Kua Bay

On our final day in Hawaii, the Raabits and Averlees headed back to the beach for swimming and boogie-boarding in the waves, this time at Kua Bay (Manini'owali Beach). Dad, mom, and Jean decided instead to head north to the town of Hawi and the Pololu Valley Lookout, and had a great day of sightseeing, window-shopping, and gazing down the steep cliffs at the ocean. 

The beach was gorgeous -- small, but tucked away behind some lava rocks, with soft sand and good waves. We had so much fun playing and swimming and enjoying the ocean, and we stayed until everyone was waterlogged and cold and tired and hungry. Such good memories, such an beautiful place, so wonderful to spend time with family after so long, so lucky that it all happened.

 

We ate all of the leftovers we had remaining in our three fridges, cut up and devoured our final daily pineapple, and packed up.

Boarding our plane on Friday morning, headed home (with a layover in Honolulu). Aloha Hawaii! We'll be back!

kayaking and snorkeling

On Wednesday, we rented kayaks from Ehu and Kai Adventures and kayaked across a bay to Captain Cook monument. We had two triple kayaks, one double, and one single — it was tough work to battle against the ocean, but also so fun to be out there on the water. There's great snorkeling near the monument, including a spot where the ocean floor drops steeply away and down.  We were slightly bothered by all the tour boats taking up the best spots and spewing out diesel fumes, but they left after a bit and we and the other kayakers had more room. It was really cool to see all of the fish, and to just jump over the sides of our kayaks and into the water. We had to tow them behind us as we snorkeled, like big dogs on leash.

 

After snorkeling for a couple of hours, we kayaked back to shore, got ourselves out and showered off and changed, and headed in search of something tasty. We found Gypsea Gelato and then Kona Joe coffee farm —

 

Someone liked the coffee a little too much!

teenagers on vacation...

We ordered dinner from Broke Da Mouth Grindz in Kona, and enjoyed a picnic on the beachy waterfront.

Hapuna Beach, part deux

We all agreed that Hapuna Beach was worth a second visit, so we headed back there on Tuesday morning. After our earlier experience, it was quite the surprise to show up and find enormous waves crashing down on the beach this time. There were extra lifeguards broadcasting frequent warnings about the strength of the undertow and the possibility of spinal cord injuries (we saw a man getting carried away on a stretcher to an ambulance).  So we were quite tentative in the beginning, and made sure that we only played in the waves after the break, and we had a grand time. Everyone bodysurfed or boogie-boarded, and the girls jumped the waves, and it was really fun to experience the ocean in a different way.

In the afternoon, I took the girls to check out the petroglyphs on the King's trail nearby. 

Danica carefully read all of the signs and made sure she covered all of the ground, looking at all of the spaces.

Liesl and Roxy are playing some sort of pretend game, off in the distance, oblivious to their surroundings.

The daily pineapple! So sweet and juicy!