Aloha!
On my way home for the summer this year, I decided to stop in Hawaii. Good old Uncle Sam will let me stop there on my way home, so I wanted to take advantage of the free ticket. :) I met my boyfriend, Dan, and our friend Ted on the Big Island where we spent about six days exploring. Wikipedia says that, " Hawaiʻi is known as theBig Island because it is the largest of the Hawaiian Islands and also to ease confusion between Hawaiʻi Island and Hawaiʻi State." Just for fun, here's a link to a map of the Big Island so you can follow our travels.
We flew into Kona, but we decided to start our trip with a driving tour of the northern part of the island on our way to Hilo. Big Island is exceptional because it has 11 out of 13 of the world's climatic zones, so there is quite a bit to see. We saw our first lava fields here. They look like some one pored out an enormous bowl of pudding and left it there to dry how it liked. We also drove down the scenic Hamakua coast. The black cliffs are gorgeous with the surf pounding against them. Our first dinner was at a local seafood restuarant where we sampled res snapper, oeno, and taki. We then headed for Anam Kara, the rental that would be our home for three days. It was a cottage on a farm owned by an irish couple who were raising goats, chickens, and ducks. The chickens running through the yard at breakfast and the protests of the goats at night made me giggle. It was so much fun to be in such a rural environment after my big city life in Korea. The second day we set out to see some waterfalls. We drove north to the overlook at Waipio valley to see the common Hawaiian invisible waterfalls. They apparently dried up just a couple weeks before we got there, but the view was still gorgeous. You can imagine from the pics where the falls should be.
We then meandered south toward Hilo stopping to see the sights. Our first stop was Umauma falls where you can also walk on a jungle trail and visit a botanical garden. The fall was a pretty three tiered one, but the best attraction was the jungle walk. The signs let us know that about half the vegetation on the island is in the ginger or the palm family, and wow did we see some crazy plants!
Next we visited Akaka falls. This fall is called the best drive up water fall in Hawaii, and it actually is the second tallest, but Umauma certainly required the least walking to see. :) 
We ate lunch in the car and then headed south of Hilo to see Lava Tree State Park. This is a really neat area where lava formed and cooled around trees before the trees burned up, leaving some crazy lava structures behind that they call lava trees. I had an easier time imagining these formations as totems, or sitting buddahs, or even animals, but a few you could really see the impressions of the bark or the way the tree finally fell with the lava around it. Ted took a great pic inside one that almost looks like tree rings! I may have been more impressed here by the living trees that were at least four stories tall. 
On day three of our adventure, we went to Volcanoes National Park to visit Kileaua, the most active volcano in the Hawaiian chain. We started with a view of Halemaumau crater which is inside a caldera at the top of Kileaua, and is also considered to be the home of Pele, the volcano goddess. The volcano was pretty active on the day of our visit, so we were treated to an excellent view of volcanic gas.
We continued on to see the steam vents (beware of Earth Cracks!) where deep cracks in the Earth allow rain water to seep deep enough to turn into steam as well as the sulpher banks where sulpherous gas turns to a yellow crystal on the rocks from which it emits.
Next we started the long drive through the lava fields to the coast. Our first stop here was at the Thurston lava tube. Lava tubes are formed when the surface of an active lava flow cools and forms a hard crust, making a roof above the still-flowing lava. When the lava stops flowing, a tube (cave) is left behind. It was dark, cool, and damp, like any cave should be. :)
Then we drove out through complete lava devestation to see the petrogliphs. They are only about .7 mile hike from the road, but in a steady 20mph wind and across hot black rock with a path marked out by rock piles, it seemed like we had been stranded in a survival movie. The gliphs were interesting though, and proof that people lived on that hard rock.
Our drive ended where lava had taken out the road. You could hike on further, but Dan and I were too hot and tired to go back out on the black rock. Somewhere out there you could see lava flowing into the sea. We could see the steam from the road, but we missed the actual site. That required a drive into another town, and we were running out of day. 
Day four of our adventure we went to a black sand beach in Punalu'u to see the Honu, or the giant sea turtles. The turtles didn't seem to mind the people all around taking pictures of them. They barely even blinked! Luckily we saw some more turtles at a snorkeling beach that were actually swimming in the water, so I know they were real. :) We also visted Volcano winery for a free wine tasting. My favorite was a wine made from macadamia nuts and honey....no grapes at all! It's a super sweet dessert wine, and totally yummy. We continued around the southern end of the island and around to the West to Kona, our next destination. 
