The Big Island Hawaii

 

Visiting the big island (Hawaii) should be on everyone’s list of places to visit. It’s easy to get there from the mainland and there are so many amazing things to do on the island. There are several things that are completely unique to this little corner of the world, which make it a wonderful place to visit. I’d visited two of the other Hawaii’an islands prior to going to Hawaii, so I knew what to expect with the weather, expenses, etc. We’ve become big fans of house/condo rentals through Vrbo & AirBnB. We love the extra space and the ability to make some of our own meals while on vacation. There are plenty of hotels if rentals aren’t your thing. We found an incredible condo right on the water and it worked perfectly for us. 

 

 

Our first full day on the island was spent visiting the Ocean Rider Seahorse Farm. This was such a cool experience. I’ve always been fascinated by seahorses, so it was great to learn more about them and get to see them up close. With a ticket, you go on a tour of the facility and you get the opportunity to hold a seahorse. Definitely a must for the nature lovers out there. 

 

 

There are so many options when it comes to beaches to visit. We wanted to see a variety of them, which was super easy to do here. If you’ve never seen a black sand beach, I highly recommend it. The color comes from lava and the black sand is super fine and powdery. We took a drive and visited Punalu‘u Black Sand Beach. It wasn’t very crowded which made it nice to wander around and explore.

Another beach you can check out is Papakōlea Green Sand Beach. This one isn’t so easy to get to. It requires a five mile hike (out & back), unless you can find someone in a truck to drive you out (they were charging $20 per person). The roads to the beach are treacherous and the guys driving their trucks out there have people packed in like sardines. We opted to do the hike and to be honest, I don’t think it was worth it. I would only recommend this beach to people who are going to spend the day there and play in the water a ton. The green sand is cool but the hike is pretty brutal. The wind was howling the entire time, so we were completely covered in dust and really wind burned by the time we got there. We arrived late in the day, and still had to hike back before the sun went down. If you do want to check it out, go super early, pack a lunch and make a day of it. On an interesting note, the sand gets its color from green olivine crystals that are produced in lava. Supposedly, there are only four green beaches in the entire world.

 

 

We spent a lovely morning exploring the Kona Joe Coffee Plantation. I highly recommend a visit there if you like coffee and want to learn more about it. This spot is absolutely stunning. We just sat there in awe taking in the beautiful scenery. They do a great job on the tour explaining the entire coffee making process and then you can sit on the terrace and enjoy a cup of the good stuff.  Even if you’re not a coffee drinker, I’d still recommend stopping by. It is truly a gorgeous spot to enjoy.       

Another highlight of our trip was a visit to the Kanaloa Octopus Farm. This was just straight up cool. Octopus are such fascinating creatures and with this tour you get to see and touch them. Learning about them was so interesting and then the hands on experience was just over the top. Watching them change colors right before your eyes then wrap a slippery tentacle around your hand was unforgettable. Lucky me, I was the only person in our group to get squirted by one of them. These creatures are so curious and playful. Don’t miss the chance to have this super special experience while you’re there.  

You might be noticing a theme here. The big island offers opportunities to interact with animals unlike any other place on earth. Probably the coolest thing we did was snorkel with the manta ray. This was easily one of the best excursions I’ve ever been on. My husband took these photos on our GoPro. This was a moonlit snorkel which meant we didn’t leave the dock until after it was already dark. There are tons of places that offer this excursion. We went with Wahine Charters and had a great experience. These gentle giants are absolutely incredible. They’re really massive and just so graceful. You could literally feel them just inches away from your face. With this being a night activity, I would definitely recommend booking a tour that includes a wet suit. I was really cold by the end of our snorkel. I read quite a few comments about people being scared of getting in the water at night, but there really is a lot of light once you get out there. This was one of those experiences that I don’t think I’ll ever forget.

Another beautiful drive took us up the northwestern coast of the island. The first stop was Waipi’o Valley. There are so many beautiful sights to take in. There are hikes at both spots. We decided against the first one once we saw people returning from the climb. They looked completely miserable. We did the second one at Pololū Valley, which was challenging but not too bad. Both hikes lead you down to the beach. Come prepared for all sorts of weather. It rained a couple times that afternoon then cleared up and got sunny. The trails were very muddy & slippery.

No trip to Hawaii would be complete without mentioning the beautiful plant life. I am particularly fond of the plumeria flower. They grow everywhere on the island and come in all sorts of colors and sizes. This flower is not only beautiful to look at, but it also smells heavenly. There are lots of places to buy lei’s made of plumeria on the island as well. If I lived in a tropical place, I would grow these amazing flowers everywhere I possibly could. 

We had a spectacular night at the Mauna Kea Summit. Traveling above the standard cloud line at 13,700 feet to see the sunset and the largest collection of active telescopes in the world. This is where a lot of space training takes place. Looks a lot like Mars to me. We had to wear parkas to brave the below freezing temperatures. This was such a unique experience, again, something you can only experience on the big island. We did this excursion with Mauna Kea Summit Adventures, and would highly recommend it to anyone interested.