2007 Hawaii: Kona and the South Coast

View out our Hilo hotel onto the small lagoon that opened up into the Pacific Ocean.

Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden

Since I ended up getting food poisoning on the evening of Day 1 of the trip, after hiking around volcanoes all day long and eating bad Mexican food afterwards, Day 2 was spent cemented to the passenger side of our car rental as Tiffany and I drove from Hilo on the wet, rainy eastern coastline up north around Mauna Kea volcano then southward down along Highway 19 and the dry, arid volcanic flows that form the eastern shoreline.

Since I was in absolutely no form to leave our car rental during the duration of the drive, I basically missed out on a lot of the natural beauty of the eastern part of the Big Island. This is too bad really since the Hilo area is the area of the Big Island that I had really wanted to see, but sometimes our digestive tracks dictate alternative itineraries and destinies than the ones we had planned out while still fully healthy. It wasn't all a total bust though since I was able to lift my head up and over the window ledge of the car door on occasion and see what as outside.

Boo hoo! Poor me! ;-}

One stop along our trek around the island was to the Hawaii Tropic Botanical Garden that Tiffany ventured out into on her own while I stayed behind in the car. Tiffany took along my camera for the walk through the garden and returned with the very nice shots in this yellow section of the webpage. In that sense, Tiffany was able to bring the beauty of the botanical garden to me. That was rather nice of her, eh!

Enjoy the floral beauty of Hawaii!

PS: as I am terrible with botany, I shall leave it up to my readership to inform me on which plants and flowers are which!

Circling up the eastern slopes of Mauna Kea volcano/mountain along Highway 19 toward the town of Waimea.

Surprisingly, it was cold and foggy! Hawaii is definitely a climate of extremes.

The resort town of Kailua-Kona where we stayed for two days including New Year's.

Tiffany and I having breakfast the next morning. Since I was still stick, all I could eat was a piece of toast. BOO HOO!!!

While eating breakfast, Tiffany and I were greeting by a green little Hawaiian local.

The coastline of Kilua-Kona which more accurately could be referred to as a lava rock mine field. So much for sandy white beaches!

A nice little nap was taken under the shade handed to me softly by the canopy of palm fronds above.

Black crabs covering the rocks of the shoreline. At first I thought, "Are those rocks moving out the corner of my eye?!"

The exoskeleton of a now-absent crab. This was the only red crab I saw anywhere in sight. Maybe he was killed by the black crabs??

Yet another view of a hotel that Tiffany and I did not stay in, but where we did decide to stop for drinks.

As you can tell by the sign above, there are a lot of Japanese speakers and tourists in Hawaii.

Me and my pasty white sick self looking like I'm having the vacation of a lifetime in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.

Tiffany trying to cover up the massive sunburn she got on Day 1 as we drove around the volcano lava flows in our convertible.

Above and below: pictures from our New Year's Eve Hawaiian dinner and drinks ocean cruise. Fun fun!

Tiffany and I wearing nice and REAL Hawaiian lei. I have the masculine one on, and Tiffany is wearing the feminine style.

At one point, ship guests were dressed up and invited to dance with the Hawaiians. It was rather humorous.

Clouds sliding ominously down the eastern slopes of Hawaii Island toward Kailua-Kona and the Pacific.

The choppy blue waters of the Pacific off the Ka Lae South Point Coastline, one of America's windiest regions

A formation that appears to be a small volcano way off in the distance in the picture above this one. Gotta love zoom!

A young man of questionable mental sanity jumping off the Ka Lae cliffs into the ocean below

Highway 11. Time to hook a right and head back toward Hilo past Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.