Hawaii: Day 6

 This morning, I was bound and determined to hit the beach (Kamaole Beach I) early and attempt to get some photos. I happily had sand-covered feet before 7 AM (there are serious advantages to traveling this direction in terms of time zones... we are ready to start our days nice and early!). In the early morning hours, the water is calmer, which makes for rather tranquil landscape photo opportunities. I had a clear view of Molokini and was able to get shots of some pretty waves as they broke over the lava rocks. 

Molokini

Waves and lava rocks

While I was out, I happened upon a very chatty retiree who has lived on Maui for the past 7 years. He gave me the scoop on some of the sea life (including the helmet urchin we saw a few days ago), recommended we avoid going to Big Beach (no lifeguards + sudden depth change = unsafe), warned me about a venomous shelled creature on the beach, and offered some restaurant recommendations. All in all, quite a handy person to meet!

No clue what this is but it was really neat to look at.
It reminded me of a huge marble.

Sea urchin holding on for life

As luck would have it, a sea turtle surfaced while I was standing on a rock outcropping. Hurray!!! It stuck its nose out of the water a few times. (Eric says I should name it Sheldon, which seems very reasonable to me!)

Hello, Sheldon!

Sheldon showing me his big smile

After I got back from my beach photography excursion, we rallied the troops and hit the beach, snorkel gear in hand. We started out in water with very little visibility due to the churn and shallow depth of the water. As we made our way north (and into deeper water), we were able to see a bit further. During the first part of our snorkeling, we really saw nothing more than the sandy bottom. Fortunately, that shifted as we neared the lava rock jetty I'd visited a little bit earlier when I was out taking photos. Pretty soon, we started to see a variety of pretty fish and coral below us, not to mention sea urchin and interesting rock formations. Then... I saw it. A sea turtle! A big sea turtle was tucked up on the sandy bottom next to a rock formation. I swear that my heart skipped a beat when I realized what I was looking at. I tugged on Conor and pointed out the turtle to him. As soon as I knew he saw it, I popped my head out of the water and signaled for Eric and Annika to join us so they could see it, too. Needless to say, we were all quite excited. Then we saw another turtle ... and another ... and another! It was AMAZING. Before we came to Hawaii, I saw a video online that was made by a family to document their Molokini/Turtle Town snorkeling. At one point, one of the little boys in the family said, "I saw a gwampa tuwtle" (he coudn't say his R's yet). We DEFINITELY saw a "big gwampa tuwtle" today, too. The fourth sea turtle we saw was enormous. It took every ounce of strength not to just stay there all day watching it rest on the ocean floor. What is so neat about these marvelous creatures is how still and calm they were. They just hung out on the sandy sea floor while we gawked at them. (I can't help but wonder if one of the turtles that I we saw during our snorkeling adventure was Sheldon!)  After awhile, however, it was time to move on. Conor and I started to make our way back to our belongings on the beach so we could try out body surfing and because my left foot was getting a sore spot from where the fin was rubbing it. While we did that, Eric and Annika made another loop around the rocks to find any remaining sights to see before packing up for the day.

After wrapping up our snorkeling and body surfing adventure, we walked back to the condo, showered, ate breakfast, and relaxed for a bit. I briefly zipped out to return the snorkel gear and make a much-anticipated run to Starbucks for iced Americanos for Eric and me and strawberry lemonades for the kids. MMMM!! Coffee!!

I had hoped the turtles would be near the surface again during high tide (the retiree I met earlier said they are sometimes more visible then because the feed off of the rocks), so Annika and I meandered back to the beach around 3 to see if we could spy any. We didn't have any luck in the turtle department, but definitely had a great walk on the beach together. Annika had fun making feet prints, writing words and hearts in the sand... and trying out her own photography skills with my phone's camera. The water was very choppy due to the wind, which we guessed might have kept the turtles away from the rocks. (Smart turtles!) 

I could sit on this beach all day, every day
and simply watch the waves on the sand

Annika and I were here!