We had a gorgeous place just south of the city in Kona with a pool and an ocean view. It was about a half mile from two beaches so perfectly placed for bumming. We started our fifth day at magic sands beach. It is a white sand beach that is named for the strong tide that pulls all the sound out and then washes it back in. Unfortunately the tides had been really strong for days so there was not ANY sand on the beach, and I could only stand to stay in the pounding waves for a few minutes. They guys enjoyed it and I enjoyed sitting under an umbrella with my book. 
That afternoon we did some shopping and then headed into town to visit the Kava bar. The kona kava website has this to say about Kava. "In South Pacific societies where social use of kava kava is prevalent, users commonly experience mild euphoria characterized by elevated mood, lively speech and an increased sensitivity to sound. As a medicinal botanical, kava is reported to reduce anxiety, relax muscle tension, produce analgesic effects, act as a local anesthetic, and have a potential antibacterial benefit. " The boys definitely felt the relaxing effects of this drink, but mostly my tongue just went numb. I guess that's the analgesic element. :) We also ate one of our best dinners at this bar. The lady who owns it made us some Hawaiian fare. We had pork wrapped in taro leaves, poi, and some incredible fish some grilled and some served raw in a form similar to ceviche but without all the sauce.
Our last day in Hawaii was my birthday. We started the day snorkeling at the beach near our house. We saw some turtles and a huge array of fish, but it was packed with like-minded tourists so we packed up our gear and headed into coffee country. We went to the Blue Sky coffee plantation where we had a tasting of a variety of Kona coffees and learned about how coffees are classified. We were also taken on a tour of their garden. Coffee flowers are in the gardenia family, so the garden smelled like expensive perfume. :) After all the caffeine and heady aromas, we bought a ton of coffee and headed for another nearby snorkeling destination. This one was lava rock and tide pools that eventually give onto open water. It was pleasantly less crowded, and we saw some beautiful corals here along with some HUGE fish. We ended the day with a sushi dinner and some girly drinks in Kona, and then headed home to pack for the voyage back to the continental US. I'm setting a link to my picasa web album as well if you want to see more
Hawaii pics.
We flew into Kona, but we decided to start our trip with a driving tour of the northern part of the island on our way to Hilo. Big Island is exceptional because it has 11 out of 13 of the world's climatic zones, so there is quite a bit to see. We saw our first lava fields here. They look like some one pored out an enormous bowl of pudding and left it there to dry how it liked. We also drove down the scenic Hamakua coast. The black cliffs are gorgeous with the surf pounding against them. Our first dinner was at a local seafood restuarant where we sampled res snapper, oeno, and taki. We then headed for Anam Kara, the rental that would be our home for three days. It was a cottage on a farm owned by an irish couple who were raising goats, chickens, and ducks. The chickens running through the yard at breakfast and the protests of the goats at night made me giggle. It was so much fun to be in such a rural environment after my big city life in Korea. The second day we set out to see some waterfalls. We drove north to the overlook at Waipio valley to see the common Hawaiian invisible waterfalls. They apparently dried up just a couple weeks before we got there, but the view was still gorgeous. You can imagine from the pics where the falls should be.
We then meandered south toward Hilo stopping to see the sights. Our first stop was Umauma falls where you can also walk on a jungle trail and visit a botanical garden. The fall was a pretty three tiered one, but the best attraction was the jungle walk. The signs let us know that about half the vegetation on the island is in the ginger or the palm family, and wow did we see some crazy plants!
Next we visited Akaka falls. This fall is called the best drive up water fall in Hawaii, and it actually is the second tallest, but Umauma certainly required the least walking to see. :) 
We ate lunch in the car and then headed south of Hilo to see Lava Tree State Park. This is a really neat area where lava formed and cooled around trees before the trees burned up, leaving some crazy lava structures behind that they call lava trees. I had an easier time imagining these formations as totems, or sitting buddahs, or even animals, but a few you could really see the impressions of the bark or the way the tree finally fell with the lava around it. Ted took a great pic inside one that almost looks like tree rings! I may have been more impressed here by the living trees that were at least four stories tall. 
