We hadn’t been back to Hawaii since our honeymoon many years ago. One of our good friends now lives on Oahu and we had been talking about both visiting her as well as just going back to Hawaii for a vacation. Knowing that it was the slower/rainy season, we booked a trip to go in February. I hadn’t been to the big island in even longer and D hadn’t been before so we decided to check that out first and then spend the latter half of vacation in Oahu.

We landed at the Daniel K Inouye International Airport in Honolulu around lunchtime and we had a few hours to kill before our next flight to Kona on the Big Island. After walking up and down the hallways checking out our food options, we settled on Mauka Market. I tried a Hawaiian themed hot dog and D had some poke.

After arriving in Kona and getting our rental car, we made our way to the Royal Kona Resort, where we were staying for the night and also were attending their luau. Part of the resort was under construction so we were able to get a good deal on the room. I really liked the fact that right outside our building was a salt water lagoon that you could go wade/swim in (which I did the next morning before checkout). The room came with 2 complimentary mai tais but we also had unlimited drinks at the luau so didn’t end up using our room coupons. The rooms were clean and comfortable, though a bit dated and you could tell that they were indeed ready for the upgrades that the resort was performing.

For the luau, we were seated at communal tables and started off with some drinks while they were waiting to unearth the pig and get the food ready. The food overall was pretty good. After we ate they then had the actual show, which consisted of various dances including some fire dancing.

The following morning we grabbed some breakfast at Arise coffee. They had these “bubble” waffles so we tried one of those along with a Acai type bowl. The bowl was very delicious and the waffle was also tasty.

Our first stop after checking out was about half hour south at Greenwell Farms, one of the oldest coffee farms. They had free hour-long tours of their facilities. In addition to coffee, they also grow various types of fruits throughout their farms. We learned about how coffee is grown and then processed. They also had a small shack/tasting area with most of their coffees available to try. We ended up getting a bag of their coffee. I’ve always loved the smell of Kona coffee. One thing we learned was that each area of the Big Island (north, south, east, west) had their own types of coffee with the west side being Kona.

As we continued south towards the southern part of the island, we stopped at Kaaloa’s Super J’s for lunch. This roadside little restaurant has a limited menu but they do it so well. They serve Lau Lau plates. This usually involves some type of protein (pork, chicken, fish) wrapped in taro leaves and Ti leaves and steamed. We got one chicken and one pork one. So good!!

We stopped at Pu’uhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park, which sits on the west coast of the Big Island.

We needed to make our way over to Hilo, where we were staying for a few nights. There are a few routes to take – one would be straight across the middle of the island, another around the northern coast and the one, which we decided on, around the southern part of the island. We chose this route as we also did want to stop at Volcanoes National Park. We reached Ka Lae, which means “The Point”, which is the southernmost point of the island but also of the 50 states of the US. This area was very windy and also where a confluence of ocean currents meet – resulting in some good fishing. There apparently is also a green sand beach nearby but we didn’t have time to check it out.

As we continued our way east, we stopped at Punalu’u Bake Shop, which calls itself the Southernmost Bakery of the US. We had a specific reason to stop: Malasadas, a holeless donut that was brought over by the Portuguese. They were getting close to closing so didn’t have all the flavors still available but we had a plain one and an ube one (though it tasted like bubblegum flavor). I also had to try the coffee they have in the south, called Ali’i.

It had been off and on raining for most of the day. We reached Volcanoes National Park and first went to check out Nāhuku Lava Tube (also called the Thurston Lava Tube).

Our final stop in the park was to an overlook of the Kilauea caldera. It had erupted a few days before we arrived so sadly we didn’t get to see it active, but there was plenty of smoke/steam coming off of it. Also it was quite windy there.

The sun had set and we had another hour to get to Hilo and our hotel. I randomly found this hotel called SCP hotel that had eco-friendly rooms and sat near the water for a decent price. They had coffee available 24 hours and also a filter water machine (along with providing some glass bottles). After checking in, we elected to have dinner at a restaurant that is right next to the hotel. Overall the food was fine, the dessert was quite tasty. The only issue was the service and the LONG wait for food, bill, etc.

For breakfast, we walked over to Ken’s House of Pancake, a 24 hour establishment that opened up in 1971. They had all the breakfast flare, along with some Asian staples, like breakfast fried rice. The portion sizes seemed big so we decided to just share a breakfast omelet with Chinese sausage and some pancakes.

We had not real concrete plans for the day but to explore around Hilo and its surrounding areas. There were 2 big waterfalls that seemed to be recommended. The forecast called for off and on rain for the day so not off to the greatest start. After breakfast we stopped in downtown to see the market (pretty small since it was rainy and a weekday). We did each try an apple banana (this was discussed by the tour guide at the coffee farm the previous day).

The first waterfall on our list was Akaka Falls. I had read that both Akaka falls and Rainbow falls were free except someone in the town/county/state must have realized they were missing out on some easy revenue so now you had to pay for parking/entrance at both locations. Even with the rain, it was a nice little walk down some stairs and then a path through the forest until you arrived at the falls.

Rainbow falls was back closer to town and we made it just before a big busload of kids showed up.

For lunch we stopped at Ola Brew – a local microbrew. I tried a couple of bao sandwiches and found them disappointing. The baos were both dry and tough. Before heading back to the hotel, we picked up some mochi from Two Ladies Kitchen and some coffee from Big Island Coffee Roasters.

Near to our hotel is Liliʻuokalani Gardens, which also has views of Hilo Bay.

To kill some time before dinner, there are some botanical gardens that you can visit for free at the UH Hilo campus.

Dinner at Miyo’s restaurant was quite good. I had read about this egg/toast appetizer

it lived up to the hype. D had some tasty udon and I had a mackerel plate.

Before our drive back to the west side of the island, we grabbed some breakfast from Sippin’ Siren – bagel sandwich for me and a half papaya for D. This time we drove Hawaii Route 200 (Saddle Road) along the middle of the island. The environment around this road is quite different than the southern route around the island. This was lava high desert land. Reading up, I guess this used to be one of the most dangerous paved roads in Hawaii but has since been rectified with new pavement. We arrived back on the west side in time to grab some lunch north of Kailua-Kona in Waikaloa Village. I had some thai food that was nothing to write home about and then grabbed some more coffee at HiCo.

We then returned the car and waited for our flight back to Oahu. The waiting area at Kailua-Kona is outside and while it was warm, it wasn’t too bad sitting there.

Part 2 will be the rest of our trip on Oahu.

-StewsCat

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