The Rogue Islander: Big Island Adventures Part I

Our holidays this year were pretty wild. After Christmas, we flew to the Big Island and stayed from 12/29 (Happy Birthday Matt!) to 1/2 in a different kind of paradise. Different is definitely the key word here. So you have a general idea of the size difference: Hawaii island is twice the size of all of the other islands put together, but contains only 15% of the population. Crazy. Here is a map!

We flew into the airport on the West side (Kona Side) early early early on Matt's Birthday. Boo. This, of course, is after dealing with horrible Hertz experiences, and flight changes. In all, pretty stressful...but we got there. Then, we drove about a half hour up the coast to the Hilton Waikoloa Village (the black and orange house-looking icon). The drive along the coast was very very different from what you'd see on Oahu. For starters, it is desert-like because of the old, cooled, sometimes cultivated lava flows. You'll see lots of brush, possibly some wild donkeys, and LOTS of lava rock:

People leave messages in white rocks that stand out against the black. Really really beautiful.

We get to the Hilton and it's like an oasis. We found out later that this is because they crushed up a layer of lava and added some topsoil which created a very fertile base for a tropical-type resort. It is also HUGE. There is a lagoon that feeds out into the ocean, too many pools to count, restaurants, and these greet you in the main lobby:

That sign warns that this bird is a jewelry thief. Beware! No cages..

Yes, that guy was equally (if not more) unhappy in real life, despite the joyful shirt.

After check-in, Matt and I took the train (whaaaat) to our section of the resort: The Ocean Tower. After dropping off our stuff in our sweet room with these views...

Note the black lava rock.

...we walked around the resort. Here are some pictures from our exploration:

Looking out on the lagoon, then ocean from the main lobby

Awesome statue

Lagoon and walk-through waterfall

There is NO way to look graceful and competent on one of these.

Under the waterfall

As we were walking, we saw signs asking people not to feed, touch, or crowd the Honu (sea turtle). I thought they were mostly fake. I couldn't see how turtles would want to swim into a lagoon with so many people there every day, until we spotted this guy:

He's the brownish spot.

Then, we saw these people snorkeling next to the turtle.

They had no idea it was there. So we watched for a while. Matt was narrating, going "Wait for it...wait for it...", when the girl practically jumped out of the water! Matt described it best when he said, "I've never heard someone scream out of a snorkel before."

Rawr! Turtle-dragon?

Buddha - so happy!

Buddha Buddies

Oh...did I mention they have dolphins there?? Matt and I enjoyed a delicious lunch and a couple drinks while watching a 40-year-old mom, 4-month-old baby, and a pregnant dolphin frolic around. We also saw the preggo dolphin get an ultrasound.

So after lunch, Matt and I decided to snorkel the lagoon. The visibility was ok, but we could clearly see many fish and we hung out with at least 4 sea turtles, grazing along the bottom. Really cool, considering all of the people there. After snorkeling, we fell asleep for a bit on the beach, then decided to go to the Kona Brewery about 45 min South for dinner (revisit map for reference). It was deeelicious.

We scored some prime seats at the bar and tried some limited edition beer that was all really good. My favorite was the Black Sand Coconut Porter, Matt's favorite was the Koko Brown.