Big Island Hawaii

Late February/March we visited the Big Island of Hawaii with friends. We snorkeled with Manta Rays (this time with all the tour boats around - their light displays proofed much more effective than our tiny dive light) and biked/hiked in the rain to the lava flows. We watched big waves crash on the southwest shores and explored the Volcano Park. This was our third visit on the Big Island, which in our opinion has the most variety and the lowest tourist density of the Hawaiian Islands. We were there 4 weeks before the big 2018 lava outbreak which destroyed several hundred houses between March to June and only stopped about 200 meters away from the Bed & Breakfast we stayed at in Pahoa.

2018 lava flows on the Big Island. The red cross is were we stayed.

Big waves!

Life after lava

On the way to fresh lave flows

They are actually behind the lava... not on top ;-)

Manta Rays!

More big waves

Hawaii

After rainy and stormy November and December we get finally some sun and warm temperatures in Hawaii! Since my first visit in 2003 we haven't been back to Maui but explored the Big Island and Kauai instead. Maui stands up to the other islands with nice beaches for snorkeling and buggy boarding and good hiking, though Big Island is still my preferred island for the variety of activities and relative scarcity of tourists. My favorite on Maui is still the hike through Haleakala crater, the same we had done with my parents 12 years ago. Good thing we didn't bring our wings, it was way too windy to even consider flying.Even our golf players had to seriously adjust their game.  Interesting to see the spread of an invasive species over much of the highlands on the southwest side - rubber vine.

Kauai : December 1 - 9

View from Kilohana lookout at the end of the Alakai trail (Kilauea Pt in the distant upper left)

This year we choose Kauai for our traditional early winter get-away week. Although in close proximity to the other Hawaiian Islands, Kauai is considerably different from Maui and the Big Island. It is the oldest of the main islands and therefore has undergone much erosion. Its highest peak, Mount Waiʻaleʻale, is not even 1600 meter high, well short of the volcanic shields of Mauna Kea and Loa on the Big Island with over 4000 meter elevation above sea level. There are no bare lava fields or active flows on Kauai, and most of the island is covered by lush green. In exchange for elevation and sharp lava rock, Kauai sports a fine selection of endless sandy beaches. Oh, and did I mention the 'omnipresent' chicken (especially roosters)? Just on Kauai! Plus a handful of feral cats and goats. Thankfully the latter kept relatively quiet at night time.

Palis (= cliffs) on the dry side of the Na'pali coast

The most amazing sight of Kauai has to be the Na’Pali coast. We explored it hiking the Kalalau trail that winds its way along the steep cliffs with several spots of exposure. Koke'e Park with its many trails allows access to the top of the same cliffs with stunning views. Our favored trail there was the Nu’alolo/ Awa’awapuhi loop leading to the top of fluted Palis. Unexpectedly, our Kauai visit turned into a hiking trip: we also explored the 'high-altitude' Alakai swamp and the Maha'ulepu sandstone cliffs on the southeast shore. Since we had our camping gear along for the 3-day hike on the Kalalau trail, we spent the whole week camping at very scenic beach campsites, rooster wake-up calls included (county parks Anini, Ha’ena and Saltponds, $3/person; state parks Polihale and Kalalau, $20/night... but nobody came to check). Apparently there is also nice camping in Koke'e Park.

Exposed section of the Kalalau trail at 7 miles (just about 100 meters down to the crashing waves)

Lehua flower

Lush greenery along the Alakai trail

Camping at Polihale beach at the south end of the Na'Pali coast

Underwater we encountered turtles and the many colorful fish, but corals were not as varied and plentiful as on the Big Island, due to the colder water temperatures as we were told. We saw several of the rare monk seals, each guarded by seal protection volunteers. Apparently there only about 40 of them left on the main islands. The Kilauea Reserve is a great place to observe red-footed boobies, albatrosses, frigate and tropic birds. We also watched tropic birds soaring the deep canyons on the Na'Pali, making us wish do join them on our wings. Alas, we didn't bring them and also didn't see any sensible places to launch from (the vids I found on the internet looked plainly crazy). So we splurged and went for the famous helicopter ride around the island. The bird’s eye view of our hiking destinations was a great way to end this visit.

Big Island Hawaii, Dec 28 - Jan 5

Hawaii rocks! After our first visit 2009 I wasn’t sure that it could get any better. And I would have been completely happy with a simple repetition of all the adventures from last year. But wait, there was more fun to be had!

We went back snorkeling at City of Refuge (Honaunau Bay) and Captain Cook (Kealakekua Bay), and also explored a new spot, Kahaluu Beach. The latter is right at the tourist strip Kailua/Kona, and accordingly crowded. Turned out this wasn’t all that bad since most people stayed close to the beach, so one could get to un-crowded waters easily. The fish were used to humans and didn’t dart away when you took a closer look. I also got to watch a turtle feeding for a long time and had it almost swim into me when it came up for air.

