Day 10: Kona to Maui

I’m writing from beautiful Maui today -- our first day here – but let me start at the beginning in Kona:

We wake up a bit earlier than expected due to some text messages from the east coast … I guess that all just comes with the territory of traveling through different time zones haha. Luckily I am the queen of snoozing and minutes later I’m blissfully asleep again until the alarm goes off for real at 7am.

After repacking our stuff and yet another ABC Store-bought breakfast we pay one last visit to Kahalu’u Beach Park, by now my favorite snorkeling spot on Kona. Yesterday some people reported seeing an octopus, but despite all my best efforts it continues to elude me. Bummer!

I’m fortunate enough to spot two different types of eels though. First a zebra moray; the raccoon butterfly fish should be safe, it feeds mostly on crabs.

Next up a much smaller, yet glitzier snowflake moray

The current is much stronger today and it's brought in all kinds of ehhh ... what is this??

Also yet another kind of butterfly fish; the saddleback butterfly fish

Next two species that can look quite similar; box fishes and puffer fishes. We'll start with the unmistakable stripebelly puffer

Then the ambon toby

Followed by a spotted boxfish. They may not look very similar in their pictures, but when you see them darting by it's easy to mistake one for the other.

This saddle wrasse was well represented in all the areas I snorkeled but I had a hard time getting a good picture of it. Just look at those gorgeous fins!

Square-spot goatfish, with their trademark goat beard. They may look plain, but they're quite interesting. The black spot on their side that gives them their name can dissappear completely while they're resting ... weird huh.

Last but not least I spot another of my grouper friends. Can't resist taking another picture.

Time just flies by while I’m in the water and by the time we get on the road to drive to Two Step we realize we’ve already spent too much time at Kahalu’u. Takes a while to find a parking spot again, but a short while later I’m back in the water at Kahalu’u.

We pre-packed most of our luggage in the morning so we just take a quick shower and check out with minutes to spare. Last picture of the open courtyard in the center of our building.

I will miss these little guys resting on the parking lot fence

Big Island has one more National Park site – Kaloko-Honokohau -- and it just happens to be on the way to the airport, or rather we saw it yesterday and planned for it accordingly. Of course, when it comes down to it there’s very little time left for the park, but we are able to just squeeze in a short walk from the marina to the fishpond (it's shorter to park at the marina and walk from there than from the visitor center).

Two turtles are relaxing on the beach. For some reason their shells look white – maybe it’s dried salt water residue?

Another place of worship with recent offerings

One more for good measure:

Btw, isn't this the best road to the airport?

We resume our drive to the airport and find ourselves in the longest rental car return line ever (the car behind us is half in the street), but they quickly move some of the cars forward so we can at least get onto the lot. Phew, I was a bit worried there.
Check in is a breeze, literally because Kona too, is an open air airport and the tradewinds are blowing. After security we sit down at the little eatery where I finally get to try Loco Moco, a local dish consisting of egg over rice with some kind of meat (in my case, hamburger) and brown gravy. Sounds positively disgusting, but actually quite tasty.

Our plane has arrived!

This is the shortest flight I’ve ever been on, just 30 minutes, and we never even reach cruising altitude. Nice views of Big Island and Maui on the way, but I’m so tired my eyes don’t want to stay open and I try to nap – unsuccessfully.

View of Molokini near the tip of the wing. It has some of the best visibility in all of the islands and I can't wait until I get to snorkel there myself later this week.

Alamo has spoiled us for Hawaiian rental car service; we’re using Hertz today and it’s just not the same. First we have to wait a while for the shuttle so when it does show up everyone gets crammed in there and some people even get left behind. Then it’s a mad rush to the counter once we get dropped off and even though we are one of the first ones off the bus it’s still quite a while before we get a car. No choice this time either, we’re assigned slot 11 (gray Nissan Ultima) and that’s that. Not what we'd have picked for ourselves, but there's lots of leg room and enough trunk space to store all our luggage AND a cover so I really can't complain.

We’re staying with a local couple here and our lovely hostess Gloria gives us a quick tour of where we’ll be staying, plus some great info about the area. At her suggestion we drive to one of the Kam beaches to watch the sunset.

We're barely awake at this point so we stop by Tripadvisor #1 rated 808 Bistro for dinner. Oops, there's not a lot of options on the menu and a lot of “fancy food” ... tricky predicament for a picky eater like me, but even I can find a salad I like (the 808 salad with pine seeds, dried crans and papaya seed dressing) and we end up having a fabulous meal.

Somehow we wind up at an ABC store again to pick up some water and then we’re all set.

Mileage for today:

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:

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: