Island Time: Big Island 2: Semi-circumnavigating the island

Waking up in a rainforest is an adventure! It’s damp and a little noisy. But today we had another great adventure planned. We were going to drive to Kona via highway 11 on the southern end of the island.

After our morning showers, we headed out for some breakfast at the Lava Rock Cafe. French toast never tasted so good! Especially with the liliko’i syrup on it! It is basically passionfruit found on the island and it is DEVINE!! I should have brought some home.

We then headed southwest on highway 11 and headed toward Kona. The trip should take somewhere between 2 and 2 1/2 hours. It is only a two lane road all the way there and we had a few stops planned so it was going to take us longer to get there.

First, we visited the Volcano National Park to see the crater and a lava tube. This was only about a mile from the restaurant. Since it was national park week, we were able to get in free. We drove around to view the Kilaeua crater and took some pictures of the vast area that was left there. There was a little bit of steam coming up out of the ground but in the distance you could see the smoke coming out of the Kilaeua Crater!

We then wanted to visit the Thurston Lava Tube but road work took us around to a different entrance where we had to hike in. It was only a half mile and was very manageable. What was NOT manageable were the swarms of tourists getting off buses in front of the tube entrance. The were apparently coming off of cruise ships and they just kept coming and coming! Laura and I were hoping for a magical experience inside the tube but not much could be seen or heard with so many tourists. What really confounded me was that they would rarely stop to look at the tube. They basically just walked through as fast as they could. Some stopped to take pictures of their traveling partners but most practically ran through it. Laura and I spent at least an hour hanging out there. Then I decided that we needed to escape the park as soon as humanly possible. We arrived back at the parking lot to find ourselves blocked in by one of the tour buses. Luckily the driver was still with the bus and he moved so we could escape.

Laura in the tube

We headed on further down the road to the black sand beach Punalu’u. This was a small beach (also popular with tourists--but not as crowded) and a fantastic place to view sea turtles. They just come up on the beach or rocks around there and rest. There is really no great place to swim in the area but there is a lifeguard on duty. You can take all the pictures of the turtles you want, but no touching!!!

Black Sand Beach at Punalu'u

We then kept on going up the road and stopped in Punalu’u Bakery for lunch. They have these things called malasadas that are like doughnuts and oh my goddess, they put Krispy Kreme to shame!! I got four of them and then tried to eat something healthy after just one and that just didn’t work.

Southern Point. It's really windy!!

A few more miles up the coast was the southernmost point in the United States. Now I have been to the one in Key West, so with this little side trip down a 12 mile road, I am officially the furthest south I have ever been and it was totally worth the drive. You can make it to the park area in a regular car, but if you want to go further on the point, you have to have a four wheel drive.

The easy part of the road.

Luckily, we did! What was even more adventurous was our spur-of-the-moment decision to drive out the green sand beach (it’s green because it is covered in peradot). We almost made it but it got to one point where I just didn’t think the jeep was going to make it any further. We could have walked the rest of the way, but it was getting late and we still had 45 miles to get to Kona and I wanted to be there before dark. So no green sand today.

Sunset at Huggo's

We rushed up island to make it to Huggo’s in Kona just in time to see the sun go down. TIm and Mishi were waiting for us there with a table right on the water. We ordered drinks and food and enjoyed the evening entertainment of live music and hula dancing. It was almost a perfect day of exploring on the island. What would have made it perfect? Swimming of course! But I am learning fast that you don’t really go to Hawaii to swim. You can do all kinds of things here, but swimming is not easily done.