In April, we swam in a shark cage and got first-hand sights of Galapagos Sharks.  I was not looking forward to it.  John and Ethan were.  Morgan was nervous, so I pretended to be excited for her sake.  It was scary to be lowered into that cage and pushed out away from the boat.  Then, I was so amazed, I forgot to be scared.  We had a blast!

 

We just came back from the Big Island where I had to face my fears a second time.  Helicopter is the only way to see the lava flow, right now.  So, up we went!  Well, I wasn't going to stay on the ground and watch them all crash and burn without me.  Family crashing and burning was a better idea.  Wowie! We didn't die!  It was actually very cool! 

 

We saw the waterfall where they filmed the new Indiana Jones movie.  You can only get to it by helicopter.  We saw lava flowing into the ocean.  The devastation of the lava plowing through the rainforest.  Ethan and Morgan loved it!

 

We stayed in the Hawaii National Volcano Park.  It was cold up there, high elevation.  There was also a lot of sulpher in the air, which made it hard for me to breathe.  Halemaumau is spouting sulpher gas and ash.  About 6 weeks ago, pieces of lava rock were flying miles into the air and outward.  They had to close part of the road circling the Park.  You can see the kids playing with steam from the steam vents in some pics.  It was very warm. 

 

On the other hand, Mauna Kea, the extinct cone, was capped with snow.  It was actually snowing up there when we drove up.  We could only get to the 9,000 feet mark because the snow and 45 mph wind made it to hazardous to go to the top.  They also don't recommend children and people with respiratory disease go up.  That would be me.  John really wanted to do this, but... it just didn't work out.

 

We did manage to get to South Point (Ka Lae), Hawaii.  This is the most southern spot in the USA.  We also ate at the most southern bar in the USA, Shaka.  At the Green sand beach, we couldn't risk the high surf and the treacherous climb down to actually play on it.  The black sand beach, Puna Lu'u was more fun and inviting.  The honus (green sea turtles) ignored all the tourists with only an occasional yawn intimating that they were real.

 

Hope you enjoy the pics!