Back to reliving our Big Island trip. In the morning we went to Mauna Kea for some more playing in the sand (k + n), snorkeling (D) and lounging (L). Although you can’t tell from the picture, the water became kind of rough, so I was a bit worried about D. We had a picnic lunch on the beach.

In the afternoon we went to the Hilton to see the dolphins.

Afterward we went to Merriman’s Market Cafe at the Kings’ Shops.

This was probably the best meal deal of our trip because we went for happy hour where all of the dishes were $5. We had been to the original Merriman’s in Waimea last time, so we knew the food was going to be good. We ordered 9 dishes, and it was plenty. We had pizzas and flatbread(shown above), hummus, garlic fries, meatballs, ricotta fritters, and a tomato-mozzarella salad and bruschetta.

k even had the butter and cheese pasta that was free for kids 3 and under. I guess it was finger-lickin’ good.

We had a post-dinner stroll, and saw the “Hawaiian Kenny Rogers” perform.

The one thing that D wanted to do most on our trip was to go whale watching. This was the first time we were in Hawaii during prime whale watching season, and there are supposedly a lot more whales than usual this year, so it was perfect timing. On Monday morning we dropped off n to be with the grandparents and took k along for the adventure (she was free).

We booked the tour through Ocean Sports and departed from A Bay. They had us take off our shoes, which surprised us. The reason was that they wanted to minimize the amount of sand tracked onto the boat. They took us on a short glass bottom boat ride to get to the whale watching boat, Sea Smoke.

Once on board we were greeted with cups of POG.

In retrospect, I’m not sure I would’ve taken k along at her age (3). I think she was a little too young to really enjoy it. I was kind of surprised at how “open” the sides of the boat were…it seems like it would be really easy for kids to fall through. It was also kind of hard to manage her, mainly because I was feeling pretty seasick once they turned the motor off and we were just swaying (ever so gently) back and forth. (The crew members really took care of me, though, and gave me ice chips and ginger candy. Thankfully, I made it through, but I was really glad to be on dry land again. I had k wear SeaBands to help prevent seasickness, but maybe I should have bought some for myself too!)

But, as promised, we did see quite a few whales, and they were a lot closer than I thought they would be. Some even swam directly under our boat! They truly are amazing creatures. It wasn’t easy taking picture, but here are my best two shots:

Mom and calf.

We were also able to see a lot of whales from the shoreline throughout our week as well.

Sunday was our first full day on the Big Island. D wanted to make sure we got in maximum snorkeling time, so our first outing was to the Fairmont Orchid beach and the Beach Club in Mauna Lani.

It took her a while, but k started getting used to the water. By the end of our outing, she didn’t want to leave!

A dog loved the ocean, too!

We tried our best to keep n out of the sun. Luckily, there were cabanas and/or trees at all of the beaches we went to.

Beach Club @ Mauna Lani. Sigh, look at that water.

We ate lunch there, too.

Perusing the menu.

We went back to the condo and took a nap. Then we headed to the Queens’ Marketplace in Waikaloa to queue up for Sansei. On Sundays and Mondays, orders before 6 p.m. are 50% off! This is a great deal, but everyone tries to take advantage of it, so you have to get in line early (the restaurant doesn’t open until 5:30).

D’s dad stood in line while we watched a free hula performance.

We ate at Sansei during our honeymoon on Maui, so we knew what to expect. The food didn’t disappoint!

Rainbow roll that I ordered. Isn’t it pretty? k had the adult ramen (since the kids’ meals aren’t 50% off, the adult portion ends up being cheaper) and she finished it all. (She only had the noodles, since the tempura shrimp and pork weren’t to her liking).

Afterward, we walked around the marketplace a bit.

We stopped by Island Gourmet Market, which is like an upscale ABC (it is affiliated). We picked up a piece of tiramisu and a few other goodies.

We’ve been absent from the blog for a while because we were vacationing on the Big Island with D’s parents. The week was really fun and pretty chill…until Friday, the night before we were supposed to leave. The kids were asleep, and D and I were watching the Olympics. We were up past 9:30 (unusual for us) and there was a commercial for the 10:00 news. All I heard was “8.8 earthquake in Chile, tsunami warning”, but D heard the part about the warning being for Hawaii! I didn’t believe him at first, thinking we were way too far away, but he insisted, so we stayed up for the news. He was right, of course, but it was only a tsunami “advisory” at that time, so D just went to sleep. I, on the other hand, was more concerned, and kept watching the news.

I finally fell alseep, but n woke me up around 12:45 a.m., so after I put him to sleep, I turned on the news again. They had upgraded the advisory to a “warning”, predicting it would hit just after 11 a.m. the next day. The newscasters were talking about the tsunami in the 1960’s that occurred in Hilo due to an earthquake in Chile that had occurred in roughly the same area! There was frightening footage of people running for their lives as the water came rushing towards them. I managed to go back to sleep, but n woke up again at 4:45. This time when I turned on the news, they were talking about sounding the island-wide sirens at 6 a.m. to signal that everyone in the evacuation zones should be heading for higher ground. The scientists were predicting the wave to be up to 12 feet! I woke up D and told him to call his parents to give them warning and figure out what to do.

D’s parents came over and we quickly packed up our stuff. This wasn’t easy, as both kids were up by now. We didn’t say anything to k about it, since we didn’t want to scare her. After some debate, we headed to Waikaloa Village, which is a few miles inland, with a higher elevation (we were on the coast, at a condo in Mauna Lani). When we arrived, there were LONG lines for the gas station. We had about a 1/4 of a tank, so D got in line. I went into the grocery store, where people were stocking up on food and supplies. On the news, there were reports that Costcos were opening up extra early and that a supermarket put up a sign saying “max. 2 cans of Spam per customer” (only in Hawaii!) I think this was the first time when I’ve been in such a mass emergency situation. Although I was kind of comforted to see other people dealing with the same thing as us, it also elevated my fears, since there was much speculation.

After about an hour wait for gas, we headed toward the nearby golf course clubhouse and ordered breakfast. It was packed, and we had to wait a long time for the food. There were t.v.’s, though, so we were able to watch the news. Our biggest dilemma was figuring out when to go to the airport, since our flight was just after 2 p.m. out of Kona. The airport was still open (only Hilo shut down), but I didn’t think driving toward the coast right when the tsunami hit would be a good idea. However, we also didn’t want to miss our flight, and we weren’t sure if there would be traffic or road closures, so we decided to go ahead.

We were listening to the radio the whole way, and they kept emphasizing that everyone should be in a safe place by now. It seemed like everyone was driving in the opposite direction as us, as we came down the mountain. We arrived at the airport just before 11:00, and there were some people who we thought were security at the entrance. We asked if we could just wait out the tsunami there, since it was close to the main highway and we knew we wouldn’t be late for our flight since we were so close. I told D he better be ready to make a quick u-turn, just in case! We heard there wasn’t much action in Hilo, and then the police told us we had to leave our makeshift waiting spot, so we decided to go to the rental car place and check-in. Everything was fine, and as everyone said, “we prepared for the worst and hoped (prayed) for the best”. That was a day I will never forget.

Waiting for the tsunami over breakfast. How funny that n was oblivious to the whole thing.

Waiting at the entrance of Kona airport. Turns out that these guys work at the airport, refueling the planes, and they just wanted a safe(r) place to wait, too.