Da Big Island

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 Resorts
So 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 Volcano
The 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!

SURFING MAUI

Our last full day in Maui I spend the whole morning SURFING!

I got a 2 hour lesson to surf at the Kalama Beach Park where we've been watching people surf! I had my own private lesson because I was the only solo person that day! It was awesome! My instructor Brooks was really good. He surfed his whole life and grew up in Hawaii. I couldn't have asked for a better lesson.


First I had to get some land knowledge and tips, plus learn a few tricks before entering the water. He taught me how to get up on the board and where to stand and all that. Then we headed out into the water. Once we were out as far as the other surfers we started right away. The first few waves I was unsuccessful but after that I caught on. Then I was able to stand up and get the feel for it right away. It was amazing! The waves obviously weren't that big a couple feet probably but you have to start somewhere!


I imagine if you were on your own for the first couple times it would be really hard to catch a wave. Brooks made my first time surfing easy really because he would push me out at the right moment to catch it going the right speed. Then he would yell "paddle" at first and then "up" so I would catch it just right. This made it so easy for me to actually get up and surf. Apparently not all instructors do that for you. They also make you paddle back after every wave you catch. Brooks met me half way most of the time and pulled me back so I didn't get too tired so I could stay out the whole time. It was great. I had so much fun that I didn't want my lesson to end.


I will definitely surf again if I get the chance. I haven't had so much fun in a long time. I absolutely loved surfing!


Bigger waves here I come!

Kihei - Wailea Area

Since we've left Lahaina we've been near Kihei area, close to Wailea and Makena.

The first day we went to the Iao Valley ("Valley of Dawning Inspiration" or "Supreme Light") and the Iao Needle. This is a beautiful area filled with mossy cliffs around the mist-filled valley. The Needle is a single spire that rises to a point 1200 feet above the valley.



During the three days we were here we went to a couple beaches: Kalama Beach Park, Makena State Beach and checked out Kamaole Beach Park.
We spent most of our time at Kalama. It had LOTS of grass to sun tan plus we were able to watch many surfers here. Makena was absolutely beautiful where we chilled on the nice sand watching people sand board. It was pretty sweet, guys were doing flips off the sand on their boards into the water. It was cool.


The following day we hiked part of the trails to the dormant volcano.
The volcano last erupted around 1790 and is at an elevation of over 10,000 feet. The crater floor is filled with cinder cones, lava flows and mini-craters. The drive to the summit of Haleakala is along one of the world's fastest climbing roads. And you really feel it! Along the road there are a few look out points where you can see the whole crater floor. It is absolutely beautiful. One of our favorite sights this whole trip for sure! I can't wait to see the volcano in The Big Island that is still erupting!



We hiked to the first crater base; which took us an hour to hike down to it and an hour to hike back up. We didn't notice the air much until we started to hike up hill...haha The air was so thin! It was tough but Brian and I did pretty well for not being hikers! haha It was so worth it though. We were able to hike right up to it and look inside the dormant volcano. If you really wanted a tough day you could do the nine hour hike of 12 miles and see all the craters. It would be cool but we decided that would be too much for us.


After the hike we stuck around for a bit to see the gorgeous sun set. It was the best one by far! The colors were amazing! We didn't want to leave........but it was sooooo cold up there that we did anyways! Sometimes the temperature can drop 30 degrees F. from what it was at sea level. Let me tell you it was very cold.



I know there's a lot of sunset pictures but there were so many beautiful ones I just couldn't decide! It was absolutely amazing.

After being in Kihei we went back to Lahaina for two nights, it was a nicer place to hang out. We are now back at the Banana Bungalo for one night since it's close to the airport. Tomorrow we leave for the Big Island at 9am. We are so excited to be leaving Maui. Maui is nice but we're a bit bored with it. It will be nice to have new scenery.



The next post will be all about our adventures today.

Lahaina Area

Lahaina is really nice area. It's like the downtown of Maui; full of shops and night life. Most of the time when we were in Lahaina we just checked out the town and went window shopping.


The first day we went to the beach to sun tan and chill for the day. We went to a beach called D.T. Fleming Park. It was really nice; lots of grass and a very pretty beach.



The following day we went snorkelling for half a day. We went to two different beaches. First we went to Mokuleia Beach which has white sand bounded by cliffs and looks out on Molokai. The snorkeling was good here but we didn't see any turtles (friends we met at the hostel told us to go here because they saw lots of big turtles while snorkeling) unfortunately.
Next we went to Napili Bay which also looks out on Molokai and has a huge white sand beach. It was a very crowded beach but was beautiful. We chose this beach because the book said the snorkeling here would be "delightful". It was actually the worst place we've been so far for snorkeling....we saw maybe 5 fish altogether! It was very disappointing to say the least. After this we were done with snorkeling for the day.


After 3 nights in Lahaina we planned on camping for 3 nights at Kanaha but it was so windy that our tent kept blowing away! Seriously it was crazy! SOOO......we changed our mind and decided to look for a hostel. Considering we didn't want to go to bed right then (5pm) to hold our tent down we thought it would be best. We didn't want a broken tent; we need it for the Big Island!

We found a hostel right away. The first hostel we tried, Banana Bungalo, had room for us in the dorm so we took it. Since we've been staying in a hostel since being in Hana and will be for the rest of Maui we've been in the dorms because it's way cheaper. This does mean we're not in the same room even but it's been ok. It's been a nice change from camping and we've been able to cook food which is also nice. We did bring a small stove to cook over a camp fire but fuel is expensive and typically only comes in big bottles here. We would have to leave it on the different islands and then buy more each island. So we just decided we would rather have fresh, raw food like salads, veggies, fruit plus whatever else at the grocery store we can just buy. It's been good actually. But now that we have a stove at the hostels we've had different rice/bean noodles with seafood, pork, or chicken. The other bonus is that we have a fridge to keep stuff in. We've been just eating what we buy that day so it doesn't go bad. So that is also nice. More than that even we've had warm showers! I don't think I'll take a warm/hot shower for granted again. Plus having a private shower is also wonderful. It gets a little more than weird showering in public at the beach or the camp ground. This way nobody watches you shower. Let me tell you that was one of my least favorite things about camping.


We've defintely appreciated being in the hostels for these and many other reasons. But camping is not all that bad......haha It's really been better than I thought for sure. At least in the tent if you're careful you can be insect free! Don't tell Brian but a small part of me can't wait to be back in the tent..........

Hana

Ever since Kauai we've gotten up really early in the morning. The sun rises so early, around 4am, so it's hard to sleep in at all when it's so bright out for so long. One bonus is that I've seen the sun rise most mornings; especially sleeping in the tent.

This was the first morning in Maui at the Waianapanapa camp ground and since I was awake I took a lot of photos of the sun rise:



While we were in Hana we went up to the Kipahulu Valley and hiked the Pipiwai Trail to the Oheo Gluch (Seven Sacred Pools) and the Waimoku Falls. These falls were awesome! They were worth the hike, so nice! The pools were beautiful and descend from above the Hana Highway to the sea.





During the hike the nature was amazing! There was a bamboo forest, smaller waterfalls, neat trees, plants and flowers, and views of the sea.



We left Hana on Monday, June 2nd and have been staying at the same hostel for the past 3 nights. We are heading to Kahana Beach Park to camp for 3 nights there and then we'll be back at the hostel for the last 3 nights in Maui.