We arrived on a Saturday afternoon, got settled into our condo, picked up a few things at the store that we needed, had dinner at home and I believe we went for a swim in the pool.  Lovely place and I would love to go back to the same condo again.  It really was nicely done up.

We stayed on the Kona side of the island for the first seven days and then moved, via the volcano, over to Hilo for two nights before heading for Oahu and home.

On Sunday morning we were woken up at 7AM by a major earth quake.  I think it was 7.6 with the epicenter only 10 miles from where we were staying.  It started with a loud boom like an explosion and in fact I thought that the volcano had exploded.  And then for almost a full minute we had rough jerking up and down – not the normal side to side motion but up and down.  Monty looked out the window and could see the cars jumping up and down. 

After it stopped, it suddenly dawned on us that we were in a three story building and that perhaps we should get out side.  So we like everyone else headed for the pool area.  There didn’t appear to be any major problems or damage, which was amazing, and we only lost power for about a half an hour.  We were so lucky and as it appears that there was a great deal of damage done on the other islands.  Even the Oahu airport was shut down for a couple of days do to damage and problems. 

They were telling everyone to stay off the streets, so we decided to stay low key for this Sunday and went swimming and then to Hilo Hattie’s to do some shopping for gifts.  Then we checked out our new book to try to decide what to do for the next couple of days.  It was a nice day and it gave us a chance to lay back and just enjoy the islands. 

I think it was our second day that we took a drive up to find out what Cloud Mountain was all about.  What an interesting drive, right through a major housing development with what appeared to be tracks of about 5 to 20 acres each.  Along the side of the road were forest of tree ferns at least 6-8 feet tall.  It was magnificent to see.  Once we got to the top we realized why it was called Cloud Mountain.  The top was covered over in low lying clouds like a blanket.  The views were great even with the clouds.  I understand that we were around 5,000 feet at the top of this mountain.  What a neat place.  On the way back down the hill we past a flock of wild turkey’s and tried to feed them with the bird feed that we had, but just couldn’t get close enough to take any decent pictures of them.  Still it was fun to see them.

We actually did feed most of the colorful birds around our condo each morning and night and by the end of the week they would get fairly close to us.  We got lots of pictures of the bright red and yellow birds and our little "Gecko" friend.

We had dinner one night at Huggo’s in downtown Kona.  It sits right on the breakwater and some times the waves will come right into the bar area. 

Most of the time, we made dinner at the condo.  We had spent over $300 on food and booze at the supermarket and had to use it up!

On or about the fourth day we drove up to the north shore, trying to see the cliffs on that side of the island.  When we stopped for lunch we found out that the second earth quake which was the following day, hit 5.6 and was near the town of Kapa'au.  The statue of Kamehameha the Great stands across from the restaurant where we had lunch.

We never did make it to the Pololu Beach and the valley lookout, as the road  had been damaged and they weren’t letting anyone down them.  We did drive around a couple of road closed signs but then we just couldn’t go any further.

One day we took a drive to the southern most end of the Island and the most southerly point in the US.  (No, it's not the Florida Keys!)

We stopped to eat at a restaurant and bar that is just before you turn off the main highway and head south to South Point.  It claims to be the most southerly bar in the US and I'm sure they are right.  We had lunch and Monty had his favorite "loco moco".

At South Point we watched a young guy diving off of the rocks near the boat hoists.  There are metal ladders to get from the water to the top, but I wouldn't try it!  A couple of times he dove into the "blow hole" and came out on the ocean side!  The ocean can be pretty rough there and the wind is always blowing.

Just before you get to the end of the road, there is a large wind farm.