On Location from the Big Island, Part 1

Last year, it was Singapore and Indonesia but this year, we wanted to do something a little more low-key. With renovation plans still in the wings and my grandmother threatening another trip to Hong Kong, we didn't want to do a big international trip right now. Instead, we peeled off our winter clothes, slathered on the sunblock and headed to the Big Island of Hawaii.

When I talked to my dad about the trip, he said he'd imagined Hawaii with white sand, umbrellas and lounge chairs on the beaches, and waiters carrying trays of pina coladas. That wasn't our experience at all, but I'm sure you could get it if you wanted. In fact, on our last day there we explored a couple of the mega resorts where I expected to see those things too. Mostly what I saw was an insulated, gated community built around golf courses and time shares. If I want to get away, the last thing I want to do is pack suburbia and take it with me.

We'd been to Kauai a few years ago and spent a few days in Honolulu too. Each of those places had their charms and their differences. I wasn't quite sure what to expect of the Big Island, or what we'd really do while visiting. I knew there was a volcano. Beaches too. I'd heard about cattle country and that there was a little local food movement that was picking up steam, but that's about it. We planned 3 nights in Kona and 4 in Hilo and would make it up as we went. Here's how it turned out.

Day 1: Seattle to Kona
A non-stop direct flight from Seattle to Kona got us to the island at about 12:30 in the afternoon. It was our lazy day to check out the area, and after checking in to our hotel we spent some time on the tourist-soaked Ali'i Drive. Our first meal was at a little kava shop, where we had poi, poke, coconut taro potatoes, Kailua pork, and squid. Kava's a drink made from the pounded roots of the kava plant and is supposed to have sort of a natural sedative effect. Mostly it made our tongues numb, but it was fun sitting outside in the rain with the locals trading stories all around. The vibe was so good, we didn't even bother to take pictures. We picked up a few things at the Kona farmers market (apple bananas, jicama, and avocado) for the next day, that being our first of several fruit stand stops. That night we sat at the hotel bar sipping umbrella drinks (best I'd ever had) and looking at the tide pools that were right under us. The sunset was unbelievable. Chilled out and nice way to start the week.

Day 2: Hapuna Beach, Waimea, and Kona
We wanted to get to the water as soon as we could, so we took a drive north to the Kohala Coast and some of the best beaches on the Big Island. We really wanted to get to a little beach called Kua Bay, but it was closed on Wednesdays (!!) so we went to the white sand beach at Hapuna. Because we were still on Seattle time, we'd woken around 6:15am, so we were on the beach before 9 and before the crowds. It was beautiful, ashtray-fine sand and a few minutes after we sat down we saw some humpback whales breaching in the distance. The water was a little cold and the wind high, but we stayed long enough to see the onslaught of people and get plenty of sand in our ears, eyes, and noses.

We took the long way home through Waimea, a town in cattle country on Hawaii. We knew about Waimea because we'd planned to eat at Merriman's, but because we were so close we thought we'd check it out early. Had a great lunch at Daniel Thiebaut (a mahi mahi sandwich and a local grass-fed burger) and then wandered the town a bit. We took Hawaii Belt Road back to Kona (through the middle of the island) and devoured dinner at Rapa Nui Island Cafe. Curries and fish on coconut lime rice were just what we needed after a long and active day. We spent the evening at the hotel bar later watching moray eels and sea turtles.

Day 3: Kiholo Bay, Kealakeua Bay, Captain Cook and the Place of Refuge
After spending much of the evening before trying to get the sand out of everything, we decided to hit a different beach the next day. Kiholo Bay was a bit off the track. To get to it, you park at a mile marker and then hike for about 15 minutes through some really prickly bushes and a lot of dust and rocks. You come out on a black sand (small lava rock, really) beach with a still bay and a couple of interesting houses. One of the houses is owned by  Paul Mitchell (the hair product guy) and it was designed and assembled in Bali and then flown to the US. We didn't take any pictures of it, but you can see some on this person's blog post.

Further up the beach there's a spring-fed lava tube pool called the Queen's Bath, where Todd braved the cold and took a dip. I waited until we got back into the sun where the water was warmer, and we could do a little more tide pool viewing. There was a line in the water where there must have been a shelf because the water went from blue to nearly teal, and it was clear that it wasn't an illusion. The water was a little rough so we couldn't swim to check it out, but you could see it even from a distance of a couple of miles.

We headed back to town after a couple of hours and decided to make the trip south towards Captain Cook and the coffee plantations. Our first stop was at Greenwell Farms, a family-run coffee plantation in Kealakeua. It was a great stop. Free tastings of about 10 different coffees, and then we got a free tour of their operation by a former Seattleite named Jo. She walked us through their orchards (orange, avocado, banana) to the coffee groves and showed us how the coffee was picked, processed and roasted. We tasted the beans every step of the way, from the sugary red cherry state to the unroasted green to a fine chocolate coated peaberry. She was a gracious host, answering our myriad questions about plant variety (Coffea Arabica), what happens to the sugary coating around the raw beans, and how they recycle the cherry casing (an energy drink turns out). We bought a few green beans to roast ourselves, as well as some roasted beans, chocolate coffee beans, and some great honeys.

South we went down Napo'opo'o Road towards Kealakeua Bay, where we could see the Captain Cook monument in the distance. We hadn't planned the mile-long swim to the monument, so we stood on the shore watching some local bodyboarders brave the rough waves and rocks, and some spinner dolphins jumping around too. The site is near where Captain James Cook was killed, and the tiny monument is actually considered British land, the US having leased it to the UK indefinitely for the purposes of the monument. Despite the raucous fun of the bodyboarders, it seemed a pretty hallowed place in Hawaiian history.

Further down the road we visited the Puuhonua o Honaunau National Historial Park and the Place of Refuge. To get to it, we drove down a one-lane road that cut through some very nasty rocks, supposedly a field of battle for Kamehameha as he conquered the island. I couldn't imagine barefoot walking over this glass-sharp rock, much less trying to beat down an opponent on it. The Place of Refuge is where unsavory folks could go to be rid of their past. It wasn't an easy trek to get there, but if you made it, folks had to leave you alone afterwards. The park itself is lovely and easy to access and very well maintained by the National Park Service.

Our ride home took us past the Painted Church and then back up the coast to Kona where we had a strange, but memorable sushi dinner. Only memorable because of how odd the place and people were, not that the sushi itself was unforgettable. But that's a better story over cocktails one night.

Follow us on our continuing adventures in Hawaii in Part 2!

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