Are we becoming some of those people that go back to Hawaii every year? Well, maybe…
We went back to the Big Island of Hawaii, this time with Will’s cousin Tony joining us on our adventure.
Flying from Albuquerque makes it almost a full day of traveling. Still when you listen to the stories of the east coasters and their 12 hours flights combined with a 6-hour time change, ours didn’t seem so bad.
The first morning we set off to hike along the Humu’ula Trail. This trail will take you to the summit of Mauna Kea. It’s a steep, sandy trail with no shade. We had no designs on trying to summit this time around as Will has been nursing his pulled calf muscle and we haven’t had a chance to do any hiking this year. For those looking for a challenge this is a beast. 13.2 miles round-trip with an elevation gain of 4,753ft. You drive from sea level to the visitor center at 9,200ft to start the trek. It was a nice outing and a nice afternoon.
The next day we had a pretty full agenda, starting with a trip on the Atlantis submarine. It was interesting that everything has a blue hue when looking through the submarine windows. The further down you go the harder it is for the sunlight to penetrate the water. We saw a number of fish and a couple of shipwrecks. Diana did a great job, providing commentary on the fish we were seeing and telling us about the vessel and the shipwreck stories. The shipwrecks were interesting, like the couple that was going to sail their boat around the world. Their first stop was Hawaii. Well, so much for that trip around the world!
Resting on the bottom. 
The crazy mask we’d need to use in case of fire. 
We went down to 105ft.
Bye Atlantis
Then it was time for our shave ice stop. Mmmmm
That night was the luau at the Mauna Kea Resort. This is the same one we attended last year and thought it was really well done. So, it being Tony’s first time in Hawaii, we thought this luau would be a great introduction to some Hawaiian Food, history and culture. It was another beautiful night and with that ocean background how can you go wrong.
Beautiful Sunset 
Mai Tais 
The next morning, we took Tony to the pool to try out his snorkeling gear. We had a snorkeling tour coming up and wanted to make sure he was comfortable with the gear before getting into open water. He took to it right away, so we figured that he would do just fine.
For the afternoon, we took a walk down to the big Hilton Hotel along the ocean. Will and I hadn’t ventured over to the hotel since our first time there about 10years ago. We took a walk along the beach, watched people enjoying the lagoon and watched as others were swimming with the dolphins.
Found a ray swimming in the lagoon.
That night, we decided to take a drive and have dinner out. That did not work out well for us. The first restaurant had been without power for a number of hours and couldn’t prep. So, we drove on. Another restaurant was a good 1 1/2 hour wait. Finally, we ended up back in the resort area where we were staying and found a place to eat.
The following morning, we headed on our snorkeling tour. We had always heard about the snorkeling at Kealakekua Bay, but had never been. So, we booked a trip with Hawaiin Oceanic. There is a maximum of 12 passengers on the boat which makes it nice with a smaller group experience. Kealakekua Bay is a protected marine sanctuary and is home to a beautiful coral reef. This was also the area where Captain Cook met his violent end in 1779. We enjoyed our tour immensely and while you can get to the area on foot, it does require a 3.5 mile out and back hike which gains almost 1300ft on the way back and there’s no shade. The boat ride was much more pleasant.
After our tour, we headed over to the Pu’uhonua O Honaunau National Historic Park. This was a place of refuge for the ancient Hawaiians while the other side of the park were for the elite.
We had a long day on tap for the following day with a visit planned to Volcano National Park. Our first stop on the way to the Hilo side of the island was to the Akaka Falls. It’s a Hawaiin State Park. The waterfall is 442ft tall and requires walking a .4-mile loop path through a jungle area to view. Will and I thought, we remembered doing this on our first trip to the Big Island, but once we arrived, we realized that we had not been here before. It was beautiful.
I managed to snag a selfie before Will took off. 
We then continued on to the Volcano Park. It was packed that day, but we made sure Tony got the highlights. He saw the crater, took a walk through the lava tube and went to view the sea arch.
For our final full day on the Big Island, Tony had wanted to go parasailing with UFO Parasail. I chose to sit this one out with Will. That left us about an hour to explore the downtown area of Kona. We were on the hunt for donkey balls. And no, there is no relation to Rocky Mountain Oysters. Donkey balls are merely chocolate treats made in Kona. They do have a lot of fun with the theme, as there are blue balls, frosty balls and dingleberries just to name a few. We walked back and met up with Tony. He had a great time and narrowly escaped getting thrown up on by his fellow parasailing partner. So, it worked out great.
Lots of crabs 
We then headed to Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park. There is a trail that leads down to the beach. When we visited last year, we found sea turtles on the beach. Tony was anxious to see some before he left, and we were hopeful that we’d find some turtles there again. And luckily the turtles did not disappoint. We saw a large one sunning itself on the shore and a few others swimming in the area.
Well, Tony had to get back to work. So, he flew home, and we island hopped over to Kauai.