Check out the bottom of the page for two new videos of Kristopher and Kim jumping off a cliff on the Big Island of Hawaii.
On May 2nd, we flew out of Honolulu and headed for the Big Island to visit Kim's son Kristopher, his girlfriend Amber and their dog Pupu. We had an excellent visit and got to the see the island from a locals point of view, missing all the touristy spots. Kristopher has a four wheel truck which is very handy on an island that is mostly volcanic. Speaking of volcanic, there were a few eruptions right before we got there. We had heard about the eruptions while we were in Honolulu and the vog (volcanic smog) had even reached the island of Oahu. It's looks like a bad day in Los Angeles. (Click here for more information and photo's of the eruption.) 
Here's Kim, Kristopher and Amber on the left and Michael on the right at the restaurant The Coffee Shack. It's on Mamalahoa Highway (#11.)
We have to introduce you to Pupu, Kristopher and Amber's dog. Pupu in Hawaiian means appetizer and unfortunately right before 
we came some Pit bull took the meaning literally. If you look at the picture on the right, that Pupu so graciously posed for or was she asleep...hmm... you can barely make out the pit bull's teeth marks. Amber and Kris were at the beach 
one day and Kristopher was in the water surfing. Amber and Pupu were just playing on the beach when this Pit bull came up (not on a leash) and grabbed Pupu by the neck and started swinging her like a rag doll. The owner was right there and he, Amber and a few other people were trying to pull the pit bull dog off. They finally managed to get them apart and poor Pupu was very distraught. They sent someone into the water to get Kristopher and he and Amber took care of Pupu. The owner of the dog had rescued the Pit bull and the wife was a holistic veterinarian, so they took Pupu to his wife to treat the wounds. Pupu needed more medical attention later and the owner's of the pit bull paid for everything without problem. It is very cool that people adopt and rescue any animal, but when you get an animal that may not be social - please remember to keep them on a lease so that they cannot hurt anyone!!!!
we came some Pit bull took the meaning literally. If you look at the picture on the right, that Pupu so graciously posed for or was she asleep...hmm... you can barely make out the pit bull's teeth marks. Amber and Kris were at the beach 
one day and Kristopher was in the water surfing. Amber and Pupu were just playing on the beach when this Pit bull came up (not on a leash) and grabbed Pupu by the neck and started swinging her like a rag doll. The owner was right there and he, Amber and a few other people were trying to pull the pit bull dog off. They finally managed to get them apart and poor Pupu was very distraught. They sent someone into the water to get Kristopher and he and Amber took care of Pupu. The owner of the dog had rescued the Pit bull and the wife was a holistic veterinarian, so they took Pupu to his wife to treat the wounds. Pupu needed more medical attention later and the owner's of the pit bull paid for everything without problem. It is very cool that people adopt and rescue any animal, but when you get an animal that may not be social - please remember to keep them on a lease so that they cannot hurt anyone!!!! 
Since Pupu was still recovering he couldn't go on any of our adventures! But we took him for a couple of walks close to home while Kris and Amber where working. She missed a really good adventure when we went to the waterfall on a black sand beach. We were lucky to see the waterfall flowing, it had recently been damned up because of a drought. The sand on the beach was black and the hills behind it were green and tropical. This was the beach where they filmed the final scenes in the movie Waterworld when he finally finds land and you see the horses running. 
After checking out the waterfall we parked the car and checked out the beach. You have to cross a river bed that empties into the ocean then you get on the long black sand beach. There is a community of people that live in a communal village a little way back into the foliage. The people that live there are very friendly and enjoy company. The have brownies and other goodies that they 
maytempt you with!
Next adventure took us to a place where we could snorkel and cave dive. The snorkeling here was really good, but the best part was diving through the lava tubes. You dive through a short cave and come up to the surface, then go through another cave and come up through another hole...and so on and so on. That was a blast! The holes you can't see but are right in the rocks where Kris and Amber are in the pic to your left.
Kristopher and Amber tried very hard to entertain us by killing coconuts and feeding us the juice. They hunted them down, killed them and ripped them apart - they were very tasty!
don't get stuck - then all of a sudden we turn off the river onto another road....it was like a secret road...it was so cool. By the time we got the camera out this is the pic we got. The road went back a ways and there were farmers that lived back there and worked the land, it was really a beautiful place. There were a lot of horses and donkeys along the roads that we were taking, this is just a few of them. 
A new day and another place, this place, South Point, was very difficult to get to and if you didn't have a four wheel drive you would have to walk a long way. It also would be very hard to find if you didn't know it was there. Kristopher found it when he first moved to the Island, some local brought him there to surf and camp. 
The waves were small that day but Kris brought his board all that way 
and wasn't about to let that go to waste.
This is another horsey we came across while traveling to the next destination.
After we left this beach we went to another point on South Point for some more cliff jumping. I remember seeing pictures of this place when Kristopher first moved to the island. It showed him jumping off this huge cliff and I was thinking WHATTT .... but it looked very beautiful. Well it wasn't that bad 
seeing it in person, I would of jumped myself but the temp had 
dropped, I was cold and tired at the end of the day. There were two ways to get out of the water once you jumped. You could either climb the ladder or swim through a lava tub and crawl out the blow hole. The views here were spectacular but as usual the days aren't long enough and the sun was setting and we had to make our way back to Kris's house. 
To the left is a donkey we came upon somewhere on some road in Hawaii. To the right is Kristopher making me my Mother's day Eggs Benedict with tuna, avocado, tomato and fried potatoes. Kristopher is quiet the chef and is well known for his fabulous barbeques. He had a 
barbeque the night before for his friends, which I haven't seen for awhile, unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of them. There 
were many other places we visited in Hawaii with Kris and
Amber that we didn't take pictures of we have a habit of forgetting to take the pictures when we are having a good time. It's only later that we regret that. Maybe we shouldn't of taken these pictures but after the party was over and all their friends went home we stayed up for a few shots. I gotta tell you, Michael was sick with a cold but what a trooper heh! 
Our next update will include our journey north in Ka'imi to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina then back south to Bohicket Marina, Johns Island, South Carolina. Take care and Aloha from Kim and Mike
Click here to check out Kristopher's visit to Venezuela
