ALOHA...This was the perfect place to thaw out and recover from some jet lag. After a 9 hour flight and a 16 hour time change (reliving Friday), We landed in Hawaii to a pleasant 27 degrees, after picking up our car we had a 30 minute journey to the east coast where we stayed in Kailua. Kailua has a small town appeal with a gorgeous stretch of white sandy beach. Quite a distance away from the tourist trap of Waikiki and over crowded beaches. A quick change out of our travelling clothes and donned our bathers and proceeded to walk the 250 steps to the beach from our cute little bungalow. The trade winds were up and the sky was cloudy and grey, but that didn't stop us. The kids had a great time swimming and even though the rain came, for all of 2 minutes, they continued to splash and roll with the waves.
Diamond Head (Le'ahi)
This massive crater erupted some 300,000 years ago during a single, brief eruption. It was now time to climb the 754 feet ( km) high and with a 2.2 km by foot to the summit. The crater comprises 475 acres and this includes to the rim and outer slopes of the crater. The information board clearly stated that we were in for a 1.5 to 2 hour return trip walk for the 2.2 km, not really sure which demographics they were stating this for, but we did it in less than 30 minutes, one way, with 2 kids. We promised the kids a snow cone at the bottom if they made it to the top, onward and upward.
It received the name Diamond Head when the Western explorers came through in the late 1700's, they thought they were seeing diamonds in the rock on the slope of the crater, when in actual fact they were calcite crystals.
Now for a yummy snow cone.
Dolphin Excursion (Tony writes);
A long drive with annoying Annie, our nickname for the GPS, telling us how to get there. Finally after an hour of driving at over the speed limit we arrived with 15 minutes to spare. The crew of the Dolphin Star were fantastic and very welcoming . Not far out from the harbour the skipper slowed down to allow is to see a great big sea turtle floating off our port side. 20 minutes out to the dolphin sanctuary and it was well worth the trip. Bottle Nose dolphins and Spinner dolphins were abundant, amazing to see Spinner dolphins launching out of the water and doing their tricks. Almost impossible to get the perfect photo of them in mid air flight but still awesome to see.
Back to the harbour to drop a few people off then out to the south for snorkelling with the fish. A nice relaxing snorkel session for us all, numerous fish swimming around very close to us . The second location for our snorkel started with the Metcalf kids deciding doing dive bombs off the side of the boat was better than snorkelling, so I joined in a great session as 'bombies' ensued. Emma and I went out for a snorkel just in time to see a Bottle Nose dolphin swimming close by. A very surreal experience to be floating in the water, head just below the surface, breathing through our snorkels like we belong in the water only to see such a majestic water creature cruise by and show us what it is really like to belong in the sea underwater, simply amazing.
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