The Big Island 2016
It's not hard to come up with reasons to travel, when you have the travel bug, and you have time off, there's always a good reason. This time it was our dear friend Geri's birthday, she hadn't been to Hawaii since she was a teenager, so she was overdue. Just after Christmas she found out she was heading to a part of Hawaii she had never seen before... The Big Island. She just had to wait for March to roll around.
Our friends at BeBackHawaii helped us find a great 2 bdrm Condo, and after a very wet winter, on one of the sunniest days of the year, we said goodbye to Silva, and picked up Geri for our trip to the airport, and our Westjet flight to the Island of Hawaii, aka The Big Island.
Due to our late arrival, we would spend the first night in Kona at the historic King Kamehameha Hotel, aka King Kam.
We really only stayed here long enough for a scenic breakfast, and then a Costco trip to stock up for the week.
Then we headed North from Kona to Waikoloa, where our condo awaited.
Surrounding two full size golf courses, Waikoloa has a number of condo complexes and two major hotel resorts on the beach side. The grounds and amenities are perfect for a 10 day getaway, and give you a true tropical feeling.
Our condo had a nice patio that looked out right onto the 4th Green of the Waikoloa Beach course, so we could sit on the patio and watch the local wildlife of Mongoose and Gecko's as well as the wild swinging, ball-chasing, sand slashing, migrant golfers.
With views of Mauna Kea, you didn't have to look far to be reminded of the volcanic nature of this island. Past paths of volcanic flow were evident all around this part of the island. As the sun went down on our first full day on the Big Island, we headed up island to Waimea.
What we thought was a short jaunt to the next resorts Foodland store, ended up being a longer drive to the higher altitude town of Waimea. There was a few needed supplies we didn't get at Costco, so we used Google Maps to find Foodland as recommended by one of the locals. Turns out there is 2 Foodlands, one is a 15 minute drive, and a quick left turn, the other is an hour drive into the unknown. Can you guess where we ended up? As we emerge from the darkness into a small town, we find a large drugstore, and the infamous Foodland.
Recommendations for dinner from our cashier at Foodland sends us to the Red Water Cafe. As we pull up it looks like a dive pub, rickety saloon doors, lead into a... tablecloths, guy playing piano, fine dining menu??? This was a genuine nice surprise, a very good dinner, for all three of us including my gigantic Pork Chop. Turns out our long trek to Foodland was worth it.
The next morning is a casual start to the day, some fresh orange juice, and sitting on the patio watching some golfers go by, when suddenly a Tsunami Warning siren goes off. There is nothing like that feeling of momentary terror, when you do a quick Google search to find out it's a regularly scheduled monthly test of their warning system. They really should tell you when you arrive at the airport...
"By the way, on April 1st there will be a test of the Tsunami warning system".
Oh wait, April 1st, April Fools? That is not funny!!!
After our stressful morning, we spent the day hanging out at the pool, until all the kids started showing up around 3:00.
The view of Mauna Kea was even more spectacular today, with a clear view of the Mauna Kea Observatories as the colours change.
This night we decided to go a little closer and check out the Macaroni Grill at the local Queens Shops. Everything started off good, and quickly went south when the meals came; Norine's Chicken Marsala was cold, and a giant black hair pulled out when I cut my first piece of Lasagna. A new meal for me, and a reheated one for Norine, but hers came back cold again, and I had lost my appetite. Geri was the only one that paid for her meal that night, and Macaroni Grill was the running joke for the rest of the trip.
The next day we would take the short walk over to the beach from our place, a little trail runs alongside the Marriott resort and comes out onto Anaeho'omalu Bay. It's a nice little stretch of beach, not to busy, but very rocky... water shoes would have been a good idea.
A nice afternoon spent watching the waves and the Kite surfers, and nobody even got a sunburn!
After a bad night for dinner at The Queens Shops, we stayed a little closer to home at The Kings Shops, and found a cute little pub Restaurant called Three Fat Pigs. A lot of unique beers and very good food... beat the hell out of Macaroni Grill.
After another leisurely morning without Tsunami warnings, we headed to the far side of the island towards Volcanoes National Park. It was a little unsettling as you cross the middle of the island, between the two main peaks of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa... our ears have popped many times, we are in dense fog and it is raining, this is HAWAII dammit. By the time we get to the other side of the island it is sunny.
The first sign that there is something not right here, is the steam vents coming out of the ground, it's not until you get closer to the edge of the Kilauea Caldera do you get an idea of the immense size of this volcano.
We work our way around to the Jaggar Museum to get a closer look at the active part of the volcano. Hard to believe that over the years this volcano has been spewing volcanic ash, rolling lava down the hillsides, and is currently filled with burning hot magma.
