancient petroglyphs.

We left the Hilton, and took the north-bound route to Volcano National Park. We think that was a good choice--it was gorgeous. Up to this point, our only comment about Big Island's appearance was "U-G-LY!" No green, all volcanic rock, and not much in terms of beaches (although with terrific water sports). The north part of the island changed our minds, and there were towns where we would love to live.

Our first stop along the way: a 20 minute walk through bamboo forests to Akaka Falls, a 420' waterfall.

I like this "virgin" bamboo--it's not marked up with initials and graffiti like Kauai's bamboo.

Looking from the parking lot:

Waterfall #2: Rainbow Falls. Below these falls, Kamehameha buried the bones of his father.

Waterfall #3: Wai'ale Falls. We hiked up beyond these falls to pools. Despite the difficult nature of the trail, Zachary insisted on hiking himself. (This was a good thing, because there were parts we could not have done with him in the pack.) Of course, we had a hand on him at all times, but his agility and endurance was so impressive, we could have burst with pride.

Once we reached the rocks and water, we made him get back in the pack. He was not happy about that. We couldn't let him swim, though, because the current was strong.

Final waterfall: Pe'epe'e Falls. People often leave offering to the goddess Pe'e here. This was as close as we could get with Zachary on our backs--reaching it would have required some swimming.

Final little trek of the day: Kaumana Cave. It was created by the Mauna Loa lava flow in 1881. We walked in a little ways, but Zac got nervous about the darkness. Spelunking is one adventure we would do without a child if we come back. The cave is lush and grown-in already, even though it is so young.

Late nap, followed by a trip to IHop, made Zac's day.

On the way to Volcano Village that night, I was trying to explain to Brady what I meant by "charming" in reference to places and things. I told him that the only thing that made the Hilton charming was the boat ride to and from the room. Otherwise, it was more like "modern and glamorous" (I don't mind either, but it just isn't the same thing as charming!).

Well, the place we stayed in Volcano Village was definitely a change from the resort. It had bunk beds, a tiny shower/bath, signs posted everywhere reminding you to turn off the water because "it all comes from roof collections," and how to keep the condensation in the house to a minimum. We checked in at the owner's residence.

Charming.

We liked charming for one night.