After my first island hop to Maui I was ready to do another, and what better place but the Big Island itself. Because of money problems, David Henderson could not go along on this one, but my roommate Brent could. Brent and I decided on one of the University's sponsored trips with Hidden Hawaii Adventure Tours. After several phone calls, it was done and we were ready to go.

On July 17, Brent and I went down to Frear Hall (which might I add is condemned) and joined the tour. We all took taxis to the airport where we had a flight on Aloha Airlines flight #96 for Kona at 4:25pm. So far everything was uneventful to say the least, and I was getting very familiar to the Honolulu Airport as well by this point.

One of the last places on earth to run into somebody you know would have to be on a plane, yet that what happen. I was chillin' in my seat, drinking my juice when I overheard the person behind me talking to two girls from my tour. I didn't think nothing of it of first till I heard him say Charlotte, I then turned around and then asked him if he was from Charlotte (to understand if I heard that correct). Then he said he was from Boone, and then he said "Marcus?" It was Ben Caylor, a High School acquaintance from Avery, and a person I haven't seen in five years. I was ah struck and I guess he was too.

After a 30 minute flight, we landed in Kona at probably one of the coolest airports I've ever been too. The runway was built over a recent lava flow with black rocks everywhere. Other than the tower and a museum, the airport itself was little more than two tiki tops. This airport had no building what-so-ever for itself, and it was an international airport to top it off. I found out that the lack of infrastructure was do because of the weather, which is usually always sunny and dry. Other than that, they really didn't need much, they had everything else: a luggage pickup, a ticket counter, and a car rental lot.

At the airport we got a rental car for the tour. Since I was 21, I got a car in my name, which means I was the driver for this entire trip. We originally was suppose to have four per car, but one of the passengers wanted to be in the car full of girls (I don't blame him); thus it was me at the helm, Brent at shotgun, and a Canadian from the Northwest Territories in the back. As I drove from the Airport to Kailua-Kona, we noticed several times of messages written by white rocks onto the black rocky desert. The town itself was quaint and small, several shops and restaurants dotted the area, and it was all in walking distance. Our hotel for the night was the Royal Kona Resort, a very posh hotel.

We did all the usual things at the hotel, checked in and went to our rooms. After that, I went down to see what the other people were doing. I went to the open air dinning room and bar, which was right on the oceanfront. I actually conversed to several people while there while watching the sunset, which was most speculator watching the sun set into the ocean.

One of the girls on the tour was a German who was going to UH for a summer co-op (I forgot her name, so sue me). We hit it off real well and for the rest of the night, we hanged together as we went to eat at an Italian restaurant, at the Hard Rock Cafe (which opened for the first time ever, a happy coincidence), and then at a bar (I didn't drink though). Sadly, we were only friends, nothing happened; and never saw her again after the trip to the big island (why do you think I forgot her name). Oh well. . .

We left the Royal Kona at 8:00am for a long day of sight-seeing and adventure. Our first stop was at Kealakekua Bay, it is where Captain Cook (the first European visitor to the islands) was killed. They have a monument at the spot where Cook was killed, which was over on the other side of the bay. We also saw at the bay dolphins which were playing with people on a small boat in the bay. A fun fact about dolphin's is that they are the only other animal that surfs.   ^_^

Our next stop was the Pu'uhonua o Honaunau (City of Refuge) National Historical Park. Up until the early 19th Century, Hawaiians who broke a kapu or a law against the gods could avoid certain death by fleeing to this place of refuge. There they can be absolved by a priest and then free to go. It was also a place for defeated warriors and non-combatants during times of battle.

Oddly, when we first got there we didn't go to see the grounds (at first); but instead went to the restrooms to change into our swimming clothes. From there we walked over to a little bay where we all went snorkeling. This was the first time I ever snorkeled and was became rather fond of it. After gently getting into the water, all I had to do was just float. One reason is because you can look down at all the sea life, another was so you didn't breathe in sea water, but the main reason is that you don't step on the coral. The coral is fragile and can also cut your feet, I had not protective footwear so I had to be careful. I saw many colorful fish while snorkeling, which made me wish I bought a water camera; I even got to see a turtle swim next to me.

After over an hour of snorkeling, I went back to the park where I changed back to my regular clothes and began touring the city of refuge. Later that night I would realize that I got one massive sunburn on my entire back. I did use sunscreen, but I guess I need a higher SPF, like 1000.

Finally, it was time to wave aloha to the Pu'uhonua o Honaunau. Sadly we had to go, time was not on our side and we had a 1 ½ hour drive to our next stop, the Punaluu Black Sand Beach. Along the way there, I had a hell of a time finding a radio station. After listening to either static or some 1940's music AM station, I left the dial on a classic rock station; which (to my surprise) had the same voice announcer as Z91 in Cullowhee, North Carolina did at the time. But as you know, I'm not a big classic rock fan, so that drive was one of the longest drives for me, my passengers were also asleep which also didn't help my boredom.

The only thing I can say about a black sand beach is that it's really neat and clean. I walked around the beach to an area that appeared to be a decaying pier, which was a good spot take a couple of pictures of the beach. I also spotted a turtle in the water as I walked back to our little picnic area on the black beach. The only unwelcome guests on the beach were the ducks and especially the geese that chased several people all around the area. I, of course, fueled it by tossing them tostito chips.   ^_^  

After our little picnic at the Punaluu black sand beach, we were off to our next fun-filled adventure: Volcanoes National Park. 100% pure fun!