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The Big Island: Trip 1 – Day 4
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
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
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!
We finally headed back to the B&B after a ridiculous amount of driving for the day!
The Big Island: Trip 1 – Day 1
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
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
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!
Double Rainbow Over Lava Fields
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Shrimp, Açaí & Rainbows
Today Josh and I headed to the North Shore to have some shrimp and an açaí bowl. The first stop was Giovanni’s for some shrimp scampi with a side of hot sauce. It’s so incredibly good…I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to get there since I’ve moved. Giovanni’s is a shrimp truck parked on the side of the Kamehameha Highway on the north shore of Oahu. There is a pavilion where you can sit, eat and enjoy the day (or get rained on on days like today). There are also a few other stands and stores around the area with BBQ corn, smoothies, shave ice, frozen yogurt, clothes, jewelry…the list goes on. Today we stuck to the famous shrimp only.
Waiting in line…apparently everyone else wanted some Giovanni’s today too.
Amazing shrimp scampi..thank you Josh for my two hot sauces!
After we stuffed ourselves with shrimp, we continued north to Haleiwa to wander around and eat an açaí bowl. I like to think of it as a slightly healthier version of ice cream. The bowl consists of a frozen blend of açaí berries, strawberries, blueberries, bananas and rice milk topped with granola, apple bananas, coconut flakes and drizzled with honey. SO GOOD! You order at a cute little stand/hut and then enjoy your treat on the small patio in the back. We also wandered around the different shops and boutiques and then headed home.
You order at this stand.
Towards the end of our time in Haleiwa, and on our drive home, we saw either three different rainbows or a few different versions of the same rainbow. I have never seen an entire rainbow end to end until today. It. Was. INCREDIBLE. I was completely in awe at how brilliant the colors were. One of them (the last picture below) I could literally see where both ends hit the ground. If you look closely at the last picture, you can see the beginnings of a double rainbow on each end. I will say, this state continues to amaze me and am incredibly thankful to be continually experiencing amazing things such as this!
First rainbow we saw as we were leaving the açaí bowl hut.
The second rainbow (or a different version of the original) as we were leaving a few of the shops.
You can see the double rainbow here pretty well. This was driving down the road on the way home.
A full rainbow end to end. You can see the double rainbow on both ends. The picture does not do the beauty of this rainbow justice.
Koko Head Crater
After eating my way through Molokai, I knew I needed to workout big time this week. Today, I wanted to tackle Koko Head (I did it this time last year after another big hike and it took me forever because I was so sore). At .7 miles, the trail isn’t very long, but it’s definitely challenging with a 1,200 foot elevation and 1,048 “steps” to the top. You hike up an old rail track and the cross ties provide a natural stair master (which is much harder than a real stair master). There is also a 30 foot rail bridge that can be a bit tricky…I just had to focus on not looking down and had to really concentrate on where I put my feet. This is definitely a great workout with a beautiful 360 degree view as a reward at the end. It was pouring down rain almost the entire time I was out there, which made it a bit slippery. I made it up in 32 minutes and down in 23 minutes. You would think down would be easier, but it’s brutal on the knees and since it was muddy and the cross ties were slippery, you had to be extra careful not to fall. I saw two people slip on their way down as I was hiking up…since I’m so graceful, I took my time on the way down. I didn’t get too many pictures because of how windy it was at the top and the rain. But it should give you an idea of why hiking up Koko Head is worth it!
Koko Head Crater from the parking lot.
The beginning.
At the top, looking towards the rain.
At the top, looking the other way where it was sunny. Beautiful ocean!
It was SO windy! A view of Hawaii Kai at the bottom.
At the top about to head back down.
Looking up after I just started back down. A pretty cool view of the track.
Molokai: Trip 1 – Day 4
Day 4 turned out to be quite an adventure. We had our last wonderful breakfast and said our goodbyes and thank you’s to Tom and Karyl for being such great hosts. We had rescheduled the Halawa Valley hike, but the weather did not look promising. However, we headed to the east side of the island on the one lane road again hoping we would be able to hike.
The drive there was rainy, cloudy and gloomy…however it made for some great waves crashing against the rocks along the side of the road. The road was so close to the ocean, it felt like the waves were going to crash right into our car. There were many hairpin turns along the one lane road, at times it appeared we would drive straight into the ocean. To sum up the drive in one word: ridiculous. Ridiculously beautiful, ridiculously scary and ridiculously unreal that such a road existed in the U.S….and ridiculous that we drove it twice in 72 hours.
View of the road from the car.
A bit gloomy for our drive.
Road before one of the hairpin turns.
All the signs on the road before a one lane bridge. The bridge was under a beautiful canopy of trees.
We arrived to the place where we were supposed to meet our tour guide, Kalani at 10:00 am. Unfortunately for us it was still raining pretty consistently. This meant that we would not be hiking due to the stream/river we would have to cross to get to the valley. However, Kalani offered us a tour of his amazing flower farm (part of the original tour) and we happily accepted. The flowers were incredible. I expected them to be pretty, but nothing prepared me for how unique the plants would be or how expansive his farm would be. Mom and Aunt Jan – you would have loved this place. Kalani and his family live and work on the farm. They don’t have telephone service, but take orders and communicate via satellite internet service. He goes into town a few times a week to ship his flower orders to the mainland and go to market. Side note: they have to clean the flowers really well for inspection back to the mainland. They have tubs they wash and bleach them in to get rid of any bugs, etc. The flowers keep for a couple weeks if you take care of them properly. Below is a slideshow of the amazing flowers, fruits and various plants from the farm. I have tried to name the ones I remember, but most of them I can’t recall the exact names :).
After the tour of the farm, we headed back into town and had a few hours to kill before our flight. We had lunch at Molokai Burger (one of the only places open on New Year’s Day) and then slowly headed to the airport to catch our flight. We arrived to the quaint airport of Molokai a bit early around 4:00 pm, but figured we would just hang out there until our flight at 5:35 pm, as there was nothing else to do. Security didn’t even open until 5:00 pm and once we went through, we realized there were no bathrooms (interesting). The weather continued to get worse, but we weren’t worried as flights were still taking off. At about 5:10 pm, they told us our flight was delayed until 6:00 pm…then at about 6:00 pm, they told us our flight had been canceled. Come to find out, this was record rain fall for the dryer island of Molokai (for some reason this seems to be a pattern for Josh and I, re: February in Kauai hiking the Kalalau trail). We knew our B&B was booked for the night and that there was a strong possibility if we didn’t get out, we would be sleeping on the bench in baggage claim at the Molokai Airport. I jumped in line at Island Air to see when we could rebook and Josh went to call Hotel Molokai..on the way he stopped at Mokulele Airlines to see if they had any flights going out. Turns out they had the last two seats to Maui on a 7:00 pm flight if we wanted them. Thankfully, we booked those on the spot just to be safe. We then went back to the Island Air counter to see what our options were. They said there was a possibility of an unscheduled flight coming in around 8:00 pm and we might get on it at 8:40 pm if the weather was ok…otherwise we wouldn’t get out until Thursday. Our instructions were to hang out at the airport and if the plane made it in, we would have seats. This did not sound promising. With the weather getting worse, I felt that there was a strong chance of us getting stuck in Molokai with no place to stay.
We went to hang out in baggage claim, as this would be where we would board for the Mokulele flight to Maui if it took off (obviously…it’s completely normal to board at baggage claim). Around 7:00 pm, they came over the speaker to say we were boarding and a guy opened the door and said “Josh row four and Nicole row five…run to the guy at the plane and he will take your bags”. We ran because it was pouring and quite windy. So when he said we got the last two seats on the plane, I didn’t realize the total number of seats on the plane was nine. Cozy. I, naturally, was in the last row seated between the door and cargo area in this snug prop plane. They closed the door and the pilot gave us a speech about how it would be a bit bumpy and would take us probably longer than usual to get to Maui. During this, I started to panic because my seatbelt wouldn’t work. The pilot had to come back and help me…because it was missing a piece that had been shut in the door…of course. So seatbelt on, door shut/secured and we were ready to go. Or so I thought…we sat there for what seemed like an eternity watching the sheets of rain blow sideways. This was not at all comforting so I decided to take this time to pop a dramamine..I figured it couldn’t hurt, right? Below: a picture from my seat of the plane.
Finally, we started to taxi and eventually took off..to say it was bumpy was an understatement. We circled and hung out in the air for about 45 minutes..being able to watch the pilots point to things on the radar is not comforting. After what should have been a 15 minute flight on a normal day, we landed in Maui safe and sound where we ran through the rain and wind again, picked up our bags off the cart and ran to the commuter terminal which was outside. After about five minutes, Josh asked a random bus driver how to get to the main terminal. We had more running through the rain in our future. Josh grabbed both bags (thank you Josh) and we ran for the main terminal. Once there, we finally found the Hawaiian Airlines check-in counter (we had done our research and knew there were three flights headed for Oahu that night that we would be able to catch). Again, we got the last two seats on the last flight out at 11:00 pm to Oahu. Did we want them? 100% ABSOLUTELY. So, tickets purchased, soaking wet, we headed to security to find something to eat to pass the time until we took off (and to make me feel better as the dramamine I took in desperation didn’t quite do the trick).
Three hours later after some food and Starbucks to warm us up, we were full, dry and taking off on a Boeing 717 (much preferred over the prop plane in rainy/windy conditions). We safely made it home to Oahu after midnight…just a few hours, and an additional island hop, late.
And with that, I will conclude the postings on our Molokai adventures!
365 Days Of Hawaii 