Molokai part II

Sunday we got up and got ready to go to church. When we got to the church house a member of the bishopric said church was cancelled because of the fire. A fire broke out on Friday night and the roads were closed so the members couldn't get out. Also alot of the men were fighting the fire. When we left on Tuesday it had burned about 7000 acres. They were in there dry season and it was really dry. So we just decided to go drive around and explore some more.

Hi Mom!
This is the wharf. The ferry is the ferry that goes to Maui.

We drove on a dirt road forever to the south side of the island, to a place called Lono Harbor. It was a really pretty place. There were some little bays that would have been perfect for snorkeling. The beaches were really nice also.

A picture of us, I learned how to use my timer on my camera.

Monday we went beach hopping and did some more snorkeling, and relaxed.

Tuesday we went out on a boat with Captain Mike to do some snorkeling with the sea turtles. He took us out about a mile from the coast. I was totally nervous I thought it was going to be alot deeper than it was. I forgot to take pictures, I was to caught up in being scared. I had a life vest on so I was totally floating, but I thought the water was deep so I freaked out a bit once I got in the water and the water was freezing, ok by my standards. I don't like being in cold water. Marty was trying to be very encouraging and supportive through all of my whining finally he said, " Just put your face in the water." I did and I was fine. It was super amazing, we saw a whole bunch of really colorful fish. We really wanted to see the turtles, if we put our head out of the water we could see them coming up for breath a little ways off and we would go over to where they were, but could see them. We figured they just went below us and camoflaged into the rocks and stuff. So we were swimming with them we just couldn't see them. I only lasted 45 minutes, I was to cold to stay in any longer. I got in the boat and Marty went chasing turtles. The Captain and I would see them pop up and we would tell him how far to go. He didn't ever see any, I guess they were to fast. Some of those turtles were huge though. I would have loved to swim close to one.

After that we had a while before our plane left so we went out to a look out over Kaulapapa.

There was this cool wall and the seacliff wall just on the other side, but I had to get one of these shots.

I snapped this one of us with the timer. Funny story, when we got to the lookout there was another couple, I always ask if I can take pictures if I see couples with no one else around. Then I ask them to take ours, works out quite nicely, we both get a couples shot. Except this time, Marty and I weren't in the picture. Hummmmm. Whatever, the timer worked good too.

Then we went to the airport, gave our cool rental jeep back and got on our little plane and flew to Oahu. We waited there for 3 hrs before our flight home. We had a wonderful trip, it was nice to just hangout together and get over my fears, and just live at a slower pace for a few days.

Aloha!

Two weeks ago we left for Hawaii, we decided to visit a new island this time. We went to Molokai, which is considered the most Hawaiian of all the islands. There are only 7000 people who live on the island. We left Thursday morning from Pheonix, it takes about 6 hours to fly and we had a nice flight. We landed in Honolulu around 12:00 and then got on this small plane that took us to Molokai. Now I get nervous on big planes, and when I saw this I got really nervous. But it was a nice smooth 30minute flight. We met a young couple on the plane, kind of hard not to talk to new people when you're almost touching. Becky and Eric from upstate New York, they were there for a brother's wedding.

From the plane, flying over Molokai. There is alot of farming on the island, and it gives people jobs, most of it is genetically modified corn that a company is doing research on, so it can't be eaten. The locals don't like having it there and not being able to eat it, but it brought much needed jobs to the locals. Almost everything has to be brought in to the island. When you hear that milk it like $6.00 a gallon, it really is, we bought a half gallon for over $3.00. So food is super expensive. They teach the young kids and talk alot about sustainablity, like grow a garden, and go fishing, and hunting. There are deer, wild pigs, wild goats, and wild turkeys, that they can shoot for food,.

So we landed, got our totally awesome rental car, sorry next picture. a 4 door jeep. By far the best rental car we've ever had. We were kind of sad to give it back.
Then we went to find our place. I loved it, again by far the best place we have ever stayed. It was so cute and had a washer and dryer. I brought home no dirt laundry. We enjoyed our quite mornings listening to Hawaiian music, eating our cheerios and toast on the balcony where you could see the ocean in the distance. It was very relaxing.

Then we went exploring. We drove to the east side of the island, we were staying on the west side. The island is about 60 miles long and 20 miles wide. We got going up this one way, windy road, we didn't make it the end, it started to get late and we decided we better go back. I am sad we didn't ever have the time to go back. There was a waterfall you could hike to with a guide and some white sand and black sand beaches on the other side of the mountain. So we heard. Maybe next time.

We stopped at this beach called 20 mile beach. It was a little beach, but it was supposed to be good for snorkeling. That is Maui in the distance. Pretty cool, we could see Lanai from the west side of the island.

Friday morning we decided to ride some mules down to a peninsula called Kalaupapa. The only way down there is by this trail, boat or plane. We went down 1700ft, there were 26 switch backes. It was only about 3 miles but we went straight down. It was tough on the knees, I finally just had to bend my legs so there wasn't so much impact on my them. I had a sore bum and sore knees for a few days, but it was well worth it.

Marty on his mule.

This is what we went down.

This was the top of the trail and that is where we were headed.

This town was a leper colony. Anyone who contracted lepercy was banished here. There were anywhere between 7000 and 8000 people who lived down there. Right now there are only 18 people who had the disease or are decendents of others who had it. It is now a National Park, so they take care of the up keep of the town and restoring the buildings. The Department of Health go in once a week to take care of the former patients because most of them can't see and can't walk and are in poor health. We stopped at a little market for a potty break, everyone was friendly, they even had picked some fresh mangos for us before we got there. We went to another smaller town called Kalawao and saw another colony and some beautiful scenary. There was a Father from Denmark, named Father Damien who went there in his twenties and took care of the sick people and built the colony and churches, then contracted the disease and died in his 60s. Pretty interesting place, kind of sad, yet beautiful.

This was the view from Kalawao. Absolutely beautiful. See that little island, that is where ships would bring people with lepercy and dump them over board and then they would have to swim to the island. And those seacliffs are the tallest seacliffs in the world.

After we arrived back up to the top, we went to a macadamia nut farm, and learned about macadamia nuts, and ate them.

Saturday we went to Dixie Beach and Marty taught me how to snorkel. For those of you who know me very well, know that I don't swim very well and deep water freaks me out. So I was freaked out, but thanks to a wonderful, supporting hubby who pushes me to grow and learn new things. I learned how to snorkel. The rest of the day went beach hopping and I have to say that I am now in love with snorkeling.

We also got to spend some time looking around the little shops in town, and there was a farmers market going on, I bought more mangos, a papaya, and a large avocado, like the ones I used to love to eat in Brazil.

We walked up to a point and got this shot looking down towards our condo. That beach is called 3 mile beach, whick is the longest beach in all of the Hawaiian islands. White sand beach for 3 miles and no one around, priceless.

4 year old.

Dylan turned 4 on Monday. He was at Grandma's house in Tempe and had a great day. Last week we had a little prebirthday party for him before we went out of town.

Grandma and Grandpa gave Dylan and Tyson a play kitchen for their birthdays and they love it. They play so well together with it and that helps me get the real dinner cooked. They love to use the ironing board as their table.

Dylan helping me make his birthday cake.
Everyone had a great time smashing the penata.

Blowing out the candles.

We just love Dylan, he is great boy. He loves to make friends, and gets along with everyone. He is such a sweet, happy kid. He is really smart, loves to read books and sing songs. He loves his trains and to be outside, he is such a good big brother and a big helper. We love you tons Bud.