Belize - April 2010

This trip was planned to attend a friend’s destination wedding.  They got married at a resort in Hopkins and we decided to go a few days early to go diving in the Cayes (keys).  We chose to stay on Caye Caulker instead of the popular tourist destination, Ambergis Caulker.  Caye Caulker is smaller and more laid back according to my travel guide.  I used Moon Handbooks Belize guide to help plan the trip along with the trusty TripAdvisor website. 

Sydney, Australia - January 2010

Day 1, Jan 10 – Arrival

As I mentioned before, flying domestic Qantas flights are great.  We flew them again from Cairns to Sydney and during our 3 hour flight enjoyed a pasta meal and an ice cream bar.  They also played a movie, but we chose not to watch it.

We arrived in Sydney in the early evening and were picked up by a friend of Mike’s.  We were staying with him, his wife, and their new baby girl during our stay.  Their apartment was located in Potts Point and had a fantastic view of the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge. 

Cape Tribulation, Queensland Jan 2010

I'm writing this entry in a journal style, because our accommodations kept journals where guests could write what they did during their stay for other guests to read.  This is basically very similar to what I'd written in the journal, with a little more detail...

Day 1, Jan 5 - Arrival 

We flew Qantas from Melbourne into Cairns in a huge plane with a 3 seat middle row.  It was only a 3 hour flight and they showed a movie and served lunch.  I found this to be luxurious as we fly 3 hours from San Diego to Kansas City a lot and only get a bag of pretzels and cookies!

We had cooler weather than we expected while visiting Melbourne.  When we got off the plane in Cairns, we were slapped in the face with humid, warm weather.  I am not a fan of humidity, but tried to take it all in stride during our stay in Cape Tribulation.  We rented a car and made our way up to Cape Tribulation.  It ended up taking us 3 hours to get to our accommodations, but we had to stop for supplies and a map with directions to our B&B.  I forgot to bring a printout of the directions before leaving home.  I figured someone would know where the Fruit Farm was located.  The tourist map for Daintree and Cape Trib, which we picked up from the Daintree Discovery Centre, actually has the B&B on it.  Crossing the Daintree river requires a car ferry, which is $20 round trip.

We arrived at the Cape Tribulation Exotic Fruit Farm (TA Review) at about 4pm and were greeted by Alison right away.  She took us back to our cottage, they have 2 on site, and gave us an orientation of the cabin and farm.  She invited us to join her and Digby for a drink at their home later that evening to discuss the area and decide what to do during our stay.  

After our orientation, we walked to the nearby Cassowary Cafe for lunch (meal $35).  I ordered a chicken avocado baguette with fries and Mike had the vegetarian pizza.  The food was just ok, but the restaurant is pretty cool.  It had a tree house type look and setting.  We were the only ones eating as it was an in-between meal time, but they serve food all day.  We came to realize pretty quick that you can't always eat wherever you want whenever you want in Australia, especially in smaller areas.  We always had breakfast at the farm, lunch is 12-2 and dinner is 6-8.  Other than that, you can't always find anything to eat during those in between times.  We also discovered this "fake chicken" that is used in Cape Tribulation in several restaurants.  I don't know what it is made from, but it is not good.  I made the mistake twice of ordering chicken and this was the first place I did. 

After filling our stomachs, we went back to the farm and met Alison and Digby for a drink on their porch.  Their house is completely open in the front.  There are no walls or screens.  You can walk up and see their kitchen and living room.  They wanted to build their 2 cabins that way also, but didn't think guests coming from other countries would appreciate it as much as they do.  We all drank some wine and talked about the area, how they met, how they started the farm, and what were good activities to do in Cape Trib.  We also met their neighbor that runs another B&B farm, Farm Stay, close to them.  This farm inspired their farm and they are all friends!  When I researched places to stay in the area, I thought for sure they would be competitors that weren't necessarily friends.

After getting some ideas of things to do, we went back to our cabin and enjoyed another drink on the balcony before turning in for the night.  The cabins and balconies are right at the edge of the forest and you can hear some amazing sounds at night.  There are no TVs in the cabins, but who needs them when you have the forest to entertain you.

