The Big Island 2018

We had a wonderful week this year in our return to the Big Island of Hawaii.  We missed sharing the experience with our family and friends, but we made great use of our time.

On our first full morning, we went horseback riding at Dahana Ranch outside of Waimea. What a great experience! Our guide was terrific, and we had the ranch to ourselves for a couple hours. I am not a skilled rider, but I hope to do this again. Years ago, I went with family in Maui through a preserve--this was more of an open range type ride. My horse's name was Beachbum.

We stayed in Kona, and visited the farm market, beaches and restaurants. We cooked for ourselves mostly in our rented condo. One day, we took a tour of Greenwell Farms, a coffee farm established in the 1800s. We visited macadamia nut farms and the Big Island Bess honey operation. We also visited the town of Hawi on the north side.

Mid-week, we drove north, again through Waimea, and then went down the Hilo Coast to Hilo. We visited Akaka Falls and hiked the loop. Then, we visited the Wednesday Hilo Farmer's Market, which is fantastic.  I ate a lot of varieties of poke on this trip, including at Hilo's Farmer's Market. We also visited the Hawaiian Botanical Gardens, outside of Hilo, which is spectacular. Plants from all over, of all sorts--cacao, orchids, bird of paradise, and so on. Very worthwhile--I could've spent all day there.

That evening, we went up to Mauna Kea, to the 9200 foot Visitor Center.  The peak itself is above 13,000 feet, but was closed to private drivers due to 80 mph winds. I climbed a ridge above the Visitor Center, hoping to see the sunset, but the clouds were coming through strong. We were there to see the stars--this is one of the best places in the world for stargazing. Things didn't look promising, but once the sun set, the clouds dropped below us, and the stars and milky way came out.  The Center turns off all white lights--using only red lights--and brings out some heavy duty telescopes. We saw Pleiades and the Orion Nebula through the telescope. Two astronomers then gave a star show, using a laser pointer to point out constellations and tell stories about them. This was a pretty special night.

We visited Pu'uhonua O Honohnau Nationa Park, a beautiful old Hawaiian village which served as a place of refuge for warriors during conflicts. Next door, some of the best snoring on the island is at the renowned "Two Step", so named because there is a two step ledge you use to launch into swim-only snorkeling. We then discovered another beach, Honolei, just cruising around. A great day was completed with island fresh smoothies at the South Kona Fruit Stand.

On the morning of our departure, I once again ran the Kona Brewer's Festival Run for the Hops. This year, I only did the 5k, because I wanted to get back quick to pack, but this is a terrific local race. The shirt has a manta ray on it--cool!---and the finish line had all sorts of fresh fruit.

Hopefully we get back soon! Mahalo, Big Island!

Seriously

It's not all surf and sand

Greenwell Farms, founded in 1850s, specializing in Kona's coffee

Akaka Falls--beautiful short hike, tall falls

Bird of Paradise--Hawaiian Botanical Gardens

Hilo Farmer's Market

Poi

 Telescope on Mauna Kea-- in the day, on the sun--best look at the sun, ever

Tiki Gods

Run for the Hops

Our Last Breakfast

The Big Island

We had an amazing trip to the Big Island. We spent time with family and friends, and were there for just over a week. Highlights included hiking through a live crater in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, snorkeling with manta rays, whale watching off the Kona Coast, and lots of good fishy eats.

Here are a few pictures. The picture above is the manta ray experience, which I'd recommend to all friends who go there. You float, hanging on to a surfboard, with snorkel and goggles, and then they turn on an LED light. This is at night. The light attracts phytoplankton, which is dinner for the manta rays. They come up and do somersaults with their mouth wide open, taking in the phytoplankton. The mantas are 8 to 16 feet wide. Big. And they come up right next to you. Totally amazing experience, like nothing I've ever done. My sweet wife surprised me with this as a gift.

Whale watching was nice. Humpback whales, swimming in pairs. March is still Hawaii whale season, and I really wanted to get out there, at least once, to watch. We saw a bunch. My photography skills are lacking.

Our condo was terrific. We stayed at the Kona Reef. The photo right below is the view from our lanai. We were walking distance to town, which made it really fun.

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park included a hike through a lava tube! Short, but how often do you get to do that? We didn't see hot, red lava--maybe we should've tried harder. We did hike across a crater, and visit the main volcano. We also went down to Hilo, and had a wonderful lunch, and visited the local stores.

Friends Mike and Fran were there for part of the time. So awesome! I hiked with them to the supposedly green sands beach. There's a picture or two below. We have lots of green algae beaches in the northwest that are much greener, so consider me unimpressed. My favorite part of this was sharing the walk with Mike and Fran, which had a sort of desolate, bottom of the world kind of feel, looking out at the blue sea.  On their final day, we also got to visit a Kona Coffee Farm and a Macadamia Nut Farm.

In a previous post, I mentioned that I ran the Brewfest 10k in Kona. Gosh, that was hot, and I was slow.

What more to say?  This was one of my favorite vacations ever, and I want to go back, because there is much left to explore, and because it's Hawai'i.