Hawaii- Kona/Hilo Day 4

August 5th, 2013

Today was a R and R day. We had breakfast at the hotel. They had delicious strawberry Belgium Waffles. We ate outside and were surrounded by little hoppy birds who liked to divebomb empty tables with food still on them. After breakfast, Drew and I collected coral rocks and went to make our mark on the lava rocks. I make my initials and a heart. Drew made a shark eating my name. The rest of the afternoon we hung out by the pool and reading.

For dinner we went to the hotel restaurant. We had a perfect view of sunset. They had very good seafood. Probably the third best meal on the trip. Mom and I both had snapper in a lemon butter sauce and I had a very creamy lobster bisque as well. 

Hawaii: Kona/Hilo Day 3

Today we drove through the Kona belt. It’s a stretch of the island that is 10 miles wide and 25 miles long. It has the ideal climate for growing coffee trees, sunny in the morning, overcast in the afternoon, rain around 4. We stopped and took a tour of Greenwell Farms. The Greenwell’s moved from England with 10 children in tow in the 1800s. There are still 3 Greenwells living and working on the farm. A nice middle-aged lady walked us though the fields and the coffee process. They have 200 acres of coffee trees, mango, lemon, papaya, macadamia nuts, and other plants. 25,000 coffee trees, all hand picked when the cherries are red and ripe. They then get pealed and have 12 hours to begin being processed, otherwise they’ll ferment and sour. They then dry for three days before being sorted into 100 pound bags. They ship them unroasted to companies like Seattle’s Best, Caribou Coffee, and others because they keep for longer and the other companies can call it their own. The Greenwells do make some of their own coffee and we brought a few bags home. They also had unlimited free samples.

After the farm, we drove down to a great snorkeling spot next to a national park, known for it’s two coral stairs. We had great visibility, 30-35 ft or so, and I saw some of the best coral I’ve seen since being in Australia. Again, lots of fish and even a 2ft barracuda. Before I had even gotten in the water, I saw a turtle who had come up for air. I also saw a baby eel. He was maybe a foot long, cream colored with a little yellow edging, just playing in the coral. The rest of the afternoon, Dad and I hung out at the hotel. Mom and Drew went snorkeling in our own day, but they said it was mostly sand.

For dinner, we went to a place called Bamboos. It was said to have the best food on the island and I think they were right. It started out as a hotel, then a general store, before becoming the restaurant. The wait staff was charming and friendly. The owner even came over to talk to us several times. She joked that they set the bar low with crappy food and lousy service. I think they surpassed it.

Hawaii: Kona/Hilo Day 2

Today was a big adventure day. We drove from Kona to Hilo. On our way we stopped and has breakfast at Liliku Café. I had a crepe with cottage cheese, strawberries, bananas, and yogurt. A little strange, but tasty.

After, we continued up the coast. Our first stop was at Akaka Waterfalls. It has a great flow and beautiful greenery around it. There was a rainbow in the mist coming off of the falls. We then took the Four Mile Drive, which is a small road that wove around the coastline. A lot of the time it was covered by trees, but when you could see the coast it was breathtaking. Then we stopped in Hilo for ice cream before heading to the boiling pots. The lookout wasn’t very good, so we climbed down a makeshift path onto them. There hadn’t been much rain the night before, so they were gurgling rather than boiling. We also stopped at Rainbow Falls, which was smaller than the Akaka Falls.

From there, we stopped at a burger joint called Cronics for lunch. At 3:30, out tour guide, Ben, picked us up for our sunset lava tour. He was a very funny driver and had some great stories for us. He was actually from Hilo, so he knew and loved the area. We went through a lot of winding forests to Aunties Macadamia Nut Farm. She moved to Hilo 20 years ago and bought this farm 12 years ago. Macadamia nuts can be harvested all year round, though she chooses to harvest only about 4 months. Her farm lead all the way down to the ocean.  

Our next stop was the black sand beaches. Most of it is gone because of a past lava flow that added 1/4th of a mile to the island in 1983. The only way to find it, without aimlessly wandering is to follow a red rock path through the lava field. The surf was high when we were there, and Ben told us that it had a notoriously strong undertow.

A little after 6, we headed to the active lava spot. Because it's been popping up at random and trying to flow over a lot of the roads, they had people parking father away, but Ben had us move a traffic cone so we could park up front. The viewing wasn't great, but we could see some flow. We did see a tree go up in flames. I think if we could have been 500 yards closer, we would have had a great view. One of the problems with the unpredictability of lava. Ben cooked us chicken for dinner at Auntie's.  We got back to our hotel around 10:30.