Sand Piper Dive Site, Kona Hawaii

First time back in the big blue pool! Austin just made his giant stride into the water behind me and we are going to make our way to the bottom, about forty feet below to wait for Cara. She is trying her first Discovery Scuba Dive today with Dean from Big Island Divers. She was such a trooper!
Dennis hanging loose near the surface to snorkel with Darby.
Cara with Dean learning to inflate and deflate her Buoyancy Control Device.
Austin hanging out on the bottom with me while Cara makes her way to the bottom slowly learning to equalize and clear her mask, which kept filling with water... we decided she smiles too much! :)
Still chillin'!
Hey mom, how many fingers am I holding up? 
Hang Loose mom! Okay Jimmy Neutron, boy genius! Gotta love scuba hair!!!

Cara, mask#2...
Equalizing while making her way down the mooring line with Dean, her instructor, watching.
Back up to the surface to try one last mask that hopefully won't flood! I mean REALLY flood! The other two so far kept flooding and burning her eyes. But she didn't give up!

I made my way to the stern to check on Darby (on the ladder) getting ready to snorkel.
There is a monster in the sea! Her name is Darbinator!!!!! She likes to go after the scuba diver's bubbles as they rise to the surface getting larger and larger and "pop" them with her hand.




While we were waiting for Cara and Dean, Austin and I found this stripe belly puffer fish chilling with us.

Okay, third time's the charm! Cara is on her way to the bottom of the ocean with Dean!

Mask #3... Dean's mask, I don't know what he ended up using?
She did it though! She is diving, in gear, at the bottom of the ocean!
Cara and Dean, he was so patient with her and her first dive!


The girl was a natural, look at her clear that mask!
Check out that trim in the water too... Cara I think you need to get certified... :)
See!!!! She is all smiles, just not with a regulator in her mouth, otherwise her mask floods!
A few cool pics of fish she got to see... better ones to come in later posts! I promise!





Dennis finally took a few photos of me, I forgot to wear my hood, I hate bangs in my face when I'm scuba diving!
Sunbathing... 40 feet below...
LOVING MY NEW GEAR!!!!!
Time for a safety stop then out of the pool... for an hour...

Roy's Waikaloa

Our first evening we went to one of my favorite (and child friendly) restaurants in town, Roy's in the Kings Marketplace in Waikaloa. 

Always with some kind of camera at hand, and usually in use, here is more proof of this :)

Cara is excited to start trying new cuisine... aka fish... aka sashimi... and yes she likes it! The funnier thing to mention here is the fact that by the time we had arrived on the island three or four people working at various establishments were very curious how I (being so young looking :)... could have three kids. Granted Cara is a blond, blue-eyed angel she really resembles Darby so I can understand why that might get people confused.  But, seriously, she'll be twenty this year people! 

I guess I can see why people would think that they are sisters, they really have a resemblance to each other. Cara and I got tons of laughs over it!

Austin couldn't wait for .... FOOD!!!

This was what he ordered. I believe he had the Kona Kampachi and he asked the server what was garnishing the top of the fish, to which the server responded "seaweed." Now most children would make the most appalling face at this reference to sea weed but not Austin. He simply tried it and said, "Hmmm, it's kind of salty, but really good with the fish!" Yes, he ate the entire thing!

I had Hawaiian Ono in an amazing sauce (which there just wasn't enough of) over some scalloped potatoes. Delish!

Did you like your food Austin? I think he licked his plate clean. Now we're waiting for the Chocolate Souffle Lava Cakes, one for each of us! There is no sharing the chocolate lava cakes!

First Walk on Beach

We arrived at the Kona, Hawaii Airport on July first around eleven in the morning despite our departure from Sacramento, California at 9:30 am this was due to the three hour time difference. I was happy to be there so early we immediately made our way to the dive shop at Big Island Divers we had so much to do before our first dive of the trip which was the next day at 8:30 in the morning. We turned in our new gear for them to take care of while we were there. That was such a relief not to have to worry about cleaning gear after every dive and taking 50 pounds or more each time we were going out for a dive. They took care of our BCD's regulators/computers and wetsuits. Thanks guys!!! We then got Austin outfitted in his dive gear that he would rent with each dive, Cara, or sitter we also had plans to take on a Discovery Scuba Dive or DSD, so she too was fitted in the necessary gear. Then Darby found her purple barney colored wetsuit (I think it's the only one they have that size) for the days she would accompany us on the boat and snorkel.

After we finished getting all our equipment set in place for all we came back to our condo, which was immaculate. It has three bedrooms and three bathrooms so there was plenty of room for all to enjoy the space and amenities the area afforded. The sandy beach was just outside our lanai which was on the ground floor so the kids enjoyed opening the wall of pocket doors that brought the outside in. Literally, we found a gecko later hiding behind a picture on the wall. 

These are pictures of us on the beach in Waikaloa and around the grounds of the complex which included tennis courts, swimming pool (why... I'm not sure... the ocean is my playground!) hot tub, hiking trails with wonderful foliage and scenery.
Putting our feet in the Pacific for the first time this trip! I don't think that we could ever NOT do this on our first day in Hawaii! We already spotted a honu (sea turtle) and boats and a beautiful sunset.... ahhhh paradise!
Here are the kids with Cara. They would be spending a lot of time together as Dennis and I were planning on diving everyday of our vacation and they were planned to come out with us only three of those times. There will be more to post on those occasions as I am frantically trying to catch up on all of our excitement!

Blogger Blues

Although we've made our way to Kona, Hawaii and have already enjoyed a few dinners, dives, walks along the beach and amazing sunsets, the internet connection here is lacking and I will have to postpone most of my blogs and experiences until I return home.
In the meantime, I will try to take notes and lists of the fun times that we've already experienced and those to come in order to make some wonderful posts in the weeks to come.
Our first evening here we took a short walk along the beachfront that is just a hop, skip and jump from our villa where we are staying. Cara saw her first sea turtle that moved along the shoreline. It made her jump a little as she thought it was a rock at first. I took along my camera, as always, and will continue to take photos both above and underwater so stay tuned for the great photos to follow.
We were lucky to fit in the car we rented to come home from the airport. Our luggage was flowing from the back of the car through the middle almost suffocating Darby and into the floorboard below my feet! It's a good thing we will only have to make this trip back to the airport when we leave!
It will be a fun vacation-- I mean family trip-- !!!