Annika making her mark on the world

Sharing a little love with Kihei

Annika's photo of the West Maui Mountains, palm trees, and the Pacific

Annika's palm tree reflections photo

While we were out and about on the beach, Annika found a coconut that was floating in the water. (Initially, I thought someone lost a hat, but it wasn't a hat at all!) She got a good case of the giggles because each time she threw it back in the ocean, it kept coming back to her. That coconut reallllly liked Annika! :)

Annika and her new best friend "Coconut"

For dinner, we opted to try a highly-rated restaurant called Coconut's Fish Cafe for takeout. Eric and I had mahi-mahi fish and chips while the kids had shrimp and chips. Prior to our trip, we all thought it would be fun to watch the Disney movie "Moana" while on Maui and tonight was the night. We sang along with the characters, laughed until our sides hurt (often before the funny part happened ... we just knew what was coming!), and simply enjoyed being together. We have a few family jokes/favorite movie quotes from "Moana" that simply don't grown old for us: "Boat snack", "You're so amazing", and "You're WEL-come" are definitely at the top of the list!

Hawaii: Day 3

Happy Father's Day to Eric! Celebrating in Hawaii... not too shabby! (Of course, I have no clue where I packed his Father's Day cards... hoping they are found quickly and didn't get left at home!)

View from our condo's balcony

We started out the day at a wonderfully lazy pace. We played cards, ate a casual breakfast, and unwound. Around 9:30, we wandered to the pool for a little fun in the water. It was already warm outside, so the water felt amazing! Annika said today was the first day that really felt like vacation. Up until today, we were moving at go-go-go pace and today was anything but that. It was slow, relaxed, and peaceful. No timelines, no deadlines. Just island time!

Eric, Conor, and I opted to walk across the street to take a peek at the beach (Kamaole Beach Park I) and local stores/restaurants. Conor had a great time playing in the sand and in the water (his shorts were soaked by the time we headed out). We saw rain off in the distance to the south and the wind was unrelenting. Because the rain was to the south and the wind was from the north, we figured we'd be fine, but decided to head back to the condo just to be safe.

The sand was so soft and not a barnacle in site.

Eric enjoying the soft sand under his feet

Conor's sand art

Threatening sky to the south

Happy feet!

This afternoon, I decided to make the most of my warm weather opportunity and parked myself on the balcony to read and eventually work on a crossword puzzle. After awhile, Annika joined me and quickly became my crossword teammate. Thanks to her 7th grade geography lessons, she knew the answer to the clue about a landlocked country in Southern Africa (Spoiler: the answer was Botswana). Conor decided to join us after a bit and was also a lovely team mate ... if for no other reason than his completely random guesses, even without knowing the number of letters in a given answer. While the kids and I diligently attacked our puzzles (yes, we moved on from the first one to a second one ... until Annika hijacked the book when she realized there are also word searches in it. 

While the kids and I were outside puzzling, Eric took nap and enjoyed all that is vacation time! (If I didn't fear it would mess up my night's sleep, I would have also napped.) I think the rather frantic pace of the past few days caught up with him. 

We eventually, like we suspected, we did get a bit of rain, but it was nothing like what we get at home. It didn't stick around for long, but it sure upped the humidity! We got enough rain to fill the air with that oh-so-familiar smell of damp earth and to up the humidity enough to make the air feel a bit thicker.

Our evening was like the rest of the day - rather unstructured. We happened to watch The Incredibles 2 as a family simply because we happened to find it on TV. It was fun to just relax for a bit and be together. No laundry, yard work, cleaning, or errands got in the way. Chillin' out was the name of the game. 

For dinner, we got take-out from JawzMexican Grill, which is about 2 blocks from the condo. It was one of the places Eric, Conor, and I came upon when we were on our walk earlier in the day. I had their fish tacos (yum). Conor was over the moon that they had "nacho fries".... basically, nacho toppings on French fries instead of tortilla chips. He was thrilled ... the rest of us were unsure of that combo. Annika had a taco salad, and Eric sampled their nachos. We had very full, very happy tummies!

Around 7, Annika and I headed to the beach to watch the sunset once we realized the view would be much better from there than it was from the balcony. (Boy, were we right about that!)

