Sorry, Sorry, Sorry. It has been a while since an update and I apologize for that. Getting the kid ready for school and other normal life things have kept me from working on this. Have to drive the Pirate Princess to Seton Hall and have a friend coming down with his son right afterwards to go diving in Key Largo. Not sure how regular these posts will be for the next month but will give it the old college try. So where were we.
We were driving to our helicopter tour of the islands. We had plenty of time (we thought) so we went to Kawaihae which is on the coast up the road from Kona. You can see on the map how far we drove.
http://www.gohawaii.com/resources/pdf/bigisland-drive-map.pdf
Beautiful water out there. Not like Hawaii had beautiful water everywhere.
There is also a harbor there and a few ships were anchored. This one looks like a military supply ship. Reminds me of the movie Mister Roberts.
I made her pose on the rocks surrounding the marina
Wouldnt be cool to own this boat? I mean come on, owning a boat in Hawaii.
One last look at the water
Still had time before our helicopter flight (so we thought) so we went up into the mountains. Since we were diving tomorrow, altitude and flying are no noes once we get into the water (more on that later). Pooh wanted to see this ranch that was way up there and this was the only time we could do that. Drove forever up the mountain with no idea where the ranch was and how long it was doing to be to get there.
There were signs along the route to brake for donkeys and we thought that was funny. Of course, when you drive down to the Keys here, there are signs that warn of crocodile crossings. Not alligator but crocodile crossings. I am sure visitors think that is funny.
So on the way we see these watching the cars go by
STOP! So we did and the Pirate Princess took some pics. She also wanted to take them home with us but dont think the airlines would allow us to do that.
We also saw this guy along the way
Decided that we needed to get to the helicopter place so we head there. Pull in and give the print out of the pre-paid receipt so they can look up the reservation. The staff person types a few things in and looks up at me. No problem right? Instead, she says, Sorry, but you are in the wrong place. What? Your tour is at Hilo, not here. What? The volcano tour is out of Hilo, not here. What?
Ok, after the initial shock I ask how far Hilo is from here. About two hours. Considering we were supposed to take off in 20 minutes I deadpanned, So we are not going to make it right? Nope.
First of all, IT WAS NOT MY FAULT. I asked at the front desk where to get to Blue Hawaiian Tours and they give me directions. I FOLLOWED THEIR DIRECTIONS. Little did I know there were multiple locations one near Kona and the other at the Hilo airport.
So what do we do now? The staff member was very helpful and we discussed options. We could go tomorrow but that means we could not dive, which was also already paid for. Left it to the kid. She was pretty adament that we were going diving and would blow off the helicopter ride. The staff member suggested we could transfer our flight to this spot. They were doing the waterfall sites, not the volcanoes but the lava wasnt really flowing anyway. So we said sure.
This is us outside the place waiting
So we get our life vests, watch a film about how to get out of a helicopter if it crashes and wait our turn. They informed us that our flight was going to be delayed. And delayed. And delayed. I am watching off into the horizon and the weather is looking iffy.
Finally the guy that did our briefing on how to get out of a helicopter if it crashes says that they just heard from the pilot out there the weather is really bad and it was 50/50 if they were going to make it back without people jumping out of the helicopter because it crashed. So they unfortunately had to cancel our flights.
So this was the closest we got to flying
We were both bummed but it was either give up a day diving or forget the helicopter flight. They suggested we may want to try the one they had at Oahu but I wasnt interested in seeing a birds eye view of a city.
So we headed back to the resort. Stopped by the lounge to drown our sorrows.
It was close to dinner time so we again shunned the buffet they had and went to this place right down the road called Huggos. Long established place that has made a name for itself for fine dining. Great location, right on the water.
DD had the Garden Fresh Penne with asparagus, Kona grown grape tomatoes, edamame, onions and feta cheese. $24
I had the Teriyaki steak. They promote it as a tradition since 1969. A flank steak marinated in their own secret recipe. $27
Both were tasty. Dinner was topped off with what I think Pooh thought was the best desert of the entire trip. Their Hot Caramel, banana, macadamia nut crisp. $10.50
Really good stuff.
Keeping us company on the rocks were these guys
Too many pics so the final ones are in the next post.
but that's my boy.
