I recently took a 7 day retreat to the Big Island of Hawai’i which I found good deals flying from Boston. The airport on the Island I flew into was in Kona but I was staying in Hilo which was on the other side of the island. It is also 1h 30 minutes drive between the 2 cities so had to rent a car as soon as I landed in Kona. Putting aside all the atypical things I did on this trip like hiking Mauna Kea and running a half marathon, I was able to hit up many of the key sites of the Island. A disclaimer is a lot of driving was involved, this was something I did not mind at all especially since most of it took place during the day. I did enjoy the views that came with the drives and heck I was able to catch up on my daily podcast listening. Without further ado let me present to you how to make the most of 7 days in the Big Island.
Day 1: Exploring Ka Lae South Point section of the Island
I knew I wanted to see a novel type of beach something I never encountered before so my first stop was to see a black sand beach and Punaluʻu was where it was at. The black sand is made of basalt and created by lava flowing into the ocean which explodes as it reaches the ocean and cools.
Afterwards it was time for lunch and why not make a pit stop at Hana Hou the Southernmost restaurant in the US!!
They have a rotating menu and offer typical Hawaiian fare. I went with sautéed maki with garlic shrimp and ate at their colorful outdoor patio.
The best part of the experience is the gecko sightings but don’t worry they won’t try to sell you any insurance policies 😂
When you are done you might wanna go across the street and treat yourself to a dessert and what better than the southernmost bakery in the USA:
The thing you want to order there is malasadas, small yeast balls of dough, deep fried, and coated in granulated sugar. These pastries were brought to Hawaii by Portuguese immigrants sometime during the 19th century. the coolest thing is they came in many flavors and I chosen taro and guava.
Next stop to visit is the South Point Complex, the southernmost point in both the Hawaiian Islands and the United States. South Point is a flat, grassy, windy plateau situated on high cliffs above the ocean
There is no Insta-worthy marker to take a selfie with at South Point but there is a thirty-two-foot concrete pole beacon I show below.
If we backtrack from South Point Complex and take the fork in the more inner direction you will reach the trailhead for the Papakolea Green sand beach. The beach itself has no parking so only way of reaching it is a trek 5.5 miles via dirt roads along the bay. You could alternatively hitch a ride by locals riding 4x4 vehicles typically ask for $20.
Papakolea Beach is one of only four green sand beaches in the world. Papakolea was once a cinder cone volcano. After it erupted, the lava that the volcano spewed was rich in olivine, an abundant mineral in Hawaii’s natural volcanic rock. The ocean and weather slowly eroded the basalt rock until just the olivine was left behind, giving this beach its unique green color. I admit its hard to make out the green color from the picture alone, its only evident when you try to slip the sand between your hands.
Day 2: Nearby attractions and then Kona for Sunset Manta Ray Snorkeling
Next day I was determined to attempt manta ray snorkeling. I learned that most companies will offer guarantees that in case you do not see any mantas in a given cruise, they will allow you to rebook another date at no charge.
Since I was coming from Hilo wanted to hit up nearby attractions along the way. First stop was rainbow falls. Named so because early mornings a rainbow can be seen arching across the falls. It is 80 ft tall with a base of 100 feet in diameter accessible straight from the parking lot.
The next stop was Kaumana caves. It is formed from an 1881 lava flow that stopped just short of Hilo. From the entrance there is two openings and the one on the right is the deeper of the two. With a headlamp I was able to traverse somewhere under two miles from the entrance. It took more than half an hour and seemed like it would never end narrowing at some points and then expanding at others, somehow felt like I did a roundtrip because I ended up back where I started without backtracking.
More than an hour later driving on the road I reach Kona and get myself booked for a 6pm sunset manta snorkel tour. To kill time I wander along Ali’i Drive the main drag in Kona with tons of restaurants and souvenirs shops. The only historical attraction you will find is Huliheʻe Palace, the former vacation home of Hawaiian royalty, it was converted to a museum showcasing furniture and artifacts.
As it came time for the manta tour, I left for Honokohau Harbor. There we embarked on a boat that sailed 30 minutes until we reached a spot that had potential manta activity. I was provided with snorkeling gear and a wet suit by the tour company. We would jump into the water and hang on to a board with light emitting underneath it for the purpose of attracting plankton which in turn is the target for manta rays to feed on. The Mantas have a wingspans over 13 feet and would somersault backwards in the water to fill their mouths with plankton. It is during this moment that they would get closest to all the snorkelers. It should be noted that they are harmless creatures; they lack the tail stinger of their related stingrays that did our good friend Steve Irwin in. I might have seen 4 or 5 mantas as part of this cruise.
