Robin and I spent two weeks in Hawaii; a region of the US we had always wanted to visit. Hawaii is made of 8 Islands; you can’t visit all 8 however. We chose to visit Kauai also known as the Garden Island and Big Island- the island known for volcanoes. We spent a week on each island, renting a condo/hotel and vehicle.
Week 1: Kauai
May 10th
Two AM in the morning, Jack & Mom picked us up and drove us to Portland International Airport where we would then fly out at 5:30AM. From Maine to Michigan and then to California I read for the entire 8 hours as I had a lot of catching up to do in my Left Behind series. Once we arrive to LAX we were both going on fumes of Delta peanuts, pretzels and juice; unfortunately we could only find a McDonald's near our terminal so we opted to eat there. I was surprised at how much a “meal” for two people came to $19 when normally that would probably come to about $10 in Maine. After eating, we purchase a magnet as tradition with us for any new State that we visit. Our flight from LAX to Lihue, Kauai was the worst for me, not due to the quality of the flight, but because I was excited and the 5 hour flight really dragged out the anticipation.
Twelve hours later (our body time) we arrived in Lihue, Kauai. Immediately exiting the airplane we experienced their tropical-like weather; the temperature was in the mid-eighties and slightly humid due to the light rain they experienced while we were in the air. The airport is much different than any other I’ve visited, and while many others I’ve visited had their differences, this one has the most uniqueness. When you exit the air conditioned terminal into the branching hallways you are actually exposed to the elements. The hallways were covered, but the rest were exposed. In-between hallways were gardens with many different flowers, all which filled you with an aroma that you experience just about anywhere on Kauai; Birds would fly in and Geckos would be on the leaves looking for small insects.
After picking up our luggage, one thing that Robin and I noticed on our bus ride to the rental agency was a lone Red Junglefowl chicken (not pure-breaded) walking on the lawn; we thought it was an odd setting for a chicken in an area with Coconut Palm trees and Pineapples growing. After renting our car we headed towards Kapaa where our condo is located. On our drive to Kapaa, we noticed many more chickens on the sides of roads; on lawns and Golf courses- we determined it just must be Kauai’s version of the Woodchuck. After more research I found that it is believed the Red Junglefowl was brought over by the Polynesian settlers with regular chickens and were domesticated; since Hurricane Iniki in 1992, they have since become Feral and roam anywhere, and I mean anywhere on the island. I personally really enjoyed these chickens; sure they could be a little annoying at night, cooing all evening, but the males have this countenance of an attitude with their feather duster like tail and vellicating goblets and pompous posture. To share my love for these chickens with you, I've posted a video that Robin thankfully took of them.
The landscaping of our condo's common area was very nicely laid out; they had many different types of flowers of which I have no names for except of the Birds of Paradise, Plumeria (one of my favorites) which comes in various colors, Rose Paper. They also had a Papaya tree and other leaf bearing plants. I quickly spotted a location that is popular with Gecko's due to the way the large leafs hold and trap small insects. The scent of Plumeria was very prevalent as well, since May is the month they bloom. They also have a swimming pool for guests with gas grills to use free at any time during your stay. Our room was one of the best according to our hotel manager and in our opinion we thought so too by looking at others throughout the week while exploring the grounds. We were on the third and top floor which had an updated kitchen unit, living room with cable TV and internet, decent sized bedroom and two bathrooms. Our Lanai overlooked the grounds pool and beach of Lydgate Park which was an Easterly view. We stayed up for the sunset, despite the views of it being shrouded by the island’s mountains. After that, we quickly went to bed as we had been up for about 24 hours.
Second half of the entry:
Wednesday the 11th
We got up early for a semi-cloudy sunrise; the temperature was a warm 68°F. Robin and I watched the sunrise for a while and decided to head back to our room to get ready for the day. On our way, the morning light revealed semi-transparent Ghost Crabs seemingly flying across the sand and then disappearing into small tunnels. If you stand still you will eventually see many begin to dig out their tunnels by tossing out sand that they carry in their claws.
Later in the morning before we headed out I walked around the hotel grounds in search for more Geckos; I was successful in finding a few. During that time I found several snails crawling along a shaded lava rock wall covered with Plumeria flowers. I ended up capturing several photos of these snails while Robin snapped a good shot of a Gecko.
We made our way to Wailua Falls which normally has two falls, but due to the amount of rain Kauai had received the prior week the two became one. It is possible to hike down to the bottom of the falls and swim, from my research there are two trails, one that is very dangerous when wet and the other more relaxed- unfortunately I was not able to find where that trail began. This was our first Earth Cache from Hawaii. We made our way back to the main road and stopped at a local shop that sold different items including Post cards that we purchased intended for our relatives. We eventually made our way to Kawaloa Beach which is in Koloa. The road to this beach is fairly rough, not rough enough for the sedan we rented, but enough to go slow and to spot this bird that Robin photographed along the way. As you can see in the photo the road consists of red top soil that has eroded away to mostly granite and lava. Once we arrived we made our way through a windy walking path through a hillside of various trees that eventually emptied onto a sandy beach. The beach was mostly empty, most likely due to the rainy weather. We walked down the beach in search for shells, coral- anything we could use for decoration at home. We found a small piece of broken Cauliflower coral and lava rocks while wading knee deep in the water. The rain had begun to come down harder at that point so we decided to head for the car; on the way we picked up a geocache.
Our next stop was Poipu beach; by the time we had arrived, 20 minutes later, the sun came back out for a while to reveal two contrasting aspects of Poipu beach. On the east side of the beach it contained primarily an unscathed layer over hardened lava, a sheet that appeared to be exposed by the eroding forces of the waves and on the west side a semi-fine sandy beach with a protruding peninsula that depending on the tide, appeared to be a small island. This beach turned out to be our favorite due to its location, size, visiting animals and amount of fun we had snorkeling. We walked around the beach for a while, dipping our toes in the warm water, until we decided to visit a nearby shop that sold Shaved Ice, a Hawaiian specialty. We ordered a scoop of Mango flavored ice that we quickly ate.
Thursday the 12th
For Thursday we headed to a beach that is farther west of Poipu Beach, one that is popular for Hawaiian Sea Turtles. When we arrived at the beach, I was surprised to see the beach was actually a sheet of relatively smooth, hardened lava; in the larger cracks grew a type of green plant that from a distance looked very interesting. We didn't see any turtles, but we did photograph the rocks and hiked along the beach in search of an area that may be more secluded. We spent about an hour walking around until we both became very hot, the sun was out and the wind was nearly non-existent. Robin was starting to burn pretty badly so we headed back to the car and made plans to go snorkeling at Poipu Beach. We arrived at the beach, donned our swimming outfits (mine was purchased at a Hilo-Haiti store) and headed to the peninsula. We noticed an area of the beach was roped off; as we got closer we saw a Hawaiian Monk Seal resting. We were told by a local Warden that they will come ashore when they are very tired to rest despite the activity. We both were able to capture many photos of this docile creature enjoying it's time in the sun. Sitting, within 15' of this creature was a highlight of my trip, I've seen seals from a distance in Maine and in zoo's but being so close to a wild Seal in its environment was a great experience.
After our encounter we headed towards the peninsula; there was one man who was playing with his child in the narrowing walkway to the end of the peninsula- an idea that I thought looked fun. We attached our snorkel gear and got into the warm water; at first it felt like a slap to the body since our skin was so warm compared to the water, but we quickly adapted. The moment we submerged we were treated with many tropical fish; Needlefish, Bluespine, Yellow Tang, Bandit Angelfish, Reef Triggerfish, Convict Tang, Moorish Idol (my favorite), Reef Triggerfish, Bluefin, Unicorn Fish, Lowfin Chub, etc. The majority of the fish we saw were generally used to people swimming in their water and would at times come up to you to see if you were edible. We had a good time snapping underwater photos and videos of everything.
We ended our day by visiting the local shopping mall strip or square would be more accurate. Robin found a restaurant in a tourist guide pamphlet named "Poipu Tropical Burgers"; when she read the description to me I had savored the moment to try one of their burgers. I ordered a burger with: Angus, pineapple, pepper jack cheese, tomato, coconut shavings, a special fruit sauce, lettuce, spinach and fries. After we finished our burgers Robin wanted to stop by "Papalani Gelato" next door to try their gelato ice cream. We shared the Coconut Caramel with Mac Nuts - Cream caramel sauce, local macnuts with our Coconut Gelato in a waffle cup dipped in dark chocolate and macadamia nuts- it was delicious. While eating the ice cream, we watched a free hula-show put on by the local dancers.
Friday the 13th
For Friday we decided to head out further west to visit Glass Beach and Waimea Canyon in hopes to get more sight-seeing in and a little geocaching. On our way to Waimea Canyon, we stopped in Hanapepe; on Rt 50 there's an Overlook where you can see part of the Waimea Canyon in the distance- the view was fairly cloudy but we kept exploring as we knew that the weather changes frequently in Hawaii. Our next stop in Hanapepe was a location that I found online while looking for a geocache; its name is what interested us- Glass Beach. The beach is comprised of sand and heavily eroded glass; a process that takes anywhere from 10-30 years of the surf tumbling the shards of bottles, windows, flasks against the sand. The Swiss Cheese Shoreline company used this small beach as a dumping ground of glass and automobile parts. You can see axles, wheels, and other misc. auto components fused into the rock and magma along one side of the beach. When we arrived at the beach you could tell that it was true to its name, sparkles of smooth glass reflected in the sun. I had to take my Keen's off to walk, due to pulling them in under my weight. We collected a small sandwich bag full of glass sand to later be used in a cork-topped flask. The glass flask contained a layer of sand from our favorite beaches (Poipu, Glass Beach, Black Sand Beach and Makalawena Beach). We walked around for a bit and found an old Oriental graveyard past the beach and then made our way to Waimea.
We reached Waimea, a small town that had only a handful of stores and tourist attractions, including in addition to the canyon, Na Pali Riders- an excellent tour guide that you will read about later on. I started to drive up the Canyon road and start our 18 mile drive through the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific" when Robin pointed out that our gas tank was only half full and that a sign I drove by at the beginning of the road stated to fill up. So, we turned around and filled up at a local Shell station @ $4.40/G (Ouch, back home it was $3.99-still high but not as bad).
On our second attempt up the initially steep canyon road we enjoyed the twists and turns of the road-well, primarily I enjoyed them- Robin didn't as much. The first lookout point overlooks the eastern side of the canyon and in my opinion, probably the lushest area of the canyon. It consisted of a deep gorge with a murky brown river flowing at the bottom, the sides of the canyon covered in lush green trees and plants. You could start to see the crested buttes, and parts of the rugged crags. All I could think while standing at the very end of the dirt trail that puts you in the center of this view was, "What an amazing artist God is". I've never experienced the sensation of being so small while looking out at a beautiful vista; I think I can now understand what an animal or insect may feel like when looking up at a valley of forest. On the other side of the parking area gave us a view of the coastline; a complete contrast of what we had just seen. You can stand in the middle of the road and watch it disappear and re-appear as it crests over each hill and watch the clear ocean water flow onto the coastline, listen to the wind weave itself in and out of the grassy rolling hillside.
As we continued on with our drive, the skies started to change from blue to grey the higher our elevation increased. We came across an area that if the skies were blue it would make an interesting photo. A small hillside that became eroded over time, with the heavy rainfall and stream that ran through the area, had removed all grass and plant-life- all that remained was hardened red soil. As we continued on, we stopped at several other areas that provided mixed views of arid and lush gorges. These ragged crags were so intriguing with their mixed physical makeup, causing us to again stand in awe of Creation. Some of these crags had very large waterfalls flowing over steep edges; they were so far away that you couldn't properly take a photo of them. Robin and I talked about actually being up next to such a waterfall and what it would be like to hike the terrain. One of our stops were purely to pick up a geocache; to my surprise I found a trackable geotag that according to its description, wanted to make its way to the East coast- needless to say, I took it home with us. Our last stop was unplanned, but necessary due to impending rain, at a larger un-named lookout point. From there, we turned around, and about 3 miles down the road, the rain came down very heavily.
