We awaken refreshed and ready to see our neighborhood. Although, we manage to only get out the door around 10:00 for what was supposed to be an early start. We walk down the street to get to the Wai Opae Tidal pools. These are areas that have been created by the lava that traps beautiful, tropical fish and where coral reefs have established themselves. The ocean water replenishes the pools during high tide, so the water is alway circulating. The snorkeling is amazing, but the water is cold. It takes a while for us to get a spot where we feel comfortable diving into the chilly water, but we soon find a perfect spot and go for it. This is awesome. I can't believe the variety of sea life here in this one spot. Here are some of the fish we saw.
The corals are awesome as well. some very unusual shapes and colors. After we dry off and walk back home, we all shower off because the Tidal Pools trap a lot of bacteria in them that is not fully washed off by the changing tides. We get cleaned up and head into Hilo to see the famous farmers market on Saturday mornings. This is a really cute town with nice shops that line the downtown on one side and the beautiful blue ocean on the other. We walk around and check out the shops....the kids seem to latch onto a surf shop everywhere we go. We continue onto the Farmer's Market and enjoy seeing some very unusual produce. Many items are of an asian origin including huge ginger roots, sea beans, papaya, tons of local honey, purple potatoes, and of course macadamia nuts and kona coffee. There were also jewelers and local crafts people. We eat an enormous lunch at a Mexican restaurant and once we are stuffed walk around a little more before returning to our house to rest up. We have the ambition of going out at 5:00 to drive a ways up the road where we hear that we can see the lava flows from the road. When 5:00 arrives, we get into the car to go off on an adventure. We quickly realize that we are in a little over our heads. The drive is much longer than we thought and it is now pitch black as we are driving down the narrowest, darkest, windy back roads toward who know what. We end up turning around and getting back to the house in time for writing in our journals and eating dinner. We hit the hay early and prepare for another beautiful day in paradise.
We awaken refreshed and ready to see our neighborhood. Although, we manage to only get out the door around 10:00 for what was supposed to be an early start. We walk down the street to get to the Wai Opae Tidal pools. These are areas that have been created by the lava that traps beautiful, tropical fish and where coral reefs have established themselves. The ocean water replenishes the pools during high tide, so the water is alway circulating. The snorkeling is amazing, but the water is cold. It takes a while for us to get a spot where we feel comfortable diving into the chilly water, but we soon find a perfect spot and go for it. This is awesome. I can't believe the variety of sea life here in this one spot. Here are some of the fish we saw.
The corals are awesome as well. some very unusual shapes and colors. After we dry off and walk back home, we all shower off because the Tidal Pools trap a lot of bacteria in them that is not fully washed off by the changing tides. We get cleaned up and head into Hilo to see the famous farmers market on Saturday mornings. This is a really cute town with nice shops that line the downtown on one side and the beautiful blue ocean on the other. We walk around and check out the shops....the kids seem to latch onto a surf shop everywhere we go. We continue onto the Farmer's Market and enjoy seeing some very unusual produce. Many items are of an asian origin including huge ginger roots, sea beans, papaya, tons of local honey, purple potatoes, and of course macadamia nuts and kona coffee. There were also jewelers and local crafts people. We eat an enormous lunch at a Mexican restaurant and once we are stuffed walk around a little more before returning to our house to rest up. We have the ambition of going out at 5:00 to drive a ways up the road where we hear that we can see the lava flows from the road. When 5:00 arrives, we get into the car to go off on an adventure. We quickly realize that we are in a little over our heads. The drive is much longer than we thought and it is now pitch black as we are driving down the narrowest, darkest, windy back roads toward who know what. We end up turning around and getting back to the house in time for writing in our journals and eating dinner. We hit the hay early and prepare for another beautiful day in paradise.
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