Aloha! Grant's and Bill's 2019 Hawaii Scrapbook
	We were on the Big Island for 6 days in April 2019 for snorkeling and visiting waterfalls, two things we love to do.

This map shows where we stayed and visited. We first stayed near Kailua-Kona on the west side of Hawai'i at the Sheraton Kona next to Keauhou Bay. Then we moved north to Waikoloa where there is a huge Marriott Resort. On the final day we drove to Hilo on the other side of the island to see Akaka Falls (442 feet) and Rainbow Falls (80 feet). Both falls were much larger than the last time we saw them due to heavy rains earlier.

View from our (free) room at the Sheraton Kona.

Sheraton Kona has two pools. This is the inner pool which has a waterfall.

The outer pool overlooks the ocean. It has a waterslide we enjoyed many times.

The north garden of the Sheraton bordering Keauhou Bay

Keauhou Bay borders the Sheraton property. It was from the docks off to the right (not pictured) where we got the boat that took us for night snorkeling.

The Sheraton is located on the edge of a lava cliff. The main restaurant, "Rays by the Bay" (the ground floor) is where we had breakfast and dinner.

During our dinners at the perfectly-named "Rays by the Bay" we could see manta rays swimming right up to the cliff edge, attracted by the spotlights which attract krill. This cat (which I dubbed "Manta Cat") seemed almost as interested as we were in watching the manta rays coming in. Notice the deep blue area at upper left. Those are lights to attract the manta rays close to the snorkelers off those boats. We did that. Night snorkeling with mantas was a truly unique experience!

This is not our photo, but here's what we looked like when we were snorkeling with the mantas. The white object under the water is a manta ray. They average 10 feet across!

And watching from here was just as much fun as being out there snorkeling.

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All photos are the property of Bill Bader and Grant Gadbois.