Day 4 - Pu'uhonua o Hōnaunau and Greenwell Farms Kona Coffee

Pu'uhonua o Hōnaunau is a beautiful and historic area of Kona.  The Royals had land here and there was also a place of refuge. If you got yourself in trouble with the law, and you could outrun the law enforcers, you could go to this place of refuge, get pardoned, and not loose your life or limb(s). Here we are looking at a pond that has fish in it. The circles are where the fish lay their eggs and protest them.

  

We traveled a way down from this spot and saw where the royals were buried and the Captain Cook monument.

  

The Greenwell farms was the next stop. If you know me, you know that I am not a coffee person. But, it was a pretty and neat tour. We learned how coffee was made, got to see some coffee plants, the students tried some coffee.  I took pictures.

Apparently the red ones are the ripe ones.

   

 

I saw this dish on Yelp and just had to have it.  It was as yummy as it looked on line.  Pasta, vegetables, and sausage.  So good! After a super yummy dinner at Mi's Bistro, we came back for night activities.

 

Day 3 - To the Big Island of Hawaii, waterfalls, and Kona

Pele is not a happy woman. The south-east part of the island is having active lava flow right now.  So, what does this mean.  We normally spend quite a bit of time in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, but not this year.  We landed in Hilo, went to Akaka Falls, and then headed over to the Kona side of the island.

It was eerie how empty the airplane was. It makes me wonder how many people changed their plans with the Big Island fissure eruptions. Just FYI...we had NO problems and a wonderful time in Kona and Hilo!

Akaka Falls and some botany. 

 

There was a long drive over to Kona. We stopped along the way to look at kipuka.

We made it to Kona, got checked into Uncle Billy's Kona, and did some night academic activities.

 

Dinner at the Island Ono Loa Grill. Apparently, the 8th best Cheeseburger in the USA according to Yelp.  Pretty good hamburger.

 

Day 2 - Coconut Island, Hanauma Bay, and Sunset Workshop

We started off the day at the Nu'uanu Pali Overlook.  It was not as windy as it usually is. Still a beautiful view.

 

Then we headed to Coconut Island for a 3 hour tour...LOL! Yes.  It is Gilligan's Island. We got to search through invasive algae to find critters. They put the critters back into the water and got rid of the algae. We also got to see some of the research projects they were working on.

 

Hanauma Bay was next. I've never seen so many fish there.  It was nice this time.  Fairy clear and water too. In the past, a lot of sand had been kicked up on it was hard to see the fish.  Now, the snorkelers there were not wonderful to snorkel with. I got kicked, knocked into the reef, and saw many a tourist standing on the reef...even though they watched a video telling them NOT to.  Ugh.  please don't stand on the reef. It is a living, breathing organism...NOT a rock.

 

We ended the day with the students doing a Sunset Workshop on Waikiki beach. It is a lot of fun.

 

The Shore Bird is not longer open, so we went to Cheeseburger instead for dinner.

 

Getting to Hawaii and Oahu Day 1 - Summer Hawaiian Field Studies 2018

In the past, I've taken the 6 AM flight to Honolulu so that I can be on the beach by noon.  This year, I took the 9 AM nonstop flight to Honolulu and was on the beach by 2...and I did not have to get up at 3 AM.
 . 

I ended up sitting right in front of Kubi.

The water is always so pretty!

Made it to the beach for about an hour. The beach was calling, so I sprinted.

After orientation on the beach for the students, the staff stopped at Aloha Burrito...so good.  Matthew forgot that Kate was not with us on the trip this year and got her a chair.  He was sad.

In a week....

In one week from today, I'll be back in Hawaii with the Summer North Lake Hawaiian Field Studies class of 2018! I'm excited to get to know this group of students. It will be a little different this year with the active fissures on the Big Island of Hawaii and the flooding that happened in mid-April on the North Shore of Kauai. We are hoping to SAFELY see some volcanic activity on the Big Island and do some service activities for the North Shore communities in conjunction with Limahuli gardens. Stay tuned and follow me on Twitter: @Laronna_D (ldoggett for Instagram) and @NLCHFS (Instagram is the same).

Day 18 - Limahuli Gardens and Heading Home

Last day in Kauai. This is always a sad day.  I got a picture of the sunrise on my balcony. Packed up, loaded the car, and headed for Limahuli Gardens. 

 

 

  

 

   

We headed in the direction of the Airport.  Lunch at Duke's Barefoot Bar and then to the plane. 

A sad Aloha from Kauai.