Hawaii day 1

Aloha....

15th June 2014, our flt to Hawaii big island from San Jose airport at  7am wasa  bit early but excitement was plenty.

International joint replacement conference with 2 presentations from Ashok was quite something.
I/we had no knowledge about Hawaii  other than this being some far fetched island with unmatched beauty.
Pristine blue sky and ocean with scattered island mass was visible from the plane. Window seat was a must. Landing on Kona airport was a shock, we saw plane being landed on Virgin land of volcanic rock with nearly no vegetation. Airport built on such lava rocky area. Airport was like  walking through a open veranda with baggage claim in a open garden.

Hawaii consisting of 5 -7 islands acquired by USA in 1959. The islands are very new (17 million yrs ago) and still in the process of being formed. Big island is the largest 4000 square miles and has 11 climatic zones. Western part being rocky and eastern high mountain and lush green tropical forests. There are several active volcano. One Mouna Loa is most active, had 3 major eruptions in last 30yrs. Overall a archaeological paradise.
We stayed in western part  waikoala village in Hilton. The whole village being constructed on rocky area with complete infrastructure development. Including electricity & water n sewage plant.
Big island has maximum rain fall <300" in Eastern hills and <70" in western terrain.

Our hotel Hilton at waikoala, where conference was held. Hotel is lavish spread over >200acres of land by the sea. Shaped like a horse shoe with 3 tall towers hosting 1240 rooms. A lagoon with dolphin pool, 3 swimming pools and numerous other things. A monorail & boat running between the towers for transport.
Airport at Kona was an open airport with verandas and plane docked close to the gates.
Drive from airport to hotel was an experience. Miles n miles volcanic rocky land, crystal blue sky and aquamarine sea reaching the horizon. Ahaaa!!

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