Hawaii

I just finished the Nicaragua post on my other blog so I feel almost guilty about posting about our Hawaii trip here.  What a crazy summer it's been.  To go from the beauty and extravagance of Hawaii to the poverty of Nicaragua three weeks later was quite ironic.  4 nights at our hotel in Hawaii (although we didn't pay for it) cost $1000;  the average annual income in Nicaragua is $1126.  I guess you could say two worlds collided for me this summer.  The funny thing is that I saw more joy in the faces of those who were dirt poor in Nicaragua than in the spoiled tourists in Hawaii.  Sad.  But all that being said, I was so grateful for our trip to Hawaii and for a husband who worked so hard last year to qualify for this trip.  I can't think of anywhere I'd have rather spent our 11th anniversary.  It was truly an unforgettable trip.

We had been to Maui twice before, on our honeymoon and 5-year anniversary, but this trip was to the big island Hawaii, so we were excited to see a new island.  We stayed at the Hilton Waikoloa which was an amazing resort.  It was on the ocean, but also had a lagoon with snorkeling and tons of pools and waterfalls.  It was so beautiful, I think the best part of our time here for me was just laying out and reading by the pool. 

The view from our room:

We were on our own most of the time, but we did have two company dinners.  The first one was kind of a luau theme and everyone got a lei. 

I thought this table full of leis was crazy!

Our good friends Brad, Ben, and Alicia that we hung out with much of the time.

The best thing about Jeremy qualifying for these trips is that they almost always fall on our anniversary.  To be in Hawaii was special enough in itself for me, so when Jeremy was deciding if he would golf with the guys that day, I didn't mind one bit.  He felt bad, but I'd rather be laying by the pool, reading a book by myself anyway!  So that morning he left early to golf, and when I woke up there was a note in the bathroom telling me to check my messages.  I turned on my phone and found an email from him listing my itinerary for the day.  It went something like this:  Breakfast will arrive at 8:00am, Lay out by the pool until 10:30am, Spa appointment at 11:00am, Dinner at 6:00pm.  Room service arrived and was delicious (despite the fact that they charged $5 just to deliver the card that Jeremy had taken down to them!),

the spa was amazing (got a massage and pedicure),

and dinner at the Kamuela Provision Company was breathtaking. 

When we were in Maui the last two times, my favorite thing was the turtles.  In Maui we saw a few while snorkeling, but they were rare.  Here on the big island they were everywhere.  

At our resort was a thing called Dolphin Quest where you could pay hundreds of dollars for a "dolphin experience."  It was neat to watch but I would never consider paying that kind of money for it.  Especially since later in the week we found ourselves snorkeling with dolphins for free. 

We certainly had some fancy foods while we were there.  Here are a few of the items, quite the contrast with the beans and rice I would eat everyday in Nicaragua a few weeks later.   

This was on a walk between our resort and the neighboring Marriott;  it was beautiful.

So we spent four days at the Hilton with American Family, then four days at another place we found on VRBO (Vacation Rental by Owner).  We'd had good luck with VRBO on Maui last time so we decided to try it again.  We found an amazing and very reasonable place south in Captain Cook (still on the big island.)  Here's the crazy steep driveway leading down to the place. 

 The owner lives in the main house to the left, then rents out this place to the right.

The inside was just as great as the pictures.

 The thing that sold me on it was the bathroom.

This was the view outside the jacuzzi, which I loved.  In Maui we had hiked through a bamboo forest and I always thought it was the most amazing place ever.  It's a joke with our friends Mike and Em who also went to Maui with us that we forgot the camera on the hike, so to find a place with this bamboo view was neat.

There were two main highlights of the rest of our time in Hawaii.  The first one was going down to the harbor each day and seeing all the huge fish that came in.  The first day we went we met a crew that had just caught a blue marlin and yellowfin tuna.  They let us hang out with them a long time and even watch them cut into the fish.

Yes, he is holding the head in his left hand.  :)

I think this was the biggest marlin we saw come in, at 600 lbs.  Look at the people in the background and you realize how big it really is.  

Fish weren't the only animals we saw.

These geckos were everywhere, including inside our house and at all the restaurants.

Okay, so the most amazing part of the week happened about 5 minutes from our place.  We had heard that the best snorkeling on the island was at a place called "Two-Step."  We decided to try it our first morning there, and sure enough, the snorkeling was great.  Lots of colorful fish and neat coral.  

We went back the next morning as well, and this morning another guy was also heading into the water.  Only this guy went swimming off to the right, as we were told to go to the left as we did the day before.  But we decided to follow him and are so glad we did, as suddenly we were surrounded by about 40 dolphins.  It was amazing. 

They were so close to us we could've touched them (you are obviously not supposed to.)  Sometimes they swim alone (like above) but most often they were in pairs like below -- I would assume it's a mom and a baby underneath. 

The neatest part was that they were jumping out of the water all over the place, right around us.  I don't have any pictures of this because the next day when we went back with an underwater camera, they were much more calm.  But you can imagine this picture I posted above and get the idea, except it was like 40 dolphins instead of 1. 

We also saw a few eagle rays while snorkeling, along with an octopus, eel, turtles, and lots of fish. 

 

One day we spent driving around the island, with stops at Volcanoes National Park,

 a super tall waterfall,

and a black sand beach.

 

It was a really great vacation, and much thanks to mom for watching the girls! 

God's beautiful creation is all around us, but it's hard to top Hawaii.