The Barker Blog: The Traveler - Hawaii's Big Island

Wow, what a trip!. We actually started our little journey on Tuesday the 20th after Shelly got out of work. We stayed at the Fairfield Inn just outside of the Philly airport so we could easily catch our 8:40 flight. Our first stop was to Minneapolis and from there we flew to Honolulu and then from there we flew to our final destination of Kailua-Kona. We never had more than 40 min layover at any stops and all told we had roughly 12-13 hours travel time. We picked up our rental car and ended up checking into the Waikoloa Marriott. Our day started at 5am and ended at 8pm Hawaii time which is 5 hours behind.

We got up Wednesday morning had breakfast and went off for the day. Our plan was to drive around the entire island and take in the various sites. When we got outside we could see the area for the first time in daylight. It had snowed overnight on Mauna Kea. We hadn't planned on going to the top of the mountain cause our car didn't have 4 wheel drive but our valet said that you couldn't go above 9,000 ft. If you look close you might be able to see a little snow in between the clouds.

The Marriott is located on the Kohala Coast in an area called Waikoloa Resort and from there we drove north on the highway that runs around the island.

The first thing you notice in the area that we were in is how barren the landscape is. When you think of Hawaii you think south pacific tropics. You do get that in parts of the islands and The Big Island as well but because of the volcano activity over time you have almost all climates you find all over the world on Hawaii.

On one side of the highway you have the lava as in the picture above and on the other side you have what is below.

Nothing means desert more than a cactus.

That pretty much sums up the Kohala Coast which is the north western side of the island.

There are points on the highway where you go from just above sea level to close to 4000 feet. The next two photos are of the Kawaithae and Kohala Coasts.

There are a number of waterfalls on the island. The eastern side of the island gets between 129-150 inches of rainfall per year where in the western side gets between 15-23 inches.

Here are some photos of the waterfalls

If I remember correctly this is just to the east of Hawi

This one was taken at http://www.hawaiiweb.com/Hawaii/html/sites/akaka_falls_state_park.html

Here is one taken of the Rainbow Falls

In contrast to the images of the desert like area here is one of the rainforest.

The last several photos were taken along the Hamakua Coast which is on the northeastern side of the island before Hilo

In Hilo we saw King Kamehameha

From Hilo we followed the highway to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park Because of earthquakes in July we were not able to see any molton lava. At the present time the only way you can see molton lava is by air in a helicopter or plane.

There are two types of lava, one that cools slowly and you find it relatively smooth and the other which cools abruptly and porously sponge like as the gas exploded out of it as it cooled. I hope I explained it right. The rougher stuff is what you see in the first few photos at the top near the highway. There are a number of trails in and around the volcano and you can actually walk around the bottom of the volcano called the caldera. Click this LINK to view a map of the park and various sites and trails.

Here is a view from the tope of the caldera to the caldera floor.

From where the above photo was taken to the floor below is roughly 4000 feet. It might be hard to see in this photo but there are people at the bottom.

Although you were free to walk on the lava from the various eruptions and even walk into the Caldera itself there is a bit of caution:

Behind the sign what you see is sulphuric gas....we didn't stay long.

Here is Zack on a lava flow

That was it, day one complete. We ate Thanksgiving Dinner at a diner in Hilo so from start to finish and accounting for all the stops it took us about 10 hours to drive around the entire island.

One thing I alsmots forgot to mention was the wind. There were times you needed a jacket and that is why you see Zachary in one at various times. When we were on the Hamakua Coast and at about 3000+ ft in elevation it was sooooo windy I could barely open the car door.

Day two we had scheduled our Hummer Tour. It was a three our drive through the back country on the island. The areas we went through are not necessarily ones seen by the average tourist or native islander for that matter. Most of where we went was through private estates. Our excursion started at Hawi and headed up to the hills. We learned quite a bit from our guide who was a native Hawaiian. Captain Vancouver, a British explorer who had become friends with King Kamehameha had given the King a herd of cattle from Texas. Some decendants of those cattle roam free amonst the high country today. Imagine that....wild cows??? Shelly can't get over that one.

On staurday's it legal to hunt the cows in certain sections.....unbelievable.

We saw and learned alot during our three hour tour. We had a little snack at this waterfall where Zack did some "fishing".

At this site we also saw wild banana trees as well as wild coffee!!

This is one of those "Lion King" trees

Here's on of Zack and our Hummer

Of course there are tons more photos. I actually filled up a 2gb card in the camera.

Day Three was a trip to Kona for Mine and Zack's submarine tour of the reef. Kona is a traditional tourist town with tons of shopping among many little shops. There's a number of restaurants to include a Hard Rock. You get used to eating outside in Hawaii as everything is open or at the very least you have the option of eating outside, so you get used to eating with the little birds lol.

Shelly gets seasick on boats for the most part so it was just Zack and I on the submarine tour and Shelly was left to shopping for the hour or so in Kona while we gone.

Forward area of our submarine

Aft area

I did take photos while we were under water but they came out all blue and I couldn't tweak them enough. I did take a couple 30 sec or so movies and they came out better so be looking for a blog soon with all the videos from our trip.

Hawaii's first church

Remember the trees in ABC's Lost where they hide from the polar bear???

Pretty much that was day three. We actually got back to our hotel in time to see the sunset for the first time!!

Our last full day on Hawaii was on our own for most of the day with a luau scheduled at the hotel for later in the afternoon. In the morning we went to the Place of Refuge or Pu'uhonua o Honaunau. "An ancient " place of refuge " lies firmly protected behind the mortarless masonry of the sixteenth-century Great Wall. Those who broke ancient Hawaii's intricate system of kapu (taboo) - perhaps by treading on the shadow of a chief, or fishing in the wrong season - could expect summary execution unless they fled to the sanctuary of a place such as this. As chiefs lived on the surrounding land, transgressors had to swim through the shark-infested seas. If successful, they would be absolved and released overnight"

There are a couple of beaches where sea turtles come to rest during the mid afternoon. There is only 36 or so nesting pairs in Hawaii and they are protected.

And now onto our luau where Shelly finally got to have her tropical drink. We did spend some time on the beach but certainly not enough so perhaps some day we will go back. If we do we've already discussed the things we would do.

It was started with a little singing by some performers and seems to have been sold out.

A pig was cooked in a fire pit all day. They usae mesquite wood and burn it down to the coals where they then throw in some river rock until the rocks get red hot. They place a couple into the cavity of the pig so it will cook thuroughly then they cover with leaves, burlap and then dirt.

During the show they asked for volunteers to go up onto the stage. The dancers were going to show them how to hula. Damn if you get me up there but Zachary went right up. I am so proud of that little bugger. It didn't phase him a bit.

That's about it. There are many many more photos but to keep this at some minimum I have posted the ones that best represent our trip.

To finish, here are some I took of our hotel

The pool and gardens. Our room is directly behind the canopy on the third floor. We had a great view of everything. I can't imagine what the "ocean view" rooms were.

There were several pools on the grounds between the gardens and the beach. There was a sand bottomed pool, a pool with a water slide and a HUGE infinity pool.