Hawaii

So it has sadly been an entire year since our last post here. After West Virginia, we also took a 10-day trip to the Big Island, Hawaii last November. I suppose we never got around to adding that because the WV post took us so long, or we just got too lazy. Well now that it has been so long, it is hard to remember the details. It was our first time to that island, Randy's first trip to any Hawaiian island, but I had previously been to Oahu and Kauai. The big island was definitely very different from those two. Probably the most surprising and disturbing thing we noted was the attitude of the residents toward the number and types of feral and exotic animals. They are wreaking havoc on the native flora and fauna but the locals seem to not only not mind, but relish in it. Many of these are exotic game birds, some are ranch/farm animals, of course many are songbirds from Asia, and then there are the mongooses and the feral cats that help keep the mongoose population under control. However at one resort we noticed a cat pagoda with food and water where the cats and mongooses were eating cat food together! Unbelievable!!!

This is the island that is also home to one of the nation's largest ranches, the Parker Ranch, which is supported by non-native grasses along the slopes of Mauna Kea, the western volcano.

Because we were there for a conference I was attending, we spent much of our time near the resort we were at in Waikoloa, on the Kohala coast.

Highlights of the trip include: snorkeling - loads of beautiful color fish and coral along the crystal clear waters of the coast; and scuba diving and night diving with manta rays!!! - amazing experience to have a majestic giant swim just inches over our heads as we sat on the ocean floor

trip to peak of Mauna Kea - very very cold and beautiful

visit to Akaka Falls - huge falls along the northern coast, where it is very lush and forested, unlike the west coast which is barren and covered with lava

Jeep trip to the Green Sands Beach - a treacherous drive to a bizarre beach that is supposed to have green sand, but it is really only tinged green, and during our brief trip, not very enjoyable due to the very powerful winds shooting sand everywhere, but still beautiful and worth the ride

hiking and birding through bizarre scrub forests, called kipukas, along Saddle Road - one of the last easily accessible places to see native Hawaiian birds

road trip around the entire island - including through Hilo, where it rains all the night (opposite of the other side of the island!) and is very lush, green, and wet

visit to Waimea and hike to cliffs along NW coastline

and finally, our visit to Volcanoes National Park, Mauna Loa, where we spent far too little time, including having our helicopter tour cancled due to weather (which would have definitely been the highlight of the trip and instead was the biggest disappointment); I would love to come back and spend more time hiking and getting my aerial view!!!