Below is live footage of a manta ray experience:
Day 3: Hilo Farmer’s Market then Volcanoes National Park
It just so happens to be Wednesday which is one of the days other than Saturdays that the Hilo Farmer’s Market takes place. It is an open market with 200 local farmers and crafters selling their produce, crafts, gift items and tropical flowers.
After indulging in the market decided then to make the trip to Volcanoes National Park. The entrance fee was $30 and provided me access to the park for 7 days even though I only did one day, I donated my pass to my roommate in the AirBnB and hopefully she was able to make good use of it. The park encompassed the summits of two of the world’s most active volcanoes — Kīlauea and Mauna Loa.
I immediately hit the ground running with the Kilauea Iki Crater hike. It is essentially walking on hardened lava resulting from a 1959 eruption of the Kilauea volcano.
The hike also included less than half a mile walk though the Thurston lava tube. The experience is child’s play compared to Kaumana: its perfectly graded, well-lit tunnel of hanging lanterns in comparison to the Kaumana caves of the day before.
After this hike the next thing to check out is the Volcano House, a lodging built built at the edge of Kīlauea pit crater. The highlight is the viewing area that offers panoramic views of the crater.
Just outside the hotel are easy trails like sulphur banks to check out where volcanic gases deposited colorful sulfur crystals and other minerals .
There is also steaming bluff trail where you see water vapor rising from steam vents.
A little futher yonder is the Kīlauea Overlook which provides the most dramatic views of Kīlauea caldera.
Now a lot of folks stick around until dusk to experience seeing lava flow and night-time glow but unfortunately for me for the time I went the Kīlauea volcano was inactive so there wasnt much to see 🙁
Day 4: Mauna Kea
Today was the big day, I had awoken at 5 AM so I could leave the house by 6 AM just to arrive at the trailhead around 7:30 AM. I really got going by 8 AM. This was going to be a 13.4 mi hike with 5,000 ft of elevation gain that typically takes 9 hours to complete
The first part of the trail is among the steepest as climbs over a collection of looser stones and boulders. . If you gaze backwards you get a glimpse of Mauna Loa located within Volcanoes National Park. It stands 13,681 feet — a tad shorter than Mauna Kea.
After this initial 1,000 feet, the incline will start to lessen and you will find yourself hiking over and around aa rocks originally from lava flows. They are known to be sharp and rugged.
There is steep incline with switchbacks for the next 3,000 feet, until the Mauna Kea Trail joins with the summit road. Shortly after, the trail forks with the left fork leading to the stunning Lake Waiau and the right fork continuing on to the summit. Lake Wai’au is the third-highest lake in the whole USA. It sits at 13,020 feet above sea level.
You know are starting to get close to the summit when you start seeing many of the world’s most powerful telescopes. You can see 90% of all visible stars from this summit. The number of telescopes is 13 and includes the Keck Observatory considered the second largest in the world.
The last stretch before the summit you will see a sign encouraging you to not proceed any further. It reads:
“Aloha. Mauna Kea is historically, culturally and environmentally significant. Help preserve our cultural and natural landscape and show your respect by not hiking beyond this point to the summit.”
Who am I to disrespect ancient customs? so decided to make the descent back to where I started. Many folks opt to hitch a ride with the cars that drove up here but I decided it was more worthy to brave the altitude sickness and make it down with my legs. I was back at my car by 6:30 PM and alas the souvenir shop was still open but didnt find anything worthwhile. Wasted opportunity of them to not sell bumper sticks bragging that your car climbed this mountain, oh well!!
Day 5: Trip Northwards to Pololū valley
Wake up the next day and to think I still had much left in the tank after this big hike, I still had this willingness to explore a region I haven’t been to yet — the northern coast. Along the way I was going to hit up another waterfall this one called Akaka Falls. It required $5 entry fee and involved a short 0.4-mile hike through the lush rainforest filled with wild orchids, bamboo groves and draping ferns. Dropping 442 ft it is significantly higher than rainbow falls. I don’t know if the sun’s rays hit too strongly that day but had found rainbow falls more aestheically pleasing:
Afterwards it was a long drive until I eventually reached the Kohala district I was greeted by the statue of King Kamehameha I. He is often credited with unifying the Hawaiian Islands into one royal kingdom in 1810 after years of conflict. The significance of this place here is at its near his birthplace even though another replica exists across the street from ʻIolani Palace in the Oʻahu island of Hawaii.
