Hawaii - March 2010

We were in the midst of lots of 40th birthdays, which seemed to be a good excuse for trips with friends.  This trip was to celebrate our friends Keith and JoAnna's 40th birthdays (which were only a few months apart) - they had settled on a week trip to Hawaii - Big Island.  The trip included Keith/Shawna, John/JoAnna, Keith/Kate, Phil/Joyce, Julie, Steve, and Keith's friend Heidi. 

Accommodation:

Rental House

We decided to share one huge house together.  John found a house in Kona that slept all of us - along with a huge kitchen/dining room and a massive recreation room (pool table, ping pong table).  It was incredibly convenient and clean, and enabled a lot of group camaraderie.  There was only one drawback to this place: RATS!!!  So, one day we had been shopping in the local market and we found some delicious looking tomatoes and avocados.  We bought them to make some guacamole and had put them out in a wooden bowl that presented well.  After a night out in Kona, we came home, walked upstairs, and saw the biggest, nastiest, ugliest rat you could imagine going to town on the fruit.  The rat took one look at us, back at the fruit, back at us, and then scurried over the counter and into a hole in the wall.  The next couple of days saw us putting out all types of traps, eventually catching a momma and daddy rat (no more details here).  The good news is that the owners compensated us with one night free accommodation; the bad news is that we decided not to eat any more dinners at the house - it was restaurants for us the rest of the trip. 

Activities:
Snorkeling - We headed out on the Fair Wind II for a half-day snorkeling trip in the Marine Sanctuary of Kealakekua Bay. This is the place where the Captain Cook Monument stands, where the native Hawaiians finally tired of him and stabbed him to death.  Despite the morbid history of the place, the snorkeling was great with lots of bright colorful fish.

Gang at Luau

Luau - You have not really been to Hawaii unless you have been to a luau, and you have not been to a luau unless you have been to a super-cheesy one.  Well, I don't know if this one was really cheesy or we just made it that way.  It was located on the large lawn at the Sheraton hotel - the theme was "Firenesia", teaching the history of the islands.  They served a large buffet for dinner with very tasty pork among other traditional Hawaiian dishes.  Before the main entertainment started, there were dancers teaching how to hula dance and with peer pressure, we got the two people celebrating their birthday (Keith A and JoAnna, along with John for moral support) on stage to perform their best!  Once the main entertainment started, we decided to make it a drinking game - every time an actor said Firenesia, we had to take a drink of our mai-tai.  Well, it seemed that Firenesia was said every other sentence, so this became a bit of a fun night for us (but not so fun for the people sitting nearby).

Kilauea Iki Hike

Volcano National Park - The park is on the Hilo side of the island, so we made a whole day of it.  Leaving the house early, we piled into 3 of the cars and headed around the south of the island about three hours to get to Volcano National Park.  While in the park, we drove around and saw one of the active craters (from a distance) with steam pouring out.  We also did a few hikes: Pu'u Loa Petroglyphys, Kilauea Iki (a 4-mile hike across a frozen lava lake that is still steaming)  and Thurston Lava Tube (where we walked through a lush rain forest and a 550-year old lava tube).  As we left the park, we drove back to Kona via the north side of the island, through Hilo.

Gang in Volcano National Park

Beaches - We spent a couple of days just sitting on the beach doing nothing. One of the days was spent at Waikoloa Beach while Keith stayed at the house and worked. The other day we went to Anaehoomalu Beach where we saw large turtles suntanning on the sand.

Swimming with Manta Rays - This was one of the highlights of the trip for Keith.  Right off the coast from the Marriott, it was a quick boat ride from the shore over to where the manta rays gathered.  After donning our wet suits, the girls were handed noodles to prop up their feet while in the water - and the boys were handed power-floats (yup, the same thing, just manlier).  We all jumped in the water, grabbed on to a boom, and put the noodles/power floats under our ankles.  A few minutes later, like on queue, a massive manta ray showed up and started doing loop-the-loops right under us - coming only inches from our masks.  It was just magical!  We saw a total of three rays during our ~45 minutes in the water.


Cultural Park - Keith, Kate, Keith, and Shawna decided to get a little bit of culture while on the island so we headed over to to Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historic Park, near our house.  It's a really nice park right on the water with interesting wooden statues and buildings on display.

Pu'uhonua o Honaunau Park

Helicopter Ride - Phil and Joyce did this at the beginning of the trip and absolutely raved about it.  So, John/JoAnna and Keith/Shawna signed up for the "Big Island Spectacular" at the end of the trip.  The ride took us from Kona, directly over the island via Kilauea to Volcano National Park to see some lava and the town destroyed by lava in the 80s.  We then headed north up the coast where we saw whales, cliffs, and the gorgeous rain forests on the Hamakua Coast at the north of the island before landing back to Hilo an hour after taking off.  It was spectacular and well worth the money!

View of Crater from Helicopter

Restaurants:
Jameson's by the Sea - A nice restaurant with great views of the ocean.

Island Lava Java - Great cafe, lunch spot with outdoor seating and views of the water.  Fish tacos were great and awesome sticky buns!

Thai Rin Restaurant - Small, casual, Thai restaurant located in one of the plazas right off the main street.

Pancho and Lefty's - Mexican restaurant overlooking the main street.  Food was OK.

Lulu's - Casual, surf-themed restaurant, serving burgers, steaks, etc.

Gang at Dinner

For more photos of this trip: