| Day 8: Hawai'i Tropical Botanical Gardens |
 After arriving on the Big Island in Hilo we hunted for a place to eat lunch. We found a great little Mexican cafe. |
 A detail of the window hardware at the Mexican cafe (left). Later on the drive to the gardens we stopped for Alene's first taste of authentic Hawaiian shave ice (right). Yum! |
 The Hawaiian Tropical Botanical Gardens, just north of Hilo, was incredible! A true tropical paradise! In addition to the flora and gorgeous view, there were tons of beautiful birds. |
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 The ferns reminded us of the forests back home in the Pacific NW. |
 Onomea Bay on the right. At one time this valley was barren, and Onomea bay was a sending off port for the local sugar plantations. 
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 The flowers looked good enough to eat! And big enough to be lunch! |
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 They have an orchid garden with many many varieties of orchids, all thriving. |
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 A cannon ball tree (left) and huge ferns (right). The 'cannonballs' are the size of cantaloupe. |
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 After leaving the botanical garden we drove south past Hilo and then south-west to our condo. We stopped along the road to take this picture of the sunset above Mauna Loa. |
| Day 9: Scuba Diving Off Kailua-Kona |
 On Monday we started the first of 3 days of Advanced Open Water dive classes! Today was a refresher Photography dive and Underwater Naturalist. We saw an amazing variety of fish, including a school of barracuda and a fire dartfish (rare little fish). We saw Black Sea Cucumbers (and a Sea Cucumber Crab), and a rare Frogfish. Thank you, Lori & Steve and Joyce (Mom)!! Because we were technically learning new stuff on these dives, the photos are limited. See Day 10 for lots more dive photos! |
 A Frogfish. A face only a mother could love. |
 The dark blob is the head of a Day Octopus! His eye is at the top left of his head. The water is so clear the light penetrates very deep, but all the color is washed out. What color is he really? Hard to say as they can change color and even skin texture at will! |
 One of many moray eels that we saw. They don't particularly care for divers and will defend their territory if you put your hand too close. |
 The cute little fire dartfish. Alene saw a pair. (Photo by other.) |
 Parrotfish have tough beaks and they eat corral. What they don't digest they expel as sand, making beaches for us to enjoy. (Photo by other) |
 After our dives we were starved. A "cheeseburger in paradise" was just the thing. We ate here overlooking the shore and watched the sun head towards the horizon. |
 After dinner we crossed the street to the beach and watched the crabs scuttling in the remaining daylight . . . |
 . . . and watched a local fishing off the rocks as the sun went down. |
| Day 10: Night Dive with the Manta Rays |
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Day two of our dive
classes. Today is Boat and Night diving. Thank you, Melinda & Brian and Lee & Sue!! We dove a single site in daylight and then again after dark.  Typical rocks, coral, and a few of the multitudes of fish. The orange guys are Soldierfish. |
 A Trumpetfish hunting for a small fish to suck into it's mouth. |
 The Crown-of-Thorns Star. The spines are venomous - no touchy. These feed on live coral. |
 Garden eels. They are quite skitterish, but kinda cute. (Photo by other) |
 Can you spot the fish in this picture? (Okay, we don't know what kind it is.) |
 These are a type of surgeonfish. |
 A flounder tries to blend in with the sandy bottom. |
 The eel on the left is a Whitemouth Moray. The inside of his mouth is bright white. The (Undulated?) Moray on the right is not happy to see us. |
 A Peacock Grouper and a Red Pencil Urchin. |
 As dusk fell and just before we left the water at the end of our fist dive we spotted our first Mantas. Two juveniles - incredible! Even the young ones are so big! |
 After a surface interval on the boat we descend (35'-40' down) and sit on the bottom letting the mantas swim and loop over our heads. The largest had a wingspan of over 10 feet. |
 There were 9 mantas the night we dove. Plenty to see - they are so large and swift and graceful; it seemed like they were all around us! This was definitely one of the top highlights of our trip!!
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| Day 11: Navigation and Deep Dive |
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Our last day of
diving classes, we did underwater navigation exercises and dove to 94' (previously we were certified to dive to 60'). Because these were more intense dives involving a fair degree of skills testing, we didn't take many pictures, but over the course of our two dives we saw many of the creatures we'd seen on previous dives. At the end of the day we'd completed our coursework and dives, and became Advanced Open Water Divers! This means we can dive to 100', and eventually (after gaining additional experience) to the recreational limit of 130'. |
| Day 12: Black Sands and Waimea Rim |
 Near our condo was the Black Sands Beach. Gorgeous. We were going to snorkel here, but the winds were making the surface choppy so we decided to try again tomorrow. |
 Sure enough, the sand is black. And a pink plumeria is set off brilliantly. |
 Behind the shore is a pond, with water lilies. |
 Norm, getting sprayed by the surf. |
 Alene, reacting to being sprayed by the surf. |
 After checking out the Black Sands Beach we headed to the Volcanoes National Park to get a preview of the next couple of days' sight-seeing. This is Kilauea Crater, as seen from near the Volcano Lodge. Many thanks to Phil & Phyllis for three days of fun here! |
 From the lodge we could see steam vents on a far ridge. |
 This is that same ridge looking back towards the lodge. The steam vents gave the landscape a surreal quality. |
 We decided to drive the Canyon Rim. Here's a shot at sunset of our shadows. Bit like a trip to the surface of Mars. |
 The volcanic rock was beautiful but harsh on the feet. |
 Alene demonstrates that it was windy on the rim. |
 This is Halemaumau crater. Mark Twain stood over the crater and witnessed its molten lava floor as jets of lava shot hundreds of feet into the air. |
 Hard to tell the difference between the asphalt paving and Pele's paving! |
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| Day 13: More Black Sands and Hiking Kilauea Iki Crater |
 Alene demonstrates how her company blackberry is enjoying it's vacation in Hawaii. This was taken as a gag to send to the people at her work. |
 Mulligan is our version of the traveling garden gnome. |
 Norm soaks up a few rays on the Black Sand Beach. |
 While at the Black Sands Beach we watch a local fishing with a cast net. |
 Our first stop upon our return to the Volcanoes National Park was Thurston Lava Tube. This shot was taken from the more public portion. Beyond that you can enter the unimproved section if you have appropriate clothing and flashlights. We came prepared and in the 45-minutes or so that we spent in this section we passed one couple on their way out. Otherwise it was just the two of us and a whole lotta blackness and rock! |
 Norm the Spelunker! |
 A detail of the ceiling in the unimproved (and more natural) part of the lava tube. |
 Found on the floor of the cave, it's one of the little stalactites. |
 Mineral Deposits on the wall of the lava tube. |
 We were amazed by how this cold hard rock still looked like red hot oozing lava. |
 The oozes and flows of lava, and the crusts that formed the shells of tubes were fascinating. |
 Back out into daylight, and our next destination is Kilauea Iki Crater. We hiked from one end to the other along the upper ridge through the forest, then back straight down the middle of the crater. You can make out where everyone walks (the lighter stripe on the crater floor). |
 The fiddle on a large fern, along the upper trail. |
 This crater had lava 400' deep in it. The top surface cracked and split like a brownie does when it cools. Down inside the crater it's almost like walking on asphalt paving. |
 Not everything is smooth. This is a detailed shot of some a'a. |
 The wind picked up, the clouds rolled down into the crater, and it started to rain. Very eerie and surreal (and cold!).
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 Norm paid homage to the ancient Hawai'ians and Pele by creating a stacked rock sculpture. |
| Day 14: Red Hot Lava |
 Today we drove down to sea level to see the lava flow into the ocean. This is a view of an old flow. |
 Pahoehoe is the smooth ropey lava flow. A'a is the rough crumbly-looking flow. A small lava tube was formed as this pahoehoe flowed over the a'a below. |
 A pahoehoe flow erodes and we can see "inside" the flow. The colors were fascinating. |
 Norm stands on pahoehoe with a'a just beyond. In the background, a slope with both types of lava flows as well as untouched vegetation. |
 Looking downslope across the low-land floor that slopes to the shore. You can see the pahoehoe flows (pale grey) set against the a'a flows (dark red-grey) as well as untouched areas. That's our red hot rental SUV in the foreground. Thank you John and Philomena!!
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 We loved the graphic nature of this warning sign. Two months after we came back 44 acres of lava bench collapsed into the ocean. |
 Lava flowed right over the shore-line road, making it impassible. It is still closed today. |
 The lava flowed right around the no parking sign located on the side of the engulfed shore road. |
 We hiked out 1-1/2 miles out parallel to the shore across a lava flow. |
If you crawled into this crack, you may get all the way to China. |
The colors beneath the surface of the cold flow were amazing. |
At the end of the hike we found a spot to eat our picnic dinner and watched the lava flow down the hillside. After total darkness set in a whole extended family of large mice came out and tried to steal our cookies. |
We also watched the lava flow into the ocean. From a safe distance, of course. We'd have loved to get closer, but followed the rules and stayed put! Occasionally the glow would be smothered by the incoming waves. |
The walk back was in near-absolute darkness. The surface of the lava was often nearly iridescent under the light of our flashlights. Cold and hard, this fissure almost looks like its still molten! Thanks again, Phil and Phyllis! |
 Despite keeping our eyes peeled, this was the closest we came to seeing the elusive Nene, Hawai'i's state bird, while on the Big Island. Next and final stop: Kaua'i! |
