Aloha!

This was my view this morning from bed at 6:30 am ,,, not too bad,,, like in a tropical rain forest. We have our own "island cottage", surrounded by tropical plants, and with many windows. Bathroom is partly open. Outside: around 80 deg F, but ,,, cloudy!!! On our previous two visits on this island, in Feb. and Oct., and, it's not been as warm and humid, but mostly sunny. We'll see how it turns out. 

All night the Coqui frogs were croaking, but slept okay, about 7 hours, with some interruptions. The coqui is a small tree frog with a round body. Their distinctive “ko-kee” sound is loud and consistant. They are found on ground level, in trees and bushes, and, are considered invasive by the government, since they came from Puerto Rico and do not have natural predators on Hawaii. Eating huge quantities of insects causes the loss of insects as pollinators among other things.

Foto: https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/hisc/info/invasive-species-profiles/coqui

In the morning, birds took over and frogs went to sleep. And, we got up much too early, longing for coffee,,, but, now it's even raining!

Yesterday, our plane departed SFO about 1.5 hours delayed, and arrived one hour late, at 8:40 pm. Smooth flight, and, again, center seat stayed empty! 80 deg F (27 C) when we arrived at Kailua Kona, an "open-air" airport, very humid. Luggage arrived quickly, took the shuttle bus to the rental car facility, and, even there we got our car at Alamo's in a jiffy. To our surprise, they even had a "choice line" of SUVs and we chose a pretty new Nissan Rogue. 

The drive to our first AirBnB only took about 15 min, but neighborhood roads were pitch-dark and drive up to our designated parking a bit steep,,, Found the entrance, code on key-pad worked, and, in we were! After about 28 hours on the road/in the air, we were pooped, unpacked, sat a bit on the patio and called it a day.