Day 10

We spent the morning wandering around the local market and the village. We decided to try some water sports that day and booked onto a parasailing trip in the morning. We went out on the boat and decided to go to 800ft as a tandem so got hooked onto the parachute and sat at the back of the boat. The boat sped up and we were gently let out above the pacific. It was so calm and peaceful when we reached 800ft and we got such fantastic views of the coast and the mountains. It was beautiful and the 10mins flew by. The parasail also included what is called a free fall where they stop the boat and you glide down to the water then they speed up again. There was another 2 tandem flights in our boat so when the parachute is in the air the boat has to go quite fast and so some crazy turns to keep the parachute up so that was a bit of an adventure! Great fun!

That afternoon we went whale watching and went North of the big island to catch some excellent scenes of massive hump back whales fighting and playing. The pods were travelling south so we got some great views of the leaping out of the water as they passed us. They were massive and when you were watching a little whale at one side of the boat you would just hear the whoosh of water as another pod would pass really closely on the other side. A great sight that really gave us a good appreciation of the size of them!

When getting off the boat we were walking along the beach on the Kona coast when we spotted a green sea turtle on the beach. They are lovely creatures so it was great to see one in its natural habitat!

We went back to our hotel to use some of the facilities there as there was the most unique and idyllic pool and Jacuzzi built into the lava at the front of the hotel overlooking the Pacific. We went for a swim in the pool then jumped into the lovely hot Jacuzzi in time to watch the sun set over the Pacific in front. There was fire torches lit all around the pool and the hotel grounds, and eventually there was little boats appearing lit up as they were taking people out night diving to look for Manta Rays in the bay.