Hawaii Part 2

Day two continued as we kept driving north around the east side of the island. We made a trip to the 'CRATER'. This is the inside of one of the inactive volcanoes. Frankly, it freaked me out a little bit. I think I have watched Dante's Peak too much. All that lava and boiling lakes and screaming people. But this was peaceful so I had to go with it.

We drove through the tunnel and inside the crater and then realized it was going to be a 30 minute wait for even a parking space so we turned around and stopped to look at the view outside the crater. I think it was a better choice. It was beautiful. The rain clouds were moving in. The phenomenon of "sun rain" happens daily in Hawaii. Just all of a sudden it will rain for a little bit and then stops. Hardly any clouds in the sky, just sun and rain.

So then we ventured down the side of the mountain -- again dealing with lots of traffic and came upon this lagoon area where people were putting their big fishing boats in or just fishing off the shore. To the right of this picture out of the shot, there is a spillway of sorts. It really is just a mountain run off that comes in to the ocean. Fishermen seemed to be focused on that spot.

Looking back up toward the mountains from the beach.

After this stop, we kept going around the east toward the North Shore. We came upon another cliff area that had a phenomenon called a "blow hole". This is where the lava rock have left an open space and when the wave comes crashing in, it spouts water really high. Today we didn't see it happen very much because they waves were not huge. The locals said that the North Shore in the Summer is very tame and today there were waves but not as high as the tourists like to see them.

This is standing on the observation point with the waves crashing underneath. And then to the right are the CRAZY people on this little beach area that are riding this incredible breakers in and out of this lagoon. Didn't even look fun to me. It was like a water park wave pool on steroids. But it was beautiful.

We haven't at this point dealt with a lot of wind. It has been very pleasant - PERFECT - weather. At this high vantage point, it was very windy. Curtis almost lost his hat a couple times.

At this point, we decided to head back to Waikiki. Crabby driver Rhonda had decided she had had enough driving and wanted to sit on the beach. We headed back to the hotel, parked the car and donned our beach gear. We rented an umbrella because I had been in the sun too much already for the day and sat for a couple hours on the beach watching the surf and the sand.

So the end of Day Two and most of Day Three is a blur for me. After spending the sun set on the beach, we decided to venture in the market and restaurant area of Waikiki. I wanted to make a point of eating fish while I was here because it doesn't get any fresher than in Hawaii. So far, I had been pretty successful - fish tacos with Ahi, etc. But we get to Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville. Curtis is crushing on the bartender and I am drinking these......

Don't remember much after two of these. Had some nachos - at least that is what I saw on video that Curtis took - but needless to say in bed with hang over next day -- spent some time at the pool in the late afternoon. Lesson learned -- no tequila at Jimmy Buffett's.

Stay tuned for Part 3.