Day 2, Jan 6 - Forest Hiking, Ice Cream Tasting, Wine Tasting, Swimming Hole, and Crocodile Tour

The first thing we heard when we woke up was rain!  Rain in the forest sounds really cool.  The cabin was left open the whole time because it was really hot.  They have a sliding door and you can shut the windows, but during the summer, you want to leave everything open.  The rain only lasted about 10 minutes.

Breakfast is served to you on the balcony of your cabin.  Digby usually serves the breakfast and starts with the exotic fruit.  About 30 minutes later, he brings a hot breakfast.  This morning our fruit was Abiu, Pineapple, Papaya, Mango, and Passion Fruit.  Our hot breakfast was banana pancakes with Black Zapote chocolate sauce, which was my favorite breakfast of our trip.  These breakfasts ended up being our favorite meal of the day and we very much looked forward to them.  

After breakfast, we went on the guided walk behind the cabins.  Alison had mapped out the walk that had stops along the way to point out the flora, plants, or particulars of the forest.  Supposedly, their real estate agent had recommended they cut out a big chunk of the forest to build their house up higher than it is located now.  They didn't want to ruin such a special place!  

After our hike that left us dripping in sweat from the thick humidity, we cleaned up and headed down to cross the Daintree River on the car ferry and on to Mossman.  We had booked a crocodile tour on the river for later in the evening, so we took advantage of exploring the other side of the river while we were down there.  On our way, we stopped at the Daintree Ice Cream Company to taste some exotic fruit ice cream.  We tasted Banana, Wattleseed, Jakfruit, and Mamey Sapote.

We then headed to Shannonvale Winery outside of Mossman.  The winery specializes in exotic fruit wine and we really didn’t know what to expect.  We pulled into the driveway and followed signs for parking and the wine tasting room.  There was no one in the covered tasting room when we arrived, but there was a bell to ring to let someone know we were there.  I think they saw us pull in, because as I rang the bell, the owners were coming out to greet us. 

He explained that his wine tasting included 13 tastes that day ($5 pp if we didn't buy any wine) and asked if we were interested.  Whoa!  When we went to Napa, we only had about 4-6 tastes at a tasting.  We sat down at one of the long tables with bar stools and he gave us a couple of glasses and got the first bottle.  He gave us a form for our tasting notes.  The first wine he poured was made with Mango and he explained it was a dry wine that was recommended with lighter foods such as prawns.  Mike really liked it, but I thought it was a little too dry. Out of 10, I gave it a 5, Mike gave it an 8.  We went through 12 more wines this way.  Half of the wines we tasted were port-like, sweeter wines.

During our tasting another couple showed up and then the wife came out and finished our tasting.  They said during the busy season all their tables are usually full. 

The owners are really serious and passionate about their exotic fruit wine and it shows during the tasting.  We tasted wine made of Mango, Lychee, Passion fruit, Jaboticaba, Ginger, Orange, Purple Mangosteen, Lime, Grapefruit and Black Sapote.  We bought Lychee, Ginger, Purple Mangosteen, Lime Cello, and Black Sapote. We knew we'd never be able to buy something like this anywhere else!

After our wine tasting, we headed to some swimming holes to cool off.  We went to Mossman Gorge and Mike jumped in and swam around.  There were lots of people swimming and lots of others watching.  There was a little rapid on the river that people were riding down and Mike made friends with a local kid to tell him how to ride it also.

We left the Gorge after an hour or so and headed back towards the river to grab some food before our crocodile tour.  We stopped at 2 places that weren’t going to be serving food until dinner an hour later, so we settled for fish and chips at a gas station in Wonga Beach.  The fish was pretty decent and very hot, but I was a little disappointed that it was hard to find food.

We ate quickly and then drove down the road to met Dan Irby for our Daintree River Tour ($50 pp).  He’s a nice guy originally from Oklahoma.  He drives a small boat with about 10-12 seats total, so you don’t get a big group.  We only had 2 other couples with us on our tour.  Dan took the time to learn all our names and asked questions throughout the tour to get to know us.  We rode up and down the river looking for crocs, birds, frogs and whatever interesting things Dan could find.  In 2 hours, we only saw a few baby crocs.  Regardless, being out on the river at dark was amazing. 