The destination I was headed to was the Pololū Valley. This area is characterized by the actions of the Kohala Volcano that last erupted about 120,000 years ago. While part of the volcano fell into the ocean, it created sea cliffs on the windward Kohala shoreline which water has eroded into 7 deep valleys. The most northern of these is the Pololū Valley.
Despite the Mauna Kea hike from the day before, it didn’t deter me from the short but steep hike down into the valley. At the base it was another black sand beach
Day 6: Beaches of Hilo
Ok this was finally going to be the day that I was going to sit still as in not go on any long drives and return home late. Decided to enjoy the simple pleasures near me in Hilo for a change. First stop was Coconut Island:
It is named such due to the presence of coconut palms on the island. It is popular with the local kids because of the small stone tower from which they jump in the ocean while performing all kinds of acrobatics.
Just outside it there is Liliuʻokalani park. The park contains a pond as well as bridges, koi ponds, pagodas, statues, torii, and a Japanese tea house.
There is another King Kamehameha statue located within Hilo. Prominence of Hilo is that it served as the first official capitol after unifying the Hawaiian Islands
Another historical artifacts of note is this Tsunami Clock of Doom which serves as a reminder of the 2 two killer tsunamis that rocked Hilo. The first one took place in 1946. The public clock survived that disaster only to succumb to the second tsunami that struck with awful effect in the middle of the night on May 23, 1960. The clock’s hands are still frozen to that moment in time: 1:04 am. The 1960 tsunami ultimately destroyed over 500 buildings and 61 residents died. As part of the recovery efforts, the town banned residential rebuilding in the twice afflicted areas, much of the land was turned into public parks.
As the day wore on, went and visited 2 beaches: Carlsmith and Richardson. Carlsmith consists of outcroppings of reef and lava rock while Richardson is moreso a black sand beach where lava rocks have formed around to create a protected cove.
Day 7: Half Marathon then National Historical Parks in Kona
Today was the day of my final physical feat, running 13.1 miles at the break of dawn. I started at 6:15 AM and was finished by 8:30 AM. Its an out and back course that runs alongside historic roads with breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean, scenic waterfalls, lush tropical forests and expansive sugarcane fields.
This was my last day and one essential thing I did not see was sea turtles. All the beaches I checked out so far occasionally get sea turtle presence but were MIA in the times I went, maybe they prefer more secluded areas? Learned that Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park is the place to go. There is an essence to this place other than sightings of sea turtles. The shorefront here is built from the lava flows released by the Hualalai Volcano. Here the natives built a lava rock wall in order to separate the bay from the sea. When the tide is high, small openings allowed young fish to enter from the sea, but as the tide receded, they were trapped to be easily caught with nets. It just illustrated how native Hawaiians worked with their environment to manage and utilize the ocean’s natural resources.
As I approached the waters I finally got to see them even though they were underwater with only the dome of their shells sticking out of the water. This species is known as the honu green sea turtle and listed as threatened so folks are urged to stay at least 20' away at all times.
After this historic park I figured I might as well check out another one and along the way spot this roadside stand. It was unmanned and based on the honor system, you would just pay via VenMo the price of the pastry.
I ordered the Passion Fruit Mochi Cake and it was so yummy
So I arrive now at Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park. Renowned as the place of refuge for ancient Hawaiian lawbreakers. In traditional Hawaiian society the consequences was death, one would be able to evade it and achieve absolution by making it to this place. It wasn’t that easy, they would have to swim across the ocean dodging sharks and currents then once here receive a pardon from a high priest.
Surrounding the Temple you will notice many Kiʻi, or carved wooden statues of Hawaiian gods.
After your done with this park you may want to wander over to Two Step Beach which features crystal clear waters and a pristine reef making it a popular spot for snorkelling in Hawai’i. The most common fish you see is the yellow tang
Alright! we reached the end of this 7 day adventure in the beautiful Big Island, what better way to end it than at one of the most storied breweries Kona Brewing Co which I am sure you’ve heard about since its circulated nationwide. It started out in 1994 and is Hawaii’s largest craft brewery and was at one point owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA.
