Sal the bus driver (I kid you not), originally from New Jersey (complete with accent, even after 24 years in Hawaii) picked us up at 7 am and we settled in for a LONG day. He knew an incredible amount about Hawaiian history, geology, flora and the homes of celebrities. We were on a very comfortable, large bus and made about 8 or 9 stops over the next 12 hours.
In case you have never met my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, here is a picture of our partners in crime.
We went counter-clockwise heading south down the coast and stopped first at a coffee farm for sampling (Royal Kona). Next stop was a black sand beach (Punalu'u), which is supposedly a nesting place for hawksbill turtles (lots of info here). Mickey and Joan saw some in the water, but I did not see any. The black sand, formed by the lava obviously, was sparkling and beautiful. I did also find a big pond just behind the beach, which is used for growing freshwater fish and took a pic of a couple of white and brown ducks resting on the shore.
We stopped for lunch at Volcano Village and had our first bite of macademia nut pie for dessert. There was a gift shop next door with some stunning and expensive Hawaiin quilts--the first one inside the door (queen size) was $10K. I took pictures of a couple small ones with turtle motifs.
Went through a lava tube and I got some pictures of a honeycreeper in the trees overhead when we came out (the little red bird).
We saw one of the small craters, Kilauea-Iki. The big crater is apparently closed to tourists at the moment due to gases being expelled. This first picture is looking down about 1,200 feet--some tiny dots down there are people walking around. We also went to Jaggar Museum which had lots of information on the vocanoes, and Hal got to hold some of Pele's hair--fine strands of glass expelled from the volcano.
On up the coast to Hilo where we made stops at the candy company and Rainbow Falls.
All of this was accompanied by a running commentary on history, the monarchy, the plant life, the volcanoes, past tsunamis, current building codes....and bad puns. Do you know what Hawaiian outhouses are called? "Lava-tories!" On the factual side, did you know, for example, that Hawaii is the largest beef producing state in the U.S.? Hawaii in particular has enormous cattle ranches. We drove for miles through the famous Parker Ranch which covers pretty much the northern half of the island. On through Waimea, a stop at the macademia nut company, and then down the coast through Wailoloa and home by about 7:30. Phew!
