Hawaii - Day six

Sunrise



going snorkeling




geo


awesome place!


sunset




The final full day in Hawaii... so much more to do, but time is up.

We went up to the resort for the sunday brunch buffet. It was pretty disorganized, I wouldn't come back to the buffet, but we managed to fill up.

After that, we snorkeled out in front of the condo and spotted a turtle. we swam with it for a half an hour or so. There was a ton of beautiful fish around as well. We saw a good size Ahi, that I am sure the fishermen on the beach would have loved to hook. Swimming with the Turtle is the highlight of the trip. That was just the coolest thing ever!

Later that day we drove to Barbers Point, on the far southern west coast side. You drive through an industrial area to get there. We noticed the beautiful tree lined drive through fuel docs, scrap yards and other various maritime industrial businesses.

The park was small. We saw a few people diving from the beach. The beach was pretty rocky, not good swimming. I saw a lighthouse down the beach, so we walked out to it. We passed by a big building area with tables on the beach. Germaines Luau, that explains the tree lined drive...

On the way home we stopped at a restaurant we had not tried yet in Maili. Beaches was the name and they had a second floor outdoor deck. We went in, past the bar, past the two pool tables, to the deck. It was basically a smoking deck, but they had some tables out there. We had a Mai Tai on the deck in the sun, then went on to sit at a window table inside.

I saw a pull tab machine, I haven't gambled in a long time.. So I decided to thro $5 in to it and get 5 tickets. There were 4 columns of tickets to choose from. I chose 3 in honor Glenn. the first ticket I opened was a $100 winner. Thanks for the luck Glenn.

I spent the most all the money at the bar, bought some locals who had probably poured hundreds into that machine, a round of beer. We ordered lumpia, grilled shrimp, and calamari and it was the best food we had the whole trip... dang. .we just found the Longs drugs and now Beaches and its time to go.

We managed to get back to the condo and went for a pre sunset swim. Then we watched the sunset one last time. Following a new Peterson tradition for the last night of a vacation, we went for a night swim.

Hawaii - Day Five

sunrise walk



Cave





End of the road




another sunset










Woke this morning early again.. can't seem to sleep in, of course, haven't made it to Midnight yet.

We decided to go to Mc Donalds for the local menu, featuring spam and eggs. We took our time, I took a walk down the beach out on to the rocks. Finally we left around 9, set on a McD's breakfast.

I wanted to run in to Longs drugs before hand, pick up a few things and get some cash from the atm. Note for future trips, no Wells Fargo here. I think I will switch to Bank of Hawaii, as I plan on returning soon.

It was my first trip to Longs since we arrived, and let me tell you, I blew that one. Longs had everything I have dreamed of finding since I arrived in Makaha.. Macadamia nuts, sun tan lotion, staple foods, souvenirs, cheap beer, and, the best part... It was a modern building. The only modern building in all of Makaha.

I actually just ran in and grabbed cash, and some water, and we cruised back to Mc D's. I saw those things as I ran through, and we came back later and cashed in, well, I guess cashed out..

Off to breakfast finally, we rolled down Farrington Hwy towards Mc D's, on out right side of the street. As we approached, we saw cars backed up onto the highway, waiting to get in to the parking lot... we went into the other lane and went by, and turned into the next street. The entire parking lot was full, the drive in lane was backed up the street... This is the only place in town to get breakfast.

After giving up on Mc D's,we went back to Longs and went hog wild. We bought a bunch of stuff to take home, so we ended up grabbing some shipping boxes, and are gonna ship all of our souvenirs home. Part of our journey home is on foot.

We stopped back at the condo, unloaded our wares and make a quick breakfast. Then we journeyed north up Farington hwy to Ke'ana beach, the furthest spot on the west coast accesible by car. If you had a mountain bike, or atv, or sturdy shoes, you could continue on, and walk along the beach on a very poor dirt road. 11 miles later you would be in the North shore.

We swam here at the beach, with all the locals. We saw only a few stray tourists up here. It was a nice beach. Since its the weekend now, the beaches are more crowded with the local m-f crowd. They set up big elaberate camps on the beach. Tables and canopy, bbq, fishing gear, surf boards, coolers, steroes.. it must take an hour to unpack and pack..

After cooling off, we headed back down the coast. We came upon a cave, so I stopped to check it out.

Then we followed some roads up into the valley. They would wind through residential areas and small farm operations.. All ending at a military gate. It was beautiful to see the valley.

By this time, we were thirsty. We didnt want to go back to the Makaha Resort, so we decided to try out the Army rec center. It was pretty nice, right on the beach. We sat and had some drinks and pu pus and then went back to the condo to see the sunset and watch the conch show. We sat out there for an hour after sunset and watched the waves..

Back up in the room, B was laying down and I was on the lania when I started to see smoke. There is a bbq area around the side of the building. All the residents hang out there at night, grilling meat,, drinking and chatting. We almost went down there tonight, but opted to go relax.

anyway, I saw this smoke, so I says, wow, someone burned the ribs. A few local kids sitting on the beach, and they saw the smoke. I watched as they moved in to investigate. Once they got close enought to see what was going on, they turned and yelled, call 911! I was thankful this building is all concrete..

The fire dept showed up and doused the melted grill. 40 people or so were out in the parking lot freaking out about it.. Pretty exciting.. no one got hurt. I went down hours later to investige the charred grill..