Brothers & Sisters, A-L-O-HA! I am channeling my inner Aunt Kim for this post by bringing you our favorite Hawaiian Vacation Moments. [Warning. Long, LONG post. If you are short on time, skip down to almost the end for our favorite moment] So to begin...
The Mother Hen Moment
Sitting at the PDX airport waiting for our first flight, I look around in a panic for a moment until I remember the kids are not with us. They were at home being spoiled to death by a very loving Grandma Susan! This was my first time being away from Austin, and it showed. I may have gotten misty-eyed on the plane, but I eventually got used to it :)
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir Moment
We have found the next choir director for the Mo-Tab Choir. He is in the Waimea 1st Ward leading the music for Sacrament Meeting. I have never seen any hymns being led with such passion. I wish I had brought my phone in so I could secretly take a short video so you could see what I mean. Non-existent were the steady-beat, low-volume versions of the hymns. The music rose and fell in volume, sped and slowed in all the best ways, and the organist had better be paying close attention! By the end, Ryan and I were singing with gusto right along with the other ward members. Seriously, it was THE BEST.
Also blowing us away in the Waimea 1st Ward, the prelud(ist?). When we walked in at the start of the meeting, a young man was up at the piano playing the most beautiful arrangements of hymns I had ever heard. We admired the music until the meeting was about to start. Just then, the young man's mother walked up to the stand, and the young man grabbed her elbow. She led him down to their seats in the congregation. HE WAS BLIND! Not only that, but when he later bore his amazing testimony, you could tell that he also had some other handicaps. Did ANY of those handicaps get in the way of his amazing talent or testimony? No sir! Amazing.
The 9,000 Feet Moment
We took full advantage of the rental Jeep by driving up to Mauna Kea for sunset/stargazing one evening. On our way up from the Hilo side of the island, I worried we wouldn't be able to see any stars. It was really cloudy and rainy. Then we drove up the mountain.
The clouds ended. Problem Solved.
From up on the mountain, we saw the most beautiful sunset ever. EVER. (Mauna Loa is in the distance)
See? I told you. Ryan & I decided it was what heaven looks like because we were up above the clouds.
The sign is blurry, but still proves an important point. You don't mess around at 9,000 ft. We didn't drive all the way to the summit (14,000 ft) because apparently there were hurricane force winds at the top. BUT, we were still able to see a lot of stars from the visitor center.
The Best Place to Eat Dinner Moment
We only ate dinner at the hotel once, but it was awesome! This was the view:
From our Table. The food was just okay (and overpriced. But its okay...we suffered through a timeshare presentation to pay for it). BUT the view made up for it.
The Read the Guidebook Moment
We took a day to drive north to where the highway ends just past Hawi. It overlooks a valley and a black sand beach. To get down to the beach, you hike down on a steep, zig-zagging trail.
This is what we wore. Shorts and flip-flops.
Next time, we will read the guidebook which specifically says, "WEAR GOOD SHOES". But hey, the locals were skipping down the trail in their flip flops, so why not? The beach was gorgeous, by the way :)
The Violation of Rental Agreement Moment
We read the fine print (later) and found that if we drive to South Point or Green Sands Beach, we would be in violation of our rental car agreement. Oops.
Ryan standing at the southernmost point in the USA.
Ryan proudly standing in front of our Jeep at the top of Green Sands Beach.
There are a bunch of local guys at the beginning of the trail 3 miles back who will take you here for $30, but we figured our Jeep could handle the 4-Wheeling just as well as their trucks.
It could. (Good Job Ry! I should probably mention that my eyes were closed for most of the ride)
The Mahana-You-Ugly Moment
I'm sure only LDS tourists think this is funny, but the Green Sands Beach is also called Mahana Bay. We kept quoting Johnny Lingo during our stay at the beach.
The sand really is green! And, more surprisingly, it sparkles. When you look up close the grains of sand are actually little pieces of green crystals.
We didn't swim here, although we could have if we had brought our suits. Instead we chilled and drank our Aloha POG juice and ate granola bars from Costco. Thanks Malufaus for teaching us how to survive on juice and chocolates from Costco while in Hawaii!!! :)
The WHAT THE HECK ARE WE DOING???!!! Moment (Part 1)
The only activities we booked on this trip were a catamaran sail/snorkel and a scuba diving trip. Due to high surf, our trips got pushed back to our last day in Hawaii. We didn't have any high expectations...thought we would probably see a few fish and the mantas on the night dive. No biggie. Boy were we wrong.
Pulling out of the harbor, we saw tons of dolphins. At least 100. It was so cool! They were jumping and spinning all over the place. Then we saw a whale and calf come up for air and some tail action within a few yards of our boat! Amazing.
After we finished snorkeling at the reef, we headed back to the harbor. On the way back, our captain noticed a boat sitting out in open water. He figured they were looking at something, so we went to check it out. All of a sudden, we hear our captain say, "Whale shark. WHALE shark. HURRY GET YOUR GEAR ON!!!"
Ryan and I geared up with snorkels and fins and sat on the edge of the boat waiting for the captain to give us the go ahead to jump off. We looked at each other and thought, "Um, WHAT THE HECK ARE WE ABOUT TO DO?"
This is what we saw when we jumped in.
A whale shark about 30 ft long. Yes, I know it only eats plankton, but really, the thing was huge. And looks very much like a shark.
NO, that's not me in the polka dot bikini. That is our first-mate Sari. She was so excited she could hardly contain herself. Apparently whale shark sightings are pretty rare in Hawaii. Our captain has only seen 2 since he started captaining 6 years ago. And he goes out every day.
Yes, that's a dog. It belongs to one of the other boats that stopped. It has no fear and has been known to herd dolphins. At one point it was standing on the shark's nose.
Sari hanging on for a ride.
My brave husband even touched it. Please note that Ryan is way closer to the camera in this shot, so it doesn't do the shark justice on size.
It was beautiful and didn't seem to mind us at all.
The WHAT ARE WE DOING??? Moment (Part 2)
As if that wasn't enough (it was...our adrenaline was seriously going) that night we had our first night scuba dive with Manta Rays. We didn't have a camera, but this is pretty much what it looked like. (Thank you Kona Honu divers website :)
Jumping in was the hardest part because the plankton is attracted to lights on our boat, which attracts the mantas. Ryan had to jump sideways off the boat to avoid landing on a manta!
The Chillaxin' Moment(s)
Looking at these pictures is hard now that we are back in Winter again. We did lots of driving and saw lots of things, but our favorite thing to do was hang out and relax at Hapuna State Beach. White sand, clean(ish) bathrooms, and pretty good boogie-boarding waves.
Not going to lie, at more than one point here Ryan and I asked each other..."Can we move here?"
Doesn't get better than this. Ryan--start saving up your PTO/Credit Card points again! I know what I want to do next year!
