In the morning we relaxed on the Big Island for a while by the sea before we flew from the youngest to the oldest island. After picking up our car, we drove to our beautiful hotel in the evening, which is located directly on the sea. With our feet in the sand, whilst listening to the sound of the sea, we enjoyed dinner in the restaurant of the hotel.

The next morning before breakfast, I was able to convince my brother to join a yoga lesson. He did not find the class as funny as I did. We drove around the half Island to the beach of Hanalei. Nature is still very wild here. Most of the island can only be reached by sea or air. Especially for this occasion we booked a sightseeing flight with a propeller aircraft. There were five of us. Andreas was allowed to sit on the co-pilot’s seat. Tracy and I warned him not to touch anything. We took off and the world around us became smaller and smaller. We could still talk to each other, thanks to radio communication. But there was not much to be said. Our pilot explained us kinds of things about the island and gave us some good advice on what we should do. The view to the green island with the many waterfalls and the steep cliffs was fantastic.

We were gently woken up by the noise of the waves and started the day with a delicious breakfast on the beach. My morning routine after breakfast was to cream me with sun cream protection factor 50. Which unfortunately did not always help. We set off and hiked in Waimea Canyon. The whole up and down was very exhausting. But we were rewarded with a breathtaking view of the canyon and stood above a waterfall. As a reward, we ate a delicious Shave Ice in Hanapepe. By the tip of the pilot of our round flight, we visited the coffee plantation of Kauai. There you could try all their coffee for free. We tested almost everything. In a caffeine frenzy we drove on to the Spouting Horn. This is a blowhole which one could hear very as it was producing roaring noises.

After dinner, we headed to the port of Lihue where we booked a Manta Ray snorkeling tour. Equipped with snorkeling, diving goggles and a wetsuit shirt we went to the speedboat. Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride was played and it started. Arrived at a place on the coast, the guides positioned a kind of board that emitted a blue light which attracts plankton, a food source of the manta rays. My panic about snorkeling was forgotten after I saw the first manta rays. They moved majestically among us and as close as just a few millimeters. As we humans are poisonous to them, we were not allowed to touch and they did not touch us. It was a miraculous spectacle and an experience which I will certainly not forget so quickly. So, a perfect day came to an end and we slept peacefully in our beds on the island of Kauai.

For our last two days, we flew back to the island of Oahu in Honolulu. We checked into our nice hotel at Waikiki Beach with pool and sea view. After a small shopping tour, we enjoyed lots of meat in a Japanese grill restaurant. On the way back to the hotel, we found the Maui brewery where we tasted some beers.

For the last day, Tracy left early in the morning for her Pearl Harbor tour. Andi and I slept in, had breakfast on the beach and rented surfboards. We tried surfing at the Waikiki beach ourselves without instruction with a few other surfers. There were few waves and few people. We enjoyed surfing and the sea for a while. After the morning exercise, we walked to the Hilton Lagoon and ate some delicious garlic shrimp from the shrimp truck. For dessert we sinned with an Oreo cheesecake in the Cheesecake Factory. We were relaxing at the pool and beach when Tracy came back from her tour. On the beach while drinking cocktails, we admired the sunset and ate delicious fresh fish at the Tiki Bar Grill.

Fortunately, we had to leave for the airport at 4am. I think otherwise we can hardly explain that we did not just stay longer in this paradise. The flight was long, but went without a hassle. I was still suffering from jet lag for several days.

Hawaii really is a dream. I will never forget the feeling of my feet in the sand and the sound of the waves during breakfast. Even though Hawaii belongs to the USA, it is a paradise and the lightness of island life, the living together with the beauty and wildness of nature can be felt intensively here.

Aloha Hawaii, hopefully see you again soon.