Hawaii Tropical Bioreserve & Garden

 Linda really liked the snorkeling yesterday.  We could do it again, but the snorkeling is all on the West coast of the Big Island.  So that would mean a long drive over and back.  Plus the next snorkeling is swimming with Manta Rays and that is at night, so it would be even later.  

But we decided it would still be fun, and if we did it on Monday, before our flight back on Tuesday, we could just drive over to Kona, do the snorkeling and then fly out the next morning, if we could find a place to stay Monday night.  So we spent the morning trying to find a place to stay in Kona.  I looked for places earlier, but they were all very expensive.  The hope is that since Monday is less than a week away, some place will be getting antsy about not having it rented, and be willing to drop the price to get an occupant.

So we tried Kayak, and Expedia, and Booking.com, and finally Priceline.  Priceline was able to come up with one other “one of the following 3 places”, and since we are only looking for a place to sleep, the one night, we took that.  The other problem was that prices were always listed before taxes and fees.  The takes and fees really add up.  On place was listed as $134, but by the time you added taxes and fees, it was $379 (which you didn’t find out about until you went to book it.)

But we got a stay at Pacific 19, listed as $180 for an eventual total of $266.45,  We will see how that turns out.

And Linda got reservations for a 6PM snorkeling with the Manta Rays tour for Monday.  So we should be all set.

That took all morning, but then we drove up to the Hawaii Tropical Bioreserve & Garden, just North of Hilo.  While it sounds all official, it actually is the result of a dude who made his money in California and retired to Hawaii.  He and his wife bought this section of land that used to be part of a sugar plantation and then he spent 7 years of retirement clearing it out, and bringing in tropical plants to create a well laid out and amazing  17 acres of tropical plants and trees.  

It is a fairly narrow valley that goes from uphill down to the ocean.  The path down, particularly at the beginning is so steep, even the benches for resting had to be staggered.


There were explanations all along the way about plants and also the early Hawaiian culture.  When a particularly large tree died, they had it carved into a figure of one of the Hawaiian gods, Ku.


After seeing Orchids, and Ferns, and Lilly’s and Palm trees, you get to the bottom and have a great view of the ocean at your feet.


And then you have to hike all the way back up, and drive home.

On the way home, we stopped and got Chinese take-out for dinner.


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