Sunset from the balcony

Obviously, I'd been to there already but it was all new to Annika. The great lack of rocks on the beach stunned her. Sand! There's so much sand! She loved the warm ocean water as much as Conor did (no shock there!) and came back with rather soaked clothes, too. (Again, no shock.) The sunset was stunning. The sun's colors reflected on the shimmering sandy beach each time the waves retreated. One unexpected difficulty  that I encountered while photographing the sunset was the fact that my viewfinder kept fogging up... going from AC to humid beach wasn't the best in that department. Oh well... vacation troubles are easy to work through! :)

Beach gals 

Happy girl in Hawaii

Sunset looking north at the West Maui Mountains

Sunset Palm Trees

Hawaii: Day 2

The best laid plan of mice and men was the theme of this morning. When Eric called the cab company, he used our "trip at a glance" as a guide for when to have the cab pick us up at the hotel. Unfortunately, I put down the wrong time on said guide and instead of needing to be picked up at 7:30, we had to be at the helicopter tour's office at 7:30. (Insert panic here.) As soon as we realized this fact, Eric called the cab driver and asked if he could pick us up early. Nope. I called the helicopter tour office (not open yet) saying we might be late due to the cab's timing. Fortunately, the cab driver called Eric back and said he was on his way and would be able to deliver us on time. (Cab driver = our new favorite person!)

When we arrived at the Mauna Loa Helicopter office, we were greeted by our helicopter pilot (named Eric ... how handy!) who helped us load our luggage into their offices and welcomed us to Kona. He then handed us off to two incredibly friendly employees who got us checked in and oriented while Eric (pilot, not our Eric) did his pre-flight tasks at the helicopter. The two guys were studying to become helicopter pilots and were very eager to do well at their new trade. One even offered to drive us to the other end of the airport after our tour (the distance between the passenger flights terminal and the helicopter tours area was more considerable than we initially expected. (He drove us in his own car... bringing him to "new best friend status" with the cab driver!)

After getting weighed, signing our lives away, showing proof of health (the "no I don't have COVID" QR code is our best friend, along with the cab driver and helicopter trainee who drove us), we walked with our pilot to the cute yellow helicopter that would be our tour home for 2 hours. Eric (ours, not the pilot) and the kids sat in the back row while I sat in the front with Eric (pilot, not ours).

Ready for takeoff

 We donned our life vests (required because we were to fly over water) and headsets (because we're helicopter people now), learned how to user the push-to-talk system, and learned (me) what not to touch.... I was near more of the electronics because I was in the front seat. 

And away we go!

Co-pilots Conor and Annika

Co-pilot Eric

Co-pilot Meredith

None of us (aside from Pilot Eric) had ridden in a helicopter before and had no idea what to expect. Here's what to expect: a lot of shaking and shimmying. Also, a much slower speed than when traveling in an airplane.

Look how helicopter-y they are!

Happy girl

Eric (pilot) took us on a loop around the entire island and shared a vast amount of information about what we saw. What did we see? Well, we saw Mauna Loa, Kilauea, Haulalai, Mauna Kea, lava flows, lava holes, lava hills, macadamia nut tree groves, clouds, craters, steam vents, waterfalls, gorgeous cliffs, former sugarcane fields, lush valleys, the bluest water we've ever seen, and so much more. 

These huge holes are the result of underground lava flows

Steam vents in the Kilauea crater

Holei Sea Arch

Eric (pilot) said on a few occasions that we were incredibly lucky with the weather. We could see for days and got to explore the valleys in a way that not many people get to due to weather/clouds. The beauty of a private tour is we could ask Eric to make a second loop around something really neat or hover for a little bit so we could take some photos. Talk about an incredible opportunity!! The views were truly amazing and picturesque.

Before we knew it, two hours had zipped past and we were back at the airport. We gushed our thanks, loaded our luggage in to the car, and popped down to the main terminal so we could check in for our flight to Maui.

We realized what Eric (pilot) meant by how lucky we were with the weather. As we waited for our flight to board, the sky had already gotten quite cloudy (marine layer) and the wind had greatly picked up.

Our flight to Maui left a bit late, but we were on Island Time. No biggie!