Saturday the 14th
On Saturday we decided to drive up the eastern side of the island to Ke'e Beach; there were several locations that I wanted to see that Robin didn't know about at the time. Along our way, in Kapaa we stopped at The Coconut Cup - Juice Bar & Café, an organic food stand that sells delicious sandwiches, salads and fruit bowls. We had hoped that they sold fruit drinks in a carved out pineapple but they didn't, it appears that no one makes a virgin version of that drink, at least at the areas we had stopped at. Robin ordered a sandwich that had Turkey breast served on fresh baked, whole wheat bread with organic lettuce, carrots, Brussels sprouts, red onion, mayonnaise and avocado; I ordered the Acai fruit bowl that had granola, yogurt, pineapple, coconut shavings and acai. I love fruit and yogurt and this was the best bowl I've ever had; the acai really made it special.
We proceeded onward to Ke'e beach, making various pit stops to search out nearby geocaches. While driving through Kilauea I noticed a sign for a lighthouse location; we decided to take a detour to see what it was. When we arrived, we parked in the first parking lot that sits atop a steep cliff in the bend of the coastline. From here, you can see hundreds of Red Footed Boobies nesting on tree branches. There's a sign that talks about the birds and talks about the wild life refuge, Kilauea Point Wildlife Refuge. We drove to the next set of parking lots right before the entrance to the refuge. From here you need to walk to the entry gate; before we did that I stopped at an un-official lookout point that allows you to look down over the cliffs and onto the waves below. We could hear an odd noise that resembled the crying of a baby- we figured someone in the refuge had a baby. Once inside there's a path that leads past the visitor's center to the lighthouse and this path is fenced in because on either side of the fence were young Red Footed Boobies in the nests which apparently are burrows in the ground. While we walked along the path the mysterious crying noise we heard revealed itself in the form of young chicks in their nests; Robin was able to capture the audio on her camera. Along the same path there are several binoculars set up so that you can see the nesting Boobies up close; at one of these lookout points I took a bit of time to snap a photo of a Tropic bird swooping by a nest. At the end of the path we came to the lighthouse which was under renovations, however we did spot a pair of Nene's and a view of a small island in the distance. I enjoyed the refuge as it provided an up-close encounter with rare birds and excellent views of Kauai's steep cliffs.
Next, we arrived to Tunnels Beach where we stopped and headed towards Tunnels cave; an area washed out by the beach at one point. The ceiling of cave was about 7' high and 300' deep with a small pool of water in the back. I was able to utilize my new Manfrotto tripod in this area to capture long shutter speed photos to capture the inner workings of the cave and its colors. On our way out we spotted a local man weaving baskets out of a type of Palm tree leaf; Robin wanted something truly authentic from Hawaii so we purchased one and made our way to the next pit stop, Reflecting Pools Cave. This cave has a shallow depth and high ceiling that eventually lowers into a 5' high opening to another cave. In front of the cave is a pool of water that mostly reflects the ceilings image. I played with the tripod once more to capture the reflection and to take a photo of us together. Ke'e beach was packed, which left us with no parking spaces at all. It was starting to drizzle so we decided to make our way home for the day; however half way home Robin wanted to stop at a few local outdoor shopping malls and we were able to find several souvenirs we both were looking for. For me, I needed a nice glass flask with a cork top to fill with the various types of sand that I've been collecting from beaches.
Sunday the 15th
I got up early for a sunrise while Robin slept in. This morning was the first morning that I was really happy with the results of the sunrise. After eating breakfast, we made our way to Waimea to meet up with Na Pali Riders to take a tour of the entire 17 miles of the Na Pali coast on a rafting boat. When we arrived at 6:30AM Robin and I were greeted by one of the cheerful guides; once everyone was signed up and instructed on the rules of the tour all of us made our way to the dock, two miles away. The watercraft is a Zodiac 30 foot raft that sat, comfortably, 12 people plus the tour guides. As we set sail I enabled my Garmin GPS handheld to track and record every movement so that I could look at the trail on Google Earth. The initial part of the tour brings you alongside the 7 mile Polihale Beach and from there on, all you see are rugged mountains that appear as a wrinkled curtain or ruffled ribbon with the occasional waterfall. At that point of the trip we began to spot Spinner dolphins in the distance. We were told that we will probably see around 200 dolphins. Twenty minutes had passed as we continued around the island, we came to an area where the water was fairly shallow and clear; the water started to turn aqua-turquoise blue and in the right angle, the sun would shine down to the bottom 30' below. The guides stopped the craft and turned the CD player on to play Sarah Mclachlan; the dolphins respond better to that genre of music. Shortly after, we started to see many dolphins swimming under our boat and surfacing around the boat. We eventually moved along as this was a smaller, shyer group.
We eventually reached our first cave, the tide was at the right height to safely allow us in which is one of the reasons we decided to take this tour over others. The first cave had a waterfall running down the side of the outer wall next to the entrance and was very dark inside; it was suggested that pirates had, at one point, used this cave as a hideout for their ships. The next cave we entered was a miniature version of a football stadium with the surrounding walls tapered back as they ascended. The water color was unlike anything we've seen before; it's very blue, similar to the Windex cleaner for windows. The next cave was in a cleft of the shoreline that is shaped in the form of the letter "S". While our boat started to come around the bend of the "S," several birds flew off of a ledge in front of us while the entrance of the cave came into view. This cave had a depth of roughly 20 feet; we were taken all the way into the back and then turned around to show us the view from the inside out. The light poured in at a downward angle that illuminated the water which then reflected its own green ambient color against the inner wall of the cave. Our tour guides are photographers and appreciate what Hawaii has to offer from that perspective and they themselves were filming the event which allowed me to photograph this amazing view. During that process, I again thought to myself while sitting with one leg inside the raft and the other hanging over the edge dangling my foot in the water, that even a cave is amazing and how God's natural laws put in place carved out such an interesting scene. This cave along with the next and final cave were my favorite. The final cave on our tour had two entrances and in the middle of the cave, water from a waterfall from the exterior had eroded a hole through the rock and down into the cave. From the middle of the cave, on our way out, we saw two sources of light- a ray of light beaming down through the hole, reflecting on the mini-waterfall and in the distance blinding light coming from the cave exit. As we passed the mini-waterfall the craft's motor was turned off so we could pass slowly by it and observe the natural formation. If you're interested, take some time to view the video.
