Category Archives: Adventures

Various activites throughout the islands.

Being Touristy with Emel – Day 5

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Emel and I started our day with a trip to Pearl Harbor to see the USS Arizona Memorial. We spent a few hours there (it was my second time visiting Pearl Harbor and my first time going since moving here). After that, we headed to eat Shabu Shabu for lunch and have some mochi ice cream for dessert. Then I headed to work and Emel went to get bubble tea and be a tourist on her own for the afternoon! I met up with Josh and Emel for Emel’s last night in Hawaii and we ended our week long tour of food with some delicious sushi! She also brought home a surprise dessert of some amazing cupcakes!

USS Arizona Memorial
Memorial Entrance
The oil was really bad this time. It was everywhere ont he water’s surface and smelled awful.
THe shrine to those that lost their lives.
The flag.
Map of the USS Arizona before it sank and after.
Emel and I at Pearl Harbor.
Shabu Shabu for lunch!
Mochi Ice Cream for dessert!
Sushi for Emel’s last night!
Surprise dessert from Emel!
The list of everything we did this week!

Being Touristy with Emel – Day 4

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Emel and I started our day with a quick hike to Manoa Falls. It was a great day and not too muddy (much better than the last time I hiked it). After that, we headed to Josh’s base so Emel could see what a military base looks like. We met Josh for lunch and had some pretty fantastic sushi and treated ourselves to Starbucks before our base tour (efficiently led by Josh). Then she headed to the beach and I headed to work.

After work, we attempted to have a healthy dinner (after all of the food we had been consuming) of Asian chicken salads…we then ruined them by finishing off the malasadas (still just as good the next day). Tomorrow is her last day…I will MISS her!

Emel in the tree arch on the way to the waterfall.
Manoa Falls!
Emel and I at Manoa Falls.
I have missed this!
A delicious Asian Chicken Salad (and healthy)!

Being Touristy with Emel – Day 3

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Today, Emel and I headed to the East side of the island in the morning to hike the Makapu’u Point Lighthouse Trail. It was a gorgeous day and a great day to see some whales! We saw tons just hanging out swimming along. Incredible. After we finished there, we headed to Spitting Caves and it was the calmest I have ever seen it. We again saw more whales, one which jumped completely out of the water so very close to the rocks! I’m so glad the whales have decided to show off for Emel while she has been here! After that, we headed back so I could go to work and she ventured to Leonard’s Bakery and brought back some of the most delicious things I have ever had in my life (see pictures below). Malasadas..aka Portuguese donuts (unfortunately for Josh and I) have now been introduced to our lives. To end the day, we went to Chinatown to the Little Village Noodle House for some delicious Chinese food. I love having visitors!

Emel and I at the top of the lighthouse hike.
It was so calm at spitting caves today!
Pan Friend Beef and Grilled Chicken Wings
The amazingness from Leonard’s Bakery.
SO GOOD.
The delicious malasada.

Being Touristy with Emel – Day 1

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For our first day of Emel‘s vacation we planned an incredibly full day of fun! We started with the Kuli’ou’ou Ridge Trail hike. It was raining for a bit but turned out to be a pretty day, so the view at the top was definitely worth the hike up there. After that, we headed around the east side of the island where we saw TONS of whales. We captured a few pictures of the baby whales jumping out of the water (so incredibly cute as they didn’t make it very far out). There were also two swimming SO close to the shore…I was super happy she got to see them! We stopped and had the best fish tacos on the island and some veggie nachos at Surg’s and then headed to Bellows for some beach time. It was a beautiful day to hang out and relax after our hike! After that, we wandered around Kailua and got some frozen yogurt and toured the beautiful Lanikai houses and stopped at the famous beach, then headed back to Honolulu to get ready for a fun night out. We decided to head into Waikiki (so she could see all of the tourists) and had dinner with a few friends. Then we ventured to Duke’s for some of their famous Mai Tais. It was a jam-packed day and I’m SO excited she came to visit!!

