Seeing Jupiter I forgot to mention a most exciting experience. Whilst waiting to see the sunset on Mauna Loa volcano, we got to see Jupiter. One of the rangers had a very powerful telescope and he let us have a look once he had set it up. First focus was on Venus and then on Jupiter. We could see the planet clearly with it's four moons in orbit. Brilliant! Here are some of the photos of Akaka waterfall, the stunning coastline near Hilo and some of the exotic Hawaiian flora. [View Full Entry]

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Volcano, Hawaii Friday 10th October 2008 According to Hawaiian legend and tradition, Halema’uma’u Crater on Kilauea volcano is the home of Pele the goddess of fire and volcanoes. Pele is responsible for the fiery eruptions of this, the world’s youngest and most active volcano on land and so is both feared and revered as the bringer of disaster and the giver of life as the island continues to grow. The soil on Big Island, so lush and tropical is continually enriched by the lava flows. Mauna Loa, an older volcano, also active and spewing forth steam from its vents towers [View Full Entry]

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Hurrah for Hilo! Wednesday 8th October 2008, 10.30 a.m. Yesterday morning our flight left Honolulu at 9.20 a.m. and by 10.05 we were banking sharply down over crystal clear seas, fringed by rain forest to the old town of Hilo on the east coast of Hawaii, otherwise known as Big Island. We got off the plane in high humidity and heat at a pretty little one-storey airport planted with tropical flowers and surrounded by palm and banyan trees and we just knew that this was going to be good! Hilo is known as one of the wettest places on earth. It [View Full Entry]

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Hanauma Bay, Oahu, Hawaii Monday 6th October 2008 Hanauma is very scenic, as our photos show, however the marine life isn’t as colourful or abundant as the travel guides indicate, or at least wasn’t yesterday. The coral is dull and the green turtles and parrotfish were elsewhere. We saw some nice fish though and John spotted a sea snake. The weather was glorious and despite being a Sunday the bay wasn’t crowded so it was a good day out. One annoying thing was that we were unable to rent fins (or flippers as we Brits like to call them); we took [View Full Entry]

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Pearl Harbour Saturday 4th October 2008 Pearl Harbour was worth the hour and a quarter bus ride. It was quite moving. We did feel a bit regimented by the US Navy personnel who take visitors out to the Arizona monument. One cannot take anything on the tour and drinking, even water, is FORBIDDEN, in respect to the thousand plus crew whose bodies were never recovered from the wreckage!!!??? However, the memorial is a sobering and fitting tribute to those poor souls and the documentary film pays due tribute to the genius (as well as the horror) of the Japanese attack, probably [View Full Entry]

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“Hawaii Five-O”or is it “Hawaii O-no“? Thursday 2nd October 2008 Waikiki, Oahu I know that we are spoilt, living in Spain close to beautiful big sandy beaches and that last week we were on the stunning Pacific coast of California, but to say that Waikiki beach is a disappointment is an understatement. Due to overdevelopment and hotels built too close to the beach, what is left is narrow, overcrowded (and this is ’low season’) and now has imported sand from the Philippines!!! Having driven 2,821 miles across California and in to Nevada and Arizona, w [View Full Entry]

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City by the Bay: San Francisco Tuesday 30th September 2008 We are in a plane flying at about 34,000 feet towards Honolulu airport, Hawaii. We didn’t leave our hearts in San Francisco (like Tony Bennett in the famous old song) but we did love it! It is a city with a lot of heart and soul and a distinct ambience all of its own. We have been to so many towns over the last month that all look the same, which we called “Anyplace USA”; same shops in the same malls, with the same freeways running through, where once Main Street [View Full Entry]

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Northern Yosemite Tuesday 23rd September 2008 Well, this surpassed our expectations! The Northern part of Yosemite is sensational; high rugged peaks, thick pine forest, crystal clear mountain lakes and huge granite outcrops and vertical faces, which some intrepid mountaineers were climbing. It is further to drive to get to these northern parts of the national park and then one needs to do a lot of hiking about to enjoy the full experience, so maybe that is why less tourists venture up here and go to the valley instead. It is high up, but the drive up the Tioga Road is OK, [View Full Entry]

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Groveland and Yosemite 22nd September 2008 Groveland is an old gold mining town, twenty three miles east of the Yosemite National Park in the Stanislaus Forest. It is one of the old “Forty Niner’s towns” with most of the original buildings intact, including the saloon and hotels still used as such. We got here three nights ago and are staying another three, camping. It is absolutely freezing at night, not surprising at this altitude in the mountains, but we are cosy enough in our rented tent and the surrounding pinewoods are beautiful. The first two nights were nois [View Full Entry]

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“Teddy Bears Picnic” - Sequoia National Park, California 17th/18th September 2008 Once upon a time, American Black Bears were paraded in the Sequoia at a spot called “Bear Hill’ for the benefit of tourists; they were also introduced to the taste of human food. Subsequently, bear attacks on people became common-place as they raided rubbish bins and caused damage to cars. The bears then had to be shot. In the 1950s, the Sequoia had a petrol station, restaurants, holiday cabins and hordes of tourists who went to molest the wildlife. Today, all of these buildings hav [View Full Entry]

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