Category: Miscellaneous

Here I sit, listening to the waves crashing into the tidal pools just a few metres from the lobby. Those pools are full of tropical fish of all types and colors (and some things that aren’t fish as well). We got a much better look at this this morning when we dove on the submarine, which was really a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

We’re off to get dinner soon, so I thought I’d post some photos to illustrate some of the various things we’ve done this past week and a day. These are in chronological order:

< Sand graffiti on Waikiki Boardwalk < Waikiki Beach and Diamond Head < Robert vs The Volcano < Sea turtle on black sand beach < This morning's submarine I will not be checking email or using the free internet again, so expect cellphone blogging to continue through the end of the trip. Once I return I will (of course) make some large posts documenting the entire vacation. Aloha!

So now we are at the Outrigger Keahou Beach Resort, on the ‘Big Island’ of Hawai’i. To those confused, Hawai’i is both the name of the state *and* one of the islands that makes up the state. This is the island on which we spend the next 5 days.

The landscape is very different from Waikiki. For starters, the exposed lava rock is visible everywhere here. It really looks like humans just moved in on top of old lava flows, even before a lot of vegetation got the chance to grow. The area immediately around the airport (we landed at the Kona airport, in the northwest) was like a lunar wasteland!

This hotel is quite beautiful, and a lot more relaxed than the 5 star Royal Hawaiian in which we stayed whilst on Oahu. The Outrigger is built right on the beach, and has a deck that overlooks tidal pools. As I am writing this Kristin is looking down into the water watching tropical fish feeding on the rocks. And I mean real brilliant fish, including damsels and butterfly fish and angelfish. It’s quite amazing. Furthermore, these particular pools are the evening homes of a species of sea turtle. From where I am sitting I can see three of them lounging on some rocks.

And, as I mentioned, wild mongooses (mongeese?) roam the carparks 🙂

For the first time since we arrived I checked the blog just now. I rather like the text-message format, and therefore I can’t promise I will be using this method of updating much. However now is the time to send me email if you wish to (use my SUNY address). I’ll be checking it once or twice over the next few days so if you have any questions and/or souvenir requests send them off now!

Our plans for the ‘Big Island’ include (of course) the Volcanoes National Park (to see lava floes), the eastern coast, a glass-bottomed boat along the Kona reef and other things we probably don’t even know existed. So far there have been a lot of great surprises in this trip (like the stunning magic show) so who knows what we have left in store.

Here’s a shot I took of Waikiki beach and the hotels late Sunday night, after we finished watching Casino Royale on the beach:

< Waikiki Beach Normal (text message) updates will resume from now on :)