After collapsing our (originally) separate tours of Hilo and Volcano NP into one as described in Hawaii - Day 5; Waterfalls and Volcano National Park, we had the opportunity to slow things down and focus on slow-paced family fun. Today was focused on swimming at the ocean and at the pool. Our first beach on the Big Island was at Mahaiula Bay. We had to take a very rough drive along a several mile carved out path through the lava fields through Kekaha Kai State Park. Another good reason to not buy a used car from a rental company!

There was PLENTY of cool looking lava formations.

But the view and the swimming were worth it.

There was also some cool tidal pools here where we saw plenty of small fish, sea urchins and bits of coral.

After we all got a good base ~~tan~~ burn, we headed back to the house for more swimming at the pool.

In the early evening, Gretchen and I drove down to Kealakekua Bay Park where we could see the 850+ foot cliff that our rental home was about a quarter mile from.

Back at the house the evening of day 6, I spent a couple of hours worrying about Tropical Storm Flossie which was heading full-steam towards us. We considered flying home early, but the "cheap guy" inside me punted on this idea after seeing the costs. In hindsight, I'm glad we stayed!

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