Hawaii: Tropical Paradise Or Heaven On Earth?

I have been keeping up a little bit with news while on this trip, but really, not with enough interest to have any sort of serious opinions on the subject, so no news stuff while I'm here, although I will go out on a limb to say that I'm happy that the Eagles had such a good game, and sad that they chose to wear those ass-ugly throwback jerseys such that every time ESPN is going to show footage of their one good game of the year, we have to keep seeing bright yellow and sky blue all over the place.

Anyhow, on Monday, after sleeping in a little, Mikey, Kristie, and I went to an 'orientation meeting' run by the timeshare complex. In true capitalist fashion, it was a way of introducing us to many of the various activities that we can partake of on the island, while also trying to sell us something. In this case, the 'something' was a Diamond Card, which is a discount card that would allow us to buy all sorts of services, from tickets on a cruise ship to a helicopter trip around the island to horseback trips up in the mountains, for a discount from retail.

To 'buy' the Diamond Card, Mike and Kristie were going to have to sit through a presentation by the complex's concierge trying to sell them more timeshares. I was thinking about volunteering to be the guinea pig, since there was really no way that I could be sold a timeshare if I were not at gunpoint, but it turns out that they only offer the presentations to married couples, which I'm pretty sure violates some federal law or other, but this didn't really bother me enough to raise a stink.

Anyhow, after that, we headed up into Kailua-Kona town to try and find some rental snorkel gear for Kristie. We stopped at a Japanese restaurant for lunch; not for sushi so much as the noodles-and-things type of Japanese. It was great, definitely the best Japanese food I've had since leaving Japan. Although, several people I knew in Japan would probably tell me that this was because I had, finally returned to Japan. Lots of Japanese people basically consider Hawaii to be Japanese territory where you happen to spend dollars and have to speak at least a little English to get around.

Anyhow, after this we wandered around the coast a bit, snapping pictures like this one:
Not bad, huh?

After that we headed back to that beach I was at the first day. We did at least another hour of snorkeling, maybe more. I got some pics with one of those underwater disposables, although it remains to be seen whether any of them came out at all. I'll be sure to let you know after getting back to the mainland. One of the cool touches this time is that two sea turtles had come into the bay and were hanging out about 3 feet offshore, feeding on the rock formation there. So I got some cool up-close experiences with them.

On our birthday, we got up early and headed down to the dock for a snorkeling trip. We rode out on the Seaquell, with captains Matt and Doug. First we headed out to the bay where Captain Cook's monument is. Here's the monument itself:

Then we headed out to Kealakekua Bay, which is quite remarkable. 40 feet deep, and you can see it as clearly as if it was in the air instead of underwater. Entering the water, Mikey insisted on doing the 'Jacques Coustou', which was captain Matt's name for doing a backflip off the side to show off. Needless to say, instant karma hit, and his snorkel fell off his mask and to the bottom of the 30-foot bay. Incredibly, Captain Matt dove in and, after a few false starts, recovered it, earning himself a healthy tip at the end of the trip.

After that, we were back to the monument, although with a few stops in various sea-caves along the way. Here's the view from inside one of the caves:
The rest of the day was mellow, as we lased around the apartment and nursed our imminent sunburns. Turns out that swimming around in the water for 4 hours of blazing sun with your back up, that there is basically no way of keeping your back from burning. Ah well - I regret nothing!

That night we went to a great luau, where we learned about the cultures of 4 different Pacific peoples; Samoan, Hawaiian, Maori (New Zealand), and Fijian. We saw some traditional dances. Here's a pic of Bob the resident Samoan opening a coconut, and also a Maori fire-knife dance.

Yesterday was 'lase around and do nothing' day, which was great fun. Today we are off for the rest of the island; coffee plantations and roasters, black sand beaches, waterfalls, and Volcanoes. I'll be sure to have some good pics whenever I log on next, which will probably be not until I get home on Saturday.

Mahalo!