Category: Travel

We spent our last morning on the Big Island at the beach.  We chose a beach by the Natural Energy Lab in Kona.  This place was built in the 1970s at the time of the energy crisis and was hoping to harness power in the difference between the water temperatures at the surface and deeper below.  That didn’t turn out to be viable, but now there are large solar panels in place and the once water tubes are being used to raise abalone for commercial purposes.  The road allows access to this beach which has several tide pools created by the lava and a bounty of crashing waves.  The beach didn’t feel crowded, but definitely was being used by more locals than tourists.  When locals go to the beach, they come for the whole day, bringing grills, tents, large coolers…looks like a family bbq! In fact, one guidebook suggested tourists stay away from one beach on the weekends becuase it was very treasured by locals and you would definitely get the stink eye for crashing their weekend at the beach!

We got lots of sun and lots of pictures of waves this morning!

The rest of the day was spent souvenir shopping and getting ready for our flight out to Honolulu.  Dinner was a repeat at Kona Brewing Company, really the only place in Kona we would eat at twice.  I had the lasagna (the noodles were cooked in one of their brews) and Dan had another pizza.  Both good and delicious!

We spent a day on the Hilo side of the island, visiting waterfalls and the Mauna Loa nut factory/farm.  Hilo is much wetter than the Kona side of the island and there the rivers and streams flow straight to the ocean.  While on our helicopter ride, we saw so many small falls leading to the cliffs and cascading off into the ocean.  These are in the Waipio Valley, which one can drive down into, but it has a 25% grade!  So we stayed on the main road, from which you pass several small (maybe 10-20 foot) waterfalls.  There are no pull offs to take pictures of these pretty views either!

We got an early start because Rainbow Falls is named as such because of its propensity to create rainbows with the morning sun. Well, there was no morning sun this day.  Oh well, no rainbows for me, but the falls were still very nice.  Legend has it that King Kamehameha buried the bones of his father in the cave behind this fall.  From here we drove to Boiling Pots, a place further up this stream where, when the water is flowing strongly enough, bowls in the rocks look like boiling pots.  It must not have been rainy enough this week because the pots were barely at a simmer!  As you continue up this road, there is another fall to stop and take in right beside the road.  This one had pull offs.

Lunch was worth a mention. It was hard to find really good food on the Big Island.  Either the food was middle of the road or it was a chain.  We did give in one night and eat at Outback just because we knew what food we would be getting.  It was one of the better meals sad to say…Anyways, Cafe Pesto is an Italian restaurant in downtown Hilo and in an old building with a lot of character.  We had really delicious, thin crust pizza there. I had a mixed green salad there with a garlic herb vinaigrette that was yummy too.  I would recommend that restaurant. 

Then we headed to the Mauna Loa  macadamia nut farm and factory.  I know we can buy Mauna Loa nuts here, but this is where they grown them and produce them.  Fresh from the factory is never a bad thing!  The factory tour is self-guided.  But we got to see them make both flavored and chocolate covered products.  We shopped in the store and had the chocolates sent home. Good thing too becuase the small can we brought home melted during our day in Honolulu and didn’t reconstitute themselves very well.

After this excursion we visited ‘Akaka Falls State Park, which is home to a large waterfall and smaller cascade.  The drive to the park is through an old sugar plantation. The open fields still have sugar cane growing in them, just no one there to harvest it.  ‘Akaka Falls is visible from the parking lot, but it is only fully seen from the trail and its lookout.  The walk was nice and through a bamboo forest with lush vegetation. Many of these plants were Jurassic Park sized!  They grow awfully large ferns in Hawaii…’Akaka Falls is a 442 foot fall with several whispy side falls.  Well worth the sweaty walk through the jungle!  On your way back you see Kahuna Falls, which is actually a cascade, but the stream there at the fall was framed with vegetation and cool. 

After this waterfall, we went back into Hilo for some souvenir shopping. Dan picked up a ukulele amongst our purchases.  Then we had shave ice at Wilson’s by the Bay. A place you wouldn’t expect shave ice, but has recommended as being the best in Hilo.  So, we had to try it.  It was good, but the setting was odd — old bottles (not for sale), surfing t-shirts, some jewelry, odds and ends (some for sale and some not).  I thought their flavors were good. 

On our way back to Kona (2 hour drive from Kona to Hilo), we stopped at Laupahoehoe Point. This is where the tsunami of 1946 hit and wiped out a school.  A total of 156 died in this tsunami.  After the devestation, much of the town, but in particular the schools, were built topside to keep this from happening again.  The village was built right by the ocean at the base of a cliff.  A few homes are still down there, but the point was turned into a park.  At this point, we had run out of daylight to continue sight seeing, so we headed back to Kona.

We stopped in Waimea (not the same Waimea town on Kauai) on our way back for dinner.  While highly recommended in our guidebook, this is a very local place.  However, the service was friendly and the food was fabulous.  We both got the BBQ.  People in Hawaii can make brisket. What I had was delicious and Dan had the sample, which had brisket, pulled pork, and Portuguese sausage.  Huge portions and yummy!  Huli Sue’s sells Tropical Dreams ice cream and makes fantastic pies.  Tropical Dreams ice cream is made in Hawaii and has a higher fat content than most ice creams.  They only had chocolate, but that is all they needed!  I do believe that was the best chocolate ice cream I have ever had. So good. Diana, if it hadn’t been 2 am,  I would have called you!   Dan had the banana pie, which was so good with the chocolate ice cream. 

Another long day on the Big Island, but so much fun!

As eluded to in an earlier post, we visit a black sand beach, which is made of crushed lava.  I think we experienced lava from beginning to end while on the Big Island.  This beach was easily accessible (unlike the green sand beach…) and tour buses often made stops by while we were there.  People would flow off the bus and take a few snap shots of the beach and the turtles and then be herded back on the bus.  I am guessing they were on their way to Volcanoes National Park, so the beach was just a side trip.  But for us it was the whole day! 

We saw at least 6 sea turtles sun bathing and eating amongst the lava rocks on the shore.  Four turtles were taking very long naps in the sun and the tourists did not bother them at all.  On occasion one would open its eyes or move around a bit. The other two stayed in the shallow water eating away at the sea grass growing on the rocks. Dan has some video of one eating and he got some good stills of the turtles.  I love sea turtles. Did you all see Nemo?  I couldn’t help but say “Dude” every time I saw one!  These turtles were not a big as the ones we saw in Kauai, but they were much more visible. 

The black sand beach was wonderful. It was palm tree lined and the ocean was so blue and green.  Very beautiful and nothing like we’ve ever seen before. We picnicked at the beach and spent most of the day there, relaxing under the palm trees, keeping one eye on the ocean and one eye on the coconuts above our heads! 

On our way back to Kona, we stopped at Pu’uhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park, also known as the Place of Refuge.  In ancient Hawaii, laws were referred to as Kapu.  When there was a kapu on something, the penalty was death. If it was a serious enough offense, not only were you killed, but so was your family.  Even today, you can still see remnants of kapu, as many no trespassing signs incorporated the word on the signage.  So, basically death to those who do it.  There was a way to escape death, however. If you could reach the Place of Refuge before your chasers, then all was forgiven.  The setting was peacefully and a felt like a refuge. We saw and heard lots of birds here and saw schools of little silver fish racing to shore, leaping in and out of the water all in unison! Shortly behind them?  A big sea bird!  The sunset was beautiful from here as well.