Next stop is to see what it is like inside a volcano, as we descend the trail through the dense jungle into the Thurston Lava tube.
From below the ground to above the ground we checked out the Devastation Trail, a section of the park that was "devastated" in 1959 by 1900 foot high fountains of lava spraying bits across the landscape.
Our last stop in the park was the Volcano House Restaurant, a key part of the hotel perched on the edge of the caldera.
The views from the balcony of the hotel were great, once it got dark you could see the glow of the lava in the light fog. Because we weren't guests of the hotel, our table was 2 rows back from the windows, but the food was fantastic.
The drive home in the dark back up and over the middle of the island was exciting too, but we made it back to our condo safe and sound.
After our first beach day was very rocky, I planned for a nicer beach today, Hapuna Beach is constantly rated one of the best beaches in the USA. As you pull up you get a sense of two things; 1) They may be right, and 2) Everybody knows.
It's $5 to park there, and they have a little stand that rents beach chairs and umbrellas, which is a good thing, cause it was a scorcher, close to 90°. We find a nice spot on the beach 1 row back, and instantly you can tell, the sand is so soft (hot but soft), and there is no rocks along this beach. As the day progressed, we would alternate between the chairs and the surf, and as the day went on the beach cleared out.
It's a very large beach with spaces between everyone, so we're a bit surprised when a gaggle of teenage girls drop their towels right in front of us. Luckily they were in the water the whole time, then came out and left shortly before us. Cause, like, it could have been like, totally like annoying like, you know? As the sun started to drop down, we packed up, returned our chairs and umbrella and headed home.
While I was looking at the map of our complex, I noticed there was some kind of pub near our patio, turns out a two minute walk towards the 5th tee box and there is the Tropic Ale House. A nice little sports bar with a wide assortment of beers and very good food at good prices. Tonight would be the Bikini Blonde Lager, much better than the Peanut Butter Milk Stout.
The last time we were on The Big Island was 2007, at that time we had tried a Whale watching boat tour, and although it was a nice day on the water, we never saw any whales, so they gave us 2 vouchers to go again... 9 years later we would use those vouchers. We only had to pay for Geri to go on the boat, just drive to Honokohau marina, and look for the van with the Whale on top of it..
After a brief wait in the harbour, Captain Dan takes us out for our Three Hour Tour, a three hour tour. It didn't take to long and we spotted some shiny objects popping on the surface, and after a slight course correction, we are in the midst of a giant pod of Pilot Whales.
Norine and I were one of 4 people on the top deck, so we had a great view overlooking the water, and seeing them swimming below the surface. A great mix of mother and calves, as well as larger male whales made for an exciting hour of our tour.
After going to check out what we thought might be something much bigger, it turned out it was a just a long floating pipe that had broken off from some plant or large ship. It was a nice grey pipe though with barnacles and everything. During the last hour of our tour we were treated to another surprise, a bunch of splashing in the waters ahead, and we are surrounded by a large pod of spinner dolphins.
Overall a pretty good day on the water, even if we wouldn't be getting another free voucher for a future Whale Watching trip.
After Geri's first ever whale watching tour, it was time for another first, her first ever Luau, and one of the recommended Luau's was back at the King Kam hotel we stayed at on our first night. After a bit of souvenir shopping it was time for the Island Breeze Luau.
It all starts with Polynesian music, activities and refreshments, before being seated outside and welcoming the arrival of the royal family, not the real royal family, but a colourful replica of them.
Each different group of Polynesian dancers are represented, from Fiji, to Tonga, to Samoa, to New Zealand and Hawaii.
We are pretty sure Geri enjoyed her first Luau, having a chance to experience the dancers of this culture, and tasting the local foods as part of a buffet that included underground roasted pig and turkey. Overall a very fun day, even if she didn't try the Poi.
Today was all about me, you can't stay on a beautiful golf course, and then not even go golfing. So I booked a tee time for 1 on the Waikoloa Beach Golf Course. Described as a Par 70 professional course...
"The Beach Course is a study in color and contrast, its wide swaths of emerald-green boldly marked by unforgiving black lava, splashed with unabashed tropical flowers and bordered by the beautiful blues of lakes and vast Pacific. Designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr., the Beach Course is poetry by the ocean, with the breathtaking look and tempting risk/reward that is classic Hawaii golf."
The afternoon fees were reasonable with a green fee that included a golf cart, waters in a cooler and tees. I just had to rent some clubs, buy a souvenir golf glove and some balls. I assumed 6 balls would be enough, but you know what they say about ASS U ME?
I joined up with another tourist golfer from Redwood Shores, CA for the first nine holes, and we both quickly learned what 25 MPH cross winds mean to your golf game. By the time we finished the 9th/10th clubhouse holes, I had to go buy more golf balls.
