Day 14 - Surfing and East Oahu Tour

Today is my last day in Hawaii. I can't wait to get home and see my Hubby and my fluffy babies!!!

I started my morning with Surf Lessons. I did not do as well as last year. I kelp going in at an angel and hitting the wave at a strange angel. My instructor looked like a young, Hawaiian Christian Slater. This picture does not show it well. 

Next on the list was a tour of the East side of Oahu. We visited some of the places the Hawaiian Fields Studies class did, but it was still a nice tour. 

  

The Hawaiian Monk Seal that we saw when we were near Hanauma Bay was there again. I guess he really likes it there.

Here is another picture of the Bay.

 We stopped briefly at a blow hole. I'm not sure why I'm not smiling more. Could be exhaustion!

After the tour, I headed back to the Hotel and then to dinner. I went back to the Round Table Pizza for dinner.  I headed to the airport about 7:45 PM and then waited to head back home. 

The trip was great and I cannot wait to go back next year (fingers crossed!)

Day 13 - Back to Oahu and Waikiki Beach

Today we pack the bags and the kids up and headed back to Oahu. It is definitely a bittersweet feeling. I'm stating one day more. I was hoping more, but the cost of the plane ticket jumped too high. 

Here is a picture of Kate, Ashlyn, and me. We were triplets today with our Limahuli shirts on. 

 

So I made it to my room at the Waikiki Resort Hotel.  The room is nice. 

I wandered around Waikiki for a while and finally settled on eating at Jimmy Buffets for dinner and Margarita!! I had Baja fish tacos. They were yummy. 

 

I found a souvenirs for back home. I really hope that I don't go over the weight limit on my suitcase. 

One place I shopped was in the new Hawaii 5-0 show. When Danny "Danno" took his daughter shopping, they filmed in this store. 

Day 12 - Waimea Canyon and the Alakai Swamp Hike

We started off today with a couple of roadside geology lessons/botany lessons. 

Dempsey had a wardrobe malfunction and looked like this for most of the day today. Quite entertaining!!

Next stop was the Iliau Nature Loop. The pictures really don't do the view justice. Just beautiful!!

On up the twisty road we stopped at another lookout over the canyon. Again, the pictures just don't do these views justice. 

A view from the lunch table and probably the most beautiful view in Hawaii!!  

Then for the final stop of the day. "The Hike". This "hike" is not your normal hike where you have a nice walk with a few challenging places. No. This hike takes you up and down some of the trickiest areas that I have been in.  Last year the hike was bone dry (and so was the swamp). This year, it was a tad cooler and it misted a bit on us. There were some very sloshy spots and a couple of close calls. But, we made it. My feet are very angry with me. 

I kept looking over and seeing this view. Swamp. Oh. It was OK. This view, breathless!!

Pizza party tonight with the whole crew. Tomorrow they are off to the airport and them to Texas. I'll stay one more night in Oahu. I cannot believe it has been 2 weeks!!

Day 11 - Spouting Horn and the Salt Ponds

Today we started out at the Spouting Horn. It is a beautiful view!!  The larger tube to the left was dynamited so that the spew would not be so big. Now it gurgles.  

We briefly stopped at the Botanical gardens and looked at the pretty flowers. Here are Plumera. These are very fragrant flowers that are often used in leis. 

 

The trash conglomerate is really a neat place. A naturally (?) cemented place with trash. The water is just Beautiful!!

Critter collection at the Salt ponds. My favorite moment was when I saw a Moorish Idol. That is one of my favorite fish and I have ALWAYS wanted to see one on the wild. What is a Moorish idol?? Seen Finding Nemo? It is fish Gill with a scar.  It was awesome!!

We got back and I decided it was ice team time!!! Yummy!!!

Day 10 - Taro Overlook and Limahuli National Tropical Botanical Gardens

Wow. What a day!  We started early and headed to the Limahuli Gardens. We stopped at the overlook for the Taro fields. Here I am. Check out those bags under the eyes. They are getting deeper and deeper. 

Next, we went to the Limahuli Gardens. We started the day by helping them collect rocks by the beach. They are building a traditional Hawaiian house  with no nails (no metals traditionally in Hawaii) and a rock floor. We collected lava rocks at the beach and a truck moved them up to the house. 

The view was breathtaking and the work was challenging but fun!

We took a break and then headed up to the house to distribute the rocks. We formed a chain and then moved the buckets of rocks down. We all took at least one bucket in and placed the rocks on the floor. 

Hopefully the house will be finished by next year so I can see it completed. 

After lunch...a view from lunch...

...we started our tour with the director of the gardens, Dr. Winters. We talked about ethnobotany and the Canoe plants. 

After the tour we went back to the Hawaiian House and all sat around the edge of it. Uncle Moku (born and raised in Kauai) gave us a heartfelt speech about life, purpose, and living. It was very moving. 

I'm absolutely exhausted, but a fantastic day!!

Day 9 - Dry Cave and Anini Reef

We started the day at a dry cave. Interesting. Then we stopped at a random spot by the side of the road. Real road side geology. We saw a dike - hard rock sticking out. 

Then Snorkeling on Anini Reef. So fun!!!  We saw lots of critters. My favorite was 2 little eels next to each other. They were cute!!

Lunch at Anini Reef. 

Last stop. Kilauea Lighthouse. The birds were all over. It was great!!  Red tail Tropic Birds and Red-footed Boobies. 

Day 8 - Activity Day!!

Today was a day or R and R. Some went Kayaking and some went to the beach. Evening was the Luau for some. 

Me. Beach. Nap. Laundry. 

 

Day 7 - Waterfalls and Kauai

Today started out by us taking the luggage back to the airport and preparing to leave the Big Island of Hawaii. I do love the Big Island, but I LOVE Kauai!

Waterfall #1. Akaka Falls. 

Waterfall # 2. Rainbow Falls. 

Day 6 - Volcano's National Park

Visitors center scavenger hunt to start off the rainy day! 

Thurston Kava Tube was next on the agenda. There is a beautiful rainforest down to the Lava Tube. The glow in the tube is the light they added. 

Next we headed to where the Lava Trees are found. The lava was from 1974, I believe. 

Then it was back up to the Jagger Museum to see the crater during the day.  We went back to the hotel for a quick change = layers and layers for the trip up the mountain to see the stars on Mauna Kea. Once again it was cloudy, so, no stars really seen. I did see Venus and what I am told was the Big Dipper.  Even though there were no stats, the sunset was beautiful!!  

Here is the stop before we made the steep climb up the mountain. Why all of the cameras you ask? That us because some brave students took the fast way down the hill. Don't worry. No one was hurt (well, one sprained anckel). 

A view from about 9,000 feet. 

Back to Uncle Billy's to pack. Next island...Kauai!!

Day 5 - Keauhou Bird Conservation Center and Lava

This was the day I had been waiting for. BIRDS!! Last year we only were up at theConservation  center for a couple of hours, this time, we were up there pretty much all day. We worked on restoration of a part of land that used up be farm land.  We planted over 100 baby plants. It was an awesome experience. 

After lunch we went and heard about the birds of Hawaii. We got to see a couple of the birds that they were researching. It was wonderful!!!

We came down the mountain and went and saw a large Lava pit = large hole in the ground. We also saw a fault line. For geology, it is impressive!!

Dinner. Cold. Someone had started a fire in the pit. It was nice and cozy. 

Last stop...Jagger Museum. Here you can see the Lava glow. It was rainy, so it was a little hazy, but impressive none-the-less. 

Day 4 - To the Big Island and Volcano's National Park

Compared to last year, we "slept in" for the flight to the Big Island.  The bus left at about 5 AM.  Ugh. On to the Big Island and a lot of geology...it is after all still an active volcano!  A stop at Safeway and up we went.  A park ranger - Ranger Dean- gave us a fantastic tour.  He talked all about plants and the geology and he history of the island. He sang/chanted for us and played the nose flute. He talked of the war between Pele and the demigod that was trying to get her attention.  It was really quite spectacular. He told us of the story at the crater sight.  

Sulfur Banks. Well. It smells like sulfur!

The fumes coming up is the sulfur. There are also sulfur crystals. 

Next we went to the Volcano House. I don't believe that we went there last year. It was a very pretty view but we had to walk through the restaurant to get to them. Kind of awkward. But. It seems to happen a lot because everyone seemed just fine with it. 

Kubicek orientation to the island was nice. We looked at a big map of Hawaii and how the islands have changed over time. 

The Orchid Garden was new to me thus year. It was a big store with A LOT of orchids. It was fantastic! There was one orchid they had there that was a $20,000  orchid. Yikes!  This one is not it. 

Day 3 - Bishop Museum and Hanauma Bay

Plus a couple of random stops. It would not be a Hawaiian Field Studies day without it!! Bishop Museum was fun. We looked at Astronomy and Volcanoes.  The professors got a little crazy!

Then on to Hanamua Bay. On the way we made 2 stops to check out the geology. The water color is just beautiful!!! We did get to see a VERY endangered Hawaiian Monk Seal here.  It was on the distance.  There was a man that was trying to "help" it back into the water.  To me it seamed like the seal was just taking a break.  I guess I'll never know.  He finally got it back into the water.  

Then to Hanamua Bay for snorkeling. The  water was a little cloudier than last year, but it was still beautiful!  So many different fish. I stalked a Parrot Fish a couple of times. 

Back for a quick shower and then dinner with the staff at Shore Birds. Here we pick our meet and then go to a big grill and cook it. It was yummy!

Next stop, the Big Island!