HAWAII BIG ISLAND
DECEMBER 2001
| We can't complain about the nice view from our condo in Kona
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South of Kona is Pu'uhonua 0 Honaunau (Place of Refuge) National Park.
This is an excellent place to view an ancient Hawaiian settlement. Good
snorkeling too.
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| Southpoint is the the southern most, and maybe windiest!, location in the
United States
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One of many nice Hawaiian sunsets we feasted our eyes on.
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| We went and checked out Mauna Kea which is a huge dormant volcano on the
north side of the island. It is a 13796 ft peak and is snow covered in the winter
months. We snorkeled in the morning and then drove up to the top to catch the
sunset. Brrrr!
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The summit of the peak has a surreal feel to it. Here we are looking
south at 13677 ft Mauna Loa on the horizon. We saw lots of people skiing and sleding
up here. There were also many locals with pickup trucks loading up a bunch of snow
to take down to town for parties.
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| The sunset from up there was sensational!
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Some of the best telescopes in the world are on top of Mauna Kea.
Here are a few of them. The air up there is among the clearest in the world due to
the vast distance from mainland pollution and the high elevation. We stayed up there
after sundown and saw BILLIONS of stars.
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| We had a jeep for our exploring and did a fair amount of 4WD
excursions. Below was on our foray to a remote beach north of Kona
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Makalawena Beach is among the best of the best in all the islands.
Via jeep we found it almost deserted. The sand was amazingly soft and soothing for
the feet.
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| Here is the rugged north shore of the big island.
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Near Hilo, on the east side of the island, we visited a tropical botanical
garden. There were lots of orchids for Sharon to gawk at.
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| We stayed in a cabin in Volcano Village set in the thick rain forest. It
was a very peaceful place to kick back and relax. Volcano Village is on the rim of Kilauea
Crater which is an active volcano!
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This is out on the coastal section of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park where
a 1995 lava flow crossed the road.
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| Here is the ever evolving southern coast of the big island. You can
see steam rising from the lava entering the sea.
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There is a GREAT place to go watch the lava flow into the ocean. You
have to hike about 30 minutes out to it. We went at night and the views were
awesome. The picture truly doesn't do this spectical any justice. We
also could see the lave flowing way up on the side of the mountain and it gave of a very
eerie glow over the area.
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Click here to check out the snorkeling underwater views