As were neared the turning point of our tour which brought us closer to Ke'e Beach we spotted hikers along the 11-mile, very rugged terrain of Kalalau trail. This trail, from my research and views of it from the water, takes you through, over and around many of the slopes of the peeks and near crest steep drop offs to the ocean. We eventually came to a spot that was in the crest of two sloping mountains that hosts a nearly inaccessible beach due to the slopes and coral reefs. We were all given snorkeling gear and allowed to swim around to look for fish, Sea Turtles, etc. Robin and I did not see any Sea Turtles by the time we got into the water, but one of our guides captured a video of one swimming near the sea floor.
On our way back to the boat landing we came to an area near the Polihale Beach where a group of nearly 200 Spinner dolphins were socializing. We stopped and watched a few young dolphins jump out of the water, spin and crash into the water over and over again. Other dolphins would swim under and around our boat, they would surface and actually look right at you. I had one dolphin swim so close to my foot in the water that if it were 6" deeper we would have touched! This particular area really could not have been any better of a setting for this event. I was able to capture a dolphin fin in the water with the mountainous background. We had hoped to swim with the Spinners but the water was not clear enough near the bottom and was deemed un-safe due to sharks.
The last 25 minutes of our ride back to the boat landing became very wet; rain clouds had blown toward the island and consequently perpendicular through our path. The rain felt like small pieces of ice hitting you, instantly warming from your skin and surrounding air. As we continued through the path of the rain, the trade winds started to create whitecaps, which caused our craft to cut through them and splash Robin and I with water on every downward fall of the wave. We didn't mind, nor were we cold.
After our Napali trip, we headed near the eastern side of the island and drove through Lihue's city; and ate at a Burger King. Even though the island is relatively small, the weather can be dramatically different on one side vs. the other. Lihue welcomed us with a warm 85° weather, clear blue skies with the occasional wispy white clouds collecting around the peaks of volcanically created mountains. I decided to take a little drive down a side road and through a new development that led to an area of Lihue that provided a view of the previously mentioned mountains. The road cut through a field of grass than stops at the base of the mountain range. The grass was so tall that in order to capture the entire view I had to stand on the roof of our car.
We ended our day with a trip to the beach next to our condo to find that one of the locals built a tent out of debree.
Monday the 16th
I awoke to my sunrise alarm, to snap off a few more photos of the sunrise; not my best, but the sky was not at its best. Later in the morning, we made our way back to an un-named beach next to Poipu beach; it is supposed to be a hot spot for Sea turtles. Unfortunately, we did not spot them but did enjoy the view and hot weather. The UV index that day was high and we could feel the burn, thankfully by this time Robin was wearing sunscreen. We continued on to Spouting Horn; it's a natural formation and an attraction for the area. A lava shelf sits slightly above the ocean level and the Pacific waves flow under this shelf and burst up through a hole in the shelf, producing a nice spray of water. I intended to use my tripod here for slow shutter photos, but ended up not needing to use it due to the neutral density filter I was using. Once I was finished taking the photos, I had walked off leaving the tripod behind, unknown to both of us until later that evening, several hours later. By the time we had returned, it was gone. I was a little upset by this, but it could have been much worse. The only upside to this event is that we got to see the Spouting Horn in the evening as the sun began to set casting its rays at an angle only viewable during that time of the day, those rays produced a very nice rainbow in the spout's spray. If you're into geocaching, check out the Earth cache there.
Before we left the area, earlier in the day, the first time we had visited the area, Robin and I looked at the local flee market right next door for a while; she had purchased a few bracelets made of shells and various rocks. Robin had wanted to visit the Allerton Botanical Garden next door. The garden is home to many different trees and plants, some indigenous plants and some non-native botany; one area of the garden is further away that hosted many scenes from the movie "Jurassic Park"; we didn't visit that area. Robin and I walked around looking at the Pineapple plants, Sugar Canes, Bamboo, Chenille (it produces a red, furry flower), Rainbow Eucalyptus (its bark is something I've never seen before and thought it was fake, it has a mostly purple hue to it with green, red, pink and yellow blends), Bird of Paradise, Heliconia Fire Opal, Plumeria, Aloe Vera and many other species. Robin spotted a Gecko on a large leaf above us, I'll give her the credit to this photo.
I decided to visit Wailua Falls again to see if the lighting in mid-afternoon would make a difference. Along the way Robin spotted a store that specializes in Pineapple sales; we both wanted to visit this shop and found that they sell cartons that contain either 3,6 or 12 fresh Kauai grown pineapples that you could take on the plane as a free carry on. We decided not to purchase a box since we had another week left; instead we purchased a fruit smoothie with pineapple and other Hawaii grown fruits. When we arrived I started to play with the ND filter that I had used early in the day to capture a more pleasing photo. I wanted to try a slower shutter speed and went for my tripod and could not find it; after thinking for a few seconds I realized that I had left it at the Spouting Horn 4 hours ago.
Tuesday the 17th
Tuesday was our last full day on Kauai; a memorable one, but also a sad one as we had both really enjoyed the island, from exploring different beaches, waterfalls, tropical settings with tree after tree of beautiful scented flowers, seals, snorkeling, sunrises, cragged mountain peaks and lush greenery.
The weather report for the day looked bleak, but since it was our last day we wanted to get out and enjoy it whether it rained or shined. In Kapaa, our side of the island, the skies were overcast with temperatures in the high 70's. We first visited Poipu beach, again, to see if the Hawaiian Monk seal was back, and it was, two actually this time. We sat near the fence, that was put up to keep people away, that morning and watched it as it slept. Occasionally it would scratch it's head or deeply sigh.
Since we were not able to make our way to the end of Waimea Canyon earlier in the week, we had one last time to achieve that goal. I hoped and prayed that the weather would be better further along the journey than it had been the last time we reached the mid-point. As we reached Waimea, we drove by several gas stations and in my mind I thought we should fill up, but I didn't want to fill it up and not use it all as the rental agency said we can bring it back on E if we wanted to and I planned on only going to the first look out due to the cloudy skies. We started the 18 mile drive on a quarter tank of gas; we stopped at the first lookout and from a distance it looked like the skies were clear on the north western side which is the area where the road ends. As we made our way up and down the windy road, I continued to wrestle with the temptation to go all the way to the end of the dwindling 1/4 tank of gas. We eventually reached the area where we had stopped last time. We went to the look out and were surprised at the view; it was less lush than the other lookouts and featured more exposed soils and roots, most likely from erosion, but despite that it was still beautiful. Once we reached the car I decided to attempt to go all the way to the end; for two reasons: 1, the view from my research was un-like anything else that we've seen thus far and there was also a geocache that not many people can claim they've found.
