THE BIG ISLAND/HAWAII (4 nights/3 days)
With 4 nights here, there were 3 trips we really wanted to do on the island, two of which I’d booked in advance:
The Mauna Kea Summit Sunset and Stargazing trip ($320 each)
Snorkelling Trip to Captain Cook Bay ($110 each)
Viewing the Manta Rays at Mauna Kea resort
ARRIVAL EVENING AND DAY 1
Overcast weather as we descended to Kona Airport.
It was dark on the 25 min drive to Mauna Lani on the Kohala coast , where we were staying in an Airbnb townhouse in a gated estate.
Found it easily with good directions given by our hosts, a lovely, particularly welcoming couple. What a house it turned out to be! It was gorgeous and certainly the best accommodation we had in terms of the interior. There were floor to ceiling windows throughout the ground floor which also had a stylish sitting room and a beautiful dining area and kitchen.
We also had a lanai for eating out and relaxing; a sitting area and another area for dining with a full BBQ. Our bedroom was equally lovely, everywhere decorated and furnished with taste.
Again, we were surrounded by stunning landscaping and of course, the whole neighbourhood was very quiet, just birdsong at breakfast.
We had the whole place yourselves as our hosts had to leave the island for a few days. They knew Scotland well and had lived all over the world. They had two little West Highland Terriers and had actually travelled to Scotland to buy one of them; the other, they had obtained in Devon! An astonishing dedication to the breed.
By now, we were ravenous and on our host’s recommendation, we headed in the car for ‘Tommy Bahamas’ restaurant, a 5 min drive away in the Mauna Lani shopping area. This was quite a place, very upmarket and our meal was fantastic albeit, as expected, pricey.
Coconut Shrimp as a starter for me, a dish I love.
Ahi Poke for Chris – both excellent. My main was Thai Shrimp and Scallops with a curry reduction – truly top notch while Chris went for a Fillet Mignon Salad – generous, perfectly cooked strips of steak with a superb salad and crispy fries. Outside of Scotland, we never see scallops on menus: I thought these were as good as we’ve had at home in our favourite restaurants.
We were now reading online about a Kona storm heading for the islands and it sounded pretty awful! It was ironic too because it was the north of Kauai we thought might be very wet; the Kohala coast only gets 9 inches of rain per year yet the washout was going to be on the Big Island!
Staying in Mauna Lani meant we had access to a small private beach which we drove to next morning.
We were now seeing the Mauna Lani estate for the first time and it was beautiful. Very tasteful, gorgeous gardens as ever. This was a huge contrast to the black volcanic rocks that covered so much of the landscape, the latter reminding us very much of Iceland.
Our accommodation came with full snorkelling gear and our experience in this tiny bay was terrific. Lots of fish including big numbers of bright Yellow Tang.
Perhaps we should have been more confident about how good it would be as right beside the beach were the ancient Royal Fish Ponds of King Kamehameha!
The whole area I thought was really pretty with very low key development by way of anything built up overlooking the bay.
Due to the forecast, all State Parks on the island were closed though no rain had fallen as yet. Towards the north also looked dry.
Decided to head for Hawi, a drive that was recommended on the Forum and try to see something of the island before the rain and wind began in earnest but keep a close eye on what was happening and keep the radio on for local news on the storm.
Kohala is a very open, almost treeless part of Hawaii and it appealed to us. We both liked the lack of development on the landscape too – the coast seemed largely unspoiled , only lightly peppered with a very beautiful hotel here and there, usually signified by an outcrop of palm trees. The cloud was well down over Mauna Kea and the lesser hills but it must look quite stunning when clear. As it was, the upper landscape that we could see was rolling farmland, green and fertile.
The only town was Kawaihae and seemed mostly to be a semi industrial harbour area.Hawi itself was a small rustic village of art shops and little boutiques. By now, the rain had started in earnest so we nipped into the Hawi Coffee Company café for lattes – very strong coffee here! Interesting wee place with comfy sofas.
With the rain almost Biblical, we drove on briefly to see King Kamehameha’s statue and an adjacent lovely church then thought we better head south.
The radio was already talking about flash flooding around Kona.
However, it had brightened up considerably by the time we came to Lapakahi Historic Site, a 600 year old fishing village.The vehicle barrier was down across the entrance but we parked just off the track and walked down to the closed visitor centre then strolled round the sizeable site on a coastal path.What an interesting and beautiful place.
Volcanic rock walls, a temple, a traditional game played on a stone, salt pan areas…fascinating and great to see somewhere ‘ancient.’It was a beautifully wild bit of coast too and part of a Marine Preservation area. As if you prove that, a school of Spinner Dolphins surfaced off shore and began their wonderful acrobatics.It was as if they knew we were there, watching!
Presumably the parks were closed to safeguard staff having to travel to man them and also to discourage travellers driving to them. Given how benign the weather was in North Kohala, we didn’t think we were doing any harm being here.
A Saffron Finch made an apearance…
A short drive further south, we pulled in to the barriered vehicle entrance to Pu’ukohola Heiau Historic Site where others were already parked.Chatted to a couple of people who were complaining about the Parks being shut on what was now such a sunny day – certainly this far north.We didn’t go right round the Heiau itself but it looked impressive.
Next up was Hapuna Beach State Park and yes, it was closed.Many, many cars were parked but people were returning to them having walked down to the beach only to be turned back by Rangers saying the beach was shut.
We decided to walk to the Mauna Kea Resort Hotel , another swanky, beautiful hotel which would give us a view of the famed beach.We initially tried to access the resort with the car via the official vehicle entrance but were turned back unless we had a booking.It was like getting into Fort Knox!
It’s quite a place – in fact the Big Island hotels we visited were probably the finest beach resort hotels we personally have experience of; they were stunning.We weren’t challenged as we wandered about the place then onto the lawns above the beach; it was closed even to residents.
There was a path to follow along the shore which gave us a chance to enjoy the coast at least, It was – apart from the large hotel itself and some very upmarket villas behind lava walls – another unspoiled bit of coast.
The beach is described as ‘white sands’ but at the risk of being pedantic, I’d say it was beige. A lovely big sweep indeed though with no other development to spoil the view.
Sat in the beach bar/café and had some tea and a small beer for Chris.
Waikoloa was next and a visit to the King’s and Queen’s Marketplace, two pristine areas of smart shops where we tried, unsuccessfully, to get additional UK-US converter plugs (I’d cleverly left two in Kauai.)
Ate in, after getting some nice deli stuff from good old Foodland at Mauna Lani -Korean BBQ’d chicken and a pasta salad side with our own tomato and onion salad.Felt we’d done quite well despite the gathering storm, to see something of the Kohala area!
Next few days: quiet days, the storm progresses, historic sites and Mauna Kea Visitor Centre.
Link to the start of the trip on Oahu:
annestravelsandhikes.com 