Honokohau Harbor where we started all of our six amazing scuba dives.
Beach next to the harbor.
James dealing with the sand in his sandals.
James on the beach.
Steph on the beach.
The sun setting on the golf course just outside our villa's back porch.
Ancient petroglyph at the Petroglyph museum. Nobody knows what the marks mean nor how old they really are. Their history and significance has just vanished in the mist of time.
This one seems to be saying something, I just don't know what.
Steph in the forests in the Petroglyph Museum.
Fishermen lived along the shore in thatched huts like this one.
James is taking a look.
The big island of Hawai'i has some of the roughest shorelines anywhere in the world.
That's James.
That's Steph and James.
The horse ranch up on Kohana Mountain where we did a sunset ride.
These bare rolling hills on Kohana sit at about 3000 feet (950 meters) and remind me more of South Dakota than the tropics.
Steph is rolling out for our ride.
The sun is setting on the mountain.
You don't usually see the end of a rainbow, but here 'tis anyway.
Kite surfers are enjoying the waters along Hapuna Beach.
Steph is watching the kite surfers. Can you believe that this beach is a public park?
The sun rises on the golf course.
These pictures are from our drive up to Kilauea in Volcanoes National Park.
That's not a cloud. It's sulfur dioxide rising from the volcanic vents in the ground.
These thumb-sized orchids grow wild all around the steam vents. Cool, huh?
Steph is standing in a lava tube.
The tubes have all kinds of plants growing in them. These hang from the ceiling where they get plenty of moisture and nutrients but very little light. Hence, their chlorophyll levels are low, which makes the leaves brown.
Steph goes further into the tube...
"Ya wanna hear a scary story?"
James' sunglasses look kinda cool when they're underlit like that.
The steam vents are surrounded by huge ferns like these. Those stalks rise about ten feet (3 meters) overhead.
This is a caldera farther down the road that people can hike through.
Look closely and you can see a faint rainbow.
Here's the demarcation between the rocks and the black sand that they break down into.
The black sand on younger beaches like this one is coarse and pebbly.
A closer look at the lava rocks shows how quickly the molten rock must have cooled.
Water crashing in helps break the rocks down into sand.
These pictures are from the longish drive up to the Mauna Kea observatories. The clouds are right around 6000 feet (1800 meters). These were taken at about 9000 feet (2750 meters).
Here's a view of the clouds from about 10000 feet (3050 meters).
That's not a mountain in the distance. It's the shadow of Mauna Kea, the mountain we were standing on.
Finally, here's a view of the clouds from the top of Mauna Kea, 13800 feet (4200 meters) above sea level. We had to plan our trip up the mountain for a couple of days after our last scuba dive. Going that high too soon after spending an hour underwater and give you the bends.
It was well worth waiting to go up the mountain just to see the sun setting against it.
Going, going, going...
...almost gone.
One of eleven world-class observatories at the top of Mauna Kea.
Talk about some great scenery! Too bad I had to be in the picture. Clouds aren't bad, though.
Look closely and you can see some alternating rays of light and dark as the sun drops over the horizon.
Our last night in Hawai'i, we went to a Lu'au at the King Kamehameha Hotel.
This pig has been roasting in the ground with help of heated rocks and banana leaves.
The lu'au platter with tomato salad, poi, fresh pineapple, green salad, rice, roasted chicken, and roasted pork. Mmm! (except for the poi - not much flavor there)
James is experiencing the onset of a Hawai'ian food coma.
Hula dancers!
The waves are breaking behind Steph on our last morning in Hawai'i.
Her smile says, "We had a great time on our honeymoon." Roughly translated, that means, "Do we have to leave? Stupid responsibilities!"