Day 3, Jan 7 – Great Barrier Reef Snorkeling and Exotic Fruit Tasting

Our fruit this morning was Mango, Papaya, Pineapple, Abiu and finally the Mangosteen…queen of the fruit and the B&B’s pride and joy.  Our breakfast was potato pancakes with green onions and tomatoes.  We also had some Jakfruit jelly for our bread.

After breakfast, we were picked up by Ocean Safari to go snorkeling on Mackay Reef ($108 pp).  We picked up a few other people and went down to their office to sign waivers before walking out to the beach to get on the catamaran.  There ended up being about 20 of us on this snorkel cruise and we were out to the reef within 25 minutes.  We snorkeled around for an hour in 2 different places and saw some great colorful coral and fish.  Someone on our tour was lucky enough to see a reef shark.  One of our guides pulled a sea cucumber off the ocean floor and showed its defense mechanism.  I wish we could have stayed longer or gone again.  We were back to the beach by 12:30.     

We had lunch at PK’s Jungle Village (meal $28).  This place caters to backpackers and younger people.  I really liked the atmosphere.  If there was any place in Cape Trib with nightlife, it was this place.  I had a vege burger and Mike had a prawn roll, both were pretty decent.  We both had a beer also.

We went back to the farm and did the Fruit Tasting ($20 pp).  As if we weren’t getting enough with our breakfasts, we were hoping to sample new stuff.  Trish ran the discussion and she did a great job.  I discovered that I really enjoy Mamey Sapote; it tastes like sweet potato to me.  We tasted Breadfruit, Jakfruit, Mamey Sapote, Salak, Abiu, Black Sapote, Davidson Plum, Carambola, and Jaboticaba.

For dinner, we ate at Whet (meal $100).  This is the nicest place to eat in Cape Trib.  The seating is outside on a covered patio with torches lit around the patio.  The service was very friendly.  We ordered a pork and scallop appetizer that was absolutely yummy.  The portion was really small, but very good.  Mike had the trout and I ordered the tuna.  My tuna was a little overcooked for my liking, but the trout was very good.  They ended up running out of that right after our order.  For dessert, we had chocolate mangosteen ice cream with mango syrup.  Yum!  Our meal was a little bit of a splurge for the area, but worth it.  We didn’t have any drinks with our meal.

Day 4, Jan 8 – Sea Kayaking and Hiking

Our fruit this morning for breakfast was Star Fruit (Carambola) Sugar Bananas, Papaya, Pineapple, Passion Fruit, and Mangosteen.  Our hot breakfast was a cheese and herb omelet.  The eggs come from the hens that run around on the farm.

After breakfast, we walked to the local campground and rented a kayak to take out in the ocean.  We had it for 2 hours ($40) and paddled from the camp up a ribbon reef around the Cape Trib point to the bay on the other side.  We were looking for the dugong (similar to a manatee) that had been spotted in the area.  We didn’t have any luck finding it. 

After our kayaking adventure, we drove to the Cape Trib Beach House for lunch (meal $35) on our way to go hiking.  We really liked this place.  I had some pasta and a salad and Mike ordered a chicken sandwich.  We also each had a beer.  The pasta dish was a huge serving, but somehow I managed to finish it.  I was craving some pasta! 

With full bellies, we drove on to Emmagen Creek to find the trail back to a swimming hole.  At first we went the wrong way and Mike jumped in a swimming hole that wasn’t the one we were looking for.  We joked around that there might have been crocs in that swimming hole.  We referred to our map and discovered we had to walk a little down the road to get to the trail.  Finally on the right trail, we headed back to a nice secluded swimming hole.  There was another couple from San Francisco that were on their honeymoon, but other than that, no one else was there or came during our time there.  We swam around and relaxed a little in the shaded place. 

For dinner this evening we decided to walk to PK’s Jungle Village (meal $45) to experience the place at night.  Being in Cape Trib, you are pretty secluded and don’t always see a lot of people.  I was looking for some lively atmosphere, if just for a couple of hours.  It was pretty busy and there was some music playing.  We ordered the BBQ chicken pizza, but picked off all the chicken.  We forgot that the chicken isn’t always good as I’d mentioned earlier in this post.  We had a couple of beers each,

Day 5, Jan 9 – Sunrise, Hiking, Swimming Holes, and a BBQ!

