Ever since visiting the Big Island, we have been in love with Hawaii and now want others to enjoy the place as we do. You can do so in our condo which is in the center of Kona. With its 1BR / 1 pullout couch the place can comfortably host 2 adults and up to 2 children.
The condo is in walking distance to stores (~5 minutes) and the beach (~10-15') and offers stunning evening views from its Lanai.
Find more information here; book your spot on the typical vacation rental platforms including AirBnB - Slice of Paradise in Kona or through our direct booking site at Kona-Rental.
Currently: Summer time in Hawaii - it is the warmest time to head to the beach and we see the island getting busier with visitors again.
Sydney graduated this Friday after having gone through 12 years of schools in 3 different schools. in retrospect, it is hard to fathom how fast this time has gone by.
(click on individual pictures to get a downloadable, large version of a picture)
She has had many experiences and has grown a lot throughout this period. The following moving shows extracts from the OLSH (Our Lady of Sacred Heart) mass and graduation ceremony which was followed by a dinner with parents at the Leonda by the Yarra.
On request I can provide a higher resolution version of the movie.
This year seems to be the season of diving. We spend a week in Bali and made the excursion to Gili Trawangan where we took two dives organized and led by Manta Drive. This company is located close to the beach and operates a number of boats for the 3 to 4 dive excursions per day.
(click on individual pictures to get a downloadable, large version of a picture)
Both dives were drift dives. You have to be comfortable to back-roll off the boat boat into the water before you get to experience warm (29C), crystal clear water.
Our first trip took us to Shark Point which is a popular destination about 15 minutes by boat northwest of the island. As the name suggests there is a good chance to see reef sharks in the 18m - 35m deep water. We saw a few of them, however there was only one who decided to serve as a photo model. Exiting the water when we got picked up by the boat turned into a bit of a challenge due to the many jelly fish that also liked the warm water.
Our second dive brought us to Turtle Canyon. This is another popular diving spot where. The water is a bit shallower (~20m) and as the name implies there are turtles. We saw a number of them and enjoyed diving with them.
All in all we can only recommend the diving there. The dives were (relatively) speaking inexpensive, the water was warm and clear and the sea life was plenty.
Time flies and before you realize it you have been married for 20 years. This was the case for us. We both discussed a long time ago that one day we would go to the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). For this special occasion we both thought independently that the time was right to finally dive the Reef. Christy organized a memorable trip which saw us leave on Monday morning early from Melbourne to Cairns (2.5h flight). Tuesday morning, bright and early we would embark on a day cruise to the Great Barrier Reef. After about 2h on the choppy see we arrive and got our first 2 dives done. In the afternoon, the day cruise boat transferred us to another boat that stayed more permanently on the Reef. We spent the next 3 days on that boat diving every day several times. Christy also ended up doing a night dive.
(click on individual pictures to get a downloadable, large version of a picture)
So you may ask, what is the difference to Hawaii? I was mesmerized by the sheer number and variety of corals. the GBR offered so many different variations, varying structures, shapes and colors. Some of them are soft others are hard. Hawaii seems to have fewer types. Then we also saw a several type of fish and large clams. It was great. However, going to the Reef takes more time, it requires a lengthy boat ride (while in Hawaii I typically have a choice between boat and beach dives with dive spots being relatively close to the coast.) I also have to recognize the massive size of the GBR. it is so large that it can be seen from space! Hawaii is much smaller - not sure this makes a difference when diving as we can only look at very small areas at any time.
Sydney? Well Sydney stayed at home during the time we were away. She had her 2nd and last week of break and spent it with a friend who also stayed at our place. They seem to have had a good time.
