Woke up early as I'd set the alarm for 6:30am, then went back to bed - it's a Sunday, for God's sake - I just needed to give myself a break and a chance to get some more sleep. I'd had grand plans of going kayaking at 7am to the Captain Cook monument and then snorkelling for a couple of hours before heading back to the Place of Refuge, but I just felt too tired and unmotivated. Woke up the second time at about 8am, feeling more refreshed. Sat and admired the view...

After dropping off Wendy at the airport, I took another trip to Ross and Target (my 2 favourite stores in America). Got a nice new "skirtini" (a bikini with bottoms in the shape of a skirt) and yet another lovely new dress from Ross. After a couple of hours of walking around the shops in a "gambling daze", I headed off towards Captain Cook to check back in to Manago's Hotel, where I "upgraded" myself to a top floor suite with sweeping, uninterrupted views of the ...

Today, we chilled out on numerous beaches dotting the coast north of Kohala. Our first stop, Beach 69 - named after the postcode, not the "position" - where we lay under the shade of a tree whilst watching families play in the waves. Wendy spoke to a couple of people about turtle spotting as we'd been told they hang out here in their droves, but they eluded us yet again! Our next beach stop, the postcard perfect Bay of Anaeho'omalu, situated in front of a series...

Today, we left a very wet, grey and cold Hilo to explore the Chain of Craters Road all the way down to the coast. The rain continued most of the way down the steep descent. Along the way, as far as the eye could see, hill after hill of charcoal lava flows with the odd tree scrambling through the cracks. Mauna Ulu, a fissure, erupted in 1969 and continue for 4 years - so that gives you an indication of the extent and scale of the lava flows all around the area. It...

In the morning, we left Pahoa and headed back to the Warm Pools for a morning swim as we'd felt so relaxed the day before that we thought it would do us some good. These pools are situated in an enclosed area where hot thermal waters spring out of the lava rocks and mix with the cool seawater which is channeled in from the sea via a tidal tunnel. The eccentric locals congregate in this pool almost daily and it was great to just hang out and swim a few laps in the...