We got up before breakfast and 6 am to catch the sunrise on the beach.  On the way to the beach, we saw a wild pig in the B&B’s orchard.  It was a little cloudy, so it wasn’t really spectacular.  It was nice however to be on the beach first thing in the morning.  It was quiet and the sand was cool!  The sand gets really hot during the day.  We walked along the beach a little and saw a reef shark swimming along the shallow waters. 

Back to the cottage for breakfast, our fruit was Pineapple, Abiu, Mango, Dragon Fruit and one of my favorites…Mamey Sapote.  For our hot breakfast, we enjoyed French toast with bacon and maple syrup.

After breakfast, we drove to find the trailhead to Blockade Creek.  This used to be a popular hike that locals would send tourists on, but the popularity of it had died out for some reason.  Alison & Digby said that none of their guests had gone on it in a while.  I think Alison had told us there was a trail, but we did what everyone else usually does and hiked up the river bed.  It was a little difficult climbing over the big boulders and some were wet.  I slipped and got one of my shoes all wet.  I wasn’t having the greatest time at first, but once we made it, it was pretty cool to see the little waterfall and swimming hole underneath it.  We shared the swimming hole with a Black Bittern.  We believe he was trying to fish, but he stayed there the whole hour or so we were there and barely moved.

The hike back down was a lot easier.  We drove back to Mason’s Café for lunch (meal $25).  I had a burger and it came with lots of veges on it (cucumber, beets, lettuce and carrots).  Mike had the fish and chips, the fish was little battered and very flavorable.  The food was very good, especially the fish.  We shared a coke.  After eating, we checked out their swimming hole.  It’s located in a river in tree shading.  It’s in a nice cool spot and it’s a big swimming area.  You could actually lie out and swim some laps.  There were several people that ended up back here while we were there. 

We decided that we wanted to go look for a Cassowary after our swim.  We had only seen one that we briefly saw run across the road as soon as we crossed the river our very first day.  Digby told us they have been seen at the Jindalba walk next to the Discover Center.  We drove down and walked around a little, but didn’t have any luck.  One our drive back to the B&B, we stopped at a Daintree Coffee Co. for a cup of coffee.  It was a nice little shop that had great coffee.  We noticed some rain clouds and the guy in the coffee shop said rain was coming! 

We made it back to the B&B barely and it started to rain.  It was raining pretty heavy to us, but the locals considered it a sprinkle!  The sound of the forest changed, the bugs started chirping really loud.  They were very excited for the rain! 

We had been invited by Alison & Digby to a BBQ they were hosting to celebrate the opening of their packing barn.  The rain didn’t keep everyone from attending the BBQ.  A lot of people were walking around barefoot under umbrellas.  We enjoyed a mango bellini made by Digby and lots of champagne poured by Alison.  It was a lot of fun and we met some fun people.  We had read in a book what to do if you get invited to a BBQ in Australia and thought that would never happen.  We actually were invited to a BBQ in Australia!

It rained and rained all night!  It was awesome listening to it rain in the forest. 

Day 6, Jan 10 – Departure

It was still raining when we woke up and we got up and sat on the balcony with our morning tea and coffee listening to it.  Our last morning of fruit was Dragon Fruit, Abiu, Mangosteen, Sugar Bananas, and Mangos.  Our hot breakfast was poached egg Benedict with spinach. 

It was so hard to leave, because we loved our stay at the Cape Trib B&B!  Being in Cape Trib was the best part of our trip.  It’s nice to travel to new places, but it’s even more fun and memorable when you go to places that are off the normal tourist path.  Cape Trib is definitely that place.  To fully enjoy your time, you have to be ok with the lack of amenities, the bugs, the humidity in the summer, and the rain.