On day three of our adventure, we went to Volcanoes National Park to visit Kileaua, the most active volcano in the Hawaiian chain. We started with a view of Halemaumau crater which is inside a caldera at the top of Kileaua, and is also considered to be the home of Pele, the volcano goddess. The volcano was pretty active on the day of our visit, so we were treated to an excellent view of volcanic gas.
We continued on to see the steam vents (beware of Earth Cracks!) where deep cracks in the Earth allow rain water to seep deep enough to turn into steam as well as the sulpher banks where sulpherous gas turns to a yellow crystal on the rocks from which it emits.
Next we started the long drive through the lava fields to the coast. Our first stop here was at the Thurston lava tube. Lava tubes are formed when the surface of an active lava flow cools and forms a hard crust, making a roof above the still-flowing lava. When the lava stops flowing, a tube (cave) is left behind. It was dark, cool, and damp, like any cave should be. :)
Then we drove out through complete lava devestation to see the petrogliphs. They are only about .7 mile hike from the road, but in a steady 20mph wind and across hot black rock with a path marked out by rock piles, it seemed like we had been stranded in a survival movie. The gliphs were interesting though, and proof that people lived on that hard rock.
Our drive ended where lava had taken out the road. You could hike on further, but Dan and I were too hot and tired to go back out on the black rock. Somewhere out there you could see lava flowing into the sea. We could see the steam from the road, but we missed the actual site. That required a drive into another town, and we were running out of day. 
Day four of our adventure we went to a black sand beach in Punalu'u to see the Honu, or the giant sea turtles. The turtles didn't seem to mind the people all around taking pictures of them. They barely even blinked! Luckily we saw some more turtles at a snorkeling beach that were actually swimming in the water, so I know they were real. :) We also visted Volcano winery for a free wine tasting. My favorite was a wine made from macadamia nuts and honey....no grapes at all! It's a super sweet dessert wine, and totally yummy. We continued around the southern end of the island and around to the West to Kona, our next destination. 
We had a gorgeous place just south of the city in Kona with a pool and an ocean view. It was about a half mile from two beaches so perfectly placed for bumming. We started our fifth day at magic sands beach. It is a white sand beach that is named for the strong tide that pulls all the sound out and then washes it back in. Unfortunately the tides had been really strong for days so there was not ANY sand on the beach, and I could only stand to stay in the pounding waves for a few minutes. They guys enjoyed it and I enjoyed sitting under an umbrella with my book. 
That afternoon we did some shopping and then headed into town to visit the Kava bar. The kona kava website has this to say about Kava. "In South Pacific societies where social use of kava kava is prevalent, users commonly experience mild euphoria characterized by elevated mood, lively speech and an increased sensitivity to sound. As a medicinal botanical, kava is reported to reduce anxiety, relax muscle tension, produce analgesic effects, act as a local anesthetic, and have a potential antibacterial benefit. " The boys definitely felt the relaxing effects of this drink, but mostly my tongue just went numb. I guess that's the analgesic element. :) We also ate one of our best dinners at this bar. The lady who owns it made us some Hawaiian fare. We had pork wrapped in taro leaves, poi, and some incredible fish some grilled and some served raw in a form similar to ceviche but without all the sauce.
Our last day in Hawaii was my birthday. We started the day snorkeling at the beach near our house. We saw some turtles and a huge array of fish, but it was packed with like-minded tourists so we packed up our gear and headed into coffee country. We went to the Blue Sky coffee plantation where we had a tasting of a variety of Kona coffees and learned about how coffees are classified. We were also taken on a tour of their garden. Coffee flowers are in the gardenia family, so the garden smelled like expensive perfume. :) After all the caffeine and heady aromas, we bought a ton of coffee and headed for another nearby snorkeling destination. This one was lava rock and tide pools that eventually give onto open water. It was pleasantly less crowded, and we saw some beautiful corals here along with some HUGE fish. We ended the day with a sushi dinner and some girly drinks in Kona, and then headed home to pack for the voyage back to the continental US. I'm setting a link to my picasa web album as well if you want to see more
Hawaii pics.
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| Hawai'i |
posted by Claire | 3:29 AM
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