We got to the airport, then headed to the rental companies to get a car. Budget was sold out, so we headed to the Thrifty. They wanted $400 for a car for the week... Joe had looked online at Budget earlier and it quoted $250. So, we headed to National. While he checked there, I went online and checked the other rental places. Avis wanted about $300, so I reserved a car and we headed over there. Nice that we ended up saving $100 just by checking online quick. :p
We picked up Mary without a problem and got to the place we were staying. It's super cute. It's the middle floor in a house (the house is built on the hillside) and is completely separate from the top and bottom floors.
In the morning, we picked up some snorkel gear and headed north. Unfortunately, a lot of the possible places were pretty choppy. We did end up snorkeling for a bit in one place, but it was a bit murky.
From there, we headed to Hawi to have lunch at the Bamboo restaurant. It was very good. We kept going to Pulolu Bay, which is at the end of the road. The walk down to the water was a little painful, but it was worth it. The beach was gorgeous as well as the forest. There were huge ropes all over the place. It was like a boy scout playground sometimes... So odd.
The drive back was nice and we had dinner at home. The next morning we headed out for some early snorkeling. There is a protected bay pretty much right in town. It was shallow and relatively busy, but there were fish everywhere. We also saw 2-4 turtles. It was great. It was good we got there when we did. It was packed when we were leaving.
From there we headed south to check out the sights. We stopped at a few Kona Coffee places. They provide a number of free samples and one of the places you can watch the coffee getting roasted, etc. The farthest south we went was to Pu'uhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park. It was a gorgeous area. From there, we headed back home, dropped Mary off in the touristy shopping area of Kailua-Kona and headed home. Joe will be picking her up shortly.
So, basically lazy day, but still fun.-Miranda
;)
Neat flowers around the isle. (Click on photo for larger.)
Joe and me in front of Pulolu Bay.
;)
Some amusing signage. (Click for larger.)
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I met Donald Howard at the hostel after returning from our trip to Hana with Laura. I explained our cave adventures and he was enthused.
I brought the idea of heading back together for some thorough investigation and he was game. It was great, we drove back out there, almost to Hana (2hrs) after having bought underwater flashlights and a mask for him. We took our time in the frigid water, searching around for underwater passages, which i wasn't even sure would be there. We found TONS. and it was glorious. He was a great search buddy. A little more comfortable with diving, he led the way most of the time, finding air pockets and then taking turns pointing the lights straight down as a navigation aid, etc. Eventually after finding a giant, completely otherwise inaccessible cavern, we took a long dive down and back up and out a different pool than we had started in!!! It was crazy. I drew a map showing the different areas we explored and routes for others.
-Joe
;)
The map (click picture to see it larger.)
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We slept in some this morning. We got up at 7 and relaxed a little. We left Hana around 8:30. We stopped along the way to pick up two women hitchhiking into town. Made the ride more interesting. They both had very unique names, of course I can't remember either of them now. :p
One was from North Dakota and lived in Minneapolis for a while. She's been on Maui for a year this time. The other girl was from Philly and has been on Maui for 6 years. We had a good time chatting with them.
Once into town, we dropped them off, then headed back to Down To Earth, a completely vegetarian grocery store. Their deli options are great, so we had lunch there. Then it was time to head to the airport and drop Laura off.
It sounds like she left and got back to LA without a problem and a nice smooth ride. When we left the airport though, we headed back to North Shore Hostel. We are staying here for a couple nights. We've been mostly working. Tomorrow we'll probably head to the nearby I'ao State Park for a hike. If we want to just have the weekly rate for the rental car, we'll have to return it on Friday, so we may head to the Big Island then. Mary is meeting us there on Monday. It would be nice to get settled a little before she comes.
-Miranda
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We left @ 6:30 am from the far West side of the island to drive a massive figure 8 pattern to the far East end.
We went for a few short hikes to small waterfalls, and along little creeks. They were all nicer than most found scattered all over us, rathen than mile after mile of them.
Stopped for lunch at a roadside bus-cafe 'Cafe Romantico' All Vegetarian, All amazing food, I had great focaccia slice, Miranda had a good samosa and Laura had a quiche.
Afterwords we went to the Waianapanapa State Park. Took a loop trail that visited some freshwater cliff-pools and heard stories of a Water-cave that eventually comes out up the side of the cliff a ways a way!! I just had to try this.. . But i could not get Miranda or Laura on board. After I was already treading water in the pool, prepping to swim into the caves myself, another girl (A stranger) was entering and offered to try out the adventure with me. We swam in, me holding a small flashlight above my head.. After about 40 feet of cool cavern with deeper than can touch cool water, We had to climb out of the water a bit, then slip through a hole smaller than 2ft in diameter. This hole dropped us into another freshwater cave (couldn't touch) so we swam 50 feet in there to a steep volcanic lava tube, after managing to rock-climb a bit out of there we appeared out of a cave exit in the cliff wall about 50 feet up and 100 feet from where we started. This was so much fun, I managed to talk Miranda and then Even Laura into attempting it with me a second time, and they both did well and had fun. Supa Cool. Checked out he black beaches and shore-caves a bit.
Final big stop was the seven-sacred pools area- this was an amazing 4 mile hike, Stupendous bamboo trail walk, super high waterfall, river-pools, bridges, all great.
Aloha cottages in Hana rented us a great 2 bedroom full amenities 70's cabin for $100, so that worked sweet.
We looked for dinner, but only found pasta for $23 a plate... Decided on store-bought dinner, veg burgers,chips and hummus, and ice cream cost $29!! Expensive groceries, but cheap considering options. Was a great big 5-star day.
-Joe
A day late, but Laura and Miranda on top of Haleakala. Super windy!
An amusing sign at one of the stops.
Joe in the awesome bamboo forest.
Laura and Miranda in front of the super high waterfall.
The main room/kitchen of the cottage.
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In the morning, we headed for Yellowstone. Our hope was to head out hwy 212 towards Billings, but it closes in mid-October. When we went into the park, they had a big sign saying it was closed, so we planned for a different route. It still took us through a part of the park we hadn't been to yet.
We stopped at most of the stops this time. We say the Norton Geyser Basin, the Lower Falls, the Mud Volcanoes and a bunch more. It was lots of fun and lots of walking, though tiring. We ended up leaving Yellowstone around 5pm and started working our way towards Billings.
We got to Billings last night and just stayed in a Walmart parking lot. This morning, we were getting up to go have breakfast with Sara (Joe's sister) and her boyfriend. It was fun to be able to sit and chat for a bit.
We are now on the road and headed for home. Our hope is to get at least partway through North Dakota today, find someplace to stay, then be home tomorrow night.
I'll get photos posted once we get home.
-Miranda
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