Continue Reading About Our Trip:

3 Nights in Melbourne

6 Nights in Sydney

Cabo San Lucas - September 2007

We went to Cabo over Labor Day weekend 2007.  The weather was very sunny and warm, in the 90s.  We stayed at the Hilton Los Cabos Beach & Golf Resort (TA Review), on the Corridor, which is about 25 minutes outside of the main town of Cabo.  We spent a lot of our stay at the pool at our hotel, since most of the beaches in Cabo are not swimable due to the rough surf.  We dined at The Hacienda for breakfast every morning. Being a Hilton member, we received breakfast coupons for the Continental Breakfast (originally $20 USD) that was only coffee, pastries, and fruit. Lots of fruit and pastry options! Not a fan of the coffee, so I stuck to hot tea. To add the full buffett, we had to pay an extra $10 ($30 USD without coupon). They had an omelet station and a large variety of other foods. I definitely think the full buffett is the better value.  We had lunch a few times at the Sunset Bar by the pool, they have sushi also. The baja burgers are excellent!  Overall good food and service. Prices what you'd expect at any resort.

  

We went on a dive and sunset dinner cruise.  We also had a couple of drinks at the Giggling Marlin and Cabo Wabo.  We would have done more, but Mike got sick the first day.  Things were more expensive than I had expected, but it's a very touristy place.

We were lucky enough to have left the evening before Hurricane Henriette made landfall.

AIRLINE/AIRPORT: 

We flew AeroMexico for the first time on this trip.  I hadn't heard much about the airline, but we aren't really that picky.  They were the cheapest at the time.  I'll compare to Southwest as that's our airline of choice.  We carried on luggage since we were only going to be there for 4 days, so I can't comment on baggage handling.  The overhead bins are actually a little bigger than on Southwest.  We weren't able to pre-print our boarding pass online, like most other airlines allow.  There is not as much leg room as Southwest, it's a little cramped when the people in front of you put their seat back.  They serve a small meal on board free of charge.  On the way there (morning flight), we had a muffin, yogurt, fruit and coffee or juice.  On the way back (evening flight), we had a turkey and cheese sandwich, piece of cake, and soda or free alcohol!  They still use the roller carts in the aisle, so it makes it difficult to get up while they are serving, which is most of the first hour of the flight.  All instructions given on board are first in Spanish and then repeated in English.  One thing I did like about this airline is that they waste no time turning off the fasten seat belt sign, almost immediately after reaching 10,000 feet.  (I have a small bladder).  Our flights were on time both ways and the flight attendants were all very friendly.

Once we arrived at Los Cabos (San Jose del Cabo, SJD) airport, passengers walk off the plane on the tarmac, down stairs pushed up to the plane doors, front and back.  You then find the line inside to customs.  Some of the lines go fast and some go slow, ours was very slow.  Try to get in the farthest left line as sometimes there are 2 people working that one line, because there is a separate line for Mexicanos that hardly has anyone in it.  The person working that line will usually help with the other line.  Once through customs, you'd find your luggage if you checked luggage and go to the scanner to scan all your luggage.  After that, you are free to leave the airport.  Hopefully, you will already have your ground transportation booked and know where to go.  As you are leaving the airport, there are lots and lots of time share reps that will try to get you to attend one of their resorts.  If you are not interested, just ignore them, don't give them your transportation reservation paper, and keep walking towards the exit.  If you are interested in getting some free activities, then do talk with them.  They are known to hand out a lot of discounts and free activities, all you have to do is tell them what you want.  If you don't tell them, they won't offer.

GROUND TRANSPORTATION:

Our ground transportation was with TransCabo.  We reserved online and printed our voucher.  Outside the airport, there will be a lot of drivers standing around, go to the ones in the bright orange shirts.  They will say TransCabo on the shirts.  They will check your voucher and prepare your return to the airport voucher.  Your driver will then take your bags and escort you to his van.  They may have other passengers to drop off at other hotels in the van.  They have free bottled water available once you are in the van.  The drivers we had both times were very friendly and curteous.

  

ACTIVITIES:

Sunrider Sunset Cruise - We came across this company on TA. I was looking for a booze cruise that served more than chips and dip. We reserved a spot by email through the website; however, our name was not on the list afterall. We had no problem getting on board. They only take cash at boarding, $45 USD each. I heard others paid less through other vendors.

We were towards the end of the long line, but were able to find a couple of seats inside next to the bar. We sat next to another couple and spent the evening with them.

The cruise had an open bar and a buffet that served chicken kabobs, steak fajitas, chips, salsa, guac, and fruit. The food was very good and you could get as much as you wanted as long as it was open. They announced a "last call" for the buffet.