Talk about a short flight. We were barely at our cruising altitude before we started our descent! The 30-min flight was over before we knew it. Like the day before, we zipped through our arrival thanks to our magical "pre-clear" bracelets from Alaska Air and got our luggage quickly. We boarded the tram to get the rental car (side note: we spent more time at the rental place than we did flying from Kona to Maul! The gal kept trying to upsell us and it took forever to get out of the parking garage). Eventually, we got our freedom and took it straight to Costco!

Eric and the kids dropped me off while they hit Subway to pick up a late lunch for us. The continental b-fast we inhaled before leaving the Kona hotel had long worn off. Small world - I met a gal from Auburn, WA in the Costco and she helped me find the LAST big suitcase in the store. Win!

Our poor rental car was packed to the brim between us, our luggage, and the Costco trip. Good thing the gal upsold us from a sedan to the SUV! :D

Even bigger win - Eric had a SB coffee waiting for me. (He tried to get us SB before we left the hotel but it ... like McD's ... was only a drive through and he was on foot.) The sight of that coffee cup almost made me shed tears of joy, I tell ya! As we pulled out of the Costco parking lot, I saw a chicken and her chicks. At first, I thought someone's pets must have escaped, but Eric and the kids said they saw chickens near the Subway, too. Apparently, Maui has wild chickens. Huh!! Later, I saw more chickens in the Safeway parking lot. They are everywhere!

We got to the timeshare about 20 minutes after leaving Costco and ate our sandwiches while we waited for our condo to be ready. At 4, we got the green light to pick up our keys and get into the condo. All four of us felt like this was when we could really start to relax. The trip, up until then, had been go-go-go. Being able to unpack and really stop to catch our breath was a very welcome thing.

Conor was visibly exhausted. In fact, he was sawing logs at 8:00.

Sweet, sleepy boy

Our Hawaiian Adventure Begins

We made it! We actually made it to Hawaii. After 3+ years of planning and a forced 2020 cancellation due to COVID, we FINALLY made it to Hawaii.

We got up bright and early in the morning to load up the car, drive to the car lot, shuttle to the airport, check in for our flight from Sea-Tac to Kona, and (eventually) whoosh up in the air. 

Dropping off the car

Excited travelers

On the train to our gate at SeaTac

Our flight left an hour later than planned, but that was small potatoes after waiting this long for the trip. Fortunately, the flight was uneventful and very smooth. Easy peasy. 

Ready for takeoff!

Are we there yet??

Conor relaxing with a movie

See ya later, Puget Sound!

There are no words...

Upon arrival in Kona, we were hit with a wall of heat and humidity. Neither was a surprise, but still got our attention. 

Hello, Hawaii!

Threatening clouds ahead of us upon our arrival.
Blue skies to the right and left, however!

After getting our luggage, we looked for a taxi to take us to the hotel. No taxis could be found. We considered getting a Lyft, but the app warned us that cars were few and far between (what the what??). Eventually, we opted for looping back around to Plan A and waiting for a taxi. After a generous half hour, we finally got one. Our drive to the hotel took about a half hour but we didn't care. We were in AC and on our way to putting our feet up.

We got checked into our hotel room and I offered to walk a block away to the McDonalds (gasp!) that we saw to pick up a quick (and late) dinner while Eric called cab companies to try to find a taxi for the next morning. I walked up to the door and found it was a drive-through only thanks to COVID precautions. On to Plan B. When we checked in, the gal at the hotel said there were a few restaurants very close that we could go to, so I continued to hoof it down the street. I came upon a Thai restaurant that offered take-out. Perfect! And (bonus) it was next to a Starbucks (mental note taken for the following morning!)

We gobbled up our dinners, played a few rounds of Marvel Fluxx, and were grateful to be settled for the night. The kids decided they wanted to do a little night swimming, so I offered to sit poolside and read while they cooled off and splashed around a bit. The pool was lined on one side with plumeria trees that smelled Heavenly. The breeze swirled the bloom's fragrance in a delicate way and surrounded me in the best way possible.

Happy nighttime swimmers

Plumeria galore!

When we got back to the room, it was time for bed (Eric was already sound asleep with his Kindle still in his hand). We had another early start and hectic day ahead of us. 

Sleepy Eric