Hawaiian Vacation on the Big Island -- Part IV

Green Sea Turtles resting on Beach

           On the fourth day Chris, Christine, and Max arrived in Hilo and we picked them up at their hotel. Now with the large group wanting to do various things birding slowed down quite a bit, so if you are expecting a large number of bird photos you can stop reading here. Our plan was to drive around the top part of the island and then head south to our hotel. So our first stop was at a black sand beach where surfing was the big thing. One surfer had a hydroplane surfboard which actually rode out of the water, floating above the waves. I've never heard of this before, but the guy must have been new at this because he was having a lot of trouble staying on the board.    

           Next stop was the Hawaiian Botanical Tropical Gardens. Fantastic place to the see the many different flowers and trees of the island.

          After walking the gardens we stopped for Max's favorite Hawaiian treat, a shaved ice. 

          

          While eating this we found several of these Orange-spotted Day Geckos.

           Across the street, we saw a solitary Cattle Egret.

          Akaka Falls State Park was next on the list. A walk around the park produced many new plants, an excellent view of the large falls and a new life bird, a Hawaiian Hawk. 

Akaka Falls

Hawaiian Hawk

           Cruising along the back roads we found this wild pig, which is a menace to the flora of the island.

           Towards the north end of the island, we found Tex's Drive-In. They were selling Malasadas and we stopped in for a tasty treat. These are basically Portuguese donuts, but boy are they good. The line was out the door waiting for these treats.

Creme filled Malasada

          We rounded the top of Hawaii and then headed south to our hotel, the Waikoloa Hilton Resort. The hotel was real nice but way too big for Sharon and me. You had to travel by a shuttle train just to get from place to place in the resort.

The Hilton Resort - only about a third of it is showing in the photo.

We found a few of these Gray Francolins walking around.

A Silver Pheasant on the property grounds as a captive bird

Crowned Crane - also captive but the female was nesting.

Common Myna outside our balcony on the 6th floor

Another Saffron Finch - one of my favorites

           Some of the things of interest around the resort.

A helmet of feathers like King Kamehameha might have worn

         While staying at the resort we also took part in some classes.

Lei making class

          Next day we took Ukelele lessons. I decided I'll never be a Musician

          Well, that's all for now. The next couple of days were fun but I'm only going to write about one day, my favorite day, with the best experience ever. See you then.