We planned, talked about excitedly and most of all dreamt of going to Hawaii for a long time now. It was since a year back that we have been seriously thinking about this trip. Keshav and Sandip came up with a concrete plan and built the itinerary after spending long hours researching and studying the various options. I had a harder task (of documenting about our trip)ahead so I didn't have to contribute at this stage. This trip was planned to meant to coincide with Rishi's birthday celebrations, so he was exempt from any duties early on too - except maybe to be quite for sometime when the planners did their job :-)
On our way....
We boarded our Alaska Airlines flight on the evening on April 11th. The anticipation and excitement provided the adrenaline that got us going after all of us had a hard day at work and Rishi was done with his school. We learnt a few Hawaiian words (Aloha and Mahalo were the ones we used the most for the next few days)and dreamt of our vacation days ahead on our way.
Day 1 (April 12th'2013)
After a stopover at Honolulu, we reached Big island (Hilo) very early today morning and made our way to the hotel. We loved the hotel and give a very high rating to Hilo Hawaiian. Our room faced the Reed bay and I would have been satisfied just relaxing and exploring the neighboring areas - its that beautiful. The view from our hotel room was priceless :
After some freshening up and a light breakfast, we headed out for the day. Our first stop was the Wailuku Area Rainbow falls. We were all more amazed with the local flora and fauna (Hibiscus heaven!!!!!) than the falls itself. We also saw some local craftsmanship - weaving baskets from bamboo leaves.
We stopped at the Kaumana Cave next. It is beautiful. The interiors were made of lava rocks and we all were excited thinking about the history that created it.
Quick stop at Panda Express for lunch and we were ready for our next excursion. We drove by the ocean shores and stopped at an area which had miles of Lava formations. We had never seen anything like that before. We spent a lot of time exploring that area. We were starting to feel the Hawaiian weather - it was extremely hot (88F) with the sun in full glory. We started back on our drive exploring the ocean shores. And what beautiful shores, lined with coconut groves and the beautiful Hawaii fauna!!
We reached Issac Hale beach park and had some fun at the beach. Ice Cream in the hot beach afternoon was a given. 😉
Then came the time for what we have been waiting for and had planned from Seattle. We were ready to go see an active volcano. We took a speed boat to the area where we saw lava spouting out into the ocean. OMG!! We were taken to within 10-15 feet of the lava flow. It was scary, exhilarating and awe inspiring experience. Our guide got out a bucket of water from the ocean for us to touch. The water was so HOT to touch. We were all spell bound and I don’t think I can do justice to the view of fire meeting the sea. But I can certainly say that this is something I will never forget and it will be one of my most treasured memories ever!! Our first speed boat ride was ….well very bumpy and speedy. It was a military caliber double (250hp each) engine boat. We were drenched and had salt all over us. So much so that Sandip was the only one smiling when we got out of it. We were glad the ride was over and I don’t think I will voluntarily want to do that again.
Day 2: April 13th, 2013.
After a good night's sleep and some breakfast, we started the day heading out to the Volcano National park for the crater rim drive (Kilauea Caldera). We explored the craters, the lava formations and the beautiful flora and fauna of this park. The craters were very nice and it was good to see how the crater basin looks like without the water. Earlier we had only seen the Crater Lake in Oregon which is filled with water
Day 3: April 14th 2013
We had kept Big Island excursion for our last day here. Soon after breakfast today, we headed out on a drive encompassing the Big Island. Within a half hours ride, on our way to Honokaa, we came across a beautiful secluded beach area of Onomea Bay. The pristine beach beauty is a very typical Hawaii experience that we have come to love. We saw squashes hanging from the plants in the forest surrounding the beach among the other beautiful greenery of the area.
We relaxed at the beach for some time and headed towards the hotel. There are many unique and breathtaking views we came across on our journey to explore the Big Island of Hawaii. The expanses on coconut groves, the mango groves with small mangoes hanging, the lines of banana plantations, Hibiscus of many different colors, the bougainvillea, the May flower trees, the local Ohi'a flowers and the lines of Plumera flower trees. We drove around the entire island - a distance of ~250 miles in about 8 hours with some diversions & stops. We loved and enjoyed every minute of our time here and we are now looking forward to experiencing Honolulu.
Day 4:April 15th
Started the day by bidding goodbye to Big Island and coming to Honolulu in Oahu island for our next leg of the trip. We loved our 18th floor room in Ashton hotel which has a partial view of the ocean and with a view of the beautiful town of Honolulu. It is a studio apartment with a small kitchenette. After lunch and some relaxation, we walked down to the beach which is two blocks from the hotel. It is very different from the beaches we visited in Big Island and it was the first white sand beach we went to ever since we came to Hawaii. There were Tiki torches all around the town and also on the beach. We walked in the shores and Rishi had a very good time playing in the water. Grabbed some quick dinner and rented a movie to watch before going off to sleep. Looking forward to the activities we planned for tomorrow.
