Big Island is the third island we have decided to visit in Hawaii. We arrived as scheduled on December 28, 2010. We wanted to ensure that we would have enough time to prepare for the arrival of our son from Calgary. We have rented a car and this has been the bad surprise of the trip. We had booked the car on Hotwire and the cost quoted for 13 days was $ 1700.00. That hurts ! Guide books do tell you that the cost increase over the holidays, and they typically say they double, but in this case, the price was multiplied by 4 and the car rentals are scarse on this island. The large companies have reduced their fleet. Anyway, the first thing we did after our arrival, was to find a local car rental dealer, other than the Alamo, Budget and Hertz of this world. In the end, we did find something much cheaper, although the car was scratched everywhere... Otherwise, we have rented a fully furnished condominium on the East side of the Island, the Sunny side, in Kailua-Kona to provide some comfort to our big baby. The appartment was very clean, well maintained and really had everything required to have a pleasant stay. Beach towels were provided too as well as cleaning services twice during our stay.
Alain and I decided to sleep on the sofa and we left the room to Thomas. Before Thomas arrived, we stocked up the fridge, too... We had not seen Thomas for over a year, so this is a good time to spoil him a little bit. Our son has arrived safely !
Tired ! and in addition, his bag has not arrived at the same time as him from Calgary. It did arrive the following day though, which was a relief for him.
Our stay with Thomas was spent mainly on the beach, snorkeling, swimming, resting, sun-tanning. Coming from minus 20 degres Celsius and snow, needless to say that Thomas has enjoyed the sunny and warm weather we got.
After !
Snorkeling on Big Island is great ! There are 2 main hot spots for snorkeling : at Captain Cook s memorial where you can see a multitude of fishes, all sizes, all shapes, all colors. It is almost like being in an aquarium. The second spot is located close to the Place of Refuge and although you see less fishes, you can swim with the turtles around you.
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park : Kilauea and Mauna Loa, two of the word's most active volcanoes are still adding land to the Island of Hawaii. We decided to hike the Kilauea Iki Trail, a four mile loop, that descends through rain forest to Kilauaea Iki s frozen, but still steaming crater floor. It is like walking on the moon...
The trails leading to Halema'uma'u Crate have been closed for about two years now due to high amounts of dangerous sulfur dioxide gas.
We also stopped to walk through the lava tube, nothing spectacular as it is like walking inside a tunnel, except that it is all made of lava.
There are 2 types of Hawaian lava : Pahoehoe and a'a. Pahoehoe has a smooth and ropy surface. A'a is jagged and clinky.
Pahoehoe
We went to the lava viewing point at night.
This is not the running flow or river we expected, but we would not have missed it anyway. In reality (but not on the pictures), you truly see the lava along the slope of the mountain.
We had to finish our day to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park by going to Hilo and try the world famous Loco Moco (it has been trade marked by the owners of Cafe 100) ! Healthy, not fatty food as you can see below....
Concerning Hilo, apart from a couple of historical building and the statue of the Kamehameha King
Surfing is like on Oahu. It starts at dawn : Locals hit the waves before going to work whilejoggers, walkers, bikers invade the road along the sea, Ali Drive, in Kailua-Kona.
We were sad to leave our son Thomas at the airport, but our stay in Hawaii was also coming to an end. One day back in Waikiki where we met Angela Byrd, Miss Hawaii 2011.
We are now back in Los Angeles and are flying on January out to....On the Road Again !
No comments:
Post a Comment