Day 6: Volcano to Kona

Finally, a chance to sleep in and I wake up before the alarm goes off anyway. Oh well, can't complain about extra daylight hours to use exploring Big Island, especially when we have such a long drive ahead of us.

Another yummy organic muffin for breakfast.

Today we finally get to experience firsthand why everything is so green; it’s raining when we get up, it’s raining while we’re eating breakfast and when we get on the road it’s still raining. Ick!

Can’t find the bird park they recommended to us, so we continue west on route 11 until we reach the turn off for Punalu’u black sand beach.  And hey, there’s the sun!

These beaches are created by scalding hot lava exploding into tiny fragments as it hits the cool ocean water. Ironically blank sand beaches are also reclaimed by the ocean over time and the beach we enjoy today, might be completely gone in a hundred years from now ...

Honu (turtle) resting on the beach.

No sesame seed today, but poppy seed feet!

Besides the water being cold from cold (fresh)water springs, the powerful waves make it a poor beach for swimming. It is beautiful sight though!

In my Florida blog I talked about visiting the southernmost point of the United States while in Key West, but I stand corrected; the southernmost point is in Hawaii and we're about to visit it. Now this area is a little off the beaten path so first we wind through miles of farm land dotted with horse farms.

My favorite plant of all; grass -- stretching all the way to the horizon!

Unlike the Florida’s brightly colored monument, here only a small sign alerts visitors that they are approaching the southernmost point of the US. If there is a sign for the actual point we didn’t see it, but we walked around the general area for a while watching the waves break on the rocks so I'm sure we were there at one point or another.

It's a beautiful area, popular with the locals as a fishing spot. Right off shore the water is already very deep and even though it's crystal clear and you can see schools of fish swimming through the water you can't see the ocean floor.

German tourist gets a little too close to the action.

Nearby is the only green sand beach, but getting there presents us with several problems. It’s either a 2 ¼ mile hike in both directions or you need a 4wd drive. Yes, we do have a Jeep, but off road driving violates our rental contract and if the car breaks down you’ll pay through the nose to get it towed. We also don’t really want to leave the car unattended with a trunk full of luggage, because theft is apparently a big problems at deserted beaches like these.

We walk a short distance down to the water when a banged up car comes bouncing up and down the road. “You guys need a ride?” the guy asks …. Well yes, please!

And so it is that we pile into “Uncle David’s” car. Sandy gets lucky and sits on the back seat, while I rough it out in the back with a girl from London. The road is so ridiculously bad that it’s amazing we arrive at the Green Sand Beach mostly uninjured. If you reading this and considering driving yourself with your rental vehicle -- don't say I didn't warn you. It would be a bad, bad idea.

Just like the black sand beaches this beach is also formed by the ocean crushing rock into tiny pieces, this time a compound called olivine. I'm so bummed, because the camera had a really hard time capturing the color, but thanks to my picture editing software I can give you some idea of what it looks like. Although really, it's just one those things you should experience for yourself --  thrill ride with uncle Davis included.

Our chariot awaits (and no I'm pretty sure that door isn't even the same make or model and the little handheld fans sitting on the center console that keep falling down probably weren't part of the original sales package, but hey, any car that can make it down this stretch of road is a winner if you ask me)

After some time for pictures we climb into our adventure taxi once more and bounce and shake our way down the “road,” at times stopping to move large, sharp rocks out of the way, at other times just scraping the chassis right over them. Once the car tilts over so far it feels like we’re at a 45 degree angle. What can I say? It all adds to the adventure!

Taking pictures was, uh, challenging ...

Sandy claims riding in the backseat was no better because she kept getting stabbed by the seat belt holders, but having ridden in the trunk take it from me; the trunk is the worst! There's no padding, you're not secured in any way shape or form so you have to brace yourself using whatever you can grab hold off (not the rather precarious backdoor though -- not the sturdiest so we were afraid we'd tumble right out of the back if we put any weight against it) oh and did I mention how dusty it is. But at the end of the day I wouldn't change any of it ... there's very few places like this left in the world and the only thing protecting it is its isolation.

Still we’re grateful to drive on a paved road once again. The clouds are still playing hide & seek with us – raining for short periods of time while we’re driving – but when we arrive at Pu’uhonau o Honaunau it’s warm and sunny (note the dark clouds lingering over the mountains).

My horribly outdated guidebook  (my fault, not theirs ... I bought older editions for next to nothing on half.com) said it’s a great place for picnicking and snorkeling, but as soon as we gets there the ranger informs us they no longer allow snorkeling at the park. We find out later that during the tsunami last year a lot of the sand got washed away and they discovered several sacred sites underwater. Interestingly enough the temple was spared even though 80% of the sand disappeared. Now that kind of makes you think twice …

Anyway, no better luck with lunch. We’re about to enter the park with our giant mystery fruit when I spot a “no food” etc sign. I guess that makes sense with it being a sacred site and all so we eat in a much less sacred spot, also known as ‘the bench between the restrooms’ lol. Mystery food is pretty tasty, btw. Definitely some kind of citrus fruit.

We do a quick tour of the park and while I understand and respect their decision not to allow people to snorkel it breaks my heart to see their beautiful clear water bay and not be able to go in it.

Famous sacred figures. The lighting really sucked for taking their picture, but it's one of the better known sights in the park so it would be wrong not to share it with you anyway.

The giant wall surrounding the complex. How gorgeous!

Lucky for me Two Step, one of Big Island’s premier snorkeling site is just round the corner (in fact, you can see it on the left in the picture of the clear bay) we don’t even have to move the car, but can just walk over there.

Two Step is named for the two rock ledges that allow you to get into the water more easily. And wow, wow, wow! I can’t believe how beautiful it is down there. Now this is why I purchased an underwater camera!

Tropical fishes are swimming around me left and right and I can’t decide where to look, let alone what to take pictures of.

The coral is amazingly beautiful also! My only gripe is that the depth made it harder for me to take clear pictures ... the fish tend to swim closer to the coral and even when I duck down to take a picture I automatically float back to surface which makes focusing the camera a challenge.

Some pictures turn out really great though! I never saw this fish again so I'm glad to have gotten a picture of it on my first time out.

I’d worried about the conditions being difficult after talking to an older couple who came back earlier. They said it was rough and surgy, but it wasn’t bad at all. Some waves, but nothing that knocked water into the snorkel or pushed you against the coral (lots of sea urchins so that would be very painful). It was a bit cold though, colder than I'd expected – actually looked like there was a mixing of cold and warm water.

After what feels like only 15 minutes but in actuality is closer to an hour and a half my teeth are about to start chattering on my mouth piece so I know it’s time to get out of the water and into some dry clothes.

We’ll be at our new hotel, the Royal Kona Resort for 4 nights. It’s big and has a nice Hawaiian feeling with lots of woodwork and a large open courtyard in the center of our building.

Dinner is a pretty mediocre affair at Bongo Ben’s, where the live music is a little too loud, the service overly rushed and dinner a bit of a letdown (me shrimp scampi, Sandy some kind of burger). While we’re there it starts pouring, no more light rain, but a full-on raining cats and dogs kind of shower. The people sitting closer to the road shriek and start running plates and purses in hand, while the awnings sag until they can hold no more water and it comes rushing over the side and splashes onto the tables. Quite amusing when you’re watching from a dry place haha.

Luckily it's just a sprinkle when we walk back to our room.

Total miles for today: