Hawai'i

Welcome back to Waikoloa!

When we were making plans for our Hawaii trip, we knew we didn't want to take such a long flight for just a 5 night package at the Westin, and we knew we didn't want to spend the whole trip in just one spot.  There were a lot of opinions and input, ranging from going back to Honolulu & Pearl Harbor (Brennan), staying on Maui but at the big hotel in Wailea with a gazillion water slides (Lucie), and somewhere kind of remote and quiet, like Kauai's north shore (Mommy).   But the one thing we all agreed on was we really liked where we stayed in Waikoloa Village last summer, so going back there seemed like the best decision all around.

Of course, going back to the same place doesn't mean we have to do everything exactly the same.  We tried some new restaurants, like Pueo's Osteria, a really good Italian restaurant up in the hills in Waikoloa proper.  And we went snorkeling with My Kona Adventures again, but this time to swim with spinner dolphins!

I was really proud of the kids for choosing a boat trip to see dolphins in their natural home.  They were kind of interested in the Dolphin Quest swim program at the giant Sheraton resort - but we talked about how much happier wild dolphins must be, and without going into alarming detail, how some of the parks and resorts get their resident dolphins.  Not to mention, for roughly the same cost as 2 kids' sessions at Dolphin Quest, all 4 of us got to go, we saw a bunch of dolphins and a few giant manta rays, and Lucie consumed almost an entire pineapple. 

And Lucie wasn't the only one to sack out after snorkeling this year.

Of course, the Hilton has more to offer than Dolphin Quest, sprawling grounds, costly restaurants, and basement conference rooms for veterinarians fulfilling their continuing education requirements.  It also has an Even-More-Ridiculous-Than-The-Westin-Maui pool.  And since our condo was just a short walk across the golf course away, it's almost like we were staying there, right?   So on Friday morning, we briefly became the Earle family of room 5347, and tried to stay incognito:

While the Kona Pool featured a 175 foot water slide, a waterfall and cave complex, and a bridge hidden from view that is ideal for leaping into the pool despite all warnings to the contrary, they actually enjoyed the River Pool more, mostly because of the speeds reached on this lurid lavender tongue thing.

That's not to stay that the pool at Hali'i Kai isn't pretty nice, because it is.  And the Lava Flow and Mai Tai's aren't bad either.

 

 

I forced a few inland excursions, because: a) lying around on the couch bickering with your sibling about Netflix can be done much more affordably at home;  b) I wanted to do them.

So we had sunset, moonrise, and constellation gazing at the Onizuka Astronomy Center on Mauna Kea.  Lucie thought the sky and clouds over Mauna Loa were pretty, and stole my phone for some photos on the way up:

 

And we went up in the hills to the Waimea Town farmers market, where we met some chickens, sampled coffee, checked out the local crafts, and bought a variety of macadamia nuts.

We returned Anaeho'omalu Bay to give the Lava Lava Beach Club another try.  Alas, the restaurant was still noisy, hurried, and plagued by the periodic smokey emergence of the sizzling shrimp appetizer.  But we did get to have a last dinner on the beach, and there's plenty of exploring nearby -

And we finally made it to a black sand beach!  We tried to hike there last summer on the Ala Kahakai Historic Trail, but got confused when we hit (yet another) golf course.  But we managed to get going early enough to snag one of the 20 public parking spots, and had the place practically to ourselves.

Mahalo and so long, Hawaii - until next time!