The 7th hole was breathtaking, but really the whole course was excellent. After the 10th hole I finished the course on my own, because my new firefighter friend had to get back to his kids, kids, hmmppphhh.
We went to Hawaii to spend time with our feet in the sand, so I made sure to spend as much time as I could in the sand-traps of the course, even with the winds and lost balls, I don't think there could be a bad day on the golf course in Hawaii.
We wrapped up the day going to the neighboring Mauna Lani resort. This is the one with the Foodland store that is much closer to us, after picking up a few necessities to get us through the week, we had a lovely seafood dinner at the Tommy Bahamas restaurant...
I didn't even know there was such a thing.
In the morning we wake up to this fantastic view of a ladder while someone is working on the stucco on the place above us.
Today was going to be another first for Geri, flying in a helicopter. For us it would be a chance to fly over a volcano and see amazing waterfalls after a rainy night. In the morning we got a phone call from Blue Hawaiian Helicopters, our flight had been delayed as the morning weather wasn't the best, so in the afternoon we headed to the Waikoloa Heliport.
We loaded into the modern Eco-Star helicopter, and then were told there was a light on, so we would have to take a different one. OK, safety first. Then we loaded into the second helicopter, got the thumbs up and away we go. Our pilot Greg teases Geri, asking her to wiggle her fingers, cause she has the holy-shit-handle gripped so tight that her fingers are white.
We head north first for our 2 hour circle tour of the island, looking over lush greenery, Black Lava flows, and Blue blue waters.
Then no sooner had we started, and our pilot is told by the helicopters that left ahead of us, that the weather is bad, and you can't see anything from sky to sea... turn around. So Geri got her first helicopter ride, and we all got a free 15 minute tour of the area around our condo.
Since we were out this way already we headed into the port town of Kawaihae to check out the Seafood Bar.
A quaint authentic beach feel grill with great views of shipping containers. The service was great, and it may well be the best seafood pizza I have ever had in my life. I had plans to take some back to our place for a snack, but I ate the whole damn thing.
On the way back to our place, we decided to stop at Mauna Kea Beach. It's a little smaller than Hapuna, and a bit of a walk to get into there if you aren't staying at the resort. Funny thing is that we have been seeing these colourful geckos around our place, and when we park the car, one of them is nestled on the rear windshield wiper of our car. I coax him onto my hand, but before I could take a picture he leapt off into the bushes. I hope G. Gordon Gecko likes his new habitat, cause we didn't give him a ride home.
The beach was very nice, quiet, and could make a great visit for another time if we come prepared with chairs, umbrellas and drinks.
Can't even remember if we ate anything for dinner that night after polishing off that lunchtime pizza.
It was our last day on the Big Island, so I decided it was time for a road trip to see a little more of the island and its history. First stop is Pu'uhonua o Honaunau, also know as the Place of Refuge. In a time when breaking laws meant death by clubs or spears, if an offender could make it to Pu'uhonau before being captured, s/he would be forgiven after performing some rituals.
Now a national park consisting of historic rock structures from 1500, carvings and reconstructions of Hawaiian houses and temples.
It was only about 90° as we wandered the volcanic based grounds, so we didn't spend a lot of time standing around admiring the black rock structure, instead checking the waterline and the fish filled clear waters, and working our way back towards the shelter of the palm trees..
One last check on the bay of the royal canoe landing, and we are lucky enough to see a little Sea Turtle exploring the waters.
Just on the other side of the bay from Pu'uhonua o Honaunau is 2 step Beach, acclaimed by the locals as one of the best snorkeling spots on the island. A lava shelf, creates two natural steps into a coral filled bay. Lots of colourful fish, but with the winds its a little murky, and the waves make it a little exciting getting back out onto the steps. Yep, I'm out... oh wait, no I'm not... Yep I'm out... it wasn't graceful.
After drying off we got back in the car heading along the coast, with a brief stop at the St. Benedicts Catholic church aka The Painted Church. A church dating back to the 1800's with hand-painted frescoes and ceilings.
Continuing our drive along the very tourist focused Alii Drive,we make a historic stop at Huggo's on The Rocks, historic, because it was one of the first places Norine and I ate at 9 years earlier... a barefoot sand bar and grill. Always good to arrive during Happy Hour.
We spent some time there listening to a local musician playing Slack Guitar and then full of fish tacos, we passed Bubba Gump's and the King Kona hotel before heading back to the Condo to pack our bags for the flight home.
One last dinner at the 2 minutes away Tropics Ale House and we are heading to the airport to drop the car off, and fly back home. It's always a treat to come to Hawaii, we are sure Geri enjoyed her surprise, even if they lost her luggage. At least it was delivered safely the next day. Aloha!