Hawaiian Beaches (Final Hawaii post)

Hawaii is known for its wonderful beaches.  My family and I went to one of the best beaches on the big island, called Mauna Kea. This beach is located near the Kohala Coast.  All beaches in Hawaii are public, but the parking is not. The Mauna Kea resort, has only 40 parking spots open to the public so we had to arrive early in order to be let into the resort. What makes this beach special is the clear blue water and the sandy white shore.       

Photo taken from Mauna Kea Resort http://clubmkr.com/

At the beach, we went surfing on our boogie boards, built sandcastles and swam in the clear blue ocean.  My sister and I even convinced our parents to go boogie boarding. My dad liked it so much, that we couldn't get him to give us our boards back. Some days the waves were huge and really amazing to watch as they crashed onto the shore. Here is a short slide show of our activities.



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This is my final post about  my family trip to Hawaii. Which post was your favorite?  Vote now.



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Kayaking to Captain Cook Monument

While we were in Hawaii, my family and I went kayaking to Captain Cook Monument.   This monument is dedicated to Captain James Cook and you can only access it by water.  Captain Cook Monument is located in Kealakekua Bay (Ke·a·la·ke·ku·a Bay).  This bay is a great snorkeling place because there are no waves. The coral and the fish are gorgeous. Because there are 6 of us, we had to take 2 kayakes.  My brother and I went with my mom and my two younger sisters went with my dad and on the way back we switched.

Captain Cook Monument. Photo taken from http://www.letsgo-hawaii.com/captcook/



 As we were kayaking back, we saw Spinner dolphins playing all around us.  They are called Spinner dolphins because they leap out of the water and spin in the air. These dolphins like to travel in large groups between 10 and 100 animals.  We saw probably about 20 or 30 dolphins swimming and jumping around us.  Some people even jumped out of their kayaks into the water to get a closer look.  We tried to take photos but they were too fast. 

Photo taken from http://hawaiihumpbackwhale.noaa.gov/explore/spinner_dolphins.html




If you look closely, you can see the fins of the dolphins in the background

 

Hawaiian Volcanos

Hawaii has a lot of volcanoes and my family and I went to one of the most active volcano, Kīlauea (kiːlɑːuːˈeɪə).  A volcano is a place where smoke, gases, and black hot rocks from deep underground erupt onto the earths surface. The largest volcanoes of the five from the chain of Hawaii are Kilauea, Mauna Loa, and Hualalai.  They have erupted in the past 200 years.  Kīlauea is still erupting and just erupted March 6, 2011 from the Pu`u `Ō `ō crater. To get current eruption information, you can go to http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/kilauea/update/images.html . We visited the park museum and took photographs of a television screen showing the the recent eruption.

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This photo we took of the volcano near the park museum

walking through the rain forest.

 After visiting the museum we went on a 4 mile hike to the Kilauea Iki crater. To get to the crater, we walked through a rain forest.  Since we didn't know that it rains all the time at the volcano we got all soaking wet.   The rain forest led to the volcano crater.  A crater is a large hole that lava fills and makes a lava lake.  After some time, the lava flows out of the lake through the lava tubes and into the ocean.   

Sulfur gas rising from a steam vent.  Sulfur gas is not good for you, so we didn't stay too long next to it.

Kilauea Iki Crater

Next, we went through a wet and spooky lava tube.  Lava tubes are ways through which lava travels underground from the volcano to the ocean.

Have you ever been to a volcano?

Do you like to explore new places?

Where have you been?

Tropical Fruits

This afternoon we went to the Farmer's market and bought different types of tropical fruits found on the island.  It was really fun opening up and tasting each fruit.



Apple Banana



Apple Bananas are a type of bananas that are short and fat.  They taste sour and sweet and it is important to wait until the peel of this banana is near black before eating to get the full flavor.  



Avocados



At the market we saw different types of avocados. Some are very large and oval shape and some are round and small.  I don't like avocados but my dad said that some have a more buttery taste than others.



Ketembilla



Ketembilla grows on a small spiny tree and has these small purple fruit that look like large purple grapes. They taste sweet inside but the skin is very sour and there is a small pit inside.   



Passion Fruit



The passion fruit is sour and slimy inside and has crunchy seeds that you can eat. You only eat the inside.  It has a really strong and sweet smell.  I like the smell but not the taste. I especially don't like how it feels in my mouth.



Papaya



The papaya tastes like an overripe melon. Just like a melon you scoop out the seeds before eating.



Star Fruit



The star fruit is the prettiest and I think the tastiest of the tropical fruits I tried. It is sweet and juicy and tastes a little bit like an apple pear. 



Rambutan



The Rambutan is the hairiest fruit ever.  Once you peel the skin, there is a oval shaped fruit that tastes like the inside of a grape.  There is a big pit inside. 






Mystery Fruit



We bought this fruit, but we forgot to ask what it was.  It has a very bland taste.  Its texture (what it feels like in your mouth) is like a ripe pear.  Does anyone know what it is? 

 

Have you ever tried any of these fruits?

Which one was your favorite?