Emel and I at the top of Kuli`ou`ou trail.
Josh and I at the top of Kuli`ou`ou trail.
Emel taking pictures of the beautiful windward coast.
All of us at the top of the trail.
The baby whale! It was so small (only a few tons). There were tons of them.
The two whales close to the shore. SO close!
Fish tacos and nachos. SO good!
Emel in the ocean at Bellows beach.
Mai Tais at Duke’s!
Emel and I at Duke’s enjoying our drinks.
All of us at Duke’s!

Old Pali Road to Likeke Falls Hike

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This past Saturday, Josh and I hiked the old Pali road to the Likeke waterfall. We started at the Pali Lookout and headed down the old Pali road (the Pali is now a major highway that takes you from Honolulu to Kaneohe). The hike was a little over three miles roundtrip…it was incredibly windy at the Pali lookout, so we jogged the first part down the road. We then came to a point in the trail where you can continue on to the Maunawili Trail or go left and climb under the current Pali Highway. To get to the waterfall we climbed down and under the highway and continued on through the woods. It was a super fun trail and a great workout as the entire way back up is uphill. The waterfall, while one of the smaller ones I have seen, was beautiful. There were also some great views along the way and at the falls. Great way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

A sign warning us of bees during high winds. It was incredibly windy…no bees though.
The view looking back towards the lookout.
A slightly different view than the Pali lookout.
Looking back up the road after we came down from the lookout.
Beware of falling rocks.
Start of the trail after the road closed sign
Where we had to crawl under the current highway.
Graffiti under the highway. Pretty cool.
Under the highway.
More graffiti.
Panoramic of under the highway.
Walking down the path on the other side fo the highway. Pretty flowers.
Steps..the start to the next part of the trail to the falls.
Pretty view looking out towards Kaneohe from the falls.
Waterfall.
Once again me forcing Josh to take his picture.
A teeny, tiny frog was hanging out in the pond below the falls.
Me under the road.
Coming back up the old road.
It was my turn to be forced into a picture.

The Big Island: Trip 1 – Day 4

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Monday morning we woke up early to head to Isaac Hale Beach Park to catch our boat for the lava tour. Well not surprisingly this also got rained out due to the weather and roughness of the ocean. So instead we headed to Kalapana Cafe for breakfast and to regroup and figure out what we wanted to do on our last day.

 

After breakfast we headed to check out the Kapoho Tide-pools and Wai`opae Ponds. Rumor has it that they are wonderful for snorkeling, but with the current state of the weather we only visited them from above ground.

 

After our brief stop at the tide-pools, we headed north for a few miles to check out a natural lava swimming pool. The drive there was along one of the prettiest roads I have ever been on. It was also ridiculous how instantly our surroundings changed to a jungle. The surf here was outrageous. So much so, that we took a video because pictures just couldn’t capture the magnificent waves.

This road was beautiful.
View from the car.
The path was SO muddy!
Interesting moss on the trees.
Seriously creepy van.
What we came to when we walk off the super muddy path. Pretty cool.
Ridiculous waves.
Josh standing on higher ground to see if we should go further. We determined no.
The start of the path on the way back. I thought this was a neat picture.

 

After hiking back through the mud to our car, we headed back to the paved road to Highway 137 to visit Ahalanui. Ahalanui is a spring- and ocean-fed pool containing a man-made wall that separates it from the ocean. The pool is heated to about 90 degrees…but we opted not to get in as it looked pretty disgusting. Even though fresh water replenishes the pool daily, I’m still not sure it was the cleanest thing to swim in. However, it was still pretty neat to look at. It also amazes me that there are pools that are heated by the earth to such high temperatures.

View of the pool facing the ocean.
The inlet and manmade wall letting the ocean water in.
The pool facing inland.

 

Our next stop down Highway 137 was back to Isaac Hale Beach Park. This time to visit Poihiki pool, which is also a warm water pool, but completely natural. We walked along a short path to the pool…and while it looked much cleaner, there were already a lot of people in it. However, we did sit for a bit and watch all of the surfing action at the park.

Surfers at Isaac Hale Beach Park.

 

Once we got sick of watching the surfers, we made one last stop at Mackenzie State Recreation Area. We weren’t sure what to expect, but the owner of our B&B told us to make a stop here because the scenery was beautiful. We definitely were blown away. We thought the waves were ridiculous at the lava pool, but they were nothing compared to the waves here. They were so large and powerful that there were little crabs on the top of the cliffs that had been tossed up by the water. They would start to then make their way back down the rocks. Rough life for the little crabs. We also took a video at this location because the pictures could not begin to do what we saw in person justice.

