Christmas in Hawaii 2011 - Day 10

Today is a sad day for us because we have to leave this beautiful place. We have enjoyed our trip so much and hate to see the vacation end. It has been a great 10 days in paradise. Wish it was about 6 months longer.

Last day at the beach. Alex taking the paddle board out for the last time.

I think Craig is telling a whale of a story.

Our small Mauna Lani Resort private beach.

We will leave Hawaii with these beautiful pictures of flowers and nature that surrounded us and beautified our stay.

Bougainvillea on the trellis just outside our front door.

Ginger

Pink Hibiscus.

Palm trees swaying in the wind.

Yellow Hibiscus

Red Hibiscus.

Another beautiful and fragrant red Hibiscus.

After a full day at the beach, we packed our bags and drove to Kona for a nice dinner and then onto the airport for our 9:55pm departure.

Last sunset in Kona. We bid Hawaii adieu for now. We will be back in August. Until then...

Christmas in Hawaii 2011 - Day 9

Happy New Year 2012 everyone! Greetings from Hawaii. Today we headed to the Hapuna Beach, which is considered as one of the most beautiful beaches in Hawaii. Also, according to the lifeguard, also one of the most dangerous beaches with most broken necks. Hapuna Beach=Break Neck Beach. I was hoping that we wouldn't get any broken necks today. To make broken necks possible, Alex and Rod headed to the shore surf with the boogie boards.

Rod and Alex boogie boarding at Hapuna Beach.

Alex is going back for more fun.

Rod and Alex waiting for a wave.

Small wave but Rod and Alex are having fun.

Rod and Alex still trying to get their necks broken.

Alex is sliding on the beach.

Now that is a wave for boogie boarding.

Elle and Alex are so tan and getting even a better tan.

I brought Chinese lanterns with me from home so we could launch them at New Years. What I didn't prepare was the huge concern that Rod had regarding where the lanterns are going to land. He was freaking out that because everything on land is so dry that we would start a fire. So, my moment of a great memory for the kids went out the door. I'm pretty sure they will remember Rod's freaking out more than how beautiful the lantern was when it flew.

Rod is holding the lantern to launch it to the sea.

First lantern is ready to fly.

Rod is filling the lantern with enough heat that it will fly as long as possible.

Ready to fly.

Alex is lighting the second one.

We only launched one.

Christmas in Hawaii 2011 - Day 8

Today is New Year's Eve. We started celebrating the upcoming year by going on a whale watching tour in the early, early morning. The sun was barely up when we got to the Puacko beach to board the ship for a couple of hours. We were hoping for calm seas so we wouldn't puke our guts out. Lucky for us, it was very quiet and calm morning.

Us registering for the whale watching.

That's our boat.

This is our captain for the tour.

Elle and Craig look excited.

Alex is ready to see some whale splashes.

I wonder if these are the same whales that we saw in Alaska in June. Most likely.

Alex and Rod ready to board the ship.

Elle and Rod are finally on the boat. We occupied the bow of the ship.

Whitney is keeping her eyes on the horizon

Beautiful sunrise.

And the whales didn't disappoint. They were everywhere.

Humpback whale coming to the surface.

Going down and waving us good-bye.

It was a beautiful day for a whale watching tour.

The others saw the breach, I missed it because I was looking through the small camera window. I only witnessed the immense splash.

Double tails.

A whale blow (spout) in the distance.

Our captain told us that the way to tell the whales apart is to look at their tail coloring. This one has white on his/her tail.

Whitney and Craig enjoying their tour.

Towards the end of the tour we noticed this one whale showing off near another whale watching tour. We hurried close-by and watched how this whale put on a really great show.

He was doing barrel rolls and just entertaining us for the longest time.

The other boat had the front row seats the whole time.

Still showing off.

Barrel rolls with just a fin showing.

Down he goes.

Alex spotted a lot of whales.

"Chip" the turtle at the boat ramp. Probably hoping for some scraps from the boat.

At night we grilled steaks, shrimp and tuna. Everything was so delicious.

Thanks for dressing up for dinner, Rod.

Elle couldn't stay up to welcome 2012. She fell asleep before 10pm...so did everyone else.