Day 6: Visit the Puna region

 March 15 

Today was a stressful day. I got in the car to start today's adventure and as I pulled up the map, my phone froze and went black. After restarting it, it went black again. Then it asked if I wanted to do a factory reset. I couldn't see a NO option, so I shut it down. When I restarted it, my phone did the reset and wiped everything off it. To top it off, I couldn't remember my password to access the backup or email. As a result, I was extremely stressed all day until a family member at home could access my PC and reset my email password.

As a result, we spent most of the day just driving along the east coast of the island, south of Hilo.

Lush foliage on the drive near Makuʻu Point.

Exploring the area near Waiakahi'ula Beach Park

Enjoying the view near Lauhalaland 

We stopped for lunch at the Black Rock Cafe in Pāhoa, 

 where Steve tried the loco moco.

and I had the teriyaki steak sandwich

Steve trying to get sprayed by big waves crashing on the shoreline at MacKenzie State Recreational Area

More big waves crashing on the shoreline at MacKenzie State Recreational Area.

Me trying to not stress over my missing phone data while trying to enjoy MacKenzie State Recreational Area.

Wide area of past lava flow with vegetation on each side - near MacKenzie State Recreational Area.

Wide area of past lava flow with vegetation on each side - near MacKenzie State Recreational Area.

Steve snorkeling at Carlsmith Beach Park (not a good snorkel location). I was working on getting my phone restored.

I was successful in restoring most things, but it looks like I lost ALL the pictures I took so far on this trip (before today). Glad I have been posting some each day, so I have some of the highlights.

We finished the day with cocktails and appetizers (calamari and seared ahi) at Ponds.