Random Pics

Fun 

Looking through the photos taken so far I figure I'd better add a few of these in here just so I don't forget about them, just some random shots.

At the entrance to the Thurston Lava Tube

Very large fern 

Trying to take a selfie at the crater rim

Saw lots of goats but no donkeys or wild boar!

Annual beach babe shot  :)

Playing with the woohoo ball

Hapuna Beach boogie boarding

Paddle ball

Friends' last night dinner at Lava Lava

These pics will be fun to look back on to remind us of our time here on the Big Island with good friends.  They've had to head home, but family will be arriving in a few days so things will start to get pretty lively around here!

Water Sports Day & Four Seasons Sunset

Aloha Days

Three days a week over at A Bay there's some water sports equipment that can be used from 10am to 2pm for a flat rate.  We made use of the water bikes, kayaks and also went out on the glass bottom boat.

'A' Bay - shortened name for Anaehoomala - a good place to have some fun and soak up some rays.

Four Seasons Resort - 'Hualalai'

We do like to see how the rich and famous roll so in the evening we drove about twenty minutes down the highway to the Hualalai resort.  It doesn't need too many words to describe it - just beautiful.

Beach Tree Restaurant - one of several at the resort, this is where we spent the evening

Chocolate bon bon - served on dry ice - fancy!

 

One of the best places on the Big Island to watch the sun go down.......

Akaka Falls and the Volcano

Akaka Falls

We drove up north and around to the other side of the Big Island to see the Akaka Falls, it's a beautiful walk through what looks and feels like a rain forest.

Huge bamboo stalks

Banyan tree along the walkway to the falls

Akaka Falls

Volcano

From there we drove through Hilo and went to the Volcano State Park where we wandered through the sulphur fields.

Visitors must stay on the boardwalk as the sulphur holes are everywhere

Open hole where sulphur gas escapes from the ground

Yellow sulphur

The volcano is right across from the sulphur fields so we walked over to the crater rim and looked in onto the crater floor.  

It was fairly clear with just cloud in the skies so we had a good view of the volcano.  The Volcano House restaurant was great with a window table so we could see out clearly...

 ...but as we waited for dusk to fall the fog rolled in so we couldn't see anything... maybe next time...

2018 Hawaiian Invitational Tennis Tournament

Waikoloa Colony Villas

Every other year we have our tennis tournament here in Hawaii and this year we hosted it at the Colony Villas where we're staying.  We woke up to mixed sun and cloud so it was the perfect day for it.

Our tournament director posting the teams and rules

We were to come up with team names, so they are:

Shirley and Jay - Waikoloa Wannabes
Val and Greg - Team Gallerie
Colleen and Ken - The Kona Krushers
Bri and Ted - The Lava Longboards

And now a few tourny shots:

2018 Participants

It was another year of fun on the court, this years' winners are Brianna and Ted!

The Lay of the Land

We rented bikes the other morning and toured around the Marriott and Hilton area to check things out.  Jay lost a sprocket on his fancy one speed cruiser so he had to go back and trade it in but then we were off and ridin'...

The pool area with the waterfall at the Hilton is so pretty, but we were only looky-loos.

Met up at Tommy Bahamas for happy hour

Yesterday Ted went to play some tennis at the Mauna Kea club so we tagged along and went to the beach.  We figured we may as well since we had access to parking there as he was playing.  

A little bit of frisbee action waiting for the sunset

Sun peeking out behind the clouds as it sets lower, a beautiful spot...

First Beach Day

Mauna Kea Beach

I can't think of a better beach to start off with than Mauna Kea.  We were there before 8:00 am this morning to make sure we could get a parking spot!

The waves were small but the weather and company great, so it was a good combination...

Sand Castles - always fun!

Almost enough wave action to boogie board - but not quite really.

And a beach walk is always a good way to end your time at the beach!  After that it was time to leave and go back to the condo to tidy up before the Hula Show at the Shops at Mauna Lani.

We're Off!

Bellingham - Seattle - Big Island

We're on our way to Hawaii but we've got a five hour layover in Seattle.  We're making the most of it at the Alaska Lounge - free food and beverages, comfy chairs and great company!

Ted's got a game plan of course - he's showing us all what's happening for the next two weeks...

A few hours from now it'll be us taking off and heading to the warm weather!