Fairwinds II

CHECKING IN

Last year at the Chocolate Festival I won in the silent auction (Seriously, out here some silent auctions are actually a way to get a BARGAIN!) an afternoon snorkel cruise for two on the Fairwind.  Whenever I scope the racks of brochures outside places like Walmart, I always look longingly at the brochure for the Hula Kai.   The Fairwind is a sister ship to the Hula Kai.

This past Saturday we finally booked the cruise.  (Good thing too since it expired on October 13th) We checked in and they had a very nice waiting area.  Though, I will say that the parking lot was pretty rough considering how nice the set up is down by the dock. I was a little worried because the weather was looking gray and overcast the whole darn way we drove around South Point.

A little side trip in this narrative: There are three ways to get from my side of the island (Hilo side) to the other side (Kona side) 1) Saddle Road (up the middle), 2) Upper Road (up the Waimea way), 3) Around South Point (Down the bottom of the island).  I always go Route 1 or 2...but Chris wanted to go Route 3 and he was driving.  When we stopped at Punalu'u Bakery I ran into an old Mt. View elementary friend who has moved to Oahu a few years ago! What a small island(s) it is!  Anyway, my point is that it took over three hours to get from Keaau to Keauhou and so I would just like to point out...my routes are faster.  Just sayin' (the woman is always right ;p).

 

THE FAIRWIND II

Now that I have taken you on a driving tour of the Big Island, it's back to our adventures on the high seas!  We boarded the Fairwind with these nifty plastic boarding passes they give you (like the ones on the cruise ships only you don't get to keep theirs...what a shame...they are losing out on a merchandizing/souvenir opportunity here).  The captain raised the sail and we promptly motored our way out to Kealakekua Bay.  Yes, you read that right...we raised a sail and then used our engines.  Chris was confused and so I responded...the sail is decorative (like, DUH!).  I'm sure he actually knew, I just didn't give him a chance to tell me ;p  

We finally reached the bay and rounded the corner to see the Captain Cook monument.  This marks the site where he was killed and the land around it actually belongs to the UK.

CAPTAIN COOK MONUMENT

After a safety briefing it was time to get in the water.  I was overjoyed because even though the water was extremely flat the whole journey and I was wearing a seasickness patch, I really really hate being in boats (Big ones, small ones, some as big as your head!  No, really, I hate ALL boats.).  I was shocked how cold the water was, but being as I'm miserable on a boat I hopped right into the freezing water.

VIEW OF PART OF THE REEF FROM THE BOAT

I was totally unprepared for the beauty underwater.  Chris was perfectly content to just go diving immediately into the deeper water, but I am a lazy snorkeler and just want to be able to float around and have the fish likerightthere. 

CHRIS ASCENDING

We saw all kinds of fish:

SCHOOL OF YELLOW TANG & TRIGGERFISH

TRUMPET FISH

PART OF AN EEL! (CHRIS SAW IT, NOT ME)

NEEDLE FISH

CHRIS POKING AROUND (NOT LITERALLY, HE KNOWS TO RESPECT THE REEF)

CHRIS WITH A SCHOOL OF TANGS

PENNANT BUTTERFLY

I THINK A TRUMPET FISH (BUT A REALLY WEIRD LOOKING ONE)

ORNATE BUTTERFLY

 After swimming around for an hour and a half it was time to head back to the boat.  I was shocked that I managed to swim around for that long.  I guess trying to keep up with Chris kept me warm.  We climbed back on the boat, but not before Chris got in one last hurrah!

JUMPING OFF THE BOAT

I was not feeling that great on the boat ride back, but I survived and I definitely perked up when we were approaching the harbor and a bunch of spinner dolphins starting jumping and swimming in the waves made be the boats.  It was really awesome.  Here's a picture of one:

CAN YOU FIND THE DOLPHIN?

I'm going to have to upload the videos to YouTube and attach them later (supposed to be studying now).  The videos aren't anything special, but it's still pretty cool.

THEN as we pulled into the harbor there was a baby giant manta ray just swimming along.  I wish I had gotten a picture, but I couldn't get the camera out in time.