We cruised out of the harbor, down to The Arch, around The Arch, up the Pacific side a ways, and then back into the harbor. Overall, about a 2 and 1/2 hour cruise. There was dance music playing the entire time, some people were dancing inside by the bar.  This was a very fun cruise that I definitely recommend and would do again.

Amigos Del Mar Diving - We were still beginning certified divers. This 2 tank dive in Cabo was dive #7 & 8 for us. I came across this company on the PADI website. I contacted them by email  and then called their US phone number to make a reservation. We ended up having to change the reservation the morning of our original one, because my husband got sick. There was no problem changing the reservation.

We got there and got our equipment all picked out. We rented all gear for $20 USD total pp. The only thing we'd brought with us was our masks and snorkel. We were given shortys as the water temp was in the 70s. We paid with cash to receive a 10% dicount.

Our group on the dive boat consisted of 3 couples, a guide and a driver. Nice and roomy. There were no snacks on board, but lots of free water bottles.

Our first dive was at "Cortez's Finger" (aka Neptune's Finger or Coyote Rock). As we were anchoring, we saw several Manta Rays swimming by jumping out of the water. We decsended and swam around the rock. We hit a maximum depth of about 60 feet, the viz was about 15 feet, and temp about 72 degrees. We saw lots of schooling fish, large Morey Eels, lots of blow fish, including one spiky blow fish. Our guide made a couple of them blow up. I don't like when guides mess with things, but it was cool seeing them blow up. We also held a spiny cushion that stuck to your hand when turned upside down.

Our second dive was a few feet away at "Pelican Rock". The depth here was only about 40 feet. With the shorty on, I was starting to get cold. Another diver had put his hood on for the second dive. The water temp was still in the 70s, but after being in a while, it started to feel cold. This dive was uneventful for me. I was having some buoyancy issues. There was nothing really different seen here anyway.

Overall, the diving company was very professional, helpful and friendly. I would dive with them again.

We loved our hotel and the few activities we did that are reviewed here.  One thing I'd like to do if we go back is rent jet skis and ride around the harbor and check out The Arch up close.

Catalina Island Day Trip - August 2007

We went to Catalina Island with some friends on Saturday. It's about an hour and a half boat ride from one of the LA area ports.  The catamaran moves pretty fast and made Mike a little sick.  We didn't bring any medication with us, so I ended up putting pressure with my thumb on his wrist and he said it made him feel better.  Maybe those Sea Bands really do work!  Catalina Island seems like what I'd find in Cape Cod although I've never been there before.  A lot of people were out and about enjoying a gorgeous sunny day.  There are lots of people walking around, swimming, snorkeling, and cruising around in golf carts.

We had lunch and went to a beach club where we snorkeled and relaxed in the sun most of the afternoon. The water was pretty clear, but we didn't see a whole lot of critters in front of the beach club.  I'm sure there are a lot better places to snorkel on the island.  We later checked out Avalon and had a few drinks at a local bar, Luau Larry's.  For dinner, we went to a little place on the pier that had fresh swordfish that was absolutely awesome. 


One of these days we are going to go back for a weekend and maybe go scuba diving.

Oahu - November 2006

Our honeymoon continued with a week on Oahu (first week on Maui).  We stayed on the North Shore, outside of Haleiwa.  We ended up staying at a cottage on the beach owned by a family member.  It was a very, small one bedroom cottage, but it was nice and relaxing being on the beach.  We fell asleep listening to the waves every night.  We didn’t really splurge on food, we cooked at the cottage a lot. 

ACTIVITIES: 

Beach Walking - We walked the beach a lot outside the cottage.  We went from our cottage to the beach where the TV show Lost is filmed.  We saw smoke from a campfire in the tree line and some stuff, but we didn't get close enough to see anyone famous.  We also walked to Pipeline and watched some surfers.  We saw lots of sea turtles on our walk.

Driving Around – Oahu Reaveled – We discovered this book at the cottage and I started reading it.  I thought it would be a good idea to go out driving and making the recommended stops in the book.  While Mike drove, I read descriptions of the area and we stopped at several places from Haleiwa to a macadamia farm. 

We stopped at:

 Malaekahana State Rec Area – You can swim out to a uninhabited island and hang out, but we didn’t. 

