Aloha! We took a mini-vacation to Hilo and the "other side" of the island. Hilo is on the east side of the island and is actually the rainiest city (if you can call it that) in the US. Unfortunately for us, the whole island except for Kona has been experiencing drought like conditions which made the waterfalls a little twinky. It's interesting though because the east side is waaaaaaay greener and has a lot of gullys and gulches that cut through the belt road (main road around the island).

All in all, Hilo was pretty quiet and somewhat unexciting. They do have a mall though. That was cool.The next day we went to Waipio Valley. We took a 4x4 SUV down into the valley to a stable and then road horseback throughout the valley. It was AWESOME. First of all there is one road in/out and it has a 25-32% grade. It drops 900ft in less than a mile which is RIDICULOUS. 4x2 cars/trucks can't make it down. It felt like the back of the car was going to flip over the front. And to make it more interesting it's a one lane road so you have to stop at certain points to make sure no one is coming up. There are people who live down there but most do not have running water, electricity, etc. They use generators and grow taro. Some of them looked kinda weird but all in all seemed like an interesting bunch of people. Danny's horse, Journey, was a mello guy and took good care of him. My horse, Mighty Mouse, was a little pushy and always wanted to be at the front of the pack. We HIGHLY recommend doing this to anyone who comes to visit. The valley is unbelievably gorgeous.

On our way home, we were able to sit in our car on the side of the road just south of Waimea and look at Hualalai, Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa, and Kohala. It was pretty cool. Kohala was covered in clouds and Mauna Loa was only giving a peep show but it was still amazing to sit there and look at the peaks of all the volcanos that produced the island. Hualalai is the one we live on and usually we don't get to see her from the northeast side so it was quite a treat!

Wishing a belated father's day to both of our dads and Matt and most importantly Kevin, for his first father's day!!!!! Hope it was a good one!

Our Trip to the Other Side

Photobucket Album

MANTAS!

This is Lefty. He is a Manta Ray. He is eating all the tiny plankton that were attracted to our flashlights. He was probably about 10ft wide wingtip to wingtip. Unfortunately these pix do NOT do the Manta dive justice. It was like being in

another world. Lights everywhere and these huge, graceful mantas doing loopdeeloops and grazing the tops of our heads. It was sooooooo cool!

George, the morey eel, is apparently a fixture at the manta night dives. He only catches 1 of every 15 fish he tries to eat. Poor guy. He actually got nailed by a manta and ended up slithering around our arms and tanks. Kinda creepy but totally fun at the same time. Also, Danny was not thrilled that I took a shot of him (with the flash!) with about a foot between us. Oops.

Starting next weekend, Danny and I will have TWO WHOLE DAYS off together every week. YIPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! The weather has been so so. Warm...yes. Dry? that's a whole nother story. It's been raining cats and dogs here every day (at 1100ft at least) and yet there is a drought on the east side of the island which is considered the rainiest place in the US. Go figure.

aloha!

AMAZING!!

This picture was actually taken a couple of weeks ago by our friends Alan and Greta. On the last day of my SCUBA certification we were heading to our second dive site and caught sight of a pod of pygmy killer whales. They don't actually look like killer whales and aren't nearly as big. Apparently they don't usually travel so close to shore but we lucked out. Jeff, the captain of the boat, got in front of the pod and we had the opportunity to throw on our snorkel gear, quietly slip into the water, and swim as fast as we could to get this close. It was beautiful and awe inspiring. They were so quiet and moved so fast. It was definitely a once in a lifetime moment.
aloha

Dolphins and Octopus

I forgot to mention that this past sunday I was invited to "swim" with dolphins and Danny went on his first shore dive to see the reefs. A client of Kona Vet owns her own boating/charter business. She primarily does dolphin tours where you drive up the coast (on the water) and find one of the big pods of spinner dolphins and then follow them, snorkel with them around you, etc. It was actually pretty cool. Her website is http://www.dolphinjourneys.com
Danny's trip gave him the opportunity to see an octopus as well as a bunch of fish, a lava tube, and some eels. Pictures? Yeah....neither of us took any!!!!! HA!

On the bright side we'll be diving together tomorrow night on the Manta Dive. We bought an underwater camera JUST for that trip so stay tuned....if anything there will be pictures of me or Danny in our SCUBA gear which should be enough for a giggle.
aloha

P.S here is the link to our other pix... http://s179.photobucket.com/albums/w309/lsogrady/May%202007/

We're back online!

We're back! These are the latest photos. I know it doesn't seem like there are that many but trust me...you'll thank me for culling. ANYhow, a girl I work with was kind enough to take us and the boys to a trail waaaaay up at about 4000 ft or so. It's like being on another island because it's cool, lush, wet, and cloudy. Apparently we need to beware of aggressive wild pigs...who knew?!?! The boys loved their new trail and are looking forward to rooting out the pigs...at least Monty is!

The Biscuit is becoming a neighborhood favorite since I have to start it at least ten minutes before driving it and then have to step on the gas pedal to rev the engine so it idles lower therefore making it driveable. GOOD TIMES! Our neighbors love us at 6:30am....who wouldn't?!?!?

aloha,
L&D