Day #6 - Whale watching

Erin, Tad and I started the day early. We headed north to find a good whale watching beach. Once I learned to watch for the spouting, I could easily spot where the whales were playing in the ocean. At one time, there were four of them, it looked like "sychronized spouting". When you saw the spout sprays, if you used binoculars you could watch the whales rolling around in the water. It was quite fascinating.

The way to Waimea



Ranch in the valley




In Waimea, there is a place called "Church Row". There was a memorial there that told about all the churches and a little something about their history. One particular church said that in the 1840's they had over 1200 members of their church. Now that's a pretty big membership for a small community on an island it the middle of the pacific ocean!

It was a very clear day, which was a good thing for photo taking!

After lunch at Solimene's Restaurant in Waimea, we started back towards Kona. We stopped at a resort to take a short hike to see the Petroglyph Park. This is a lava field that the natives carved petroglyphs into the lava. When the Resort was built, they preserved the field and made a trail. I added the link to show a little about what the petroglyphs were, I'm not sure if it's the exact same park or not.



Here's a beehive on the beginning of the hike to the petroglyphs


Erin and I with the lava field in the background.


Honu (Turtle) carved in the lava



Tad and Erin



Sign explaining about the carvings

End of the World

Mom at the End of the World
Originally uploaded by ReporterErin

The last stop for the day, a place called "The end of the World". I don' tknow how it got that name, but, it's a pretty cool place. We stayed here for about an hour. With the sun reflecting off the black lava rock, I got a sunburn.

Hawaiian Monk Seal

While at the Place of Refuge we saw a group of people watching something swim toward the cove. We figured it would be a sea turtle as we've seen them there many times. But this time it was a little different as it came closer to shore. This time it was a Hawaiaan Monk Seal Since these are on the "Extremely Endangered" list, it was all very exciting.

Place of Refuge

After our tour of the Painted Church, we headed up the coast to a beautiful National Park called Place of Refuge

This park is a great place to experience some native Hawaiian culture, take a hike and have a picnic.

Picnic area.



This is on the hike, it is believed to have been a goat pen.


The end of the hike.

Day #6 - Friday First Stop, the Painted Church

I can't believe it's Friday already! Today we have a small hike planned and lunch agt the Place of Refuge. It's a warm day, and we are hoping to see some whales at the beach. But, our first stop is a little church called "The Painted Church".


I found the following information at this website: Painted Church
"In December of 1983 restoration work began on the deteriorating church, in collaboration with the Bishop museum in Honolulu. In February of 1985 the restoration was complete and the parish celebrated. On the hundredth anniversary of the dedication of the church in its present location, in 2002, more renovation was completed. A large plywood altar had been constructed after the changes initiated by the Second Vatican Council in the 1960's, this enabled the priest to celebrate mass facing the congregation. This was replaced by a koa wood altar crafted by a parishioner, that was smaller and more in proportion to the size of the sanctuary. A matching pulpit was also crafted of this precious Hawaiian wood. The statues were refurbished and the carpet replaced. St. Benedicts sparkled once again. There are two mission churches in St. Benedict's parish, St. John the Baptist in Kelliakekua and St. Peter's Church in Milolii, 25 miles south of Honaunau. St. Peter's was built to replace a church of the same name, destroyed by a lava flow at Hoopuloa in 1926"

This tree as outside, I thought it was unusual.


Outside the church was a little souvenier stand that sold handmade christmas ornaments. I bought a wreath ornament made from the koa wood, with a nativity in the center.

Day #5 Continued

After horseback riding, Erin and did some 'beach hopping'. Meaning we just stopped at several places on the way back into Kona. Here are a few photos of the day.

Day #5 -Thursday

HORSEBACK riding day! Erin and I got up early and drove to the Waipio Valley to take the scheduled Horseback riding tour. I have been looking forward to this day for a very long time! To take a horse thru the valley and see some places that you just don't get to see unless you are willing to hike several miles up and down the rocks and hills! By the time we got there it was raining. Not to be deterred, we climbed into the 4 wheel drive van with 12 other people we didn't know to be cowboys for a day.

We got to the stables, though, I wondered a time or two if that van would just plummet over the cliffs, and began our orientation lecture. The lecture included how to get on and off the horse, when to lean forward, how to hold the reins, and what to do in the event that the horse lays their ears flat on their neck. We were also instructed that horses, much like people, do not like their "space" intruded upon by other horses getting too close. Great... :)



One by one we mounted our rides, the guides carefully pairing up horses with riders. Erin got a horse that wanted to lead the pack. I got the horse that none of the other horses liked. Figures. She is in front, me in the rear. Yeah.. our first day together and there are 12 people riding in between us.



About 20 minutes into the ride, one of the other rideres decided she wanted to take some photos, so she fell back behind me. Next thing I knew, Shady, the socially inept horse I was on, laid her ears back and began to make a fuss. I thought she wanted to climb the mountain beside the trail, or dump me on the ground. Luckily, I had ridden before, though, let's just say it's been a very, very long time. I pulled back the reigns and told her that she didn't need to get in a tizzy. Somehow she must have thought that I knew what I was doing because she calmed right down. You should have seen the look on the guide's face. Poor guy, thought he had lost a tourist! I assured him we would be fine, and the tour continued.

We rode for about an hour and half, thru streams of water, viewing waterfalls, wild mustangs, and baby colts. All the while it rained. It was a beautiful ride and believe it or not, not one person complained about the weather.