Day 9: Kohola coast

Today is our last full day in Hawaii, so we really want to make the most of it. Breakfast from ABC store again, then we head north along the coast.

It’s a pretty drive, through desert like lava fields with the deep blue ocean to our lefts … with weird little puffs occasionally; it’s whales! We pull over and watch the show for a while. Amazing how many whales there are. No breach unfortunately, but we got to see some tails. Looks like a mom (spouting)and her calf (tail) were playing together in the picture below.

It's a beautiful spot to watch the whales from and with the way the wind blows we can even hear the spouting even though they're quite a ways from shore.

People are using white rocks to leave messages along the highway, among my favorites; the shaka ("hang loose") sign as well as this marriage proposal. Wonder if anything came of it?

It’s slow going because the speed limit keeps changing and we almost contemplate turning around after seeing the whales, but we push on and soon we’re rewarded with our first fabulous view of Pololu Valley.

There’s just a tiny parking lot at the end of the road, but we’re lucky and a car full of huffing and puffing, beet red girls pulls out just as we’re pulling in so we get to take their spot right near the trail head.


Sign to show there's a point of interest.

It’s very steep and a bit slippery going down the trail with all the loose rocks and after a while it really starts to work on your legs. We have a ways to go down to the coast so we keep switchbacking down the steep slope over stabilizing logs and loose boulders, until finally we make it to the bottom. There’s some rope swings that I play with for a while.

This is more of a gray sand beach than a true black sand beach, but it’s very fine sand, not course like the other black sand beach we went to. Not good swimming water, but we both get in just to wet ourselves before hiking back up.

We snap some pictures of the valley.

Then it’s time to hike back up to the top. The rocks are a lot easier to navigate, but it’s quite the workout and we have to make several stops along the way back up. Still we make it in 25 minutes, not bad.

At the top we find the parking lot filled to capacity and cars all along the road leading up to it. Good thing we got there early! It's hard enough to navigate the path as it is without having to move to the edge to let people pass.

Somehow the drive back is a lot easier, not nearly as many weird speed limit changes, mostly 55mph the whole way.

First stop is one we hadn’t planned, Puukohala Heiau National Historic Park. It’s actually a beautiful park with temples built out of rock without mortar.

 People still leave offerings at these sacred sites.

We also find a small cove with a bunch of black tip reef sharks circling around. For some reason the sharks love to hang out there even though they normally don’t come in shallow water and according to the plaque they usually show up around February, mostly 1-2 at a time, but there’s at least 7 while we’re there. Can you find all of them in this picture?

Wow! Never thought I'd be so close to a real shark in the wild! Note the triangularness of the fins compared to the curved tip of a dolphin's fin.

The little bay they are hanging out in

What a beautiful place! No wonder the ancient Hawaiians chose to build one of their temples here.

After saying goodbye to the sharks we drive to Hapuna Beach, supposedly one of the nicest  beaches on the island. It is quite pretty, with wide white sand, lifeguards and clear water with big crashing waves, but not as great as people make it out to be.

Glossy smooth surface of the wave moments before crashing onto shore in a blur of white water. That's some killer shore break they've got here ... I'm surprised to see so many body and boogie boarding in these conditions.

Funny sign

We rinse some of the black sand off in the water and eat some snacks, but then it’s time to get going because I need to be at the Big Island Divers shops at 4pm to check in. To be continued ...

Mileage for today: