Hawaii

Hawaii shut down to tourists during the pandemic.  In October, they opened back up for tourists that had a negative covid test.  We decided to get tickets to go.  Luckily, with our points on Southwest airlines, we were able to fly for free.  We originally were going to go to Kauai and the big island, but then Kauai put in a mandatory 14 day quarantine, so we had to change to Oahu and the big Island.  We spent 3 days in Oahu.  We went to Waimanalo Beach the first day, and it was not busy and beautiful.  The next day we went to Hanauma Bay Nature preserve, but we had to wait in line for several hours and by the time we got there, everyone was disappointed as compared to the other beach, and we left quickly and went to the Pearl Harbor Memorial.  We saw several of the exhibits, but we missed our official tour.  We stayed in a nice hotel a couple of blocks from Waikiki beach.  It was beautiful and not too busy.  We did have problems with eating.  There was a rule that groups of more than 5 could not sit together at dinner (even if we were staying together in the same room.)  We would either get two tables or sit in tables next to each other.  Many restaurants and stores were just closed because there weren't enough tourists to keep them open and not enough employees that wanted to work in the stores.  It was very interesting. The last day, we went back to Waimanalo Beach because it was really so nice.

Then we island hopped to the big island.  In order to be able to do that, we had to take a PCR Covid test and have it come back negative.  We went to the parking lot of the airport and were able to take rapid PCR tests so that we could fly to the big Island.  Our flight was pretty empty and everyone could have their own row and look out the windows as we flew.  

The first day on the big island, we drove and saw some of the large lava flows that happened in 2018 and went through some of the neighborhoods.  Then we spent the night in a cute cabin up by Volcano National Park.  There was a new volcano eruption a few weeks before we got there, but we couldn't see it, we could just see the glow from it.  The next day, we explored Volcano National Park.  We went to the visitor center, and we went on a hike through some lava flows.  It was all so fascinating.  The next day, we went and saw a black sand beach (and several people without clothes bathing there), as well as hiked to the green sand beach there.  It was a nice hike, and the beach was very interesting.  There was a rocky mountain there that the boys climbed up.  We went down to the farthest south point and then went on to Kona and stayed in a nice resort there.  The last couple of days we took it easy and relaxed in our hotel and walked around a little.  One night we went and swam with manta rays.  It was super cool, and also cold.  It was so nice to spend time with our family and be on vacation in such a pretty place.