The Hawaii Extravaganza

Ahh where to start. Stories?! Pictures?! Its all a big jumble in my head though, so many stories, so much money spent (isn't that what vacations are for) and even though I wrote a vague sort of journal I still wonder if I can get this down.

The best place I suppose, is the beginning, or at least, the first full day in Hawaii...

November 11, 2010

Due to the time change I woke up at 5:30am. Ridiculous. Mike and I got up anyway though since it was light out and paid for a ridiculously expensive buffet at the hotel restaurant. Then of course, WENT EXPLORING! This is what you do on vacation. Go exploring. That is my theory anyway. There was a farmers market and we saw sea turtles and ate shaved ice and did silly things, taking pictures and such. Found this place called 'Boston Basil' that serves Pizza and a Pop/Beer for $5 from 11am-5pm so that ended up being our lunch spot for the rest of vacation since the Pizza was AMAZING!



Honestly, I don't know what else we did other than wander a lot and spend the night sitting at the pool listening to this performer named Lindsey Lindsey who sung Hawaiian tunes mingled with good ol' classics.

November 12, 2010

Our Dives for the morning got canceled which sucked because I was really looking forward to them (though in all honesty it ended up being a blessing in disguise which you will understand when I get to it).

Instead we went Parasailing as I mentioned before!Mike was really silly for the pictures, it was pretty hilarious. We posed a lot. Or rather he did, I clung on for dear life and for the fear of getting sick due to motion sickness. I really detest my stomach. But it was still pretty incredible, the view, the fact that even though I am afraid of heights I still went and did it. I am proud of myself for that!



So after that we wandered a bit more then it was time to go on our night dive. I took a ton of gravol because I know I get sea sick and was already feeling sick but I managed to STILL get sick. The actual boat ride wasn't too bad, it was about a 40 minute trip and the boat was pretty big and I stood at the front and let the sun set around me which was gorgeous. But it was when the boat STOPPED that I started to get sick as it rolled with the waves. By the time the dive masters finished their briefing I was positively green and said, "I AM GETTING MY GEAR ON AND GETTING IN THE WATER NOW!" So I did.

THE ACTUAL DIVE THOUGH! SO AMAZING. There was only one Manta that showed up, a female affectionately named Kiley by the divers around there, and she is about 6 ft across. So small for a female (Big Bertha, who didn't show up but does from time to time, is 16ft across!!!) and she just did loops and circles around us, grazing our masks and flipping and her mouth was HUGE and it was scary and exhilarating and amazing and I don't have pictures because I forgot my camera on the boat since I was so sick. BUT REALLY! If you ever have a chance.... go.... it was so cool. Of course I puked everywhere when I got to surface and had to be like hauled onto the boat and then puked more over the edge and then curled in a little ball and tried to disappear.

We did order a video of our dive though, so hopefully that will show up in a few weeks time.



November 13, 2010

So I was supposed to go on two dives in the morning, but I opted out and Mike went on his own because I was dehydrated and still dizzy from being sick the night before. I was really sad too because he saw dolphins and sea turtles and eagle rays and eels and D:! JEALOUS! LOL Instead I sat by the pool and worked on my tan

Mike picked up our sweet car after his dives and while we were supposed to get an economy car, the lady was too lazy to walk around to the other parking lot, so she gave Mike a 2010 Dodge Charger instead for the same price! It made driving very enjoyable.

Since we had a vehicle, we drove down south to the Place of Refuge that night, which was a city during King Kamehameha's rule that anyone could go to for refuge and they couldn't be touched there. Something akin to the Catholic Church of old.





November 14, 2010

Our day was a traveling day. We drove to Hilo to visit my friend Mika and see the East side of the Island. It was pouring rain over there but we had a blast visiting all the touristy type sights on the way, like all the gorgeous waterfalls and small coves with crashing waves. I took a ton of pictures...





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Basically we scrambled over rocks in the rain, ate amazing food, went to botanical gardens and got lost in a hedge maze, went to a candy shoppe and drank tea to warm up. Then Mike and I left Mika to drive home in the rain.

November 15, 2010

We drove up to Kekaha Kai State Park on this HORRIBLE tiny road over the lava beds and our beefy car made it! There, we played for hours in the waves, watching surfers and getting water logged and scraped up on the rocks. It was seriously so much fun and hilarious. I think the other people there thought we must have the minds of children.



This was pretty much right before I got completely rocked by the waves and tossed about.

After that we went back to the hotel and went snorkling in the bay and saw some weird fish and had fun with our underwater camera until we got cold and moved our play to the hotel pool and hot tub.

November 16, 2010

VOLCANO DAY!



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So we first hiked the rim of the old crater before crossing the crater and coming back up the other side. It was slightly disconserting I am not going to lie, especially the steam vents in the middle from water that trickles down during the rain and gets heated up far under ground.

From there we went to hike the old lava tubes which were pretty incredible. Apparently it is the longest chain of lava tubes in the world. We only explored a tiny, lit piece of it though. After that we went off to go see the active volcano which you could see from the crater we were crossing. We never did get to see any actual lava though, it had wiped out one of the roads to go see it so the only way was by boat of helicopter safely... and that was really expensive. Still, the smoke smelled like sulphur and it was pretty incredible to witness.

After that we went to Punalu'u Black Sand Beach which was phenomenal because it really was just a long stretch of black sand. You couldn't even walk on it on barefeet because it got too hot. But even cooler were the sea turtles that bask themselves on the sand.

We went to Ka Lae (South Point) after that, its the southern most point of the Island, and we were going to go to the Green Sand Beach, but we got there too late and it was a 45minute hike and we wouldn't have been able to see it in the light anyway. Sadly.

November 17, 2010

Last day in Hawaii. We wandered about for a bit and found this jewellery shop that you got to crack your own oyster shell open and were guaranteed at least one pearl. I wasn't going to do it, but then the lady gave me a basket of coupons to pick from and I got a 50% off coupon which made it only $7 so I thought why not?! In the end though it was worth it because the oyster I picked had two black pearls in it, the rarest kind. The lady actually looked really stunned. So I got them set in a pair of silver earrings that are really pretty.

After that it was off to the Tattoo Shop so I could get my tattoo done. I was there several times that week actually, working on the design with the artist and booking the appointment and such. It only took just under two hours and we watched Harry Potter while he did it. It was good, didn't hurt near as badly as my other one did.

Really honestly, after that we just wandered some more and read books on the grass by the beach and it was nice, relaxing. Our flight didn't leave until 9:45pm so we had all day to ourselves.



I am sure I missed a ton of amazing things and this is really random and probably boring but here you go. This was my trip in semi long form with lots of photos. Maybe Mike can fill in the holes. There are of course, more photos on my facebook, along with the names of the places.