Laie Point – there is a rock there with a hole in it that was caused by a wave. 

Chinaman’s Hat – There is an island off the shore of Kualoa Park that is shaped like a Chinaman’s hat.

Tropical Farms macadamia farm – This is a popular spot for tour buses.  There is a shop that sells a lot of things made with macadamias.  I think we bought some pancake mix.

Waimea Valley Audubon Center – We discovered this place in the book, Oahu Revealed.  We were looking for a hike to a waterfall, but didn’t want to go very far from the cottage.  It’s a great place to see some beautiful vegetation.  There is also a small waterfall and you can get in and swim out to it.  There was a lifeguard on duty to help tell you where to go or not to go.  The water was a little cold, but it was fun.

Waimea Bay Beach Park – We spent a day relaxing on the beach here.  The waves were pretty big.  In November, the waves start to get really big and draw surfers in from all over.  The beach also has a rock nearby that people jump off into the ocean.

Polynesian Culture Center – We spent 2 partial days here.  On our first day, we went around to all the different villages and watched presentations put on by each village.  The place allows you to learn about the life and culture of the different Polynesian Islands.  Besides the presentations, they teach you how to do different things, like play the ukulele.

Swap Meet – Held at the Aloha Stadium, it’s a great place for souvenirs and other shopping.  There are hundreds of vendor tents set up all around.  We took a couple of hours to go most of the way around.  After a while, you start to see a lot of the same stuff.  They also sell food and snacks.

Diamond Head Sunrise Hike – On our last morning, we got up early and walked to the top.  We had to use flashlights in the beginning as it was still dark.  At the top, we watched the sunrise and had great views of Honolulu and Waikiki.   

RESTAURANTS:

Spaghettini – We really enjoyed this place.  It’s a small place on the side of the road where you order your food at the window and sit outside under the awning.  It’s a great place to have some inexpensive pizza and pasta and people watch.  I thought the spaghetti was very good, better than the pizza we’d ordered also.

Pizza Bob’s – We ended up eating here twice.  The food was really good as well as the service.

Island Shack – We came across this place one day when we were out driving around.  It’s across the street from Sunset Beach and has a totem pole in front.  I wasn’t sure about eating there at first.  It’s basically an outside, covered eating area.  So, there’s grass on the ground.  There is a port a pot outside for a bathroom and a sink inside to wash your hands.  This place seemed to be pretty popular with surfers.  We had a chicken plate and discovered acai.  We had our first acai bowl here and absolutely looooved it!  We’ve since found that it’s becoming more popular in juice stores.

BBQ at our beach house:  We bought some chicken and veges at Foodland in Waimea and made kabobs on the barbie.

The Big Island of Hawaii - May 2005

This was our first big trip together. I was looking to plan a trip for my 30th birthday. Once we decided to go to The Big Island, we booked it a year early, because we couldn't wait until my birthday. Being the adventurous couple that we are, we decided on The Big Island for the main reason of seeing the active volcano. We stayed at the Hilton Waikoloa Village (TA review). We stayed there on points for 9 nights and absolutely had a blast traveling around by car.

Driving around the whole island can take a while. We decided to go on a circle island tour our first full day on the island. The tour guide was a little hard to understand, but we made all the major tourist stops. It was a long day; I think by the time we were picked up and dropped off, it was a 12 hour day. If you don't rent a car or you don't like to drive or you are only staying for a short time, this would be something I'd recommend. However, if you like to do your own thing and are going to be on the island for at least a week, skip the tour and drive yourself.

We did take a couple of days to drive around to the different beaches for snorkeling. We jumped in the car with our own snorkel gear, lunch and snacks, and a map from the hotel. One of the great things about the Big Island is that there are so many different kinds of beaches to see. The island has beautiful white sand beaches and spectacular black sand beaches. There are also green sand beaches on the island, but we didn't make it to any of these on our trip.

ATTRACTIONS:

1. Pololu Valley Lookout - While out driving around, we went up to the northern part of the island and followed 270 until it ended. You'll see cars parked on the side of the road and people out walking. The highway stops and overlooks this beautiful lush green valley. We put on our hiking shoes and walked down this path that takes you down to the bottom of the lookout. The trail was a little rocky, but not that steep for experienced hikers. For beginners, it may be a little rough on you and you might just want to enjoy the scenery from above. Once at the bottom, there is a black sand beach where most of the surfers go. This is the only part of the island that usually has waves.

