SWBatzer: They knew we were going, they always do. Rocky was downright unpleasant!
SWBatzer: Oscar wanted to go with! Our da kine cat.
SWBatzer: The view from our room in the morning
SWBatzer: Right above the rock there are two turtles swimming
SWBatzer: The number of turtles we could see from the balcony would chnage during the course of the day. This was the number pre-snorkel.
SWBatzer: Watching turtles is hard work!
SWBatzer: Had to go back to have lunch at Rocky's!
SWBatzer: We went back to have Oscar make a setting out of my grandfather's ring
SWBatzer: This should be our next wine label, twelve tired turtles!
SWBatzer: Watching the sun set with twelve tired turtles
SWBatzer: On our way up Mauna Kea, we stopped at the welcome center (9000 feet above sea level) to acclimate, eat lunch, and watch for invisible cows
SWBatzer: This is a Mauna Kea silversword. The only other place silversword is found is on Haleakala. They normally form a partnership with a flowering plant that grows behind them that eventually scatters seeds. Once the seeds are scattered, the silversword dies
SWBatzer: Wayne's not too sure of the intentions of this partner!
SWBatzer: On our way up to all the observatories
SWBatzer: The road to the NASA observatory -- you can almost see Maui in the distance
SWBatzer: The observatory itself
SWBatzer: The intrepid duo prior to climbing the hill you see in the background
SWBatzer: These marking posts must have been pre-stanmped because the date (1955) on this is before Hawaii became a state (1959)!
SWBatzer: This looked cool, like we were driving off the cliff and into the clouds
SWBatzer: More tired turtles!
SWBatzer: Just a pretty picture
SWBatzer: A ship traversing while the sun set
SWBatzer: The sun before it disappeared into the vog
SWBatzer: Room view the next morning
SWBatzer: We went snorkeling, here you see a yellow tang, and rockmover wrasse (just finished moving its rocks), and a yellow striped goatfish
SWBatzer: Raccoon butterfly pair
SWBatzer: I don't think I'll ever get another yellowtail coris to look me in the eye during a photo again
SWBatzer: Wayne thought the snorkeling was going well
SWBatzer: Notice how camera friendly this stripebelly pufferfish is!
SWBatzer: It mugged for the camera constantly