The Big Island
 

Well, we're back! Most of you probably didn't even notice I was gone, but we just got back from the Big Island of Hawaii, the youngest of the chain at only about 600 thousand years old. There are many more photos to come. :)

From the balcony of our room.
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...psdabfe69e.jpg

A sunset picture from the resorts beach.
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...ps84bae9e6.jpg

Akaka falls on the Southern East side of the island.
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...ps44bb7c00.jpg

A beautiful, but very rough, black sand beach on the Southern end of the island.
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...psc3ce0163.jpg

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Yes, we saw the volcano although there was no lava to be seen unless you rented the chopper to see it pouring into the ocean. This is the main crater.
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...ps0c6f7556.jpg

On our way to the telescope(s)! This is about 11,000 feet, give or take.
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...psfbfa544b.jpg

Just a simple horse we stopped to see on our long ride up the mountain.
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...psac9bea76.jpg

Just three of the 'scopes.
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...ps814c85c7.jpg

I'm turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so! (They were everywhere!)
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...ps23ff0075.jpg

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A simple palm tree at our resort with the moon behind it.
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...psd658ded5.jpg

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Welcome back!

Beautiful pictures!
I have been to Maui and Oahu. Love it!

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Thanks!

The only part of Oahu we saw was what we could see out our airplane window as we flew into the airport on Honolulu on our way to the big island. We did get a good Ariel view of Pearl Harbor though.

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The history of Hawaii is fascinating. Nearly all volcanoes occur on fault lines but Hawaii's is the result of the continental plates slowly drifting over a hot spot in the mantle which causes a string of eruptions as the magma melts through. For one thing this causes most lava to "flow" which also results in the Hawaiian chain volcanoes to MUCH less explosive than the typical fault ones. The Big Island has old lava flows covering most of the coast, with the West side being the most extreme by far since it is so arid there which much less naturally occurring vegetation to break the hardened lava down. There are flows a few hundred years old covering flows which are 3-5 thousand, covering even older ones.

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Up by the telescopes. This is one of those pics where you go "Hey, would you mind taking our picture?" to a passing tourist and hope that you set the correct settings on your camera. In this case I hadn't but was able to do some minor "corrections" in photoshop.
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...ps190da48c.jpg

The resorts beach.
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...ps72fafdb7.jpg

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Walking along the crater rim there was a steam or sulfur vent every 20-50 feet. You were either feeling hot steam or it smelt like someone was lighting fireworks off, or both.
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...psb81e34e8.jpg

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Great pics! Congrats on a wonderful trip. we finally made it to Hawaii five years ago. It was Oahu and we loved it. We want to go back and spend some time on some of the other islands as well.

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As much as we enjoyed the big island, the next time we go again it will probably be back to Kauai. For as beautiful as this place was it was really really $$$. On Kauai, you could go to almost any little shack selling food and get EXCELLENT fish, or whatever else they were selling for a fraction of the price.

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And here I thought the reason you weren't on lately was because of
depression of losing your job. No, you were off havin a great time
galavantin in HavahEEE! :p

Love the photos and look forward to seeing the rest!

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The "whoa is me!" posts will start in a day or two. :)

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2DTWFQf3sC...gony-on-me.jpg

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:heeheehee

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You are REALLY positive. Most folks would be starting with the "woe is me" posts but here you are saying you are only going to be starting "whoa is me posts". I am not sure exactly what that is but am looking forward to reading them!:happydance

My wife and I are headed to the big island in May of 2014. We're also planning a few days in Honolulu to visit the Pearl Harbor memorial. This is a gift to my wife for putting up with me for 25 years!

The pictures will be helpful for things to look for.

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The place we stayed at is the Mauna Lani Bay resort on the West coast. This is the arid side of the island but for some reason all the resorts are there instead of the rainier and much more tropical East side.

We got a HUGE deal on this particular resort but the food, while excellent, was also ridiculously priced. We did manage to find a few places where we could eat for $30-40 but there were just as many where $100+ was the norm. The main restaurant at our hotel would have cost us closer to $200 had we gone. But having said all that, it WAS all really really good.

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Beautiful pictures!

My niece lives over there -- I should go visit while I have a free place to stay!

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Go visit with the three hims.

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Lol - - funny, Scott!

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Old nice him will do for you Granny.

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Beautiful photos, Randy!

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Isn't God's handiwork AMAZING?

Nice pics.

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It is. A little bit more trivia: The newest Hawaiian island is currently 'in development'. Loihi is/will be the name of the next island when it finally breaks the ocean surface in 50 to 100 thousand years. It is only about 20 miles off the Eastern shore of the Big Island so eventually the two will merge and Loihi will no longer be an island but rather the name of the current active volcano ON the Big Island.

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Hurry up and buy some real estate! It'll be worth a FORTUNE!!!

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Two more from the black sand beach.

This is a pic of the same fisherman on the lava outcrop as the one above but just framed a little bit different. It shows a bit more shore with more people in the background.
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...psfab8f857.jpg

Standing on the exact same spot but spinning nearly 180 I took this looking down the other side. More fishermen!
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...pse2736896.jpg

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Awesome pictures!!

Thanks for the helpful hints. We will be staying at the Hilton King's Land Resort.

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Don't most Christians believe that the earth is only 6k years old? :lol

Beautiful pics!

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GREAT PICS, RANDYWAYNE!

Falla39

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Awesome pics, RW :)

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Incredibly beautiful pictures RW, thanks for sharing the history about the island of Hawaii too...

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RandyWayne......Awesome pictures. Such depth of field in each of them. Makes me want to go back. The high food prices I could have done without. We paid $16.00 for an average cheeseburger! You have to munch on one of them slowly to get your money's worth.

I think if I go back I'll fly in and board a cruise ship and cruise from island to island. Cut down on the $$$ food problem and also not lose 2 days flying from island to island. We went into Honolulu and then after 2 days we flew to Maui. After 4 days we then flew to Kauai for 4 days.

Again, your pictures were great. Here was one of mine.

Attachment 4226

Been Thinkin

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A few more I recently went over.

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...psb1879c84.jpg

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...psab60ae8d.jpg

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Great pics, thanks for sharing.

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I was born in Hawaii. Someday, I would like to go back there as I don't remember any of it!

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Hawaii is not a place I would want to live, but it is fun to visit occasionally. :)