Today we packed a lot in. After some debating about when to get in some snorkeling, we decided to just take it on ourselves, grab some cheap snorkeling gear (via Walmart) and head to a local city park. Yes - We were at Walmart before 7am, and in the water by 7:30.
Anybody who knows me knows that cold water is NOT my thing. I HATE it. After mustering up some serious gumption, I waded out into the water. Once I got my face in and could no longer touch the bottom, it all changed. Fish and coral everywhere! Right in a small bay in a city park! It was awesome.
There are no photos of the snorkeling, but some of the area after we got out of the water.
The shore area is rocky with black sand beaches, but once you get out, it changes to coral. Mauna Kea is in the background.
panorama of the bay
The rocks in the distance form a really calm bay to swim and snorkel in.
After snorkeling, we came back to town, cleaned up, and headed into downtown Hilo. Today was the first day we saw it with clear skies.
That's me in front of a banyan tree. The ones in downtown Hilo are huge.
I loved the Hilo post office. It was an almost open air building....very Charleston like.
Hilo is a lot like Asheville (I think I mentioned that before). The more we are here the more we see the similarities....especially the people.
After wandering around, we headed into the rainforests for some waterfall watching, Our fist stop was Rainbow Falls. It's only about 1.5 miles outside the city. A big tourist attraction, but still impressive.
Another banyan tree. The white dot in its center is a person climbing it.
Everything here always seems like it is blooming.
Always be careful.
After Rainbow Falls, we drown about 30 miles north along the eastern shore. About 10 miles inland was Akaka Falls....higher than Niagra Falls.
Huge.
Rainforest everywhere. Hot and humid.
Every surface covered in plants.
The final excursion for the day was a mainly for me, but I think Kim enjoyed it a lot too. We toured a local organic tea farm on the Onomea Bay.
Onomea Bay - the gap in the middle of the rocks was a natural land bridge until it fell in the 1950s.
We spent about an hour walking the farm with one of the owners.
ALL tea is from one plant - a Camellia sinensis. Most of teas picked come from just the top 2-3 leaves of a newly sprouted shoot.
Tea blossoms
Other plants were on the farm like banana and...
Cinnamon.
The view from the house down to the ocean. A hedge of tea shrubs in the running across the middle of the photo.
They insisted on a photo.
The best part of touring the farm came at the end. We were invited out on the lanai (open air porch) where we sampled each tea from green, oolong, black, and aged black teas grown and prepared on the farm.
It took an hour to go through 4 teas (several steepings each) while talking about the flavored and notes of each one. The 4 bowls in the foreground are the spent leaves of each tea. We also had some amazing scones with passionfruit custard.
Of course we came home with some tea.
At the end of the day, we headed back to our little apartment in downtown HIlo. The private garden is very sweet. Once it starts to get dark, the coqui frogs start chirping. I had to go out and find one to see who could make so much noise.
Good night.
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