Big Island

Island #3!  The Big Island!!  And at more than 2x the size of all the other islands combined it certainly is huge, so we decided to conserve some driving time and fly into Hilo on the eastside and fly out of Kona on the west, 3 days later.

Hilo once had dreams of being the major entry point to the islands but those faded away long ago and is now a sleepy little town that has seen better days but looks to be trying really hard to stay with the times.  We stocked up on our essentials, then drove north first to explore the coastal rainforest and the spectacular Akaka Falls.

Turning south, we drove back thru Hilo and down to the southeast corner of the island and the famous black sand beaches of the Puna coast. From lush to lava, the extremes in the environment in just a few miles was amazing.  We had to pull over and snap some pictures the first time we came across a volcanic field, unaware that almost all of what we would see of the island would in fact be this hard black rock.

At Ahalanui Beach Park we were mightily tempted to take a dip in the spring-fed thermal pool but we had many miles to cover that day.

We drove west along the coast, stopping at several beaches to watch the crashing waves and courageous surfers, until we could drive no more.  In 1983 a huge flow of lava devoured the land, towns, houses, and road on its way to the ocean and the Black Sand beach of Kalapana is now beneath 60' of hard rock!  The ocean is now a 1/4 mile walk out across the lava to the water's edge and the new little sand beaches that are just forming.

We left the coast to spend the night (and the next) up at 4000' in the town of Volcano. The tiny village had several little restaurants, guest houses and a couple of general stores to service Volcano National Park which was just down the road.

We spent all of Day Two in the Park, marveling at the steam vents that offered free facials if you could get close enough, fantastic views of several volcanic craters, and The Chain of Craters road which descended thru the various lava fields to the ocean below.

We hiked the Kilauea Iki Trail, a 4-mile trek along the rim of a crater, descending 400' through a rainforest of Jurrassic Park-style tree ferns, to stumble across the hardened moonscape of the caldera to the other side and up again to the top.

We spent the rainy afternoon snug in room in the main building of the Hale Ohia B&B, a 1932 Queen Anne-style building complete with a turret and bay window, sipping wine and waiting until it was time to dine.

We had hoped to return to the National Park after dinner for a nighttime viewing of the Halema'uma'u Crater but the mist was so thick we could barely see beyond our car's headlights, so off to bed it was.  Then I woke up at 1am, and was completely awake.  Staring at the ceiling for a while I realized that the rain had stopped and it was actually quite clear outside.  Mom woke up too and after a few minutes of thought she agreed to get up and sneak out for a midnight peek at the Crater.  The Park is open 24/7 but the entrance gate was unmanned at that time and so we 'proceeded' as per the sign in the window.  It was only after we arrived at the Jaggar Museum at the Crater's viewpoint did we find out cars weren't allowed in after 8pm - oops!  But the show was magnificient!  What was merely a plume of smoke during the day was transformed into a rich red glowing tower of steam as the molten lava, hidden by the crater's edge, lit up in the darkness of night.  We could see it quite clearly but unfortunately my camera couldn't capture it well at all.

For our last day on the Big Island we drove west, past Ka Lae, the southern most point in America and all the signs: Southern-most Bakery, Southern-most Bar, Southern-most gast station, etc., and around and north up the Kona coast to the Kohala region.  This is where the Ironman Triathalon is held and the highway is gentle, superwide and links huge swathes of desolate lava fields with super lush pockets of coastal resorts.  We stopped at the Mauna Lani resort to walk the Malama Petrogylph Trail - a .5 mile walk through dense, twisted, stunted trees to a flat boulder field covered with 1000's of rock carvings.  Not much is known about the petrogylphs or why they were carved but it was quite a sight to see.

We finished the afternoon at the adjacent beach watching whales breach just offshore, hardy surfers tackle the rough waves close to shore, and the sun slowly set in the distance.

Thanks, Allison
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