Oh how I love Hawaii! I have been to different islands but never the Big Island so was very excited when Hyrum's annual medical conference was on the Big Island. We had so much fun exploring this new island. The first few days there was record amounts of rain (not so great) but that cleared out by Tuesday and we had the rest of the week to explore.
The view of the ocean from our resort. We normally don't stay in resorts on Hawaii but this time we decided to splurge and stay in the same resort that was hosting the conference. Hyrum just had to take the elevator down to his meetings while I enjoyed sleeping in and ordering room service for breakfast:) We stayed at the Fairmont Orchid in Waimea. This was supposed to be the "dry" side of the island...
We took a walk along a trail to some old fish ponds. Natives used to lure in baby fish from the ocean and then feed them until they were too fat to swim back out into the ocean, making it easy for them to catch the fish for dinner
Next morning we woke up to rain, not just a slight sprinkle but a downpour. The workers at the hotel say they haven't seen rain like that in years...just our luck 😒
We did go out to explore between showers. We visited the "Little Blue Church" which has the prettiest location, right on the ocean!
Kealakekua Bay. It was in this bay that Captain Cook was first revered as a God when he met the native Hawaiians. On his return trip here a few months later the natives were not so friendly and he was killed on the other side of this bay!
Hikiau Heiau was an ancient temple where human sacrifice was performed.
We had some fun exploring the lava fields in Kalaoa.
It was so neat to see little bits of life pushing through the hardened lava. Nature will always win:)
The next day we went out to explore the northern tip of the island. We had to stop in Kapaau for a photo with the great King Kamehameha
View from the top of Kohala Forest Reserve...we hiked all the way down to that black sand beach! It was steep and muddy and steep!
Beautiful, soft black sand. I guess the hike down was worth it:)
One of the reasons we rented a 4 wheel drive jeep for our vacation! It was so fun to explore roads we would never have been able to go on without it. Even with our jeep we decided to pull off the road and hike the rest of the way to the Mo'okini Heiau because some of the puddles were just getting too deep and we didn't want to get stuck!
The sacrifice stone at Mo'okini Heiau. This place was fantastic. Because it was so hard to get to we were the only ones there and there was such an incredible feeling at this location...very peaceful but also felt like big things had happened here in the past.
Exploring around the Heiau. I was very glad they had this opened to the public, what an incredible site. Hawaiian oral tradition says that the basalt rocks used to make the walls were passed hand to hand by thousands of men who formed a line from the Niuli'i area 10 miles to the east, to the site of the Mo'okini Heiau.
Built in the 13th or 14th century it's amazing the walls are still standing because they didn't use any kind of mortar to stack the rocks.
Woke up to the sound of pouring rain!
We visited the "Painted Church"
The artwork inside was done by a Priest in 1899 to depict scenes from the Bible to teach his illiterate congregation the stories of the Bible.
It was really beautiful to walk around and look at the artwork.
Pu'uhonua O Honaunau National Historic Park. We started at the beach with a picnic lunch. The water in these rock pools was crystal clear. We then hiked a few miles to some ancient ruins. There wasn't much to see as far as ruins are concerned but the walk and the goats we met along the way were fantastic!
Lots of wild goats traveling over the lava rock with ease
Very cool road. This wasn't an ancient road but a more modern road that donkeys would use. Still very beautiful right on the ocean
Honaunau "place of refuge"
The "Great Wall" of Honaunau. Built in the 1500's it is 1,000 feet long and 10 feet high and 17 feet thick!
The sun finally decided to come out so we booked a sailing adventure which took us to the Captain Cook memorial to snorkel. It was wonderful snorkeling, the water was very clear and we saw lots of fish.
A monument to Captain Cook. He was killed near this spot is 1779.
The wind wasn't great for sailing but it's wonderful to be out on the ocean even if you have to motor the whole way:)
After our sailing adventure we drove down to Volcanoes National Park. Although we didn't get to see a huge lake of lava it was an amazing place to visit. Just driving around the park you get to see so many different lava flows from different times the volcano erupted.
Our somewhat poorly timed hike out to see petroglyphs in the National Park. We were able to hike the few miles into the site before the sun went completely down but by the time we were hiking back to our car it was total darkness. Thank goodness we had our cell phones with flashlights. The petroglyphs were pretty cool but I will definitely have to come back when we have a bit more light to see!
You can see how dark it was getting as we walked around seeing the amazing petroglyphs.
We wanted to visit this park at night so we could see the lava! It was so neat to see active, boiling lava. It was quite far away but still a unique site you don't get to see everyday!
Heading out for our evening cruise to visit the manta rays.
Swimming with the manta rays was pretty incredible. We were in the water for about 30 minutes and we saw probably 4 mantas come right up close to us. Hyrum took some video with our underwater camera but I don't have any photos to include so here are a few from the internet...
We all jumped in the water and held onto this surf board kind of thing with a light attached to the bottom. The light attracted the plankton and then the plankton attracted the manta rays!
It's really neat to see animals in their natural environment and being so close to this giant manta ray was incredible.
Waipi'o Valley. This time we got to drive down to the beach...instead of hike. The drive was quite the adventure. You weren't allowed to go down the road unless you had a 4 wheel drive vehicle. It was very sketchy in places and completely muddy but so much fun to drive!
The beautiful Waipi'o Valley...view from the beach
There was a huge tsunami here in 1946 that totally wiped out the village in the valley. Some of the horses survived the tsunami and their descendants now roam free. Next time I come I'm brining apples to feed them:)
It was amazing driving to the Eastern part of the island and how different and lush it was compared to the lava fields of the West.
Fun little hike in Pepeekeo. The two rocks in the background used to be a rock arch. Even though the arch is gone it was a wonderful hike.
In Hawaii you just never know when a hike will turn into a "water" hike:)
Wailuku Waterfall. I know I complained about the rain at the beginning of the week but it sure did make for some incredible waterfall viewing later in the week!
The peaceful Japanese garden in Hilo
We enjoyed a small market in Hilo and got some yummy "street" food for dinner
On our way back to our hotel that evening we drove up Mauna Kea volcano to enjoy the stars from the top of the world. It was very cold but very beautiful up there!
On our last day in Hawaii we relaxed at the beach and drove out to a coffee plantation. Kona Coffee is famous all over the world and Hyrum needed to try some samples:)
I couldn't leave the island without one more stop for fish tacos at "Shaka Tacoz" in the little town of Captain Cook...sooo delicious!
I'm so glad I got to explore the Big Island of Hawaii. There was so much left to do we didn't get the chance to see and explore, I will definitely have to come back. I love that Hawaii is so close to us here in Oregon. Aloha until next time 🌴
