Saturday 11 May
We’re up bright and early to get our flight
over to Kona this morning. The flight is
5 and a bit hours, but Hawai’i is 3 hours behind, so it’s still mid-morning
when we land. We’re greeted by a blast
of tropical heat – aahhh, even sunny California was a bit too chilly for my
liking. Kona has a fantastic, laidback,
open-air airport. We pick up a car and
set off driving across the island. The
landscape changes rapidly, from sunny but barren lava fields to rain to high
altitude volcanic moonscapes. As we
start to descend into Hilo things turn sunny and wildly lush again. The plants are so vivid, the grass so green
that I keep thinking they must be fake.
We’re starving so we stop at a bakery for
some lunch and have a stroll around downtown Hilo. It’s a sleepy and slightly rundown town set
in a beautiful bay lined with towering palm trees. Our hotel is a weird one. It’s set right on the waterfront on beautiful
Banyan Drive, but from the outside it looks like the building might be on its
last legs. I’m nervous taking the lift
up, but our room is big, bright and clean with views out onto the bay.
It doesn’t take us long to change into our
swimmers and cross over the footbridge to tiny Mokuola island. The island is a county park and is packed
with families bbq-ing, picnicking and swimming.
We join the shrieking kids for a splash about and then dry out in the
sun.
We’re not in the mood to be out tonight, so
we grab some supplies for our room and head in for the evening.
Sunday 12
We wake up early to the soothing sound of
tropical rain. We’ve got plenty of time
to relax into the day and by about 9am the rain has stopped anyway. After breakfast, we drive north of Hilo a
little way for a scenic and wildly overgrown route along the coast.
Coming back south we stop at a couple of
beach-parks along the way. It’s a Sunday
(and mother’s day) so they’re all busy.
Although it’s nice and warm, it’s still a little overcast and so we’re
putting off a swim.
Our next stop is the Lave Tree State
Monument – this was a forest, until lava flowed in, burning out the trees and
leaving black tree-moulds in their place.
It’s a good spot for a little walk around.
Back in the car we continue south – and here
it gets a bit hazy. We spend a good half
hour or so trying to find places the guidebook mentions (but which don’t seem to
exist). Eventually we give up and head
to Kapoho Tide Pools. We’ve been here
before, so we know they exist. They’re a
series of natural pools cut into the volcanic rock, perfect for
snorkeling.
Once we’ve had our lunch and a good snorkel
it’s time to head over to Kalapana: we’ve booked a lava hike for tonight.
We’re loaded into a van and introduced to
our guide, Primo. A short drive takes us
to our trailhead and the walking begins.
We’re hiking over lava fields.
It’s barren, but beautiful at the same time. Primo keeps us occupied with tidbits of
information and Hawaiian mythology. In
the distance we can see a big plume of smoke where lave is entering the ocean,
and smaller plumes indicating the flow of the lava downhill.
In all honesty, we’re not expecting much
from this hike – maybe a distant glow of orange on the horizon – but almost
before we know it we’re watching lava drip into the ocean, with the sea
broiling and exploding all around. It’s
mesmerizing, beautiful and humbling.
As if that weren’t enough, we’re then lead
a short way up hill to see the surface flow.
Here, lava is making its slow, steady drip towards the sea.
We’re able to stand right in front of it,
watching it twist and flow and, yes, poke a stick in it. This is a lifetime’s ambition for Nick and
you can tell by his face that he’s in fire-prodding heaven. The new, glowing lava is soft and infinitely
prod-able, but within a few minutes it hardens – our guide reckons we could
walk on it within 20 minutes.
Before we know it darkness has fallen and
the stars are out in their full glory.
We have a final prod at the lava, then walk back to the cliff’s edge for
another look at the ocean entry, before tackling the hike back to the parking
lot. It’s after 9pm when we get back to
the car – exhausted but elated. Another
40 minutes’ drive gets us back to Hilo for a quick beer and a snack before bed.
