United States
Wai‘ōhinu Park

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    • Day 15

      Day 15- Leaving Kona

      March 10, 2020 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 66 °F

      We checked out of our Kona resort, but grabbed a quick geocache right in front of the resort before leaving and turning south. We stopped by Shelley and Paul's place, less than 20 min down the road, to drop off a couple of things she had lined us. It was wonderful to see their gardens in the sunlight, with pineapples, bananas, medicinal Marijuana(!) and spend a little more time with them. Then we headed to Pu'uhonua o Honaunau, or Place of Refuge, a national historic park. It had some thatched structures and a great wall of lava rock that was up to 12 ft tall and at least as wide. After doing the walk around the historic part, we also walked accustomed the lava beach in the park to a large tide pool and saw lots of beautiful tropical fish, without having to snorkel. Then walked to the picnic grounds and had a picnic lunch and enjoyed the beach. It was all lava rock, and a bit of a challenge to walk on, but the water was warm and the was also a great tide pool there. After a few hours there we headed on down the road toward our next destination. But first we got hungry so stopped at a local bar and grill for dinner - fish tacos again for Larry and seafood chowder for me. We both shared and had a good meal. Finally arrived at my cousin Karen's house (Shelley's older sister) where we are staying at her air bnb rental for the next three nights. It is an older house with a large living and dining room. Her gorgeous big house is on the same property. We had a nice visit on the deck with Karen and her husband Cliff before heading to bed.Read more

    • Day 16

      DY 16- Na'ahelu

      March 11, 2020 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 70 °F

      Cousin Karen wanted to be a tour guide for us this morning. She picked a bunch of ti leaves for a project later. First stop was Punalu'u Bake Shop, amazing sweet breads and maladadas(Portuguese donuts) 🥯🥯😋😋. Will probably stop the again. Then we went to a farmers market/craft vendors in her town, it was nice and Karen knew most of the folks. We sat with a friend of hers while she taught me how to make a rope Lei out of the ti leaves picked earlier. Pretty neat craft, I liked how it turned out. Then we went a few more miles down the road to the famous black sand beach called Punalu'u, where green sea turtles are often on the beach lying in the sun. The black sand is really tiny beads of lava, it's really interesting. While no turtles were on the beach, we saw a lot of them swimming not far offshore. Pretty disappointing as we see turtle symbols everywhere and have yet to see a live turtle. Back to the air bnb for lunch. We relaxed a bit and wandered around Karen's beautiful tropical gardens. We decided to check back at the turtle beach but tide was coming in, waves were hight and no turtles on the beach, just swimming and popping up their heads to breathe. So we found a couple of geocaches nearby before heading to a local Cafe for supper. Hope we can see the turtles before we leave here.Read more

    • Day 18

      Day 18- Volcanoes NP PT 2 to Hilo

      March 13, 2020 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 72 °F

      We said goodbye to Karen after Andrew and Dani both had a run. One last time we stopped at the black sand beach and it was a happy day for Larry! There were TWO sea turtles up on the beach, just chilling. Then we headed back to Volcanoes NP and did the same walks with Andrew and Dani that we did yesterday, and then drove down the volcano past vast "fields" of lava as far as we could see all the way down to the ocean. A powerful sight. It was cooler and cloudy today with light rain much of the day. 😕🌨️
      After the park we headed to Hilo where we checked into a very nice 2 bedroom home for our Air bnb for the next two nights. Had dinner at a Thai restaurant, picked up a few groceries and called it a day.
      Read more

    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Wai‘ōhinu Park, Wai'ohinu Park

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