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This 717 ( formerly called MD-80 ) is used for interisland flights. The fleet is pretty new.
Kona Airport - a small airport with no jetways, but a pretty big rental car center.
Our first stop after quickly checking into our hotel was a dolphin program on the hotel grounds.
Our room for two nights - overlooking the luau grounds, it turned out.
Linda went for a massage, and I found the sunset on our first day of vacation.
The entire western side of the island, where pretty much all the resorts are located, is dry volcanic rock with a few grasses and trees from Africa.
We had signed up for a snorkeling tour to Captain Cook Monument. This is Captain Chuck who works for Sea Quest.
We caught a pod of spinner dolphins playing in the bay in front of the Captain Cook Monument.
This is a temple in the place of refuge. We also snorkeled in front of here. It is a national historic site.
We saw, briefly, this green sea turtle.
Schools of yellow tang feeding on algae.
This is a crown of thorns startfish. It eats coral.
One of many different types of sea urchin we saw.
Parrotfish chew at the coral reef, creating sand.
One of several eels ( 3 feet long or so ) we saw.
Two cleaner fish had set up a popular cleaning station.
The snorkel tour company we took used a 12 person inflatable with a crew of two.
We stopped by this cave on the way back. Apparently a priest used to live down here and light fires in the two top lava tubes at night, making them look like glowing eyes.
Our hotel room overlooked the lawn where they held their luaus and also the food and wine event we were going to attend that afternoon.
Part of the Japanese restaurant at the resort.
These boats went up and down the canal to transport guests around the 65 acre property. Very slowly.
There were two major pool complexes, one on each end of the resort.
This was the view from our brunch on Sunday.
Always ready to try new fruits. This is a guanabanana or soursop we picked up at the South Kona Fruit Stand on our way to Volcano.
This is the Kiluea Lodge in Volcano, where we spent two days wishing the road to see the lava was open. Actually, we found other things to do too...
Our fireplace. The wood they give you is kind of damp - it takes a lot of effort to get a fire going. The first part of the effort is dismantling the pile of paper and wood they have set up for you and rebuilding it so it will actually light.
We stopped by a black sand beach after checking into the hotel - about 30 miles back the way we had come.
We saw this lone turtle pulled out of the water catching the last rays of the sun.
This part of the slopes of Kiluea is forested by a huge native fern. The Volcano Arts Center has a nice little nature walk available.
This fiddlehead is about the size of my hand.
Yes, those are huge tree ferns.
This is behind the Volcano Lodge in the national park, overlooking Kiluea crater.
And this is overlooking a smaller crater next door called Kiluea Iki.
We hiked down into Kiluea Iki and across the bottom of the crater. The lava there is like huge chunks of broken asphalt.
Native hawaiian trees have found ways to live in cracks on the barren rock.
Steam issues from vents all over the crater floor.
Redder rocks are either older or where a larger concentration of iron has surfaced.
This climbing fern was evident all over the crater rim.
Driving back around kiluea crater rim, we followed a rainbow.
Water percolating down to hot rocks causes steam to spew out of the cliffside here.
The rainbow led us to an overlook.
Someone had built a pile of rocks right in front of this sign.
Just as we were about to leave, a flock of 3 Nene landed.