From that look-out to the end, according to my GPS we had 9 miles to go. I coasted down the hills and up as much as I could to preserve as much gas as possible. Finally, after 20 minutes of that type of driving, we reached our destination with about 1/8 tank of gas. The skies above were grey, but once we reached the beginning of the Pihea trail which brings along the peaks of this areas mountain chain, treating you to the most beautiful gorges, valleys and view of the ocean I have ever seen. The beginning of the trail consisted of hardened red soil that formed natural stairs down the first peek and then turns into an interchange of muddy grounds to hardened soil to rocks and roots. We spent about 30 minutes just looking out at Kalalau Valley; I felt as though I were standing in front of a massive computer screen that displayed a computer generated picture, it was unbelievable to experience this view- while the photos came out very well they just don't do the views any justice. While standing on the very crest of the peak, my eyes followed the direction of the trail and determined that the geocache was roughly two miles by foot. Determined to find the cache, we set out on empty stomachs (ill pre-pared for a hike, but this was our only chance). Roughly every quarter of a mile, a lookout presented us with different perspectives of the exquisite valley. Robin and I would take photos of each other and other hikers offered to shoot one of both of us which we returned the favor when needed. Hiking elevations in the 3,000' range in Maine usually results in cooler temperatures, however, here at roughly 3,500' the temperature was 75° in the shade and about 5° or more while exposed at the lookouts, thanks to the breeze from the Pacific.
We reached the two mile mark and began to look for the cache; the clues the owner left us were very detailed yet left a bit of investigation; after searching a bit I finally found it, hidden behind a large root in a washed out hole on the side of a knoll. The cache ground zero location was nothing spectacular, however the experience getting there was one of the best thus far. Fortunately for Robin and I, the weather couldn't have been any better that day, from what I've read in the cache logs it's usually very chilly, rainy and muddy. We made our hike back to the car and began our slow drive or should I say "coast" down the canyon trail, into Waimea where we added some much needed gas and thanked the Lord for safety and an amazing experience on our last day.
Since we were both very hungry from the 4 mile round trip hike, I decided to stop at Poipu Tropical Burgers again. I ordered the same burger as last time and Robin ordered a burger with coconut shavings. Just like last time, the burger was delicious and very filling. The local finches were in full force today, I held out my hand with a french fry twice, the first time a finch landed in the palm of my hand, scooped up the fry and flew off, the second time one finch pinched the end of my finger and another scooped in for the fry. Next we stopped at several of the open mini mall stores where Robin purchased (suckered into) a few shirts that have a design that changes color when UV rays come in contact; she gave the shirts to family and we kept the beach bag that was free! After, we ate at Papalani Gelato's one last time. Robin got a coconut and chocolate gelato and I got another macadamia nut icecream.
As this was our last day, we wanted to visit Poipu beach one last time. To my surprise, the same seal was still in the same spot. We took a few photos and observed it once more while listening to the local warden talk about tracking the seals with tags. During this time a feral chicken had walked right by the seal, neither of them seemed fazed by this.
Week 2: Big Island
Wednesday the 18th
We packed our souvenirs, clothes and other items and headed to the airport. Our flight departed at 12PM, landed in Oahu for 30 minutes to pick up more passengers and then took flight to the Big Island. When we arrived on the Big Island the weather was less humid (Kauai was humid, but not like it is in the Eastern states) and the sun seemed to feel more intense. The tourists we encountered on the shuttle bus were rude and seemingly unaware that two people were trying to carefully get to the back of the bus with heavy luggage. One person did not move their feet after an "excuse me" from Robin, and I accidentally stepped on his foot- to my surprise he cried out rudely and implied that it was my fault. Once we arrived at the car rental agency I was considering renting a Ford Mustang convertible as Robin and I guessed every time we saw one on the previous island, that they were tourists. The agent talked me into renting a Jeep 4x4 Sport; he had asked us what we'd be doing and where we wanted to go. At first, I was skeptical of renting the vehicle and hated the way it handled bumps (that could have been my grumpiness) but after driving it for a week and taking it to the areas, I will be writing about later on, I was glad we made the decision to rent it.
During our 15 minute drive to our hotel, we didn't see feral chickens, instead we saw a couple of feral goats along the highway. The Big Island has its own climate, landscape and floral arrangements; it is much more arid and rocky- to be more accurate there are fields of jagged lava with the occasional pretty paper flowers along the road and in amongst the lava fields were Ohia Lehua which actually has seed that survives lava damage and sprouts from cooled lava. The other major difference between the two islands are the three large volcanoes and busy cities. Our hotel was in Kona and did not have the same nice touches that our previous hotel had; each room is individually owned therefore depending on which room was selected, you could have received a newly renovated room or an older room. We unfortunately got an older room, which we didn't mind. What did bother me was that the seating arrangements were dirty and the carpet hadn't been cleaned in 15 years which affected my allergies. Robin can attest to this next complaint, the fact that free internet was not available really upset me as it is our way of research and communication at times. The next day I explained the situation to the hotel manager and she allowed me to look at 3 other rooms, we decided to pick one that was newly renovated as it hard wood floors and free internet.
Thursday the 19th
Thursday we decided to explore the Big Island; the naming if this island is accurate; it takes two and half hours to 3 hours to drive from Kona (Western side) to Hilo (Eastern Side) depending on if you take the northern route or the southern route. For this trip we took the southern route, I had a couple of destinations in mind, a geocache, South Point (the southernmost point of the island) and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. The first hour of our drive took us through extremely windy roads with bends that forced you to slow to 35MPH. Along the way we stopped at what I thought was a spring water fountain to replace our hotel produced water as it was heavily chlorinated. It turns out the fountain is a tap from the town's public water; I talked to two men there filling up their water tanks and they informed me that this water shouldn't be as chlorinated and but it was, we still could taste a hint of it. The scenery changed briefly from jagged lava fields to green rolling hills that are home to Black Angus cows, to larger fields of hardened lava. The highways are limited due to the three large volcanic mountains. The other change we noticed from the eastern side to the western side is the price of gas dropped significantly $4.40PG to $4.11PG; I filled our 12 gallon tank and made our way to the nearby geocache. This area is a memorial for Captain Brown and the surrounding area; an earthquake loosened a bluff causing a mud flow and then Mauna Loa erupted, blanketing the land-side. This location had a pit of jagged lava; up until then I didn't have a proper piece of lava rock. I found a piece that looks like a cross section cut of an oval, the middle was hollow with little spikes and the exterior cracked and rough; upon further inspection Robin found that Olivine (a rare mineral found above the crust but common below the crust) embedded in the lava. This mineral can be found in abundance at Green Sand Beach; an area that we didn't have time to visit. While looking for different rocks for other family members, I slipped and cut my ankle on the lava; I knew it was sharp, but was surprised at its intensity.
Further down the road we came to the turning point for the South Point destination; it's a 10 mile side road used by horse and car farmers, tourists and a few local residents. Along one portion of the road is the Big Island Wind Farm that powers about 10,000 homes on the island. Shortly after the wind farm the roads became more and more rough. Once we reached our destination, the pavement was mostly non-existent and we were thankful we had a jeep, as some areas of the soil were washed out. The South Point is the most southern point of the Big Island and of the United States. Had I known at the time, I would have walked the half mile from our location of "South Point Cliff Dive"; but at least we can say we were virtually at the southernmost point of the US. Expounding on that thought, we live in the most Eastern State of the US and have been to the most Southern State, now we need to visit the Northern most State. Currently, we found the southernmost geocache of the US that day and then proceeded to look out at Cliff Dive. It's an area that boasts steep ledges with heights up to 50' that drops off into deep clear blue ocean. On one side of the overhang I climbed down and saw a local resident snorkeling with a fish spear in his hand and in the other a fish net; I'm not sure what he was trying to catch as his net and crate were empty. On the other side of me, the cliff had a rope latter attached to a platform that people apparently jump off of. I watched two men swim below, waiting for one to jump off of the platform but they didn't.
Our next stop along the way was unplanned as we didn't realize that it was on our way to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park; Black Sand Beach. Upon arrival you can immediately tell that the name is accurate due to the sand consisting of eroded and broken down volcanic rock. The sand was rough on the feet and hot under the sun. I had hoped to finally find a Sea turtle as this is a hot spot for them; unfortunately we only saw them floating in the water about 2 feet from the shoreline. I ended up experimenting with some photos and captured an interesting shot of foot prints someone left while walking in front of my camera. We found one geocache near our first encounter with a banyan tree and quickly left for the national park as it was getting late. Twenty minutes later we came to the entrance of the park and assumed that it closes at 6PM so we headed back to our hotel. We arrived just in time for the sunset; our first Big Island sunset, and unfortunately our last until our last day due to traveling.
Friday the 20th
On Friday we took the southern route to the opposite side of the island again (we should have stayed in Hilo) to visit Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Along the way, we stopped again at Kahaluu to re-take some photos of the coastline as the prior days photos came out blurry for some reason. This location is home to a hotel and a public walkway that takes you through a small botanical garden where we spotted a Mongoose; it had evil red eyes and a pointy nose with white whiskers, a slender body and brown fur ending with a long tail. We later found that they came from either India or one of the Polynesian islands to fight off the rats, however the rats are nocturnal and the Mongoose are diurnal. The garden ended at the common grounds for the hotel, the path continued on through the common area and under the hotel and around one of its outdoor pools. The path continued on down to a golf course where it ended. This area has exposed black volcanic rock that rises from the ocean to an elevation of roughly 30'. In the distance all we saw was the ragged cliffs along the coastline, a few palm trees and the Pacific.
Our next stop was Hawaii Volcanoes National Park; I had originally thought of it being smaller, however it covers a decent portion of the island. Once in the park we found that the last visible magma flow was in March- I was pretty disappointed as it was one of my major goals for the vacation. Robin perused the visitor center's store while I looked at the various trail maps to figure out what we could do and during the process an announcement was made that one of the park rangers would be giving any one a free tour along the Crator Rim drive that ends with a view of Halema 'Uma 'U crater. The trail took us through a tropical forest home, to many types of fern, one of which spreads in a fractal pattern that creates a blanket which then dies and in turn creates dirt. This process takes place throughout the island. Our enthusiastic and very knowledgeable Guide talked about Island Gigantism and how certain species grow to a much larger size since they have no natural predators to inhibit that growth; he also showed us a Hawaiian Tree Fern that has taken advantage of the Island Gigantism. If he had not explained that it was a fern I would have mistaken it for a type of palm tree it was so large. Underneath the fronds of the tree were fiddleheads that are covered in organic fur. We were allowed to gently touch it and it does feel like fur. As we continued on our guide informed us of Hawaii's history and how Polynesians and other visitors would bring pieces of "home" to the island and in some cases caused severe problems with the ecosystem. He said that the indigenous plants arrived to the island by either: Wind, Water or Wings and jokingly, Women. The ranger explained how a woman from India brought a type of garlic plant over that was "pretty" and reminded her of home, while on Hawaii she planted it and it spread like wild fire; the reason for that is because a certain type of insect would eat its seeds therefore preventing its numerous seed pods from spreading. On Hawaii, that insect does not exist. School kids will have outings to just cut down these flowers to slow down the spreading of this flower.
We eventually arrived to the end of the trail where we could see the Halema 'Uma 'U crater along with various steam vents from magma veins below the surface. These vents are natural openings in the ground and can often be seen producing steam from rainwater percolating down through the group and openings and then being boiled by the hot rock beneath and thus producing steam. When the guided tour ended, we walked along a different path, one that brought us to other steam banks and eventually a sulfur bank caused from the activity below spewing hydrogen sulfide, sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide and steam. It looks very interesting but can be very dangerous; a young boy fell in a sulfur pit and received severe burns on his legs as a result. We had a few hours of time to kill until the sun began to set; our Guide had mentioned that if we stay for the sunset we could see the reflection of magma glowing in the steam coming from Halema 'Uma 'U crater. We drove down a couple of the park's roads looking for an Earth cache and found several inactive craters that were so large in diameter and depth that the amount of destruction the explosion created was clearly devastating when you look at the surrounding landscape as these events took place in the 70's.
We made our way to the Halema 'Uma 'U crater visitors center where they have many informational signs and videos that explain the regions historic events, scientific information, etc. As the sun began to set, it casted a nice golden hue over the crater and surrounding area. Once the sun dipped behind Mauna Loa the wind picked up and the temperatures dropped; we didn't bring our fleece jackets and we were both in shorts, needless to say 50° weather was a pretty chilly change for us. I was able to capture a blurry photo during this time, however, I'm not very pleased with it but at least we were able to experience the event in person vs. watching it on TV.
Saturday the 21st
On Saturday, we headed back to Black Sand Beach in hopes of seeing a Sea turtle; upon arrival I noticed in the distance several people standing around something on the beach, this is usually a good sign in Hawaii. As we got closer it became very clear that a Hawaiian Green Sea turtle was basking in the sun; this particular turtle had carved out a little pit for itself and continually covered itself with sand. This sight is something I've never witnessed in the wild before and really had a good time just sitting next to the turtle (making sure I kept 1-2 feet from it at all times) and watching it bask. Eventually more turtles surfaced and began to bask as well; some of which would stay partially in the water, some with their shells on the beach but heads under the water, etc. As we were about to leave, Robin noticed another turtle making its way onto a rock; a process that looks difficult with just fins for legs. This scene was pictured perfect in my eye as I was able to capture it in its element.
We continued on to our next adventure, one that I was looking forward to and one that was a surprise to Robin. Before we left for vacation I did a lot of research on what to do, and one of my many tools I used (some of which were: GoHawaii.com, Geocaching.com, various magazines, Google Earth, Kauai Revealed and advice from co-workers) was Google Earth for this lesser-known location. Google Earth has a feature that shows user-submitted geotagged photos; once enabled it will show a photo icon in the area you're looking at. I took some time to glide along Big Island's coastlines in search for different beaches, coastlines, etc. and came across a photo that peaked my interested, a man in a shallow clear pool of water surrounded by lava rocks. I had to see this for myself, so, I copied the GPS co-ordinates (+19° 32' 38.66", -154° 51' 15.65") and added a waymark to my GPS handheld. I told Robin that I wanted to visit a place I think she'd like; once we neared Hilo, we headed south on Rt. 130 to 132 and then onto Rt. 137. Along the Rt. 137 on either side were Papaya Groves; a fruit with an interesting taste that in my opinion is an acquired taste. As the road wanes, it turns into a single lane dirt road with enough room to pull over for oncoming traffic- something I was looking forward to in the Jeep. As we made our way to our final turn, this turn was no longer a road, but a trail used by 4x4s, ATV's, etc.- since we had a 4x4 I barreled down the path for about 1 mile until the trail ended abruptly to a small turnaround. My GPS said we had about a 1/4 mile left; after a bit of deliberation and convincing we made our trek through the jungle. The word jungle in this instance is very accurate; this area had many Pandanus trees, which grow to about 30', has large palm-tree like leaves that act as a canopy, and it's roots are very odd, they are mostly above ground and form a tee-pee like shape- it's outer shell has semi-sharp nodules. Other species were razor grass, bamboo and other various growth. I felt like we got to experience the LOST jungle setting on this hike, thankfully without the wild Boar that are in the area. The trail only consisted of sporadic tree markers and thanks to my GPS we were able to head in the right direction as well. Once we exited the jungle the landscape changed to a grassy covered mound with loose, jagged volcanic rock as its skirt in both directions. This mound jets out to an even steeper tombolo that allows you to look down into a small bay host to large aqua waves; what a scene to view! I had to double check our location as it was clear the bay below was not the calm, serene tidal pool depicted on Google Earth; whoever had geotagged the photo must have been off a bit- thankfully I had found two tidal pools and this one was a 1/2 mile due south of our location. We decided to hike back through the jungle to our jeep and determine how to get to the location in a more timely manner.
Once back on the single lane road with our Jeep, we drove down the road a 1/2 mile and found another trail, this one, not accessible to vehicles thanks to a chain. We walked the 3/4 of a mile to the next waypoint to be the tidal pool I had planned to view months ago. Robin and I found that two families were already in the pool however upon our arrival they left which allowed us to photograph the amazing area. The location sets several feet above Ocean level behind the protection of volcanic rock with a small mouth that opens into the ocean to allow water in and out. The water at the time was roughly 4' deep and the 4:00PM sun peered down into the clear water revealing surf smoothed stones safe to walk on. This entire trip reminded me of the movie "Robinson Crusoe", one of my favorite childhood movies. While taking photos of this alluring scene, an older couple arrived and the man began to swim while the lady wrestled with the thought of joining. I asked her how they discovered this area and she said they have lived in the area for 6 years and recently discovered it through a tour guide. Robin and I changed into our swim suits in the woods and began to swim the in the warm water; it was near bath water temperatures. I quickly found that the tide was rising and as a result the waves started to crash over the opening of the mouth. There's an area along the floor bed home to a large enough boulder to stand on which I quickly found was perfect location to stand and allow the incoming waves to knock you over. Unfortunately, (I saw that because I wanted to stay longer) I had promised Robin we would make it to the visitor's center at Mauna Loa as it is in the area and it's closing time was near. We quickly left to make it in time however they closed 15 minutes early to our dismay.
I'm posting the GPS track file for our tidal pool adventures if you're interested in visiting this area, I highly recommend it.
Sunday the 22nd
We found a Church in the area named Kona Baptist which we attended. It's a small-town church, the pastor is originally from Louisiana. Later in the afternoon, Robin persuaded me to walk down Alii Drive to shop. The road is similar to downtown Bar Harbor, Maine; it has shops on either side of the road, a farmer's market and several restaurants. We visited nearly every shop, looked through their items, knick-knacks, tourist traps, etc. for a couple of hours. Robin purchased several bracelets and other miscellaneous items. On our way back we walked through the farmers market, purchased a Pineapple and a Coconut. The Coconut's top was cut so that we could drink its water and eat its meat; the taste was different and tolerable- from what I've read the water contains ingredients that make it one of the healthier drinks in the world.
Later in the evening we watched the sunset from our common area and later enjoyed a Coke while in the hot tub. Sunday was a low-key relaxing day that ended with me catching up on Star Trek Online; My user handle is @JKOgden if you're interested.
