Hawaii, the Big Island

Dec. 25 - Dec. 31, 2005

The Fourth Day ...

It's time to move to the west side of the island where the most recent resorts have populated the area. It's a long drive from Hilo to Kailua-Kona. We had an early start at 8AM and it took us about 2 hours to get to the Honaunau Bay, our first stop of the day.

Pu'uhonua o Honaunau
Pu'uhonua o Honaunau, also called Place of Refuge, was a haven for the lawbreaker and war-vanquished. A massive stone wall, built about 1550, separate the Royal grounds from the pu'uhonua. The pu'uhonua was a sanctuary that provided the people with a second chance. This place became a national historical park in 1961 to maintain a setting where many of the old Hawaiian ways carry on in the modern world.
Due to the high tide conditions, only the royal grounds portion was open and the Pu'uhonua beyond the Great Wall was closed today. It's nice place to walk around and see all ancient Hawaiian traditions after a couple of hours' driving.

Atlantis Submarine at Kailua-Kona
One of the main reasons we went to Kailua-Kona was this submarine tour. It's a very different experience that first we had to board a shuttle boat to go to the ocean where the submarine was waiting, and we transferred from the boat to the submarine across the deck, and then we climbed down a ladder and entered the submarine. Atlantis Submarine is a 48-passengers submarine with windows in front of each passenger. We did not expect we can see so many fish although they were so difficult to photograph. We stayed at the depth around 60 to 70 feet most of the time, and we went down to the ocean floor at 102 feet. Iris was disappointed that we did not see any shark (according to the guide, the chance to spot a shark is roughly once a month). The diving time under the water was about half an hour, and the total duration of the tour (including all transportation) last about an hour.

Luau at Royal Kona Resort
We walked around the Ali Drive along the coast, and then checked in the Royal Kona Resort, where we will attend the Luau performance and also stay for a night. We were relaxed in the hotel room (it's too cold to swim) and played a few card games which Linus and Iris has been asking for many days already.

The Fifth Day ...

Royal Kona Resort
The view from our room balcony was fantastic that I did not have to go out to get any better pictures.

Kona Coffee
Between 800 and 2000 feet, Kona is coffee country. Here grows the only coffee commercially produced in the United States, and Kona Coffee is widely considered the best in the world. There are quite a few of coffee farms in the Holualoa area, and we had no idea which one we should go. The first coffee farm we saw on the road was Kona Blue Sky Coffee Company, which provided free coffee tasting, a 7-min video about their coffee, and a free tour in their backyard with a few sample plants.

Kiholo Bay
From Highway 19, there is a narrow 4WD dirt road leading to the coast of Kiholo Bay. Although it does not have nice fine sand beach, it is a fabulous place to wander around and it is much quieter than other popular beaches that you can own the entire beach and don't need to share with anyone else.

Hapuna White Sand Beach
Hapuna Beach is one of the best and most famous white sand beaches on the Big Island. In one of the tour books, it says: "If you close your eyes and picture a perfect beach, there's a good chance you'll see Hapuna beach in your mind". It's half a mile long and 200 feet wide with fine white sand slopes gradually into the ocean. Clear, clean and excellent water conditions make it even more perfect. The only problem is that it was really crowded although Linus and Iris did not mind at all. They also rated Hapuna Beach as their number one favorite beach on the Big Island.

Sunset at Anaeho'omalu Bay
We had an early dinner at the shopping center at the A-bay since both Linus and Iris were both exhausted after a few hours on the beach. After dinner there was still about 15 minutes to sunset, and we rushed to the A-Bay beach just in time to get the sunset. Iris wanted to follow me but she could not catch up with me because it was late and I was running. She started to complain and wanted to go to the restroom, so I had to let her go back to find Linus and Mom on her own. It's when Iris lost her way and a new story about palm tree monsters was born ......

The Sixth Day ...

Rainbow Falls

Rainbow Falls is very close to Hilo downtown that it is one of the most popular attractions around Hilo. You can tell its popularity by checking its parking lots and number of tour buses. It is in a nice forest setting with a bridge overview the water falls. However, the sun was still not completely out of cloud and there was no sign of rainbows.

Boiling Pots and Pe'epe'e Falls
A mile up the road is Boiling Pots and Peepee Falls (don't laugh, it pronounces peh-eh peh-eh, not pee-pee!). There is a short trail that leads down to the river and rocks below the viewing area. The trail is narrow and steep with high grasses all around. Linus gave it a rating of level 4, but both Linus and Iris handled it very well (so did I). We hiked around the rocks across the river, and got a nice view of the Pe'epe'e Falls.

Kaumana Cave
Since Linus did not like the Thurston Lava Tube in the Volcanoes National Park because it was illuminated too well, I chose Kaumana Cave to try out our flashlights. Created by the Mauna Loa lava flow of 1881 that traveled 25 miles and threatened Hilo, this lava tube skylight is saturated with green. The entrance of the cave is via a steep staircase and leads to a total darkness. Iris was already scared when we just stepped down the stairs. After walked into the cave for about a hundred feet, we could barely see anything although we had a powerful flashlight. We were not the type of true explorers and we decided that we had already taste the darkness of a lava tube, and it's time to turn back.

Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden
After a brief break in Hilo (where we could not find any decent shops to kill some time), we headed north to the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden in Onomea Bay. I highly recommend this garden to anyone who likes plants and flowers. We spent almost 2 hours on the garden's self-guided trails and wandered around all the exotic tropical plants, flora and fruits. Not only I took plenty of photographs of these flowers, both Linus and Iris also fight for the camera to take shots of their own favorites.

Akaka Falls
Akaka Falls can be reached by an easy 5-min walk from the parking lot of the state park. It plunges 420 feet in a lush vegetation surrounding.

Hilo Bayfront Beach
After a full day's journey of waterfalls, we went back to Hilo to take a break, and then went to the Hilo Bayfront Beach to let Linus and Iris to play on beach for the last time on this trip. The beaches in the Hilo area are not as famous as the ones in Kailua-Kona area because the water is much colder and the sand is not as fine as well. But Linus and Iris still enjoyed

The Last Day ...

Sunrise at Volcanoes

I decided that I needed to do at least one sunrise at the Volcanoes even though it was drizzling in Hilo in the early morning at about 5:45AM. When I got to the Volcano House before sunrise, it was still cloudy and windy, so I kept going to the Thurston Lava Tube where I did not get any good pictures the other day because there were just too many tourists then. With no other people in sight, I could take a long 15-sec exposure as shown here on the left.
After walked back from the lava tube, the sky had cleared up a little bit, and I drove back to the Volcano House and got my only few shots of early morning in the Volcanoes.

Going Home ...

I have planned this Hawaii trip mainly based on a terrific tour book "Hawaii The Big Island Revealed, 3rd Edition", by Wizard Publications. Hawaii islands are truly a paradise for winter vacations. With only 5 full days on the Big Island, this trip was still not long enough to explore all the places we wanted: for example, the Saddle Road and the summit of Mauna Kea, the beautiful and peaceful Waipi'o Valley, the northern part of Kohala area, the mysterious Green Sand Beach, and more up-close views of live lava, and so on. I have promised Linus and Iris that we will come back again when they are old enough to go up to the summit of Mauna Kea.

[Day 1/2/3] [Day 4/5/6/7]

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