Lava Pit
by Joe
Day 7: Reposition Day
Later today we leave Maui and head to the Big Island. Our flight on Hawaiian Air does not leave until this afternoon so we have time for breakfast and a nice hike down to the black sand beach we found the first day we arrived. It’s in a state park and not many people there this morning. We packed up to leave a great hotel. The Makena Beach and Golf Resort is a wonderful place and highly recommended. Large rooms, beautiful quiet beach, great food and attentive and friendly staff. It is the last hotel in the string of great hotels in the Wailea area, but the further away you get from the mega hotels adds to the Hawaiian look and feel of the place. We’re sad to leave this spot but looking forward to visiting an island we’ve not seen yet.
At the airport we checked in and got ready to go through security. I seem to always get chosen for the TSA Precheck line which is great but normally anyone I’m with does not. This time it was reversed. We had a little trouble with weight in my wife’s bag so we had already taken a few heavy items and put them in my backpack which I was carrying on. Cindy went to Precheck and I headed over to the long lines. Precheck screening is great because you don’t have to take anything out of your bag, leave your shoes on and the line is short. When I finally got through my line I thought I’d see Cindy waiting for me with a smug smile on her face. No Cindy. A few minutes later I get a call on my cell phone from her telling me she got stopped because she had some souvenir bottle openers in her carry-on. I told her to throw them away and we would buy new ones. However, she decided she could do without the carry-on so she went back through check-in, paid $35 for a second checked bag. This time she came through easily and we both had a good laugh at the TSA stopping Ma Barker carrying the corkscrews.
We landed in the Kona airport on the sunny side of Hawaii. Fast and easy time getting our luggage, renting a car, and driving to the Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort and Spa. Checked in, looked around a bit and headed across the way to a little shopping area, Kings’ Shops, to find dinner. I knew that the celebrity chef Ippy Aiona had a restaurant there called the Three Fat Pigs and it sounded like my cup of Kona. Sat by the water and had a great meal. Started out with a Lemon Drop martini for Cindy and a huge rye IPA (Rabid Beaver) for me. On the advice of our waiter, Harvest, we split the very large spinach salad. It had fresh whole spinach leaves, roasted grapes, goat cheese, candied walnuts and macadamia vinaigrette dressing. My oh my was that a super start. I had the double cut pork chop with an apple, cranberry tart. A perfect mesh of flavors. Cindy had the baby back ribs with tempura fried bread and butter pickles. We both cleaned our plates. For desert we split an Apple Brown Betty with Tahitian vanilla ice cream. Ippy does it good.
Checked out a few of the shops and then sat down to listen to a great four piece Hawaiian band that was playing in the center of the outside mall. Some of the group had won a Grammy for their interpretation of authentic Hawaiian music. The music relaxed us more than I thought possible. Headed back to the hotel before we drifted off to sleep in our chairs.
To our surprise the lady at the hotel check-in sent us a bottle of Cava and six chocolate covered strawberries to help us celebrate our anniversary. What a personal touch and one we will remember. A great way to start the stay on the Big Island.
Day 8: Fried Fish for breakfast? – Relaxation day
A good night’s sleep and we were on the hunt for breakfast. I had read about a little place called the Island Fish & Chips that was a short walk from the resort. It said not to miss it for breakfast which seemed just curious enough to lure us two cats. Sure enough several items of their small breakfast menu included batter fried fish. Cindy’s dish came with little square fried potatoes, scrambled eggs, two pieces and a fruit cup. I had the “loco moco” which is a common dish in Hawaii except not usually with fish. It was a large serving of white rice topped with brown gravy, two large pieces of fish and a fried egg on top of it all. It also came with a fruit cup. Awesome awesome! We agreed with the positive reviews, that it all works together, and it was very filling. We walked a little more after breakfast and found a trail that ran through the resort area and through a lava field. We noted it and decide to come back later that day to hike some of this historic trail.
When we returned to the resort we prepared for a day on the beach. Their beach is about a quarter mile wide and you have to cross some historic Hawaiian fresh water fish ponds. These ponds are brackish in nature and tend to develop some very unusual fish. You couldn’t help but look in the ponds each time you went by them. Lots of water activities can be found on the beach such as water boards, kayaks, snorkel equipment and outrigger canoes. Whale watching tours also sailed from here. We relaxed in the sun and enjoyed the nice breeze. We finished up the afternoon at the trail we found earlier in the day. It’s called the King’s Trail and runs all along the Kona coast for about 175 miles. We did a couple miles, and enjoyed the lava field, the petroglyphs and the caves that were used as weather breaks by the Hawaiian travelers along this trail.
We ate dinner at the resort. Restaurant was open air on the pools and a musician playing easy pop and Hawaiian tunes. Cindy had a Caesar salad for starters and I had a bowl of seafood chowder. Cindy ordered the baby back ribs with mashed potatoes and corn on the cob. I had the special which was a seafood boil of mussels, shrimp, two large sections of crab legs, served with corn on the cob and fingerling potatoes. We both enjoyed our selections. Service was only average as our waiter disappeared often. After dinner we took a stroll around some of the many dimly lit paths through the hotel grounds. Very nice evening and a great end to the day.
Thurston Lava Tube
Day 9: A trip to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
The day started early because the drive to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is about 3 hours away. We left about 7am and headed towards Hilo where we thought we would find a good place to stop for a quick fast food breakfast. We found a McDonalds in Hilo, ate and were back on the road. The roads were good all the way to the park. We stopped at the check in gate and I was able to use my lifetime pass a second time this trip. It’s paid for itself already!
We stopped at the visitor center to get our bearings and some quick tips on where to go based on the amount of time we had. We have always found the rangers in the parks to be friendly and more than willing to help. The first site was only a few miles down the road at the Kilauea Caldera where the mountain exploded and lava has flowed many times over the last 100 years. You can get pretty close. This crater is still venting which was way cool (actually way hot). They have a nice little museum and info center there. It’s called Jaggar Museum (not Jagger, like Mick). The next stop was at a field of several vent holes that spew noxious steam at varying levels.
A cliff worth noting!
After we walked around this area we headed down the long stretch of road called the Chain of Craters. This road is a must do if you’re visiting the park but does take about 4 hours round trip depending on how many times you stop to explore. There are many sites to see along this road and many trails. The park has over 150 miles of trails throughout. It’s best to get off the main road and explore the many trails available. The NPS website has many listed of all lengths and descriptions of each. The visitor center rangers can also help a great deal. We stopped several places to do some short hikes to see various lava flows, craters, and vents. But one of the highlights was the Thurston Lava Tube which you can hike down to and walk through. The tube is about 200 yards long and very damp and feels like a cave. There are a couple of trails that will take you out to a lava field that has amazing rock structures to look at without having to hike very far. The road ends at the ocean now because the rest of the road has been closed due to lava activity close to the sea. However, you can walk out to the cliff and see waves crashing against the rocks and a 60 foot rock arch. If you’re really brave you can walk out on top of it if a ranger isn’t watching (not that we did that). You have to go back the way you came but that gives you an opportunity to stop anywhere you didn’t stop the first time because you were concerned about how much time you might have.
We left the park around 3:30pm a little tired and headed back to Hilo. Even though we were a worn out after hiking and driving around the huge national park, we decided that since we had been planning on taking a trip up to Mauna Kea why not do this on our way back? The Mauna Kea observation and visitor center does a stargazing show so we thought that if we stopped in Hilo on the way back, ate dinner there, we would have time to make the show at 7:30pm. It would make a long day but it is actually on the way back to Waikoloa so that was our new plan. Ah, to encounter, adapt, and overcome while adventure traveling.
We found a great pancake house and diner in Hilo (Ken’s Pancake House and Diner) and took a nice break. This place is a local favorite and if you can’t find something to eat here you must eat rocks. The menu is quite extensive. The food was great diner food and the service was super. After a satisfying meal we headed to Mauna Kea. Unfortunately the cloud cover began to look ominous and it started to rain. Not a good sign for stargazing. We knew the visitor center at Mauna Kea was at altitude (a little over 9,200 ft) which might help but we were starting to lose hope for a clear night. We kept our optimism and kept on driving. As we started up the mountain, we noticed the temperature dropping but we were prepared.
We reached the visitor center about an hour early and there were already a lot of people milling around. The fog was heavy but no rain. Great optimist all. They told us at the visitor center that the fog could lift very quickly as the sun goes down and the temperature drops. The guides who do the show set up huge telescopes seven days a week for everyone to look at whatever planets and stars are of interest at the time. Sure enough the clouds and fog cleared as soon as it got dark and we were able to have a magnificent night sky. Venus and Jupiter were very bright and prominent in the sky. You could actually see 4 of Jupiter’s moons and the darker rings on the planet. The guides kept it light and told ancient stories about the stars and how some of the constellations got their names. These stars are better to look at than any you will find on Rodeo Drive. All good stuff. Temperature dropped to about 40 degrees so you need to be prepared for that. We had taken long hiking pants and jackets and we were glad we did. Headed back to the resort where the temperature was 77 degrees at about 10pm. Mauna Kea is the premier center for land-based telescopes as the atmosphere and the sky is as clear as anywhere in the world. Several countries has have observatories there including Canada, France, Germany, UK, USA, South Korea, Taiwan, and several others. The world famous Keck I and II are there too. A long day of adventure but awesome, awesome. We can rest tomorrow!
Mauna Kea