My Last Day as a 40-Something

Posted on January 9, 2023 by danocan

Our seventh day on the Big Island of Hawaii and it’s the last day of my 40s. This was the day we booked our official Hawaiian lu’au so we didn’t want to stray too far away from Kona and the west side of the island.

We start our day by heading down to Miloli’i, which is billed as “The Last Fishing Village in Hawai’i Nei.” The neighboring village of Ho’opuloa was buried by a lava flow from Mauna Loa in 1926 but this village survived. Miloli’i Beach Park wasn’t very busy and offered some beautiful coastline so we got DroneOCan out for a look from up above.

We then check out Pu’uhonua O Hanaunau National Historic Park and learn more Hawaiian history before heading back to Kailua Kona to attend the Island Breeze Luau at the Courtyard by Marriott King Kamehameha’s Kona Beach Hotel. So long 40s! Here’s to all the adventures yet to come.

Video recorded November 17, 2022
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Exploring the North Side of the Big Island

Posted on January 2, 2023 by danocan

We don’t always plan our days. Sometimes we enjoy just seeing where the winds take us.

We start at Pu’ukohola Heiau National Historic Site and then just decide to start driving north and see what we find. We visit the remains of a Hawaiian village at Lapakahi State Historic Park and then go find a Geocache in Mahukona State Park.

From there it’s the Waipi’o Valley Lookout.

Then Emily finds someone’s driver’s license, credit card, and cruise ship pass and we rush back to the docks in Kona to see if we can reunite it with the owner before the ship departs. It’s a race against the clock!

Finally, we relax at Huggos On The Rocks and enjoy some local music before wrapping up another busy day on the Big Island.

Video recorded November 16, 2022
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Driving up Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii

Posted on December 26, 2022 by danocan

We start our day in Mountain View, sampling the famous Stone Cookies which have been a staple at the Mountain View Bakery since 1936. The bakery is located on Old Volcano Road and what would be a more appropriate follow-up than driving to the top of an old volcano?

Yes, we’re driving up the dormant volcano and sacred mountain Mauna Kea in this video. If you measure it from its base to its peak, Mauna Kea is actually taller than Mount Everest, coming in at around 10,000m. However, more than 60% of the mountain is below sea level.

The Mauna Kea Observatories have been invested in by eleven nations and rise above 40% of the Earth’s atmosphere.

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Botanical Gardens, Waterfalls, and Black Sand Beaches

Posted on December 19, 2022 by danocan

In this fourth in a series of videos, we start our day in Pahala before heading north to Hilo and visiting the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden and Akaka Falls. Afterwards we check out some old buildings in Honomu before visiting the Black Sand Beach at Punalu’u. Finally, we look at an abandoned theatre in Naalehu and then make another trip in the dark to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to view the erupting Kilauea volcano.

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Mauna Loa and Night Snorkeling with Manta Rays

Posted on December 12, 2022 by danocan

In this third in a series of videos, we start our day in Hilo before driving up the single lane road to the Mauna Loa observatory to find some Geocaches and then we drive across the Saddle Road so Emily can go on a night snorkel tour to view manta rays.

It’s amazing how much we have packed in on our first three days in Hawaii, with much more to come! Little did we know that two weeks after our visit Mauna Loa would erupt for the first time in nearly forty years and parts of the road we drove up would be covered in molten lava.

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