All in all the day was really nice and I loved snorkeling in Kealakekua Bay.  Here's the final picture of our trip and my favorite picture of the trip:

SUNSET

CHRIS TOOK THIS AWESOME PICTURE OF ME WITH THE FISH

Champagne Pond

This past week was fall break here in Hawaii.  We didn't plan for much because I think both of us just needed a real break.  Luckily our friends from Oahu, the Buelow family, were renting a cottage in Kapoho and we spent a day hanging out with them.  The house they rented was right against Champagne Pond.  I had always wanted to go there, but couldn't convince Chris because he seemed to think we'd already seen it.  Champagne Pond is a natural pool of the most crystal clear water.  What's even better is that it's heated with freshwater that's heated from the volcano.  The warmed freshwater doesn't make it really hot, more like a really pleasant temperature to splash around in.

CHAMPAGNE POND AND IT'S "BEACH"

 As you can see from the above picture it has a "black-sand" beach, which doesn't really feel very beachy since the rocks aren't broken up into a sandy texture.  It's definitely a "beach" that made me glad that I had swim booties on!

The Buelows are: Mark, Steph and their two sons, Gavin and Dylan. I won't post too many pictures of the Buelow boys since that's more Steph's story to tell (She has her own blog too!), but I do want to include some of my favorites.

GAVIN, THE SNORKELER

DYLAN (THEY CALL HIM A BADGER)

This picture just makes me laugh and think of all the times I've had with Lindsey and Greg :)  I guess it's just the experience that all siblings have!

BROTHERLY LOVE

 While we were hanging out, Steph got some really amazing news so it was so neat to be there with her and her family for that.  But I won't tell since it's Steph's story to tell (again!).

Chris and I decided to take out the underwater camera housing and go for a swim (the pond is pretty small).

ME THROWING SHAKAS

Chris found a cave/ ledge thing that you could swim under and since it was low tide you could actually breath a little once you sat up a little.  He hung out there for awhile and convinced me to give it a try.  I thought that I saw something gross lurking in the back and so I wasn't too thrilled to hang out under th

DOESN'T EVEN LOOK LIKE I AM UNDERWATER AND IN A CAVE!

We swam to the back and this is what it looked like, looking out towards the ocean:

I was goofing around while Chris explored...

SOMERSAULTING

So I didn't even realize he was taking pictures while I turned somersaults in the water! My snorkel wouldn't stay clipped to my mask for some reason and it was a big pain trying to keep putting it back on so I just stopped trying.  I still kept swimming though.

It was hard to stay underwater since the water was so shallow and it resulted in some weird pictures.

AWKWARD

The bottom of the pond was really neat.  The rocks were different colors.  Mostly we saw a lot of yellow rocks.  It's probably the reaction of the rock/water/volcanic gases.

BOTTOM OF CHAMPAGNE POND

Chris had the camera for most of the time which is why I'm in a lot of pictures.

HANGING OUT ON A ROCK PILE

 I did take some pictures, mostly of the fish.  Mostly I saw these striped guys everywhere.  I don't know what kind of fish they are, but they are little. UPDATE: Chris says these are manini...which mean 'little' in Hawaiian!

We hung out at the beach for a little while. The kids snacked and the adults talked before we decided to pack up and head back (literally just swimming across a little 6 foot area) to their rental.

We spent some time hanging out.  Mark made some banana and peanut butter sandwiches and we ate everything in their house it seemed!

This is the amazing pond they had in the front of their house...the rocks are blue!

This is the pond they have in the back of their house! On the other side of the wall that Mark is standing on is Champagne Pond...told you it was convenient!

  

After we ate lunch and Dylan napped, we packed up in the Buelow's rented van and did a little drive down the coastline.  We stopped at Mackenzie State Park for the boys to explore a giant lava tube.  Steph, Dylan and I stayed up top, but it seemed like the boys had a lot of fun.  They went through on lava tube and then it opens up into a little path before another, bigger and deeper lava tube.

CHRIS AND GAVIN (I SWEAR HE WAS ACTUALLY HAPPY!)

After the lava tube we hit up Luquin's for some Mexican food before it was time to say good-night to the Buelows.  We had so much fun hanging out with the Buelows! (It made me more than a little Oahu-sick...boohoo!)