Kauai

I'm off to Kauai today!! Kauai is suppose to be the garden island with awesome beaches.

Mauna Kea

Tonight I'm going to the top of Mauna Kea to watch the sunset and to use the telescopes. I'm really excited it is the tallest mountain in the world if you count that it starts on the ocean floor and not on land.

Captain Cook & Green Sand Beach

I stopped at the bay that has the Captain Cook monument. You have to rent a Kayak to go to the other side of the bay and I opted to continue to the Green Sand Beach.

I drove out to the green sand beach and hiked the 2 1/2 miles out to it. It started to rain as we got closer and we decided not to hike down to the beach but it was green and a gorgeous out cove.

Manta Rays

manta rays prior during sunset dive:

close up manta ray:

Today I'm going diving with the Manta Rays. I'll do a dive before sunset and then one at night. For the night dive I'll go to the bottom and stay there while the manta rays swim all around. The rays don't bite and are filter animals. I'm really excited and looking forward the the dive.

The Manta Ray dive was amazing. I did a two tank dive; on the dive before sunset we saw several manta rays. When we went out for the night dive it was a amazing. We sat on the floor around the "fire pit" with everyone's lights shining up. The plankton are attracted to the light and manta rays come by to eat the plankton. They were amazing. Twelve different 10 foot manta rays were swimming over our heads and grazing the tops. They would flip and turn above our heads. It was so amazing that I decided the buy the video of them swimming over me to be able to share the experience.

Not my dive but a sample:

Hilo and Helicopter

I woke up early to head on out to Hilo, the wet side of the island. I tsopped at Texmex to get my first malasada for this trip. I saw the Akaka, Umauama and Rainbow Falls (there wasn't a rainbow). Shortly after I got to town it started pouring rain adn Iwas worried about the helicopter ride being cancelled, but it cleared up.

The doors off helicopter ride was awesome!! I was scared at first because I only had a shoulder strap seat belt (like the front seat of a car). I relaxed and loved it, even though I was cold at altitude. We flew out over the ocean where the lava going into the ocean and then over a lava stream. It was so cool to see the lava. We then went over the crater where the steam and gases weere coming out. On the way back we flew by the Hawaiian Falls which are part of the there water supply and you aren't allowed to hike there. I loved the helicopter doors off tour, it was so cool.

I then drove out to the Volcano National Park to see the lava tube and steam vents. I also hiked out on the lava to watch the lava go into the ocean. I was extremely tired the last 20 minutes driving home and I crashed as soon as I got here.

Tomorrow will be a lot more relaxing. Wednesday I'll be doing a night dive with Manta Rays and going to Mauna Kea Summit on Friday. I'll be going to the beaches Tuesday and Thrusday all day!!

Pololu Valley - Black Sand Beach

I drove up to Hawi and hiked down to the Black Sand Beach. I really liked this beach, it was gorgeous. Driving back to Kona I drove through Waimea and I saw the telescopes on top of Mauna Kea Volcano. It was cool to see the top higher than the clouds.

Tomorrow I'll be going to Hilo and doing a doors off helicopter over the Volcano National Park. I'm so excited; it's my first helicopter flight (the price was a lot less because I went to the Vacation Ownership Presentation).

New Island New Adventure

I love Maui and I want to stay longer. There are more things to see and do but I can do them next time I come. My friend Apreal loves Maui and told me about a lot of cool things to do. Between Apreal and the locals I could stay busy for another week on Maui.

I'm going to the Big Island in about 2 hours. I'm excited to see flowing lava!!

My body is really tired from getting up early and going all day but I love it!! I'm having so much fun.

Life isn't a spectator sport. Get into life and participate!!