Monday 13
After our late night last night we’re quite
happy to take things a little slow and easy this morning. On the plus side, we’re awakened by bright
sunshine and birdsong. It’s another
beautiful day in paradise.
We take our time checking out, then waste a
bit more time at the local sports shop– I didn’t bring any running shoes with
me and thought I wouldn’t need them, but the American portions are proving me
wrong.
We’re driving over to Kona today, but take
the scenic route around the south coast.
Our first stop is Punalu’u beach – a black sand beach dotted with
resting turtles. It’s a lovely spot to
relax and enjoy our lunch, but the water is looking a little rough for a swim.
Next up we decide to hike to green sand
beach. It’s a 2.5 mile hike along the
windswept south coast. It’s nice enough,
but the beach, when we get to it, is definitely on the olivey-brown side of
green and not overly impressive.
The day is getting away with us and we’ve
still got some driving to do, so we crack on and get up to Kona. We’re staying in a not particularly fancy
hotel in the town centre and are pleasantly surprised to find that we have a
balcony and sea views. Once we’re
settled in we walk over to the Kona Brewing Company where we fill up on tasty
local beers and then can’t quite manage our pizzas.
Tuesday 14
I’m up early this morning to take my new
shoes for a run. They hold up fine, but
I’m a sweating, steaming mess within 20 minutes. We have a cup of tea and some cereal on our
balcony and then get packed up for the beach.
We drive south to Pu’uhonua o Honaunau, an
ancient Hawaiian sacred site (http://www.nps.gov/puho/planyourvisit/the-puuhonua.htm
). A short walking tour gives us a bit
of insight into this place of refuge.
As an added bonus, there is excellent
snorkeling just across the way. There’s
a lava rock shelf here that drops snorkelers into 10ft water rich with coral
and multi-coloured fish. We tire
ourselves out swimming out, across the bay and back again. I remind myself, halfway across the deep bay,
that this is the same ‘shark infested’ bay that Hawaiians used to swim across
to reach their refuge at the pu’uhonua and swim a little faster.
It’s cloudy again today, so we skip the
sunbathing and head a little further down the coast to Ho’okena beach – a
lovely little black sand crescent. There are turtles playing in the shallows, so
we grab our snorkels and head in to join them.
Before to long we find this fella, getting a good old clean from his
crew of fish. We hang with him for a
while and then head back to the beach.
We’re starving and there’s no food around
here, so we head back to our hotel and take a wander into town. It doesn’t take long to find some
hunger-busting Mexican food.
We’ve booked a night snorkel tonight so at
6pm we set off to meet our tour. The aim
is to see manta rays. Way back in the ‘70s
the Sheraton hotel put some powerful lights up to illuminate the oceanfront
rooms. This had the inadvertent effect
of attracting plankton, which in turn attracted manta rays. Now, it’s one of the best places to dive (or
snorkel) with mantas. Still, we’re not
overly optimistic. Neither of us has
ever snorkeled at night and there’s no guarantee that the mantas will show.
The boat moors right outside the hotel, so
we’re barely offshore. We get kitted up,
jump in and then grab on to rafts so that we’re just floating on the
surface. The water is shallower than I’d
expected and all the dive lights keep it well lit.
Before we know it a manta has turned
up. It spins and twirls beneath us before
disappearing into the darkness. We’re
ecstatic – and then another one turns up.
This one is right up close to the divers and puts on quite a show.
Already it’s exceeded our expectations and
we bask in a happy glow. Until the next
one shows up. This guy is huge and he’s
loving the plankton that has gathered in the torch light right in front of
us. He swirls up, cartwheeling with
mouth agape. And again, a little closer
this time. Then closer still until we’re
sure his wings are going to brush against our bodies. Then he’s gone.
It’s time to get ourselves back on the
boat, dry off and warm up with a hot chocolate.
Before we know it we’re back at our hotel enjoying a beer and looking
back over our pictures.
Janet adds: Thanks Big Island, you sure
know how to show a gal a good time.
Nick adds: Prodded lava with a stick,
nothing more to say.
No comments:
Post a Comment