27 reasons to go to the Hawaiian islands

edited to add - the picture layout is not coming out quite the way I placed them, but you get the idea.
#1 - Sitting on the lava flow watching the turtles right beside you in the tide pools at Pu'uhonua o Honaunau on the Big Island. W took this pic and he just loves it. #2-Very cool wooden statues at a Place of Refuge
#3-Birds, birds and more birds, along with all their beautiful song. So nice to hear this after a few months of quiet at home.

#4- Making friends with some very curious, very colourful gecko on the Big Island.

#5- Incredible flowers - all the more beautiful because there is nothing blooming at home

#6-Beautiful views from the balcony of the first spot we stayed in Kona-Kailua and a pic of the same spot from across the bay

#7- Watching Green Sea turtles rest on the warm black sand beach

#8- Getting steamed in the steam vents at Volcano Park. The ground feels hot in many spots.

#9- More Volcano park -You thought you had bad driving days?

#10- Staying at Tutu's Place in Volcano. (K - Magnum PI's Make-up artist owns it) Love this cottage!! This is exactly the kind of spot I would love to live in...it would just need to be on a few acres in the woods somewhere.

#11-Cool lava flow (well actually... hot, I guess)

#12 -Gorgeous waterfalls. Hawaii is a place where you can actually get to the point where you are thinking - yeah, yeah, another waterfall already. Big deal!

#13-And the fruit...oh, the fruit. We are always blown away by the fruit on Maui but the Big Island was amazing. It is considered the "breadbasket" of the islands and have they got some fruit! It's cheap too, especially in Hilo. Think 4or 5 huge papaya for $1, a big bag of garlic for $1. 8 just-picked oranges? Yup, a dollar. E loved the rambutans. This is the second box of strawberries we got. The first batch was from a road-side stand, I think E and I might have scared the woman selling them. We came running down the road, digging through my change purse for money, desperate to taste fresh strawberries. When I told her that we hadn't had any fresh strawberries since summer she couldn't believe it. I explained that we were from Canada and then had a sinking feeling that I was as bad as people who portray all of Canada as a great white north with everyone getting around by dogsled and living in igloos. I'm sure the woman felt quite sorry for us too...no strawberries and all.

#14-avacado the size of my foot...$1. (or to all you chocolate lovers that is a little bigger than a large, ahem...family-size (yeah, right) chocolate bar) The butter avacados are amazingly smooth and delicious. I ate an awful lot of them. Living on the islands one would just find it so easy to eat seasonally, I would think. #15-A night at the Sheraton to play in their pool (and for me to relax poolside for a bit).
#16-Ice cream sandwiches on Maui - Can we say that the locally made ice-cream and locally made cookies makes up for the fact that they put it in a disposable bowl? No? I didn't think so...next time ask for no bowl and be prepared to eat fast before it melts and drips all over. Actually it really isn't much of a challenge to eat these treats fast.

#17-Sunsets, can't forget those.

#18-How can you not like being somewhere with signs like these?
#19-It just means that you will see lots more of these. Love sea turtles (honu in Hawaiian), and love that the state is issuing a plastic bag ban. #20-A favourite spot to relax, boogie board, play and snorkel.

#21-An excellent aquarium, filled with all kinds of fish that you actually see when you are out snorkeling. (well, hopefully you won't be seeing any Tiger sharks- I do have a shark story about the one that was at the exact spot I swam with the dolphins when I went back with the kids the next day, hoping that they would get a chance to see the dophins - what a difference a day makes, heh?)

#22-The moon and stars.... the same, but different from at home.

#23-Humpback whales everywhere. Actually, so many that it didn't even cross my mind to take pictures of them. It is an important birthing and breeding area for them. Here is a pic off a website.
#24-So many interesting trees and plants. I was especially interested this year to see these cacao plants...all the better to make this with. (dark chocolate-covered macadamia nuts and coconut)

#25-A hike over the lava at the south end of Maui to a secluded black sand beach.

#26- A new (to us) hike over lava to an excellent snorkeling spot called "the aquarium", pics from this are on the underwater camera and not yet developed. We hiked there with friends ranging in age from 4 months to 73 years. Very fun!

-pics to come soon-

#27-But the best...the all-time-number-one-dream-come-true-can't-make-me-any-happier-with-a-cherry-on-top thing...swimming in La Perouse Bay with a pod of around 80-90 dolphins, babies too. I don't have a pic of the dolphins but here is one of me coming back in afterwards. I think my hubby was very pleased that I decided to come back in after about an hour and a half - he says that for awhile, he thought I might just swim away with them.

Or just having 27 days away from the cold, snowy weather is pretty nice too.