USS MIdway CV-41
Farewell,
Upon our return, we had our farewell Luau dinner. This was tremendous. The show was great, right up until the time that Nolan volunteered me to get up with the Tahiti dancers. I guess I had one too many Mai Tai's. So off I went.
Kauai Kauai
Kauai
Aloha from Maui
Today was a travel day. The tour group had a sightseeing bus ride from Kona to Hilo. It was more of a relaxing day, compared to helicopter and ATV rides. We left the hotel in Kona at 8:30 and arrived in Hilo at the hotel at about 5:00. The bus took the southern route around the island. We made several stops along the way. The first was at the Kona coffee company. Before getting to Volcano Park, we stopped briefly at one of the black sand beaches. We made several stops in Volcano National Park, a couple around the rim of the volcano. We couldn't get very close to the rim as the volcanic smog, or vog, was real thick. The vog is a hydrogen sulfide gas. A fatal level of this gas is 10 ppm. The level in some areas have been measured at 40 ppm. We did get to the visitors center and to a couple of the scenic turnouts around the crater. We also went on a hike through one of the volcanic tubes (old lava flow tube). Lots of beautiful flowers on this side of the Island, also. After leaving the park, we went through the Macedamia Nut forest and factory, and an orchid garden. We have an early flight tomorrow morning for Mauai.
Another busy day. Karen and I started the day again with snorkeling right by the hotel. It was sunnier than yesterday so the colors came alive. Lots of purple and orange. Later, we met up with Nolan and Sheri Heilman, our new friends from Iowa. We've been doing most of our activities with them. Today's activity was an ATV excursion. We travelled to North Kona. Along the way we could see Mauai. I didn't realize that it was only about 25 miles from the Big Island. Before going on the ATV excursion, we went out to a lookout point that was just gorgeous. Check out the pictures here. Karen was a little apprehensive about the ATV ride at first. She thought at first that she may ride with someone, but decided to get on her own vehicle instead. She was glad she did. We thought that it would be a mild ride, just putzing along. WRONG. They really moved. They took us up along the hills overlooking the ocean. It was spectacular. Then we hit two spots where there were waterfalls. One of them had a pond at the bottom of the falls that we could swim in. The tour guide said the pond had a Hawaiin name that tranlated into "Shrinkage". It was cold (55 degrees). All four of us took a dip in it. It was real nice to get some of the dirt off from the ride. However, we just put it back on, on the ride back to the start.
On the way back to Kona we stopped for ice cream in a neat village and took some pictures. The lava along the coast made for some great photo opportunities. Later in the evening, we went to Bubba Gumps from the move Forest Gump for dinner.
After snorkeling, we left with rental car for the other side of the island, Hilo. Hilo is the rainiest city in the U.S. It gets over 250 inches of rain a year. It is lush and green, much different than Kona, which looks much like a volcanic desert. Oh yeah, that's what it is. Anyway, on Hilo we took a helicopter ride over the active volcano and some waterfalls. It was great. In some of the pictures, you can see where the vent holes are with the bright orange lava inside. It was neat to see where the lava flow had gone over the road. That happened the night before. We tried to get there by car, but the police had it blocked off. The different colors of the lava are different ages. The newer lava is bright and silvery in contrast the darkness of the older lava. 
What a great day. Left the hotel at 10:30 for bus trip to Polynesian Cultural Center. This center is designed to entertain and educate people about the culture of the countries that make up Polynesia. Among them are Hawaii, Tonga, Fiji, New Zealand, Samoa, and Tahiti. The center is staffed by students of Brigham Young University which is located directly behind the center. The students that are in the show or part of the village exhibit are actually from the country they represent. We first we lead around to the different villages where we the students presented a brief bit of song, dance and other parts of their culture. After we went around to the different "Islands", we had dinner. In the evening, we were entertained by the students with a show that showcased their culture. It was quite impressive. It was a great end to our time in O'ahu. Tomorrow we leave for The Big Island. Aloha
Polynesian Cultural Center
Today we got up and went over to Diamond Head to climb to the top. Didn't realize that half of the adventure would be getting there. The park is about 4 miles from hotel so we though we'd take bus. After waiting for the bus for about 20 minutes we ended up taking a cab for about the cost (lots of competition). Anyway, view was spectacular, but quite the hike to get to top. It was pretty warm and the hike was steep in places. Not sure I could have done this a year ago. On our way down, we came across an older gentleman who wasn't fairing very well. He had lots of help who already were in contact with Emergency services. We made our way down and watched the Hawaii Fire Rescue team get him off the trail via helicopter. We saw him later walking from helicopter to EMS vehicle and seemed to be doing ok.
We spent the afternoon soaking up some sun on the beach. We also went out for a canoe ride. Not quite the same as canoeing in Michigan. These are 4-5 person canoes with a stabilizer. They take you out into the surf and wait for a big wave. Then you paddle like crazy and ride the wave, hoping not to run over a surfer who's not paying attention.
The group had tickets to a dinner show Friday night. We watched SOS or Society of Seven. Seven guys put on a musical, comedy show. They covered a bunch of different songs, impersonated artists and had fun with the audience. 