Beaches

Beaches - Oh! The Variety on the Big Island!

The first beach we saw (and I am not counting shoreline where the waves crash against the rocks), is Punalu'u at the south end of the island.  It is known for black sand and always having green sea turtles basking on the shore.  We were not disappointed.

I used a telephoto lens for this guy so I could stay at least 15 feet away.

If black sand wasn't enough, we took a side trip to the Green Sand Beach near South Point (the southernmost point of the U.S.).  This is quite an adventure.  First you drive 12 miles off the main road on a bumpy path to the parking lot.  Then you proceed to walk into a very strong headwind for 2.25 miles.  Some people say it takes 2-3 hours to get there, but I took few photos and hoofed it, and we made it in 50 minutes.  Upon arrival, you are greeted with this great view down to the beach, and then you work yourself carefully down the steep slope to marvel at the beauty of it all.  We wanted to stay longer, but the cove is not protected from the wind, and sitting to enjoy it was not the most pleasant prospect.  However, it was worth the adventure.

The path along the coast to the Green Sand Beach

This is Ho'okena Beach where we camped for two nights.  The skies are full of stars, and the camping was amazingly quiet, but for the sound of surf.

North of Kona was our chosen snorkeling spot at Kekaha Kai State Park.  The lava in the ocean gives tropical fish a great home, so we saw many kinds of beautiful species.

 However, the road out to this park is rough going over the lava field - 20 minutes of bouncing each way.

 We camped for two nights at Spencer Beach - Christmas Eve and Christmas night. This is a great place for families with a white sand beach and few rocks.  The facilities here are great.

 Here is the Mauna Kea Resort Beach of which I blogged yesterday.  The resort allows 40 cars at a time to public access on this beautiful beach, so we made sure to be there by 9:15 a.m.  We were car #35.  I don't have any idea if this beach was busier than usual or not because it was Christmas.

 Just south of Mauna Kea Resort is the public beach Hapuna.  While just as beautiful as Mauna Kea, it was overrun with people.

Quick Getaway

On Friday we hooked up the tent trailer to the car and headed to the beach - San Onofre near San Clemente. We spent Saturday taking a two-hour hike in the hills, doing a little shopping, and then closed the day with a sunset walk along the beach. We took along our old technology, a little AM/FM transistor radio and listened to the Dodger game. The Dodgers swept the Cardinals to win their NLDS!

There are a few more beach pictures at my Picasa Web Albums site.

Special Edition: On the Road, Day 11

One thing about the Porcupine Flats campground. I think it is warmer and a little quieter than Tuolumne. It's much smaller, too. Okay, that's more than one thing. Hal rustled up some instant oatmeal for breakfast while I scanned the hiking book and maps. I discovered that there was a nice, fairly level hike to Lukens Lake, about a 4.6 mile round trip starting at White Wolf. I thought we might be able to buy coffee at the restaurant there before heading out, and that's what we did. The hike itself was lovely, and we ended up spending about an hour just admiring the lake, taking photos, and eating leftover lunch from yesterday.

The afternoon plan was to walk to our special spot on the river, but by the time we had hiked back to White Wolf, the altitude had gotten to me, so we drove to another river spot and enjoyed the afternoon of listening to the water and reading some more. (After all this reading, there will undoubtedly be a book review coming up in this blog!)

With more time to spend, we decided on another trip to the Whoa Nellie! Deli for dinner where we actually sat inside (we usually sit outside overlooking Mono Lake) and watched the Cubs on t.v.