As we descended into Waimea, we came upon our next natural disaster of the trip… another fire. This one was only a small grass fire, only a few acres, probably less than 100, anyway.

It was still smoldering, but it was 100% contained, and the fire department was letting it burn itself out by this point.

Marianne had to take this picture. It was strange to see the cactus and fir trees side by side.

Sheep grazing on the hills, most likely part of the Parker Ranch, the largest and oldest ranch on Hawaii.

It was a beautifully clear day in Waimea, and we could see all the way to the
top of Mauna Kea and see the observatory domes where our friend Tom works a few
times a year. Would love to go up there, but I don’t thing our health conditions
are good enough for the 13,789 foot elevation…

We headed north out of the resort, and then took the loop road around the northern point of the island. The western outbound road stays at a lower elevation along the coastline and is dry, desert like climate, with dry grass and scrub brush, typical of the leeward side of all the islands.

The return road travels along the ridge line or slightly west of it, at an elevation up to 3700 feet, and you are only a couple miles north of the outbound road along the coast. There are terrific views of the Waikoloa Bay and Kohala Coast area where the resort is located. After we got back down to the Hawaii Loop Highway, we continued easterly around the island.

This is a view of multiple ancient vent cones on the Kohala Mountain Road, looking ESE.

This is a look westward from the Kohala Mountain Road, down towards the ocean. You can see the green turns to brown fairly quickly as you drop down the slope. We are currently about 3,000 feet high, and only about 4 miles from the ocean.

A closer look at one of the ancient vent craters.

Looking down the dry landscape towards the Kohala Coast and Waikoloa.

Another view towards the ocean and the upper Kohala Coast.

A view down the ridge from 3,500 feet towards the resort area of the Kohala Coast.

A more close-up view of what may be our resort, but we are not sure of the exact location from this distance. The Hilton Waikoloa Village Resort may be closer to the top of the first picture.

As we descended the ridge towards Waimea, we found the hillsides covered with cactus plants!

More cactus, along with farms and the extremely dry western side landscape that is found on all the islands….

During the walk around the resort, we also came across some of their wildlife in captivity.

They have a group of Flamingos, about 15 or so in this enclosed area.

We watched the dolphins play in the closed off section of the lagoon that is for their "Dolphin Quest" program.

This is an African Grey Crane on a island in the center of the Ocean Towers area. The Canal makes this area an island.

Well, we got off to a later start on Sunday, after breakfast and a walk around the resort. But, when we hit the road, we had a nice ride around the north and east side of the island.

This is one of the canal boats that guests use to get around the resort. Looking south towards the entrance to the Palace Towers.

This is a view of the Ocean Towers that we stayed in. They are shaped like a three looped figure 8, or three interlocking circles, with the cross over areas removed to make an open central area for a restaurant and snack bar.

This is another view of the Ocean Tower, closer to the ocean, and you can see part of the pool in the foreground behind the trees.

This is one of the pools in front of the Palace Towers. Notice the two statues. On the resort you will find statues representing all 12 of the Chinese years. This are the Year of the Bull and the Year of the Bear, I think.

This is the central point leading in to the Lagoon to the lower left of the picture.

This is the arch bridge into the lagoon used for swimming, kayaking, snorkeling and paddle boats.

This is the entrance to the Palace Tower from down by the ocean.

This is a wider view of the central bay and the arch bridge to the left.

Marianne relaxing outside the Palace Tower.

I finally found someone to make me feel tall and skinny

The large created waterfall into the lagoon.

This is the large pool with water slide and created waterfalls on the south end of the resort near the lagoon towers. One of the restaurants is above the pool on the right.

Driving down to Kailua-Kona for a more reasonable priced dinner than at the resort, we caught the sunset into the pacific ocean. It goes from sunset to total darkness in a matter of 45 minutes this close to the equator…