Aug. 30, 2016  Walk along Kamaole 1 and Kealia Ponds:

Last full day here!  Ordinarily I'd be really sad now, but tomorrow we head on over to Kauai for the rest of our vacation, so I'm not too sad.  We've been to kauai 14 times before, so really feel at home there.  Anyway----you would think we'd spend the last day here snorkeling.  But Ken is looking a bit tattered and tired.  Plus the last couple times we snorkeled the South side it was pretty choppy and not too clear.  I didn't figure Ken wanted to drive to the West side again, so we piddled around here.
 But I did head down to Kamaole 1 right across the street from Worldmark (or way down the street from our unit!)  Took my Canon 60D and took a few pictures.   No volleyball players this morning, but this court is used quite often.  I enjoy watching them---and wishing I was out there playing.  After about 45 years of playing, I haven't played in over a year. 

 heading up the beach.

Someone left this in the sand. 

 Still heading up the beach,.

Looking straight out.  Love the color of the water!

 There are lots of these flowers on the beach ground cover.  

 Heading up the little path off the beach.

 looking down the beach.

 bougainvillea growing wild

 Lots of palm trees.  It's a good place for a sunset and we never even made it here for one these last 2 weeks!

 snorkelers by Kamaole 1----one place we haven't snorkeled yet. 

 More bougainvillea.

 When I got back to the condo, Ken was ready to go, so we headed off.   Finally got to Kealia Ponds when it was open.  We'd been to the boardwalk a couple times, but the area with the big pond on the other side of Kihei St. was closed the 2 other times we tried to go there (they're closed on the weekend).  They have a visitors' center, but it was closed.

  So we drove the 1/3 of a mile or so to the ponds.  There were quite a few Hawaiian coots there.

 and Hawaiian black neck stilts.  They mention they're endangered, but I'm sure these are the same stilts I've seen at Wakodahatchee in Florida many times.  Maybe the ones in Florida where just on vacation!?

 a Pacific Golden Plover---I wonder if the little bird to the far left is a young Plover?  It was running after the bigger one.

 There were a bunch of stilts here, too.

 and fossils!!! (ok, maybe not)

 this is the covered pavillion by the little parking lot.  There's an informative sign about how these use to be used as fish ponds and more info on the birds.  We walked around part of a couple of the ponds.  It was extremely windy! 

 As we were leaving we noticed several areas where there was these foil wrappings on the bushes.  Wonder what they're for?!

 Back at the condo, I took another shorter walk.  Love all the plumeria in full bloom now.  We're usually in Hawaii in Feb. when the plumeria trees are naked.

 more flowering bushes.  Love all the flowers!!!!

 Stopped by the office to print out our boarding passes for tomorrow and they reminded us of the weekly resort bar b q tonight.  Didn't go last week---we were probably snorkeling.  But decided to go tonight.

 In honor of my Dad, I had a hotdog.  Ken had a burger.  Prices sure have gone up a lot in 1 1/2 years all around Maui!  Last time we were here the bar b q was $5, this time it was $7, but that's still a good deal for all this. 

 As an added treat, they have a singer and hula dancer perform.  No, this isn't the hula dancer.  Elvis from the show Burning Love in Lahaina comes out every other Tues. and does a little performance, too.  This is his dancer.  The outfit reminds me of my high school days. 

 and the star of the show---Elvis Presley.

 They were done by about 6, so we headed to a park to watch the sun go down.  Love these wierd trees (Hau trees---they come in multiple varieties and can be trimmed into hedges.  They are a distant relative to the hibiscus as you can see if you look at the flower.)  Although when I was walking under one of them I heard a rustling and when I looked to see what it was---I saw 2 mice scurrying around in the thick over cover of branches.  They got out of sight before I could get proof.

 The hibiscus-like pretty flowers on them----and notice that it has rained.

 That was the extent of our sunset.  Don't know if it has anything to do with Hurricane Madeline that is about to hit Hilo, but it was pretty cloudy most of the day.

 The sun just slipped under the clouds and that was it.  But it was still great just sitting there enjoying the sounds of the ocean.

 Back at the resort, I took another walk.   These food trucks are parked by the resort everyday.  I've heard they are really good, but Ken refuses to pay that much for food from a food truck.

 This one sells a lot of shrimp, fish and chicken.  Every evening when I've walked by them there have been people buying food at the trucks.

Now to finish packing up and stressing over tomorrow's travel day.  Hopefully I'll continue to blog while on Kauai.
Hard to believe we didn't make it to Ioa Valley, Haleakala, or Road to Hana.  Good thing I took lots of pictures or I wouldn't know what we did for 2 weeks.