The Connectedness

I needed a real vacation – not just days off sitting around reading or doing my backyard gardening. I wanted to go somewhere I hadn’t been yet and was longing to see. Then I saw a notice on one of my Meetup group sites for a nine day trip to the Big Island for $1,200. What a deal I thought. And in many ways it was a good deal. Our group stayed in several well-appointed condos either near the marina or near the shopping center at the top of the hill five miles south of Kailua-Kona in Keauhou. Most days were semi-planned out with interesting trips. All car rental and gas was taken care of and paid for – that was definitely great. Most times when I go for a week or more somewhere I try not to have to rent a car. That expense alone can be daunting, not to mention the wear of driving, and the last time I did that was on my 2008 trip to Sedona/Glendale, Arizona.

But what seemed like a reasonable, manageable group at first turned into a nightmare. When I got to the Kailua-Kona airport and found the organizers and a couple of the attendees, I learned that our group was now 17 people. This seemed way over the top for me who generally likes travelling alone. I could just envision the logistical craziness of trying to get everyone ready and moving at reasonable hours and timeframes, not to mention willing to go to the same places. And that prediction came true with people constantly bickering and the organizers arguing with each other over how long to stay places. Suffice to say that I will never do another trip with the younger, inexperienced organizer (Steve Juba) who is clearly in it to make money for himself and get free trips. Without Tom Bold’s knowledge of the Big Island the trip would have been a complete disaster.

So on to the fun parts – and yes there were some fun excursions and some great people on the trip. The first day we arrived rather late, so by the time we were all settled in to accommodations it was about time for dinner. Dinner that night was the Big Island Grill, which gives you lots of food, but no alcoholic beverages. Not the best choice for weary travellers, but the leftovers were good.

The Big Island of Hawaii has primarily two sides: the dry side of the Kona coast and the (very) wet side of Hilo. Temperature on Hawaii is the same all year round – about 82 in the day and 71 at night. And the sun sets at about 6:30 pm all year round as well, so planning excursions means daylight ends a bit earlier than you would expect.

The island of Hawaii is the youngest of all with a current active volcano (creating new land) that lies just south of the town of Kalapana at Kaimu Beach. Kaimu was a tract of a couple hundred homes before the last big flow devastated 83 homes. The remaining homes have no running water or electricity, but there are a group of “Lava Fringers” who still enjoy living on the edge of civilization here.

Day Two was a choice of travelling around town and then going to the luau. My condo decided against the tourist gig, so we walked down to the nearest beach and did some snorkeling and turtle-watching. Later that evening we loaded up a few folks in the Jeep, drove into town for dinner at Rapanui since a few of us had done a luau before. Walking around downtown Kona was much like downtown Cozumel (San Juan) along the waterfront with the standard tourist shops and restaurants. It was a beautiful, warm tropical evening.

Day Three was volcano day and Punaluu Black Sand Beach with a side hike through an old Tahitian Style village and restaurant. We stopped at the Punaluu Bake Shop where they make the best guava masadas on the island. The highlights of this day were seeing the Honu sea turtles at Black Sand Beach, walking on the Kilauea Caldera floor and seeing the crater glow after the sunset. Sunsets can be a bit iffy on the Big Island due to the afternoon VOG that comes in from the volcano, but the sunset at the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park was very awesome.

Bye Bye Honu

Walking on the Kilauea Caldera

Day Four was a tour of three beaches – the first through a private access although like all beaches in Hawaii there is a public access as well since all beaches must be publicly accessible. I had a nice time snorkeling again at the first two beaches, but we arrived at beach number three not long before sunset, which was one of the better ones at Kona. Our condo group ate a spaghetti dinner in that night.

Kona Coast Sunset

Day Five was a trip up to Waimea Valley. We stopped at the Parker Ranch Center in Waimea for some snacks, but did not tour Parker Ranch itself or any of the other historic sites here.

Paniolo Statue at Parker Shopping Center

After getting kicked off a supposed public trail we were going to hike on, we loaded back into the vehicles for a drive to the Waipio Lookout. This is one awesome place where you need a 4-wheel drive to get to the beach or brave the steep, treacherous walk down. This type of walking is too much for my arthritic knees, so we had four people in the Jeep driving down, while the others walked. At the beach we met two “wild” horses, one of which kicked my foot after I got too close to her rear end. She was the mean one.

Waipio Valley Beach

Wild Horse at Waipio Beach

This was a wonderful day with great views of Waipio Bay and Kaluahine Falls, a stop at the local shop for goodies, beautiful drive through the Kohala Mountains, and dinner in Kawaihae at the Seafood Diner. Unfortunately, all the driving around – stopping and going – started a round of intense bickering.

Then things started to really fall apart. My compadres at the condo decided they did not want to do any more tours with the rest of the group. Instead, they wanted to rent their own vehicle and drive themselves around. Since I didn’t have the money to do that and I wasn’t overtly invited into their side group, I stayed with the others.

Day Six was a free-for-all kind of day. We had to take people to all sorts of special events like scuba diving and flying, so five of us drove across Saddle Road to Hilo and to Kaimu Beach. I grabbed lunch at Ken’s Pancake House, but I don’t recommend the burger there. I didn’t make it across the lava to the beach, but the photos and videos showed some pretty spectacular lava flow scenes.

Lava Fringers at Kaimu Beach

Day Seven was kayaking day at Kealakekua Bay and Captain Cook’s monument. Here were the Spinner dolphins that I was dying to see. We kayaked across the bay, hauled the boats out and snorkeled a bit on the other side. On the return trip, my partner and I stayed closer to shore and lo and behold in the middle of the bay, we started seeing the dolphins leaping out of the water and spinning around. It was amazing! Too bad I didn’t get any good photos or video of this event because it is truly wonderful to see these small creatures jumping for joy. For our late lunch, we ate at the local Orchid Island Cafe, which was slow in service, but had a lovely view. We stopped briefly at Holualoa Village where there are many art galleries and the coffee plantations are in abundance. I would have loved to spend more time here, but for some reason, Steve wanted to drive to the Honuaula Forest Reserve rain forest. We couldn’t hike there because it was too late in the day and we were not dressed for the colder temps there. This started another round of bickering. That night I decided not to join the group at Kiholo Bay the next day.

Day Eight I mostly stayed by the swimming pool at the condo and walked up to the shopping center. Although apprarently I missed some VW bug-sized turtles at Kiholo Bay, I had a nice relaxing time. For dinner we all went back to Rapanui Cafe in town. I tried to see the Mantas at the Sheraton with Tom, but that night the surf was too rough and they weren’t coming in to plankton feed. That made me sorry that I didn’t go night diving since those that did got to see the mantas up close and personal.

Day Nine was nearly a bust until Tom decided we should at least take a drive to the City of Refuge before heading off to the airport. We stopped first for some shopping at Hilo Hattie’s and even found his fried at a treehouse spa called Dragonfly.

Dragonfly Tree House and Spa Resort

City of Refuge Beach

So while overall I had a great time on the Big Island seeing things I never expected, especially all the sea turtles, I would love to go back here again to do a more relaxed trip either alone or with one other person.