Copeland Family: Hawaii Day 1

We flew into the Big Island the night before and arrived at our condo with the boys fast asleep in the car. Mom had arrived earlier in the afternoon. We stayed in Waikoloa for the first 7 nights, which is a resort area with 'Anaeho'omalu Bay (A'Bay) right near it. On day one some of us woke up at 4:30 am since it was 8:30 our time. The largest preserved petroglyph field in Hawaii was right next to our condo complex, literally 200 yards from us. We went on a morning walk in the lava field, on the trail that ancient Hawaiians marched 100 miles barefoot on. Ouch!

Then we went out to try to find the beach that was purportedly 1/4 mile from our condo. Somehow we had a bit of a problem finding it at first and ended up at some fish ponds which were cool looking. Next to the ponds was a pretty, but rocky beach where we saw our first turtle and found a floating, dried coconut. Then we went to the Queen's marketplace and got sushi for lunch at our local gourmet grocery store. Went to the bathrooms and saw our first gecko on the way. It was a gold dust day gecko. Terran kept track during the trip - we saw 45 geckos total. Sadly, we learned later that the pretty green ones with orange spots on their backs and blue toes (the gold dust day geckos) are eating the babies of the other species of geckos.

We finally made it to A'Bay, a beautiful bay with a narrow beach in front of an ancient fish pond and some ancient Hawaiian ruins. There was pretty good snorkeling there and the boys were able to join us. Zane rode on our backs and looked into the water and giggled at all the fish he saw. He kept talking excitedly on our backs but we couldn't tell what he was saying since our heads were in the water. We saw lots of fish and a turtle. They were trimming the coconut palms on the beach and the boys collected some coconuts and tree pieces to play with.

To end the day, we went into Kailua-Kona, and ate at Killer Tacos, then spent a whole lot of money at the natural grocery store. Found lots of exciting local fruit - mangoes, bananas, dragon fruit, lychee, pineapple and papaya. So exciting!