150) Big Island, Big Rain

I have been on the Big Island for a couple days. It is very beautiful, and there are many things to do, but this has been jeopardized by lots and lots of rain.




Yesterday I was stuck roadside for 8 hours while flooding claimed part of the road I needed to get back to the hostel. Streams that I assume where much smaller a few days ago have turned into brown wildly flowing rivers.










The last two days I have spent most of my time driving around on the west side of the island. It is much dryer and very pleasant due to a large rain shadow cast by the volcano.

149) Hawaii Pictures (4)

148) Tarzan??

Well there is some exciting news to report: while exploring the rain forests Dave and I came across who we believe to be Tarzan- judge for yourself...

147) Sunrise to Sunset

I went to catch the sunrise at Hanauma Bay. Unfortunately it was cloudy and rainy on the horizon, and blocked the great colors I was looking forward to seeing. The only nice thing was I had a great conversation with a man who works there, and there were virtually no people around until I started getting ready to leave.








In the evening I was tired and lazy, and questioning if I should go out to try to catch the sunset. In the end I decided I had better check it out, because cloud conditions were looking nearly perfect.

146) The North Shore

The North Shore of Oahu is the place where big waves come and serious surfers go. It is also a lot less touristy in the sense of no resorts, but crowds still draw.





Mikey and I headed up there along the East coast, which was a stunningly beautiful drive. The coast has so much to offer- grasslands, sand beaches, rocky beaches, lava cliffs, big waves, calm coves, beautiful water, islands. rain forests, and stunning mountains.




When we got up there the first stop I wanted to make was at an Audubon run preserve/gardens. We spent a couple hours there, and then headed to the beach.










The goal was to find a deserted beach and just chill till the sunset. We ended up finding a great stretch of beach with almost no one on it besides us and a sea turtle. It wouldn't have been a good place to swim, but to just walk and relax, it was off the charts, and we were fortunate to have a spectacular sunset, partly due to some rain showers which just swept over us (15 minutes later and it would have ruined the sunset for us).