We took over 2000 photos in Hawaii...... I got a blister from pushing the shutter.... (kidding..) It was so great seeing the sites and sights.
Royal Kona Museum and Coffee Mill. They didn't tell us anything about the coffee but they did have free samples
We decided to do a tour of the Island with a tour company. I have the events of this trip listed on different day because I was separating them and some days that we spent shopping or sitting by thee pool would just be bouring to write or read.... sorry in advance for the date arrangements... The Polynesian tour began at 6:45 am (actually 7:15... Hawaii time: he was a bit late) and ended after 7 pm. Polynesian Adventure Tours. The driver, Sal was excellent. He had a great knowledge of the plants and history and managed to narrate as he drove. The first stop we went to a coffee plantation/store: The coffee was really good. We tried several types and several teas. When we were finished with our allotted 1/2 hour, we were ready to go: it was quite unfortunate that the Polynesian tours company had us sit and wait for over an hour for a group of four people to be brought to our location.
Orchids: Akatsuka orchid gardens
It was very annoying to wait knowing we were losing the time from the tour (which go too fast for me already) The four came and we were surprised that they had been encouraged to go inside for coffee while a bus full of people waited... that was a little strange. But eventually we were all together and headed on down the road.....We next visited the black sand beach.
We visited Hawaii Volcano's national park where we viewed the Kilauea volcano and ate at the cafeteria, We visited the Thurston Lava tube and the Jaggar volcano museum. This is a must see in Hawaii. We really loved it and would have loved to hike down.
We went to orchid gardens and nursury.
Blank sand beach sign... don't you love the spear?
It was really interesting but our time there was only 15 minutes so David and I didn't get to the gift shop. We did take a lot of amazing pictures of the orchids although they just point & shoot & hurry shots.
We drove through Hilo and saw Rainbow Falls. It was really great to see the falls. It wasn't raining although Hilo is usually raining., We passed the huge rock that King Kamahamaha picked up according to legend. It was huge. About 900 pounds.
Next we drove through the Parker Ranch lands. They were massive.... I love how the parker ranch had such a humble beginning.
Orchids: Akatsuka orchid gardens
We stopped Parker Ranch Plaza where we had about 20 minutes . Linda bought a package of cookies that were $7.00 .... amazing price. but they were good. The bus driver dropped all of us off one by one at our motels. Despite the delay he did give us the full tour. He returned about 45 minutes later than he would have if the two couples had been on time. To his credit he continued talking and giving us information when there were only 8 people on the bus, Very admirable.
I loved the black sand beach! The sand was so unusual. It sparkled like black diamonds in the sunshine. Our pictures do not do it justice although David took one of me holding a handful and it is closer to what it looked like.
The actual sand of the beach was not a huge expanse as many of the waves were breaking on lava boulders. The restrooms were on the wrong side of the street and blocked part of the view. Truly, they should have been planned different ... it would have meant a longer walk but a far nicer view ...
On the other side of the black sand beach was an area that was still the unbroken lava. It was interesting to see the ripples and swirls that the lava cooled in.
At the entrance to the beach was an interesting sculpture. It showed the story of a turtle, Kauila. Kauila the mythical turtle, lived in Ka'ū district at Punalu'u Bay according to Hawaiian Mythology. Kauila was able to turn herself into a person to play with the children on the beach.
Black Sand
Sylvia holding Black Sand
looking across the black sand beach
Kauila the mythical turtle
Aloha.... written in black sand.
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