Hawaii: the finale

The last chapter of our Hawaiian adventure: our stay at the swanky, but no less wet, Hilton Waikoloa. I enjoyed it there, but I have a suspicion that Husband prefers real Hawaii to faux Hawaii. To be fair, there were some caged birds on the premises that left a bad taste in my mouth. Having come from Kauai, which is so undeveloped and raw in its beauty, to the Hilton was a startling contrast.















When we arrived at the Hilton, I was sure our days of rainy Hawaii weather were over. Of course, the entire drive up the coast from Volcanoes National Park was a rainy one, but somehow I thought perhaps the Hilton had an arrangement with the skies, that only the blue parts are allowed to hover over their man made paradise.

After dropping our bags off at our room, we headed, in an absolute downpour, to the water slide at the pool nearest to our section of the compound. I love water slides, so nothing was going to keep me from slip slidin' away. We figured the rain would subside by morning, and it was already evening at that point anyway.

In some ways our optimism was warranted - the weather did clear up and the next day was a sunny one. But by late morning, despite the sun, a nasty wind had picked up. So nasty that as the day progressed palm branches began to fall from the trees causing loud crashes, slight panic, and a few serious injuries. As a result of this all the pools closed down. The lagoon remained open and we spent most of our time at the Hilton there. But even that closed down at one point. The wind was our new (relentless) enemy.

Thankfully, our room was lovely, and come complete with a bottle of champagne.















The compound was so sprawling that there were boats and shuttles to take you from one tower to another. There were three towers and each one had its own restaurants, pools, and other amenities. If you didn't want to take a boat or shuttle you could walk along a seemingly never ending outdoor hallway along the river that connected everything together.




















The resort decor was a bit odd, but it certainly created some atmosphere. Lining the many outdoor hallways were weird statues, art, ceramics, and other structures, like the above straw hut.




















The statues were often scary looking, like this one.For some reason (probably because the rain made us VERY creative) harassing the decor pieces became a game and as usual, it took a long time for me to grow tired of it. Patient, patient Husband.














Because it was one of the only places in the compound that remained open in the inclement weather we frequented the lagoon. We snorkeled, swam from one end to the other, and spent one amazing morning swimming with several friendly sea turtles. That was bizarre. The turtles that had tried so hard to evade us the day before suddenly couldn't get close enough. They would swim around us, bump up against us, swim under our toes.














And then they would pop their little heads up above the surface.














Yes, snorkeling was very fun. Then we saw an eel, and I was finished.














Thankfully, very near the snorkeling lagoon was the dolphin lagoon! Husband and I spent our last vacation day in Hawaii having a dolphin adventure. We got to meet and swim with two dolphins! It was unforgettable.

And that concludes Hawaii! It was a great trip, though it had its moments of adversity brought on by the elements. And the spiders.

As wonderful as the honeymoon was, I'm excited to finally be done posting about it. Husband and I are enjoying married life, and I'd rather be writing about the present :)