Continued from Hawaii Part One

http://www.lighthousekeepers.com/cgi-bin/forumscgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=15&t=000929#000000

OK, here's the next installment of the trip.

We stuck around Kona the next two days. Esther and Beth went snorkeling- I opted out of that and mailed some stuff and stuck around the condo.

In the afternoon on Wed 6-8 we were supposed to take a flight around the Big Island by airplane but it was cancelled by the company when we got there. They made arrangments for another company to fit us into their schedule for the next afternoon.

Esther and Beth went snorkeling again on Thursday morning and I found something to occupy my time while they were there. We went on our airplane trip that afternoon and flew around most of the coast of the Big Island- except for the Easternmost tip due to the extremely strong winds there (see Part 1).

We actually flew over the crater of the Mauna Loa and saw it though a break in the clouds for a few seconds- didn't mange to get any good pictures of it. I did get some photos of the lavas going into the sea, some waterfalls and one of the two Lighthouses we flew over.

Here's a shot of Kuahola Point from the plane (more from the ground to follow).



On Friday 6-10 Esther and Beth were scheduled to take the trip up to the Summit of Mauna Kea. Here's a link to more info on that-

http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/mko/maunakea.htm

I opted to rent a 4 wheel drive vehicle and make the trek out to Kauhola Point. It is definitely not advisable to go to this Lighthouse in anything but a 4 wheel drive vehicle- preferably a Jeep or Truck due to the depth of some of the holes in the "road" to the Lighthouse.

You drive up to the north coast of the Big Island and turn down a side road which takes you to a closed gate with a sign that says no entrance private property. There is a junk yard / body shop right next to it so I went on in and asked if the Lighthouse was behind that gate and the gentleman said yes it was. He also told me that the sign was there for insurance purposes and as long as you closed the gate behind you (so the cows couldn't get out) it was fine to drive down there. He cautioned me not to try it without a 4 wheel drive vehicle though as the road was a bit rough (a definite understatement)

I went back out and went throught the gate and secured it after me. Here's a couple of pictures of the "road" to the Lighthouse.





I took others where it was actually worse but it was harder to see the rough spots in those photos.

It is about 1.5 miles out on this road to the Lighthouse. There was somebody else out there when I got there but he seemed indifferent to the Lighthouse.

Here's a photo especially for Greg.



That's the truck I rented for the day- not very conservative looking, now is it?

Here's another shot of the Lighthouse without the truck. The Lighthouse is a duplicate of Barber's Point Lighthouse over on Oahu.



Here's a shot from the airplane ride around the Big Island that we took the day before.

I went back to the condo and packed my bags as we were leaving Hawaii in the morning.

Dennis

End of Hawaii Part 2

Looks like an adventure to Kauhola Point...four-wheeling makes it even more fun! Thanks for the "car at a lighthouse" thing!

Sounds like you're having (had) fun! Can't wait to read Pt. 3!

Greg,

I'm taking a break- I had day one of Washington Oregon done and clicked to add it to the Forums and it went poof.

The worst part is that I had copied the two Hawaii parts before doing that but got distracted on the last part and lost it all. just don't feel like doing it all over again right now. Maybe later tonight or tomorrow.

Dennis

Dennis, when I was there during rainy season there was a hole in the road the size of my Explorer (that deep too!) I was going to walk from there but MaryAnn didn't want me to leave her alone on the road in the truck.

Bob,

There were a couple of times I wasn't quite sure the truck I was driving had a wide enough wheel base to not go into one of the holes.

I'm glad there wasn't any standing water as I would not have gone through it knowing what that road looked like elsewhere. It's why I specified that a 4 wheel drive truck or Jeep would be better than say a suburu 4 wheel drive car- not enough clearance or wide enough wheel base to feel comfortable.

I made Esther nervous enough at Cape Kumukahi by going through a big puddle- there were no deep holes prior to the puddle and I went at about 2 miles an hour in case it got deep fast. It didn't- it was just a couple of inches deep.

The money I spent for the 4 wheel drive truck for the one day was well spent- it would have been a waste to have it the whole time but it came in handy that day. I'd reccomend to anyone intending to go to Kauhola Point that they do the same- unless they know they are going to use the 4 wheel drive more often just get a second vehicle for the one day.

I just went to Enterprise because it was in the shopping center near the condo. there is a company that specializes in off road vehicles that does not prohibit you from driving on Sadle Road like the major rental companies do- even with a 4 wheel drive vehicle.

Dennis