With our friends we celebrated New Year on Polulu Beach, a hike-in camping site. Although we joked about hitting the sleeping bags after Westcoast New Year, we all stayed up until Hawaiian New Year arrived – at one of the last places on Earth (2 hours from the date line) and got up early in the morning for a nice New Years swim. We also camped at Hookena another nice beach, but this was very popular over the holidays. If you are into exploring history, check out the Manago - cheap and Spartan old-style Japanese accommodation and yummy food.

One of the highlights was snorkeling with manta rays. Last year we went on a guided manta night dive but didn’t see any mantas. This time we had more luck. We had heard that mantas show up at the Sheraton attracted by the lights. After it got dark we paddled out with a sit-on-top kayak and soon we saw two big black shadows under us. We put on the snorkeling gear and watched two mantas calmly gliding in and out of the beams of our dive lights. Later a third even bigger one joined. At times they would come straight at me and I could see the gills from the inside in their huge open mouths. These mouths were large enough to fit around my head and shoulders. I had to tell myself that mantas are gentle plankton eaters and just trust the creatures – what a feeling! At the last moment, the manta would change course and dive under, often only inches away (tuck in that Christmas belly!) and occasionally brushing me with its wingtip. We watched this spectacle for an hour, until we got too cold to stay any longer.

Here is what the mantas look like with professional lighting (video of trip with Jack's Dive Locker).

Here is my not-so pro footage.

The other highlight was watching flowing lava. Since last year, fresh lava flows have covered a few kilometers of the road we drove then to see lava pour into the ocean (from a distance). Now the lava was flowing right in front of us over the road, encasing and scorching some traffic signs, and we even scooped some of the red hot stuff up with a stick to let it cool. This is what it looks like when our earth grows!

Other cool spots we explored were the Volcano National Park (well worth a full day or two visiting with nice hiking, lava tubes and a steaming and glowing crater at night), Waipio Valley, Laupahoehoe Point and Akaka Falls.

As last year, we had brought our wings along and got a more satisfying flight (almost an hour), but vog (volcanic fog) prevented us from getting very high. Not sure it was necessary to bring the wings along with so many other cool things to do on Hawaii, but it was sure nice to crank some turns in a thermal!

Pictures here (will add some to blog asap).

Hawaii Big Island, December 12 - 19

In December we visited friends who had moved to the Big Island. What a treat to escape the wet and cold Vancouver for a few days! We kept ourselves busy with something different every day and there was a lot more to - we could have easily spent another week. Here is what we did:



Snorkeling/diving: definitely my favored activity. Cool corals, countless colorful fish, clear water. In many places the reefs are close to the surface and unless you are Pete and want to see how deep you can dive, you can just float and watch. Big sea turtles gliding by. Moray eels poking their heads out of holes. Went to Richardson and Kukio (?) on the Hilo side. This is the wet (east) side of the Big Island. Fresh water from creeks mixes with the salty ocean water in bands of limited visibility. Once past (or below) these bands the water was clear and warm. We saw quite a few sea turtles. I almost didn’t notice one of these fellows on collision course while I was scanning the bottom for interesting sea live. Quite the surprise when I looked up and saw the turtle just a couple of meters in front of me. On the Kona side we explored Captain Cook (Kealakekua Bay) and the Place of Refuge. Amazing. We also went on a guided manta ray night dive near Kona. The dive was spectacular as well, but the rays didn’t show. An excellent excuse to come back next year.




Hiking, high altitude hiking, scrambling: A few hikes, including one that left us rather breathless on top of Mauna Kea (4200 meter). Even the little car had some problems getting up that high (the road goes almost to the top). Another hike lead us close to the active volcano, pu’u oo and involved some interesting scrambling over hollow lava (aa and pahoehoe).



Caving: we explored the long Kaumana lava tubes near Hilo

Other activities included riding mountain bikes (great that our friends have such a good selection of gear!) to Green Sands Beach at the very south tip of the island, body surfing, swimming, kite-flying, sailing at Hilo Bay, and paddling. We even managed the make use of our wings at Captain Cook. Local pilots were very helpful to get us in the air. Unfortunately a combination of smoke from a local wild fire and ‘vog’ (volcanic smog) prevented the formation of good thermals and we had to content ourselves with a couple of sled rides (short flights without altitude gain).

What else? It was great to spent the days with our friends and have them as tour-guides and to stay at their place. Nice to soak up some sun and heat before returning to the cold Canadian winter. Excellent views of stars at night (street lights are dimmed to reduce light pollution for the observatories on Maua Kea). Delicious food (for example at the traditional Manago Hotel in Captain Cook). A pre-Christmas trip to some place warm needs to be permanently added to our yearly schedule!