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| Breakfast view – note the bird on the neighbouring table! |
It took a bit of persuasion but I managed to convince Neil that today we should just relax a bit, take in the sights within walking distance of the hotel and spend the afternoon relaxing at the pool and the beach. After our huge dinner last night we both thought we could do with a bit of exercise!
The breakfast buffet was another generous open air affair, with a pleasant view to be had over the resort grounds. We decided to go a bit more American than usual and after our eggs and bacon, we shared some waffles with coconut syrup – but we passed on the chocolate fudge brownies and sugar doughnuts – why is it that Americans think that dessert is a great way to start the day!
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| Neil heading to the shops |
It was a short walk across the road to the first of the nearby shopping centres ( The King’s Shops) where, surprise, surprise, there was another Macy’s – hard to believe we’d missed some bargains in the last two but we found some new treasures here, and another 4 days sale special to knock the prices down.
Neil now has some Greg Norman and Ralph Lauren shorts to add to his haul. I would like to put it on record that I bought NOTHING for myself 🙂
From there it was a another short stroll to the Queen’s Marketplace. The shopping centres are really very quiet at the moment, the summer and Thanksgiving breaks are over and kids are back in school, so the shop assistants are happy to have something to do when you walk in the door.
Just outside the centre we saw the remains if the Ala Loa Trail – an old rough road built by the Hawaiians in the mid 1800’s. It ran for 32 miles along the coast between villages. It was wide enough for 2 donkeys to pass each other and was a prime transport route between these isolated communities.
It was a pleasant walk along beautifully landscaped pathways to the nearby Hilton Waikoloa. This hotel is almost more of a theme park than a hotel! It is huge, with a system of canal boats and electric trams to transport guests from one end of the resort to another.
There is an enormous lagoon, several massive pools and it is also home to Dolphin Quest, a dolphin sanctuary where visitors can pay ( generously!) to swim with the dolphins. However, it’s free to watch them swimming around their enclosures and to see them being trained. We stopped and had a drink at the nearby pool bar and enjoyed the free show.
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| Enjoying the dolphin show, you can see the leaping dolphin above the cherry in my drink! |
We decided to take the shoreline walk back to our hotel, it was a pretty walk along the ocean but the path was very rocky and rough in places, with the lava and lots of broken coral making things a little tough on our sandals but it was still a nice change from the manicured streetscape.
We passed some of the plushy time-share properties that line the foreshore – wondering how much it would cost to buy here – a bomb I suspect!
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| The GoPro ( and Neil) coming up for air.. |
Neil’s GoPro has done lots of good work videoing our driving tours but it had yet to go underwater so we decided that today was the day. We bought a couple of snorkels at the nearby shop and headed back down to the beach ready to give it it’s baptism.
Well, it functioned perfectly but as the underwater visibility was appalling, I’m afraid the resulting videos aren’t going to win any awards. We retreated to pool with it instead where you could at least SEE that you were underwater and had a bit of fun with it.
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| Another “voggy” sunset |
While we were in the pool we’d seen the preparations for the hotel’s Luau. It looked like they were expecting a big crowd as they set out many chairs and buffet tables. The afternoon was growing late and we were enjoying a couple of Mai Tai’s when people started to arrive for the pre-show.
Back in the room we listened to the music floating up from the Luau lawn as another amazing sunset coloured the sky. We’ve really never seen such spectacular sunsets and think it may have something to do with the “vog” that is a feature of the skies of the Big Island. The vog is a hazy fog that drifts across the island from the Kilauea volcano. At times we’ve been told that it can be pretty bad but even when it’s very slight ( as now) I suspect there’s enough of it in the atmosphere to give the sunsets their magnificent fiery glow.
We had decided to head across the road to one of the nearby restaurants for dinner and Three Fat Pigs was a good choice. We both enjoyed a lovely Mahi Mahi ( fish of the day) and arrived back at the hotel just in time to wander down to the pool and watch the big finale of the Luau show, the fire dancer. So we’d had two shows for free today!
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| A walk in the grounds after dinner. |