Day 5: April 16
Snorkeling day!! We were looking forward to this activity ever since we planned the Hawaii trip. Quick breakfast made at the kitchenette in our room tasted yummy after all the fast food we have been consuming. We headed out soon after and we were picked up for a 40 min ride to Koolina bay for the snorkeling. After some time spent at the bay, a power boat took us to the snorkeling area in the ocean. The depth of the ocean at that point is about 28feet. We were filled with anticipation and slightly nervous too as it would be our first ever experience of such kind. After a brief instruction - not enough to quell our fears - we were asked to dive. Well, it was easier said than done for me and Sandip. Rishi swam away like pro and even our guides were impressed with his skills. Keshav got down next and soon he was comfortable in the water too. I stayed close to the boat and Sandip didn’t let go at all. But irrespective of where we stayed the underwater view was surreal. It looked like it does on TV, soooooo pretty!! The sea life underwater was so amazing and it looked so peaceful gazing under the water. We saw turtles, a whole lot of beautiful ocean fishes, coral reefs and a lot more. We had taken fish food along with us which Rishi and Keshav took underwater. The fishes came in droves to get the food and some even fed off the container. We went snorkeling three different times and each one was an amazing and unique experience. Rishi and Keshav was feeling a little sea sick towards the end but it was an awesome experience never the less. Everybody was starving while the boat brought us back to shore and we dove into the very tasty lunch served by the tour company (Koolina Ocean adventures). Snorkeling is very hard work and we were all very tired so came to our room to rest.
Day 6 :April 17th
The highlight of today is Shark adventures trip. We planned to dive into the ocean to swim alongside the sharks - in a cage, of course. And WE were in the cage 😉 We went to Haleiwa bay from where we headed out in a small power boat to the ocean. We went 3 miles into the ocean where the depth of the ocean was 700 feet!! The ocean was very different at this depth than the 28feet depth we dived into yesterday. The water was a lot less calm and our boat wobbled up and down. We saw the Iwa bird (the name of the town Haleiwa comes from this bird. "Hale" means 'home', so the name means 'home of Iwa'). This bird doesn’t like to get its wings wet, so it feeds off the fishes that are on the ocean surface and also fed to it. Our tour guide fed the bird fishes off his hand. It was amazing to watch. But of course, the most amazing was the sight of the Galapegos sharks swimming so close to the boat. We were assured that these sharks were not aggressive but they looked pretty overbearing anyways. The sharks were huge - 12-15 feet and weighed 400+ pounds. We(wearing our snorkeling gears) got into a cage which was lowered to the ocean and we got a close look at the magnificent sharks swimming alongside us. A very unique experience!! Unlike yesterday, we couldn’t see the ocean floor and also didn’t see any fishes other than the Sharks.
Day 7:April 18th (our last day in Hawaii)
The days went by so fast and we are left with one day for our vacation. I needed my alone time today so decided to stay back at the hotel. The boys went to visit the Pearl Harbor Historical site and Rishi was assigned the task of blogging the visit. Over to Rishi....
Right after a nice quick breakfast of muffins and eggs, we got ready to go. Me, Keshav, and Baba left, but Mama stayed back. Now we are at our final stop in Hawaii, The Pearl Harbor historic site. After an hour's drive we reached the memorial, we were amazed at how crowded it was, but was happy that our fuel efficient car got a special spot right outside the memorial. Right after we got out of the car and quickly bought the tickets, we went aboard the U.S.S Bowfin submarine. We got a very nice audio tour when we reached the sub which told us about each part of the ship. Baba enjoyed this tour the most, and still remembers all the facts like how Pearl harbor was bombed in 1941 December 7th at 7:41 am, and the peace treaty was signed in 1945 September 12 at 9:02 Am. We were all amazed at how small the sub was on the outside but how big it was on the inside. It was surprising how the crew remembered what each button, knob, and gauges did considering that each room had hundreds of them. Soon after we went to U.S.S Bowfin museum where we got another audio tour. This museum was nice and we got to see people who won medals, the controls panels, and one of the deadliest missile ever made called the Poseidon C-3. After we took a fifteen minute drive up to the U.S.S Missouri, one of the biggest U.S Navy ships ever that served in three wars and where the peace treaty that ended World War 2 was signed. In the museum, we saw an example of how the enormous pressure under water has an impact on objects - by showing how a Styrofoam cup had shrunk to almost a tenth of its original size. The torpedoes when launched would be filled with an equal amount of sea water so the submarine would not lose too much weight. Then we quickly had a lunch of yummy hot dogs and burgers. Now we have visited everything we wanted to in Hawaii and are slightly reluctant to go back to Seattle.
