Aloha Big Island (Hawaii)

Now I'm up-to-date.

This morning, we packed up after breakfast and headed out at a decent time. Although our flight to Maui didn't leave until 5 pm this afternoon, we wanted to make some stops along the way. It was a 2-hour drive back to the airport.

Our first stop was the Punalu'u Black Sand Beach. It was just like our sand at home on the lakes, but was really black.

Another turtle basking in the sunshine, apparently while digesting his food.

And again, the ocean's power.

We stopped at a place selling Ka'u coffee and macadamia nuts, and we learned a bit about both in terms of the process of preparing them for consumption. Of course, we purchased some of each.

It's a good job we behaved ourselves! I'm starting to learn Hawaiian.

We then went to South Point which, contrary to most trivia games, is the most southerly point of the United States, not the Keys of Florida. But the wind is howling. Do you like my comb-over?

If I stayed there long enough, I would begin to lean too...like this tree.

And of course, wherever we visit, we seem to keep stumbling upon Hawaii's fauna. I'm glad I didn't step on him. I didn't want to take him along in the car on the bottom of my shoe.

And just another spot to view the ocean.

A little further along the highway, we stopped at a scenic lookout which is a lava field from Mauna Loa's eruption at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries. After all this time, there is some vegetation, but you can see the fields for miles, whether from Mauna Loa, or from another volcano.

We stopped at Ho'okena Beach for lunch. Because it was Saturday, a lot of locals use the beach as it's a good spot for kids to swim. They use the BBQ and have a real feast together. Before breaking out the food, they all pray together. It was great to see.

We finally made it to the Kona airport and discovered we were going to be going on a little island hopper from the commuter terminal. This was our plane, called "The Spirit of Kalaupapa". Yikes! It seats 9 people plus the pilot, and it was full.

The neat thing about the commuter terminal is that we don't have to go through any security, just show our ID. I guess they don't worry about the terrorists blowing up one of these babies.

You can tell this picture was taken AFTER we landed in Maui.

We went to "Da Kitchen" for dinner after landing in Kahului. It was recommended by a couple of different people. Huge portions (not that that's required), and good food at a reasonable price. Then we headed off to find the Safeway supermarket in Lahaina on our way to our condo.

We arrived at the condo in Polynesian Shores, about 5 miles north of Lahaina. Appears to be a nice spot. I can tell you more when I see it all in the daylight. The condo itself is very nice.