We parked so close to the edge that this was our view.
Hazardous Cliffs
Cliffs
Beautiful rocks.
Looking down off the edge.
This is where we saw the crabs scurrying back down the rocks.
Ocean spray..it was SO high!
Amazing.

 

After that amazing experience, it was time for us to head back to Hilo to the airport. Lucky for us, this time we were on Hawaiian Airlines which meant we had a big plane that would have no problems taking off in the rain…unlike our Molokai experience from a couple months ago :). Adios Big Island..til we meet again!

The Big Island: Trip 1 – Day 3

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The third day started out with another amazing breakfast and oddly enough no rain! We had pancakes, fruit, toast, coffee and juice. The other two cats also studied us during breakfast, attempting to decide if they should bother with us.

The fruit was SO good!
Pancakes, Toast, Fruit, Juice, Coffee..Delicious!
The black cat staring at Josh…determining if he is worth his time.
The other black cat that jumped up behind Josh’s chair after he was gone.
I had never seen a pineapple actually still growing before.
Me looking at the cat.

 

After breakfast, we packed up and headed to the easternmost part of the island. Since the winds come from this direction, scientists use this “untouched air” as a benchmark to compare to air in other areas around the world. The lava on this side of the island was also incredibly difficult to walk through!

Josh felt it necessary to take pictures of the jeep…everywhere…
So difficult to walk on.
Pretty shot with the ocean in the background.

 

After we stopped for a bit, we headed down a 4WD road to Champagne Pond. We took the road for about a mile along some very bumpy lava and ended up at the pond. The pond is a calm, protected ocean inlet that is completely clear. You could see to the bottom…and it was heated! It was about 90 degrees. When I got in, four little yellow and black striped fish surrounded my legs (of course). So I immediately got out and let Josh entertain the fish while I took pictures.

On the way to Champagne Pond we stopped b/c the cliffs were amazing.
Josh in the trees surrounding the backside of the pond.
Champagne Pond..it was so calm!
Josh swimming in the pond.
Josh..being forced to take a picture.
Me..not swimming and only going up to my knees.
Josh looking for fish.

 

Unfortunately, after our visit to the pond, we got a call telling us our Lava Hike was canceled due to weather. We were both pretty bummed as we had been looking forward to it all day. But we decided to grab some lunch in Pahoa and head back to the Volcanoes National Park to see Chain of Craters Road in the daylight. We had lunch at Kaleo’s and it was just as good as the dinner we had there the night before!

This soup was amazing!
My veggie wrap..so good!

 

Back we went to the park for our third and final time for this trip. It was definitely a good decision to go back. Chain of Craters Road was beautiful during the daylight (pictures below). At the end, you can hike to the current lava flow. Had we known this, we would have planned a bit better and hiked there ourselves. But it takes about 3 1/2 hours to get there and back and we were running out of daylight…so we made the safe decision to come back and do it on another trip (even though we both were DYING to go).

View of the ocean from Chain of Craters Road
Newer lava at the end of Chain of Craters Road
Holei Sea Arch
The view from near the ocean, back up to where the higher part of Chain of Craters Road is.
Walking toward the end of Chain of Craters Road. The start of a rainbow over the lava field.
The road literally ends where lava started to pour over it. Incredible.
Lava on the road.
More lava where the road is/was/should be.
Newer lava
I thought this was hilarious. The road closed sign buried in lava…with a rainbow as the backdrop.
Crack in the lava…they were everywhere.
The end of the “trail”. There wasn’t really a trail…you were just climbing over lots of lava.
Lava Field
Me on top of a pile of lava…Josh was making me laugh.
More Lava Field
Annnddd more lava.
The rainbow was getting closer…signaling our time to start hiking back!

 

We headed back up Chain of Craters Road and out of the park towards the Puna area to check out Kehena black sand beach. It was actually kind of hard to find. It was created by the 1955 lava flow and then it sank three feet all at once in 1975 because of an earthquake. We ended up there during high surf and it was ridiculous. The waves were HUGE and covered almost the entire beach when the tide came in. It was beautiful!