2. South Point - We went down to South Point. It's the southern most point in the US. To get there from Kona, you take the main highway south. South Point (Ka Lae) is at the end of an 11 mile road, due south from the Mamalahoa Highway (Hwy 11) turning off between the Ocean View Estate and Wai’ohinu (home of the descendant of Mark Twain’s Monkey Pod tree). Once you get down off the main road, the road gets a little narrow and bumpy and you think you are going the wrong way. Just keep going, you'll pass some wind turbines on the way and eventually see other cars parked off to the right. If you keep going, there's supposed to be a green sand beach around also, but we didn't know that when we were there. Where we stopped, there are places were people jump off the side of the cliff into the ocean. That wasn't for me, but Mr. FT did it and loved it.

3. Punalu'u Beach - This was my first time experiencing a black sand beach. We stopped here twice, once on our circle island tour and once on our own. When we came on our own, we had our snorkel gear with us. We grabbed it and jumped in to swim with the turtles. The water was really murky and I was startled when all the sudden 2 big sea turtles were right in front of me and jumped up and out of the water! It was a cool experience though. Also visit the Punalu’u Bake shop when in the area. They have awesome Hawaiian sweet bread and samples. I've even ordered it online.

4. Hapuna Beach - If you are looking for a beach to relax and get the Hawaiian experience, go to Hapuna Beach. The beach has beautiful white sand and is pretty big so you'll be able to find a spot on the beach. We snorkeled up against the rocks on the south end and were able to swim with sea turtles. My husband came across a reef shark lying under a rock ledge also. It was docile, so nothing bad happened. I was swimming around the area where he saw it, but I was too scared to go under to see it closer.

5. Kilauea Volcano - We visited the park on our circle island tour and had lunch in the Volcano's House. We then drove around crater rim drive and stopped to walk through Thurston Lava Tube.

The highlight of our trip was hiking out to the erupting Kilauea volcano. We had been advised by a family member to wait until the evening to hike out. We drove into the park in the afternoon and headed down Chain of Craters Rd. Once we got a ways down the road, you could see the steam from the lava entering the ocean. This is sight enough worth seeing if you don't want to hike over lava rock in the heat.

We got to the end of the road where people are parked on the side of the road. We parked, grabbed our backpack, 2 flashlights (one for each person) with NEW batteries, and plenty of water bottles and snacks and headed out.

The hike is long and tiring and hot out to the active lava. There are markers in the beginning, but then you just head toward the steam. Once you get to where you can see the lava entering the ocean really well, most people stop here and watch it for a while. You can look up the mountain and see lava flowing down, which is easier to see when it's getting dark.

We were feeling a little more adventurous and decided to walk to the other side of the lava flow where we saw some other people sitting. We could hear crackling under us, which was probably lava underneath the rock. We came upon a hole that was glowing from the lava underneath, it was pretty cool. This hole eventually started erupting with lava and turned into a lava flow that was within a 100 feet of us. You could feel the intense heat. It started raining and you could hear hissing from the rain hitting the lava.

I look back now and realize how dangerous this hike can be. Be careful.

RESTAURANTS:

1. Captain Bean’s Dinner Cruise - We decided to go on the Captain Bean's Dinner Cruise and booked through our hotel. It's a cruise on a big catamaran that serves dinner and has a luau onboard. Once onboard, you are allowed to get drinks. I don't remember all the options, but we stuck with the Mai Tais. After the catamaran launches, the crew starts performing. They put on a little show and get the audience involved. They usually chose men to dress them in hula attire. Dinner is served to your table. The tables are in the middle of the catamaran that can hold up to 15 people or so. It wasn't a gourmet meal, but the atmosphere and entertainment made the cruise very enjoyable. I would definitely recommend this cruise if you are looking for a little fun.

2. Café Pesto - We found this restaurant in Kawaihae by the harbor. It's a cozy little pizza, Italian joint. The servers are all friendly and the food is great. We enjoyed it so much that we went there twice during our stay on the island.