kona

boy am i eating my words. for years i have made fun of, scrutinized and bashed anyone for spending their money and travels on hawaii. 

as a "world traveler", [reader, please do not take me seriously on that one] i always felt that my hard earned money and experiences would be better spent in distant lands, among aborigines, touching stones from ancient rome, breathing grecian air, you're getting the picture. but if the opportunity arises for any sort of adventure, i sign up! hawaii was no exception. if it weren't for good ole marwood, i would have still heeded those standards. my parents gave me the option to come if i could get work off. 10 days off work and a $800 flight, i was set. 

kona

oh kona, you make me want to call in sick and fly to you every time i wake up at 5:40am for work.

i remember flying into the island and seeing the mars like atmosphere and thinking, "crap, this looks like a god forsaken desert wasteland". wrong. once you drive past the lava rocks aka mars rocks, a tropical oasis opens up and you forget everything about your previous life. driving up to our condo, i kept pinching myself thinking it must be a dream. our condo was one of the most beautiful places i have ever stayed in. 

my days consisted of 10 things.

1. breakfast on the patio while whale watching

2. watching kelly & michael

3. jogging along the beach with my mom and sister

4. squeezing into my swimsuit and grabbing a towel, hat, and flip flops

5. applying suscreen

5. laying out and reading

6. snorkeling

7. laying out and reading

8. snorkeling

9. sipping on a pina coladas (yes, multiple)

10. taking a shower and making dinner with the family

it was an envious life that lasted to short.

in between my very productive days we also took a few day tours around the island.

kilauea volcano

we visited madam pele. the sulfuric acid from the lava would turn into gas and come up through vents in the earth's crust. we were smart enough to stand right by them so i got to walk around smelling like a giant fart for the rest of the day.

the glow from the lava was breathtaking. you only see pictures or videos of this kind of stuff so to see it in real life was amazing.

akaka falls

so, this first picture is not the falls, that would be pretty pathetic but this was on the drive to the falls so i figure it could have it's moment of glory.

this reminded me of something i would see on tarzan

or jurassic park

or swiss family robinsons

or jungle book

for some reason my ears decided to poke out this trip. i can't tell if it is because i'm slowly turning into dumbo or if i sleeked my hair back so tight they had to protrude out of default.

we even had time to stop off at the mauna loa nut farm! i'm nuts about nuts!

mauna loa aka macadamia nut heaven! i might have bought two boxes worth of chocolates

i have no butt? i don't know what you are talking about... wait... where did you get this photo?

maddy doesn't take hawaii seriously. and we have a dead foot for a dad

wining and dining maddy for her big 1-8 birthday! sushi and urchins were a must.

is there anyone who can tell me what kind of bird this is?! i spent about 2 hours searching google and every bird identifying site there is. i got nothing.

manta ray night dive

one of the most amazing experiences of my life. i had no idea what manta rays really were until i found out we were doing this dive. as a marine biologist wanna be, i was surprised these friendly giants don't have more of a following. they are one of the most graceful creatures and although they are an alarming 15 plus feet, they evoked no fear. 

cool fact: no where else in the world can you take this night dive to watch manta rays feeding. it is only offered in kona. apparently the cove the dive drops you off at is special in the way that it is protected from the open ocean, the lack of other predators, and the amount of plankton that accumulates there. 

while traveling over there we also got a free whale watching excursion. the little buggers were so fast we couldn't really get a full video of them breaching but seeing it in person is something you will never forget. 

to attract the manta ray towards the group, they rigger glow sticks and a flash light to pcp pipes attached to a surf board. the lights attract the plankton which in term attract the manta rays. the manta ray could care less that we were there. they got so close to us they even slime-d my mom. her whole wet suit had this mucus residue on it from when one glided past her. 

it freaks you out a little when they open their gaping mouths and you can see straight down their boney spine. 

on a related note, that is one skeptical fish.

i would easily say this makes my top ten most memorable experiences of my life.