The rocks at Kehena black sand beach. Beautiful!
Black sand! beautiful
So pretty!
The waves were incredible.

 

After visiting the beach, we headed to the Kalapana Cafe for dinner (Josh) and ice cream (me). Yes…I had ice cream for dinner and it was amazing! We headed back to the B&B to pack up as we had an early morning with a lava boat tour!

The Big Island: Trip 1 – Day 2

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Our second day started out with a delicious breakfast of french toast, tons of fruit, toast, juice and coffee. The breakfast set up at our B&B was fantastic. Our B&B also had three cats..which I loved of course. I forced them to be my friends :).

Breakfast Bar of fruit and cereal..just the beginning!
Our cute little table set up for breakfast.
Juice, coffee, fruit, toast, french toast. So good!
Pretty flowers on our table.
Josh having his picture taken against his will.
My buddy at breakfast. One of the cats! 🙂

 

After breakfast we headed to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park for the first of many trips. It was about an hour away from our B&B and yes it rained almost the entire drive to the park.  We arrived and started with the steam vents. These were incredible…especially since they were super warm and it was cold and raining. I would have stood there all day if Josh would have let me. The steam vents are created when rain seeps into the ground and is then heated by the Kilauea volcano, thus creating steam coming out of the earth. It pretty incredible to see. This was a positive to the massive amount of rain they were receiving. More rain = more steam.

Information about the steam vents.
Steam Vent in the sidewalk that they had cut out.
The numerous steam vents. Too many to count.
Josh warming up with the steam.
A small steam vent. The colors were so interesting.
A picture of the steam coming right at us. Foggy.
A larger steam vent. Again love the colors of the earth.

 

From here we went to visit the sulphur banks…along the path were some of the steam vents, which did not smell, but the closer we got to the sulphur banks the stronger the unpleasant smell. Sulphur banks are created when hydrogen sulphide gas and steam form deposits of sulphur, gypsum and hematite on the ground. It was pretty, but not the best smelling thing. A highlight of our walk is that we passed a guy with a Purdue hat. Boiler up!

Me at the start of the trail to the sulphur banks.
Sulphur Banks

 

After the sulphur banks we headed to the Kilauea Overlook to get a good view of Kilauea Crater and the Halema`uma`u Crater. Halema`uma`u is said to be the home of Madame Pele, the Hawaiian volcano goddess.

The edge of Kilauea Crater.
Halema`uma`u Crater
The bottom of Kilauea Crater.
Halema`uma`u Crater and the steam rising from it.
A closer view of Halema`uma`u Crater.

 

After viewing the crater at a few locations, the road was closed so we had to turn around and head back the other way. There is a road (Crater Rim Dr.) that goes around the entire crater. It changes on what and when parts of it are closed, depending on the volcanic activity. We definitely learned that information you read in a book or looked up online literally changed on a daily basis. It was very hard to find information on certain hikes, etc. because of the always changing landscape. It definitely made it more of an adventure!

Our next stop was Thurston Lava Tube. Unfortunately only the lighted portion was open to the public. There is a darker section that is usually open, but has been closed due to recent volcanic activity causing rocks to fall in the tube. We were ready to explore the darker side, but the lit area was still very cool to see.

The entrance to Thurston Lava Tube from the inside of the tube.
Inside Thurston Lava Tube.
Leaving the Thurston Lava Tube. It was super short.
The outside of the Thurston Lava Tube.
Josh in the pretty wild life posing for a picture.
I thought this looked like an elephant.

 

Next, we headed down Chain of Craters road for a bit to Mauna Ulu, the source of the second longest eruption (1969 – 1974). Along the way we stopped at Lua Manu Crater which is 109 yards in diameter and last had lava flow into it during the 1974 eruption. After Lua Manu we stopped at Puhimau Crater, which still has magma activity flowing beneath it.