Monday the 23rd
For our last full day on the Big Island and our Hawaiian visit, we decided to explore two beaches in Kekaha Kai State Park, primarily due to its pristine beaches and its seclusion. The weather was in the high 80's with clear blue skies. In order to reach the State Park, you really should have a vehicle that is high enough off of the ground as the road is essentially a bulldozed lava field. I would not have been able to drive down it in our Honda Fit, but our rented Jeep 4x4 Sport made it through with no problems with the slight exception of being sloshed left and right. The drive is roughly 2 miles, but took anywhere from 10-20 minutes due to the condition of the road. We did see a couple of rented cars make it through (no doubt without under carriage damage or at the very least, slow, precise driving).
I spent a little time taking pictures of different types of lava formations, my favorite is what the natives call "pahoehoe", it's appears like a smooth, wrinkled blanket.
We parked in the upper parking lot and walked along the first beach at the end of the road in Mahaiula Bay, the terrain varied from hot, coarse sand to semi-exposed volcanic rock -where Robin spotted a Sea Turtle basking- to lighter, softer sandy beach. This beach the second beach in Mahaiula Bay (Marked on my previous map link) and has an intimate setting, on either side you, are surrounded by the bay's outer edges of volcanic rock, and sporadically scattered Heliotrope trees that provide ample shade. While making our way to this tree, if I had not have pointed out the nearby sea turtle basking on the beach Robin would have tripped over it. This turtle was younger and therefore nervous of our presence, we respected it's space and moved along the beach. I spotted an aged coconut on the beach and got the idea of taking a photo of it with Palm trees in the background; I was very pleased with the results. As we neared the end of the bay we saw a house that was damaged from the recent tsunami caused by the earthquake that hit near Japan last March; this side of the Big Island was affected the most out of all islands in the chain- there were several stores along the Alii drive that were closed down as well.
The land in-between Mahaiula Bay and Puu Alii Bay consists of extremely rough terrain made up entirely of jagged shards of volcanic rock with one, narrow trail that leads into Makalawena Beach. The trail is a straight shot from end to end, starting out we were flanked my volcanic rock with Hualalai looming in the clouds to our right and along the 1/4 mile stretch heat radiating from the rock. The walk itself wasn't bad, but our footwear was taking a beating from the jagged terrain and our bodies absorbing the heat. Once we reached the end of the trail we were greeted to a couple of sandy knolls covered in a type of vine that blanketed the ground. On the left side of the softer trail was the aforementioned terrain and on the right hand side the rough volcanic terrain- an interestingly contrasting scene.
As we neared the Makalawena Beach the vines disappeared and before us was a pristine, white, sandy beach with bright aqua blue water. The area where the beach meets the ocean is mixed so lightly that it is a gradient of white to semi-white to white to aqua. At the time, there were only 6 people spread out along the entire beach which meant we could pick any spot we wanted to swim and set our items down. I found an area near a large rock protruding from the water that I liked because of the surf hitting it, causing waves to splash up over and around it. Robin and I attempted to snorkel here but the surf was just enough to interfere so we played in the surf for a bit, letting it toss us back and forth. We spent about an hour at this location just enjoying the locale; after that we found a nearby geocache. It's amazing how quickly the terrain changes on this island, the cache was just over a knoll into the woods where thorny, gnarly trees grew and in the thicket were feral goats.
After making our way back through the 1/2 mile trail of lava rock we re-entered Mahaiula Bay where we were greeted by a Sea turtle emerging from the water. This turtle was older and not at all shy; it didn't seemed fazed that we were within a few feet of it. While photographing it, I noticed that another turtle had emerged and was crawling near Robin, at one point it was less than a foot away- it was apparently very tired. After snapping several shots of the turtles, we made our way back to the Jeep but not before we too the obligatory shot of our Sigg bottles enjoying some sun. On the way out, Robin took a video of our bumpy ride.
We made our way back to our room, showered, and got ready for a luau at 6PM. The luau Robin found was only two blocks down the road from us which allowed us to spend more time at the beach earlier. Robin and I enjoyed two hours of music and food at the luau; we almost missed this event if we had planned on attending the following Wednesday (we would've have to board the airplane right after the event). The setting for the event was also very nice as we got to watch the sun set. I think our favorite part was the fire show; the person was extremley good at it.
Tuesday the 24th
We got out early in the morning, planning to visit Muana Loa visitor center and possibly hike to Green Beach, a beach made up of Olivine. Before leaving, I asked our hotel manager for additional towels, she asked if we were still planning on checking out today- I told her "No, we are checking out tomorrow". She asked me to look at my itinerary to make sure, I did, and come to find out she was right- the time zone change threw me off. If we had left before 11AM and not checked out, we would have had to pay for an additional day and probably would have missed our flight out as our day plans were full. We packed as quickly as we could; double checking everything before we checked out of the hotel. We loaded up our Jeep and headed back to Hilo via the Northern route.
We arrived to the Mauna Loa visitor's center and looked around at all of their many varieties of Macadamia nuts. We ended up spending about $75 on different nuts, etc. We toured the outside of the factory as the inside was closed due to the season. We headed to Hilo to visit a Hilo Haiti store, Wal-Mart, Shell gas station and then made our way to a couple of local waterfalls. This area has a massive Banyan tree!
As the day wore on, we made our way back to the other side of the island via the Southern route one last time. We arrived at the rental agency, returned our Jeep and headed to the airport to board right on time at 9PM. The 13-hour ride home was very rough on us throughout the night as we could not sleep or stay asleep due to passengers, babies, jet engine noise, overhead comm beeping, etc.
Conclusion
Here are a few photos of our items we took back from Hawaii, a couple of lava rocks and the flask we purchased back on Kauai filled with the different sands (from bottom to top- Makalawena, Poipu, Black Sand and Glass Beach).
As I sit here and type this in my office overlooking our backyard filled with pine trees, white birches, raspberry bushes, maple and horse chestnut trees I can't help but long to be back on our two week vacation in Hawaii; life there while on vacation was very peaceful, calm and serene with no worries on what to do, or where to go. Hawaii really is a world in its own, secluded on an island with many different facets of interest, climate and activities. The cost of living is a lot higher there with the price of food, gas, clothes and lack of good paying jobs, but it could be a place we would want to live at some point.
We are looking forward to our trip to Hawaii in hopefully the near future.