Happiness in Hawaii

Here's a summary of my trip to Hawaii:

Location: The Big Island of Hawaii
Length: 5 days
Lodging: tent
Transportation: car
Activities: hiking, waterfalls, swimming, snorkeling, photography, camp-style cooking

Travel buddy: Subho (A friend who I met on a camping trip while at UF. He is the guy often-times behind the camera)

The general trip plan

1/8/2015
Day One, I arrived into Kona at 5:30am on Thursday morning (Day One). After a 2-hr nap to recover from the past 29 hours of traveling, we jumped in the car and headed north along the coast to see all of the beaches that The Big Island has to offer. One was calm and had sleepy turtles napping on the sand. One was quiet but full of evidence from rock sculptures and sand engravings that many people had visited the beach. And the last one was "the beach" of the area-- filled with families and boogie-boarders.

 

After we had our fill of beaches and lava-"paved" roads, we continued to the north-western corner of the island to a famous spot called "Polou Valley". After passing a coconut man and friendly horses, at the end of the road, you hike down the valley and meet the Black Sand Beach after a 30 minute trek.

Waipio Valley

Day Two, we woke up after sunrise and drove about 90 Minutes to the other side of the lookout, called "Waipio Valley". This was the original campsite for day two, but a large storm last week caused so much damage that many of the nature trails on the big island were closed. Instead, we just visited for the day-- saw the beautiful scene from above and then descended 1.5 miles down a 25% grade hill (at least a 45-min journey) before meeting the beach with black sand, enormous pebbles, and pounding waves. This beach makes the average beach look like child's play. We crossed a small river that leads into the ocean (with a ridiculously strong current) in order to get to the northern side of the beach.

Back in the car, we continued further south, near Hilo, to visit the waterfalls in the area. The last waterfall of the day guided us through back-roads, up steep hills, and past cow pastures to a patch of grass. This wasn't any ordinary spot. On the grass sat a picnic table, the overlook to the ocean to the east, the overlook to a waterfall to the west, and the "mooing" of cows to the north. It was 

 a “shoes off” kind of moment.

Camp-stove breakfast!

Hawai'i Botanical Garden

Day Three, I woke up to the sounds of pounding waves. After failed attempts to set up my hammock for the sunrise spectacle, I settled for the cushiony chair of hard rocks. An hour later and the view was still as entertaining as the first sight. But my curiosity led me to set up my hammock under the tree that warned of falling coconuts. (In result, the morning sunshine revealed that there were no remaining coconuts this season.) With a delicious breakfast burrito in my belly (thank you Mexican Mole sauce!), we hit the road...

...And stumbled upon the Hawai'i Botanical Garden! The garden told a story of a retired, 57-year-old man who discovered Onomea Valley in 1977 with his new wife while on a vacation in Hawaii. Here, they ended up buying a lot of property and spent 8 years transforming the land into a botanical garden.

 The day ended in Volcano National Park, watching the glow of the lava burn from the crater. Incredible!

 

Day Four, we woke up bright and early, walked around Black Sand Beach, and drove back to the volcano in order to walk across the Pauahi crater. 

Black Sand Beach

Walking across the volcano crater

South Point

Feeling amazing and tired, we jumped back in the car and drove south to the most southern point on the island-- which also ends up being the most southern point in the USA. To my surprise, there is a plank readily available for the brave souls to jump off of into the water. Well, in order to avoid any drama (a panic attack), I avoided the 40 ft jump and resorted to the ladder.




With refreshed skin (and with a little too much salt in my throat), we drove down the road to the parking lot of the Green Sand Beach. You can pay a local "business" $15/person for a round trip ride through the sand dunes (I don't think these were sand dunes 50 years ago, but so much 4WD traffic has paved the roads up to 6 ft deep into the dirt.) but we resorted to take the 4.5mile roundtrip hike to the green sand beach. This trip was strenuous but completely worth it. Once the final destination revealed itself, it was as if I had stepped into another world. The cliff was delicately carved forming a cove with a beach, a green sand beach, below. I have seen beauty in the world, but this was a whole new type of beauty.

Green Sand Beach

Green Sand Beach

 Day Five, we wake up with sandy feet, a growing soreness from sleeping in a tent, the crashing waves on the shore, and a cup of hot chocolate. Word on the street is that dolphins can be spotted from a certain beach down the road. So, we squeezed into the messiest car on the earth and continued on the journey west/north. Our car stopped at a place called "Two Steps" near Puuhonua O Honaunau National Historic Park. Swim suit on, sun screen sprayed, and goggles in hand-- the water was crystal clear, crispy cold, and decorated with coral and fish. **Note: this spot is a great snorkeling spot. It costs no more than $5 and has the right number of visitors to feel like a private beach. **Warning, enter/exit the water via the two lava steps in order to avoid cuts/scrapes/sea urchins.** By mid-day, dolphins decided to entertain us. About 30 spinner dolphins swam around the little bay for at least a half hour-- swimming, jumping, spinning!
The day ended with an unexpected stop at a fish joint off the road. Here, we tasted "poke"-- raw fish, Hawaiian style... And lunched on mahi mahi. Tasty!