Hawaii Part 2

Day 3 was an easy going day.  We spent time at Anaehoomalu beach where my friend talked me into going out in the water a little further each time until a wave went right over my head.  I have put my feet into ocean water before but this is the first time I have gone out far enough to taste the salt water.  Seems I needed to learn to keep my mouth closed when a wave was coming in.

We stopped at a quilt shop where we bought sun prints to make pillows with and debated on patterns for Hawaiian quilts.  Next we traveled on the upper road through coffee farmland and stopped at a coffee farm to taste the coffee like you taste wine at the wineries here in Michigan.

There were acres of coffee trees.

And besides buying our groceries to prepare our meals at the house we were staying at, that was the end of day three.

Now day four was a long, long day so I will only give you the first half of the day on this post.  This day we spent driving from the upper tip of the east coast to the lower tip of the east coast.  Our first stop was the furthest north point at Waipi'o Valley.

Waipi'o Valley is considered a sacred place with two facing cliffs, the valley of kings, the holua sled riders, and is one of the last undeveloped areas. Info about holua sled riders here.  The next picture shows the black sand beach that runs along the coast.

Next stop was Laupahoehoe Point Beach lookout.  Laupahoehoe means leaf of lava, which is the shape of the beach.  There is a monument here for the lives lost in the 1946 tsunami.

The last stop I am going to share today was at Akaka Falls. The falls is 442 feet high and the name is from chief Akaka-o-ka-ni'au-pi'o'i'ka'wao.  The native goby fish called 'o'opu'alamo'o swims 2.5 miles upstream from the ocean and climbs the 442 foot falls to lay its eggs.  When the egg hatches the fish returns to the ocean and the cycle begins again.

We took a circular walk to the falls and passed so much beautiful plant life.  I will just show you a few this time but expect more in the following posts because I love plants and flowers.  The following two pictures are bamboo.

If I have looked the next flower up correctly it is a type of ginger.

I know I've many of these tropical plants as house plants over the years but they have never grown this large.

This is a Banyan tree, it seems to go on forever.

I need to get a few pictures from my friend to finish off this day.  I had not charged my battery for my camera the night before and I lost power after a couple more stops.  I'll share more in a couple of days.

Blessings from our home in the woods!