We were lucky to be able to get 2 earlier flights, which put us at the airport about an hour early. Unfortunately, we spent that hour waiting for luggage. We were able to get the car earlier and attempt (unsuccessfully) to find some food while we waited, however.
We finally got our luggage and made our way to the hotel - Kona Coast Resort - Keahou Gardens.
It was a long drive - longer than we thought (and it seemed even longer, since every restaurant we went by was closed and we were famished!). I believe it was around 30 minutes, and then when we got to our hotel, we got slightly lost finding the check in desk, and were greeted by an entire lobby full of guests who were waiting for their rooms. Apparently with the tsunami evacuation, the cleaning staff was sent home and weren't able to return until 2pm to begin the job they normally started at 6am, so they weren't finished cleaning rooms that were already occupied. Thankfully, our room was next slated to be cleaned, so we went to find some supper and when we came back, our room was ready for us.
But about that supper...YUCK! We ate at L&L Barbecue, and quite frankly, it was really bad. I would never eat there again! It was like...the worst-case scenario of bad chinese from the mall. As in...like...glazed over and rubbery and just...just not good at all. It was odd, because it was HIGHLY recommended by people in the lobby. If they thought that stuff was good, I don't want to know what they subject themselves to normally. I'm not a picky eater at all, but even I would hardly touch it. It was a good idea...in theory...but just very poorly executed. I would've been more satisfied with a hot dog and potato chips. We may have just ordered the wrong thing, though, but WOW...
Our room was great - and the bed was nice and firm (great for us, because our backs weren't loving us at this point lol) Nice kitchenette, laundry in the condo, and 2 bathrooms. Oh, and a nice living room with a larger TV. Strangest thing was the DINKY (as in like maybe 19") tv in the bedroom, that was encased in this HUGE cabinet. Odd, but we didn't exactly spend most of our time there anyway, so it was no big deal. Here are some pics of the property:
But parking kinda was a big deal. There was only one handicap spot anywhere near where we were, which was eternally taken. So there was the constant "drop Mark off, find a spot, walk forever to get to the room" thing going on. Annoying, but not the end of the world. We didn't explore the grounds much, as we were on the road pretty much all day every day.
We woke up a little later, had breakfast, then started off towards Volcanoes National Park for the day. We stopped along the way at Kealakekua Bay, which was nice, but we didn't really do much there.
On our way back up the mountain to the highway, we stopped at this little shack for lunch.
It was SO neat! The black sand is from washed over lava rock, so it's not probably the best on your feet or to lay out on, but I wouldn't know for sure, since I wore water shoes. Mark stayed in the car, but I explored for a bit, bought a couple postcards, and saw a couple nesting sea turtles. So cool!
The view was absolutely incredible, and the rain sort of let up once we got there, making way for a beautiful rainbow. However, the road was all blocked off to go any further (due to heavy volcanic sulfuric ash), so we had to turn around and drive back up around the other side of the park. The rain started letting up after a few stops at different craters from previous eruptions, and we finally found ourselves at a little trail that led to the lava tube.
I hiked the short trail, only to find myself at the parking lot for the lava tube, so I turned around and hiked back to the car and we drove over to the entrance.
We started back just before sunset, and then decided to try to to see where the lava was flowing. However, we ended up driving aimlessly through a torrential downpour and it was getting late, so we turned around and headed back to our condo for the night. We stopped along the way to pick up some supplies for a spaghetti supper at a newly-opened grocery store in Ocean View. We had a little sticker shock (prices in Hawaii are significantly more than in the continental US), but after such a big day, spaghetti just hit the spot!
We had an absolutely wonderful day! Wish we could have spent more time there and seen more! I guess we'll just have to come back!
We continued our trend of relaxing in the morning (a.k.a. icing Mark's leg and getting ready), and were on the road around 10am again, headed this time for the Pololu Lookout. It was the oddest drive you would imagine. It was a definite change of scenery from the day before - today being all desolate old lava flows with minimal dry bushes growing around the area. Eventually, we got into the mountains a little more, and stopped for lunch in Hawi at J&R Restaurant for some burgers and fries. Pretty good food for a little shack!
After lunch, we continued on to Pololu Valley Lookout, which was just incredible! Mark especially enjoyed how the pastureland just cut off into these incredible views! I hiked down the trail to get a closer look (breathtaking!) while Mark waited. It was a short hike, but worth it!
We hopped back in the car and headed back down along hwy 250 through Waimea to hit up the Waipio Valley Lookout next, with more incredible views. I hiked down the road a little ways (could have really enjoyed this walk, I'm sure, but time was of the essence...a trend in this trip), and then headed back up so we could get on our way back to Kailua for our dinner cruise!
