Our Final Island
We've been on the island of Hawaii, also known as "The Big Island", for about 8 days now. Like Kauai and Maui, the big island has its own vibe and differs from the other two. We started in the Kona area, a place well-known for its delicious coffee. Apparently the Kona area is the perfect place to grow coffee; every day it is nice and sunny in the morning, cloudy with showers in the afternoon and into the evening. Perfect for coffee, not so perfect for us as we like to sleep in the mornings and beach it in the afternoons. There definitely isn't as much sun here but we are managing.
"Worlds Best Coffee"Ok, so some more about Kona coffee. Thanks to the perfect weather and peoples love of coffee, much of the land is used to grow, dry, and roast coffee. There are dozens of companies in the roasting and selling business and pretty much every company lets you sample their coffee at their roasting facilities. Gotta love that. We spent a few afternoons travelling to different coffee plantations sampling their delicious kona coffee for free. Mmmmm. Pictures below show the coffee beans on the branch and a pineapple. Coffee beans are red when they are ready to be picked and are called cherries. You can eat the outer red skin but have to dry and roast the beans.
Our ResortsSo after spending most of the time in Maui in hostels, we are back in the tent. We camped first at Ho'okena campground. Nice campground, only had sand to pitch the tent on. We prefer grass but no worries. It was a decent campground. Had a little beach as well as a long-stretching lava coast where the waves crashed against. I spent hours watching the waves there. Probably one of my favorite things to do (this is Brian typing by the way). There was also numerous tidal pools in the lava. We saw the sun get swallowed up by the ocean a few nights and also saw dolphins off the beach. Check the pictures below for the waves and our campsite.
After Ho'okena we moved camp to Punalu'u Black Sand Beach that had exactly that, a black sand beach (made from lava). The beach was frequented by green sea turtles, locals, and tour buses. Good times. The beach was pretty cool, and it was a nice place to camp. It was grassy, well-lit, and fairly quiet. The area is pretty secluded, near the most southern tip of the island, and hence the united states. Near here was a green sand beach that we hiked to. That was pretty amazing. The "sand" was actually little bits of olivine rock which is a translucent green. On the way to the green sand beach we saw some HUGE waves. We actually went back the next day to just watch the waves. Louise and I argued about the size of them, I claim the big ones were around 18ft, Louise thinks they were less then that. Either way, they were the biggest waves I have ever seen. Pretty incredible. The pictures below show the turtles, the black sand, the green sand, and the waves.
The VolcanoThe big island is home to the worlds largest active volcano. Awesome. We checked it out, it was pretty sweet. Actually, we didn't get to see much, mainly a mixture of smoke, steam, and sulfuric gases spewing out from a hole. Still, pretty cool. Further along, near the coast, there is a spot where you can see the lava flowing into the ocean. They don't let you get too close cause the combination of molten lava and the ocean produces some form of hydrochloric gas which is not good to breathe in. We couldn't see very much, but it was still pretty incredible. The pictures below show the lava flowing into the ocean.
We have a week left and are anxious to get back home. This trip has been alot of fun, but we are missing our family a friends. Looking forward to seeing you all soon!