Lua Manu Crater
Lua Manu Crater
Josh taking a picture of Puhimau Crater.
Puhimau Crater
Puhimau Crater
Puhimau Crater
Puhimau Crater

 

After these two stops we made it to Mauna Ulu for a short hike up to Pu`u Huluhulu. The hike consisted of different markers pointing out types of lava, trees, regrowth, devastation, etc. It was an interesting hike with some cool views. It was also neat to walk across so many different types of lava that had hardened.

The beginning of the Pu’u Huluhulu hike.
Lava Field
Lava Field
1974 Lava Flow
1974 Lava Flow
Lava. Love the way it forms. Pretty cool to look at.
The beginning of the path in the lava field. Not the easiest trail to follow.
Lava
Lava. Love this picture.
Clearly we had been rained on in this picture.
An area where lava had broken off and formed a small inlet/cave.
Josh walked through the lava field.
Lava Field
Mauna Ulu
Cool dial at the top that pointed in the directions of all the different craters/lava flows.
View of the forest in one direction.
Another view from the top.
Yet another view from the top.
I don’t remember which crater this was :).
Mauna Ulu again
Forest down below.
Lehua Blossom. The start of an ‘Ohi’a tree.
Huge area where lava broke off. Careful walking!

 

After finishing our hike, we headed out of the park back towards our B&B. The current lava flow is sometimes visible at the end of Highway 130. So at the recommendation from our B&B owner, we headed over there around 5:00 p.m. to see what was going on. We got there and were told that the only things visible at this time were steam from the lava hitting the ocean and steam rising from up on the hill where the lava flow was. The lava had reached a point in this flow where it was mostly flowing in lava tubes to the ocean. Which made for great ocean viewing. Luckily, we had scheduled a boat tour for Monday morning to see this in action! This most recent lava flow had completely wiped out the historic fishing town of Kalapana. A few people have rebuilt their homes on top of the lava (picture below). It was very interesting to see. The road to the viewing point is public property, but the lava field on either side of it is private property and you are not allowed to walk on it. There is a guard at the end of the path who gave us the tip to head back to the park to view Kilauea Caldera at night as they would have the best “show” for the evening. The absolute BEST thing about this walk out to the viewing area was that there was a giant double rainbow over the lava field. It is the must stunning rainbow I have seen to this date since my time living in Hawaii. Of course, shortly after viewing this it started to pour rain again. However, getting soaked again was worth seeing something so incredible.

Houses rebuilt on the lava field
New lava from the last couple years.
More of the newer lava.
Beautiful rainbow over the lava field and houses.
Josh and I with the rainbow.

 

After stopping at the viewing point we headed to the end of Highway 137, only about five minutes away. At the end of this highway is a little cafe and the start of the new Kaimu Black Sand Beach. What was previously Kaimu beach was a beautiful black sand beach with many gorgeous palm trees lining the shore. It was eventually, completely covered in 1990 by the Kilauea eruption. Today, new palm trees have been planted on this brand new shoreline land in an effort to restore Kaimu beach.

The rainbow on the way to Kaimu Beach. Incredible.
The new palm trees planted in an effort to restore Kaimu beach.
More palm trees. There were rows and rows of them!
Kaimu beach. It was beautiful!
More of Kaimu beach. You can see how small it is, signifying how new it is.
The black sand. It really was something else!
Kaimu beach shoreline.
The rocks here were still pretty intense.
Josh and I at Kaimu beach.

 

Next, we headed back to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to check out Halema`uma`u Crater at night. We had no idea what to expect…well we expected it to be raining…but we didn’t know what to expect besides that. It looked like a fireball had lit up the sky. We drove in and could see the clouds above the crater illuminated well before we got close to it. The clouds were a light orange from afar. We got to the Volcano Observatory and couldn’t believe what we saw. I would try to describe it, but the pictures will do a MUCH better job of it!

Halema`uma`u Crater at night.

 

After many pictures, rain drops and getting very cold, we got back in the car and decided to drive Chain of Craters Road all the way to see if we could see anything. The road was pitch black and it was raining, so it made it interesting for Josh to drive. We saw two things on this trip down the road: 1. We saw a red glow in the distance of the current vent and 2. Stars were super bright out here because it was so dark. The pictures does not do them justice!

Chain of Craters Road Stars

 

We finally headed back to the B&B after a ridiculous amount of driving for the day!

