[< Previous Page]
[page 1] [page 2] [page 3] [page 4] [page 5] [page 6] [page 7] [page 8] [page 9] [page 10] [page 11] [page 12] [page 13] [page 14]
[Next Page >]
The next morning - Friday - dawned warm and hazy. Not that surprising, considering that we were on the north-west coast of the Big Island of Hawai'i: the leeward side, almost always dry, and mostly sunny. This was quite apparent when looking at the landscape outside the bounds of the well-watered grounds of Waikoloa. Everything was arid and brown.

We were a bit tired of the continuous and random appearance of showers and rain, though, so we were happy for a few days of guaranteed warm and sun. The objective for today was simple: go back down to Hapuna Beach State Park and relax in the sun, maybe do a bit of swimming and snorkeling, read the newspaper or a book, and that was all. Normal people vacation stuff.
Paniolo Greens
Kitchen volcano view
Paniolo Greens living room
Golfers, Paniolo Greens
Paniolo Turkey
Colorful turkey gobbledystuff
We made ourselves a tasty breakfast of bacon and eggs, then gathered our beach stuff up and drove down to Hapuna Beach. We got a little off-course on the way, but were rewarded by driving by a very quaint historical church. We arrived at the beach at about 9:30am - fairly early by beach-going standards - and were rewarded with a mostly-empty scene. We had our pick of spots upon which to set up.
courtesy BConnell
courtesy BConnell
Paniolo Turkey
Hokuloa United Church
Hokuloa United Church
courtesy BConnell
courtesy BConnell
Hapuna Beach
Hapuna Beach
There's not much to say about the rest of the morning and early afternoon: we alternated between laying around in the warm sun, and going for short swims in the water. The surf was quite mild and the beach has a very nice, clean base of sand with no rocks or dropoffs along most of its length.

We had originally thought to include a bit of snorkeling in our day, but the little beach gear outlet on the nearby grounds only had the non-dry type snorkels, and they were quite a bit more expensive that the dry ones we had rented from Boss Frog's back on Maui. So, we passed on the snorkeling.
courtesy BConnell
Along the Ala Kahakai Trail
In the early afternoon, we had had enough of simply lying around, and decided to explore a little ways along the coast. We discovered a trail heading north from the north end of the beach. We followed it for perhaps half a mile or so, passing by some old Hawaiian archaeological sites, very expensive Hawai'i seafront properties, and some nice rocky shoreline with fish-filled tidal pools. We discovered afterwards that this trail was part of the Ala Kahakai Trail - a National Historic Trail that extends along the length of the western Hawaiian coast.
courtesy BConnell
courtesy BConnell
courtesy BConnell
Cautionary signs gone wild!
View north along Kohala
Tidal Pool
courtesy BConnell
courtesy BConnell
Fancy Oceanfront Property
Hapuna Beach
After returning to Hapuna Beach and spending a bit more time soaking up the sun's rays, we decided to go for a little drive to the north, just to see what we could see.
[< Previous Page]
[page 1] [page 2] [page 3] [page 4] [page 5] [page 6] [page 7] [page 8] [page 9] [page 10] [page 11] [page 12] [page 13] [page 14]
[Next Page >]

[ Return to "A Hawaiian Kaleidoscope" Home page | Introduction | Mildly complicated journey | Visit to Pearl Harbour | Downtown Honolulu | Kaua'i - The Garden Isle | Na Pali / Kalalau 1 | Na Pali / Kalalau 2 | Waimea Canyon & Kalepa Ridge | Maui - The Valley Isle | Exploring Kaupo | Haleakala Sea-to-summit 1 | Haleakala Sea-to-summit 2 | Haleakala Sea-to-summit 3 | Haleakala bike descent | Maui beach & snorkel | Flight to Big Island | Hawai'i Volcanoes NP | Mauna Loa Backpack Prep | Mauna Loa Climb | Mauna Loa Descent | Paniolo Greens | Hapuna Beach Park | Pu'ukohola Hieau | Sunset at Hapuna Beach | Ph'uhonua o Honaunau | Farewell to Hawaii | Supplemental: Kalalau Trail | Supplemental: Kalepa Ridge Trail | Supplemental: Kaupo Trail | Supplemental: Paliku to Haleakala Summit | Supplemental: Mauna Loa via Observatory Trail | Supplemental: USS Bowfin and Missouri | Hapuna Beach Sunset | Hawai'i Flora and Fauna | The Blue Pilot | Video Clip Index | GPS Data ]

Send feedback or leave comments (note: comments in message board below are separate from those in above message board)
(1 message)
(last message posted on Tue. May 15, 14:34 EDT 2012 by Elvira)
Web Page & Design Copyright 2001-2024 by Andrew Lavigne. (Privacy Policy)