We had dinner at Singha Thai; we were seated in their beautiful outdoor patio area.
On Friday, Tom and I took
TheBus out to Hanauma Bay to go snorkeling.
On Saturday, Laura, Tom and I flew to Hawaii "The Big Island", and stayed overnight at the Volcano Bed and Breakfast in Volcano, HI. We drove down the Chain of Craters Road and hiked for 1 1/2 hours out to the spot where lava has recently started flowing again out of the Pu'u o'o vent.
The hike starts out on the road that used to continue along the coast, but after about 1/2 mile we got to a place where lava had covered the road several years ago; we passed a "No parking" sign sticking out of the hardened lava; a little bit more road, then a couple miles of lava fields before we reached a place where we could stand right next to the glowing lava which was creeping across the landscape.
Here's a short video that we took of the molten lava. You'll have to look closely to see it moving. (It might take a while to download.)
We went to Mass at St. Theresa church in Mountain View, about halfway between Volcano Village and Hilo. As the mass was starting, they welcomed the visitors by giving us knitted leis to wear.
Sunday we took the park loop road around the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, to see the Kilauea craters.
Then we drove to South Point, the southernmost point in the U.S. The color of the water was just beautiful.
Along the way we stopped and bought desserts at the Punalu'u Bake Shop - "The Southernmost Bakery in the USA." We had dinner at Cafe Pesto in Hilo, before flying back to Honolulu.
Hilo Airport was unusual - I would have guessed it was a large barn or stable.
On Monday, Tom and I went on a whale watch / dolphin swim, on the "Island Spirit" out of Wai'anae, on the west coast of O'ahu.
Monday night, we went to the Duke Kahanamoku Statue on Waikiki Beach, where the city has a
web cam set up, and called Karl so he could see us (and lots of other people) waving at the camera.
We had dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise.
Tuesday, Laura took the day off and we all went to the
Polynesian Cultural Center, near Punalu'u, on the northeast coast of O'ahu. The "Samoan Fire Knife Dancer" and "Cousin Benny" were the most memorable entertainment; take a look at their videos on the PCC web site.
The pictures below show part of the "Pig Hunt" ceremony that they convinced several guests to take part in, and one of the boats in the "canoe pageant" that they presented in the afternoon.
Wednesday we went to the swap meet at the Aloha Stadium so Tom could buy his Aloha shirt; we also went swimming in Ala Moana Park (shown in the opening scene of Elvis's "Blue Hawaii".)
Thursday we hiked the short but steep trail to the top of Diamond Head. The entrance to the crater is through a tunnel built around 1910. From the top we could see the Diamondhead Lighthouse and Waikiki. There was something that looked like cactus growing in the crater, and we saw several Brazilian cardinals.
Later we went with Laura to the airport to pick up Mark, and we all went to Waikiki Beach and had dinner at Duke's.