The Big Island: Trip 1 – Day 1

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This past weekend, Josh and I headed to the Hilo side of the Big Island for four days. Our Friday started out with our flight leaving at 5:30 a.m. So, Josh had set his alarm for 3:00 a.m. so we could get up, finish packing and be ready to leave around 3:45 a.m. for the airport. Well something happened and it didn’t go off so we woke up to the doorman from downstairs at 3:50 a.m. calling to let us know that our cab had arrived. We flew out of bed, grabbed our stuff and somehow made it to the security line at the airport in 25 minutes. Definitely an interesting way to start your vacation! But we made it!

We landed in Hilo around 6:30 a.m., grabbed our bag and got the rental car (a Jeep Wrangler…which turned out to be key for our weekend adventures). Now, many of you reading know our luck with rain and vacations (re: Kauai part one and our Molokai trip in December). Well, turns out this trip we would also be blessed with a TON of rain. Almost the moment we got in the rental car it started raining…to which Josh’s response was “Well they must have known we were coming”.

We ended up at a place called Ken’s House of Pancakes (recommended from online reviews and the lady at the rental car place) for breakfast. It was exactly what we needed…mostly I needed the coffee!

We could see this sign from our breakfast table and thought it was great. Not many places will you see a directional sign pointing you to the town of Volcano.
Much needed morning coffee!
I had scrambled eggs, bacon and hash browns. Delicious!

 

After breakfast, we headed to Sports Authority to get Josh a rain jacket. It didn’t open until 9:00 a.m. so we had some time to kill. What might you do in the pouring down rain waiting for a store to open in Hilo? Why take a car nap of course! So that is what we did. We took a nap in the Sports Authority parking lot for an hour (Yes, I’m sure to anyone who witnessed this we looked creepy. No, we didn’t really care because we were tired 🙂 ).

After our trip to Sports Authority, we were ready to start exploring Hilo. Our first stop was Rainbow Falls. It is possibly the most beautiful and unique waterfall I have ever seen. There is a cave underneath the falls where King Kamehameha is said to have buried the bones of his father. The cave is huge and, in my opinion, what makes this waterfall so unique. We ventured up the trail to the left and found a GIANT banyan tree! I doubt we will ever see anything quite like it again. The picture of Josh standing next to it really puts how large the tree is into perspective.

Rainbow Falls
Rainbow Falls
The cave underneath the falls.
Path to the top of the falls.
The top of the falls.
Giant Banyan Tree
Josh standing next to the tree for perspective.

 

After visiting Rainbow Falls, we headed about a mile up the road to Boiling Pots and Pe`epe`e Falls. It REALLY started to rain, so we took this time to change into rain jackets and hiking shoes. After waiting for the rain to stop (it did not…only slowed down) we went to see what these two attractions were all about. While they were beautiful, we didn’t get to hike down to them in the rain. Using our better judgment we decided to skip the possibility of hurting ourselves on the slick rocks hiking to the falls on our first day there (and by we I mean me, because I am the less graceful one).

Boiling Pots
Tree by Boiling Pots
Pe`epe`e Falls
Pe`epe`e Falls and Boiling Pots

 

About another mile up the road was Wai`ale Falls. We stopped and viewed it from the bridge. We didn’t hike for the same reasons as before since the conditions weren’t that great. It was beautiful and impressive with how much water was flowing. Rainbow Falls, Pe`epe`e Falls and Wai`ale Falls are all along the Wailuku River. Pretty magnificent span of nature along that river!

Wai`ale Falls
Wai`ale Falls and Dam

 

Taro Burger

After we finished exploring the waterfalls, we headed back into Hilo for lunch. We decided to eat at Island Naturals Market and Deli. I had a Taro Burger and Josh had a mix of stuff from the “create your own lunch” area. The burger was pretty tasty. I LOVE veggie burgers and wasn’t sure what to expect…but it was pretty good! We then decided to ruin our healthy lunches with a stop at Big Island Candies to see what it was all about. Along with tasting a multitude of different cookies, chocolates, etc., we were able to see their operation through big glass windows. It was impressive!

Big Island Candies

Big Island Candies

Once we had tasted our way through Big Island Candies, we headed to check out Kauamana Cave. The cave was created by the Mauna Loa lava flow of 1881. Kauamana Cave is a 2-mile long lava tube with an interruption, which is now the entrance to the cave. When we entered the cave we had two options, to the right is a large opening and to the left is a smaller one. We went to the right first and looked around. Josh went a little farther than I did..it was creepy…and I’m claustrophobic…and way more afraid of the dark than I previously thought I was. We then explored the part to the left and both went pretty far into the cave. At first it looks like it doesn’t go anywhere, but once you crawl through a pretty low overhang, it opens up into a huge, open cave. We could have spent hours exploring, but with the cave being pitch black and only having one flashlight and no extra batteries, we stayed for an hour or so and then headed back up to daylight.

Kaumana Caves entrance
Stairs to Kaumana Caves
Cave to the Right
Inside the first cave looking up.
Looking into the cave.
Entrance to the cave from the inside looking out.
Graffiti in the cave
Inside the cave a little farther looking outside.
Josh in the cave with his flashlight.
Inside the second cave looking out.
Cave within a cave. Who knows what was in there!
Brown hardened lava.
More lava in the cave.
Josh in the small crevice in the cave. I happily volunteered to take a photo and not crawl in myself.
After crawling through a small overhang, it opened up into this huge cave!
So dark! Picture of the lava tube with a flash.
This boulder had fallen from the top of the cave. It was very unique.

 

After being in the cave with one flashlight, we decided a second trip to Sports Authority was necessary for the day. This time, to purchase me a headlamp. Being in darkness like that with only one flashlight for two people made it rather difficult. So we ventured back into Hilo, purchased a headlamp (no nap this time), said goodbye to Hilo and headed towards Pahoa.

Pahoa turned out to be a pretty cool little town. At first, after reading in my guidebook on the way there that it was known as the Big Island’s outlaw town full of guerilla gardeners, dreadlock enthusiasts, FBI fugitives and the never-bathe crowd, I was somewhat concerned. Even more concerned when I realized this is where our B&B was located. However, no concern was needed as this turned out to be an excellent people-watching experience in a pretty dynamic town. Pahoa is a real hippie town…I’m talking organic loving, no-bra wearing, “I think I’ll smoke this illegal substance in my car”, hitchhikers everywhere kind of town. It definitely made it interesting!

After passing through Pahoa, we decided to have one last stop for the day before checking in to our B&B. We were excited because it had stopped raining and this seemed like a great time to go spend a half hour or so in Lava Tree State Park. Lava trees form when pahoehoe lava (lava with a smooth, shiny or swirled surface) covers wet trees. As the lava drains away, it leaves the tree entirely encased in a thick coat, hardening around the tree. The park was an easy 20 minute stroll around sections of lava trees. Pretty incredible to see. Towards the end of our stroll it started pouring (naturally) so we raced back to the car and headed to our B&B.

Beautiful flowers at the entrance.
Sign at the entrance.
The path into the woods.
The first lava tree
Group of lava trees.
I have no idea what this is but I liked it and thought it was pretty.
Earth crack in the ground.

 

We checked in to Hale Moana, our B&B, met the owner and saw where we would be staying. It was great! We had a private entrance and a small studio room. We would be eating breakfast out in a screened in porch area and both the front and back yards were incredibly gorgeous with unique flowers, rocks, etc. It was a beautiful place to stay!

Hale Moana from the back.
Hale Moana view of the backyard.

 

We showered and changed and headed into Pahoa to a restaurant called Kaleo’s Bar & Grill at the recommendation of Petra, the B&B owner. It did not disappoint! I got soup and salad and Josh got fish. It was delicious! The pictures below do a much better job of describing it than I ever could.

Tempura Ahi Roll served with spicy lilikoi sauce
Boston Clam Chowder…my favorite!
Orzo, spinach, tomato, olives, feta, capers, parmesan, pine nuts, lemon.
Fresh fish coconut crusted served with sweet & spicy lilikoi sauce.
Banana Spring rolls with Vanilla Ice Cream

 

Dinner was the end of an incredibly busy first day on the Big Island!! We headed back and crashed in preparation for the next few days ahead!