The description of this day certainly does not do it justice. We just spent so much of it driving that it's tough to put it all into words. We went from desolate wasteland to rainforrest to beaches to mountains to farmland all within the same 6 hour stretch, so the drive was so much of what made this day so incredible!
We made it back to our hotel just in time to make a quick change and get back down to the Kailua Pier for our dinner cruise!
The cruise was pretty decent, but we didn't really see much. I have to admit that the food was some of the best we'd had on the trip thus far, but with the excitement of distant whale sightings, it was hard to eat it all before it got cold. We had live music and a hula dancer along with a buffet supper, and it all started with a beautiful Kona sunset! Once the lights went down, they turned on the lights down underneath the boat, and we could see what was beneath the boat, which turned out to be some coral, a few small fish, some old tires and a couple starfish. No manta rays, which was disappointing (since that was what they touted, which was part of the reason we booked the cruise), but we still had a great time anyway
Summation of Day 2: Lots of driving, but all worth it! Dead tired at the end of the day, but looking forward to our last day in Hawaii the next day :)
Day 3 - Hilo / Akaka Falls / Apple Bananas / Umauma Falls / Home
We checked out of our condo at 10am and were on the road to Hilo a few minutes after. We had been up in the air about what we wanted to do this day. We partly wanted to just hang around Kona (since we really hadn't spent much time there), but we also wanted to see some of the sights near Hilo. I had initially considered sticking around and doing some snorkeling, but considering I wouldn't have anywhere to shower, all our things were packed up, and we were looking at approximately 15 more hours of traveling, we decided that staying out of the ocean was probably the best bet. So...we went to Hilo for lunch, then made our way back slowly towards the Kona Airport for the day.
In Hilo, we had lunch at a little shop (rather, I had lunch - Mark had eaten this huge breakfast and wasn't hungry), and although it was slightly awkward, the food was really delicious! (Awkward because we walked in on the owner having lunch with her girlfriend, and they made it pretty clear that we had interrupted)
We weren't in Hilo for long, since our flight was only 3 hours away, and the drive back to Hilo would take up 2 of those, leaving just 1 hour for any detours. And so we took a few detours...to a scenic point overlooking Hilo Bay, on a scenic drive along the coast through the Hawaii Botanical Gardens, to Akaka Falls (after which we found the most wonderful bananas at a roadside stand), and on another scenic drive past Umauma Falls...all on our way back to the airport. Each and every detour was equally as incredible (if not moreso) as most of the other stops we had made.
I felt awful thinking on this day that while it was all just absolutely breathtaking, we were past the shock factor and ready to go home. So as beautiful as it all was, I have to admit that I am more taken aback by it all while looking back through pictures than I was while we were there.
The Big Island Recap
The Big Island was by far most beautiful place I have been in my life. I loved Kaua'i for its tropical grandeur, but The Big Island's vast difference in terrain just took me in. If we return to Hawaii, we will likely spend all our time here - renting a B&B in the mountains near Waimea, near the beauty of it all, but tucked away in the countryside.
Accommodations:
We stayed at the Kona Coast Resort - Keahou Gardens. Was wonderful! We really enjoyed having a place of our own that felt like home while we stayed there. It was so nice to have a kitchen, 2 bathrooms, living room, dining room, dishes, etc. so that when we came home after a long day, it felt like home. Would definitely stay here again. However, if you're looking for a "view", this probably isn't the place for you, because there really isn't one from your room like there would be in a hotel. Great location for your roadtripping, and close to a mall and most anything else you would want to do.
Activities:
RECOMMEND: Glass Bottom Dinner Cruise - I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND it if we had seen more on the bottom of the boat. They say they have sightings 80% of the time, but unfortunately, we fell into that 20% category.
HIGHLY-RECOMMEND: Pololu Valley
HIGHLY-RECOMMEND: Waipio Valley
HIGHLY-RECOMMEND: Akaka Falls
HIGHLY-RECOMMEND: Volcanoes National Park
HIGHLY-RECOMMEND: Punalu'u Black Sand Beach
WISH WE WOULD HAVE: Snorkeled, Helicopter Tour, Spent more time in Hilo, seen the lava flow, HAD MORE TIME!
Restaurants:
RECOMMEND: J&R Restaurant (Hawi)
HIGHLY-RECOMMEND: Meal on Glass Bottom Dinner Cruise
Yeah, we didn't eat out much on The Big Island
