March 18 - Kohala Coast

At the northwestern tip of the Big Island, we drove down the Old Coast Guard Road, aiming for the old Mo‘okini Heiau. This area of Kohala has short trees sparse among the grass and rocks.

Instead, we wound up at a rocky beach called Honoipu. The wind was at our back, for a change, as we stared out to sea.

It was nice not to have to worry about salt-water spray as I took photographs of the crashing waves.

Turquoise water, Maui just off shore. Chunlin spotted whales breaching. Look at that one! It’s completely out of the water! Oh wait, that’s a bird.

Back up the hill, we found the turn-off toward the heiau, but a locked gate with a “no trespassing” sign dissuaded us from proceeding further.

Down the coast, we stopped at Mahukona Beach. It’s an old harbor from the sugar cane days, I believe, but now in ruins. Snorkelers floated on the shallow water. Little yellow fish hid from them.

On the road again, we stopped at Spencer Beach and visited Pu‘ukohola Heiau, built by King Kamehameha. We sat in the small visitors center and watched a video and enjoyed the breeze.

Lovely piles of rocks.

Our next stop was Puako, which isn't really a town. It's just a long dead-end road with many houses on it, paralleling the ocean. There are a few gaps for public access to the rocky shore.

Lava tidepools. A‘a and rope lava and smooth pahoehoe. Small waves, but they felt big for the tight gaps.

We saw sea urchins, sea cucumbers, tiny fish, three sea turtles, and a pair of eels.

Life is hard on the dry side of the island...

March 18 - Pololu Valley

We drove to the northern end of the island, hung a right near Hawi, and stopped at Kapa‘au.

We visited the original King Kamehameha statue. It had a single lei, so there must not be a holiday nearby.

We moved on. Before we got to the end of the road at Pololu Valley, we turned off at Keokea Beach to use the restrooms.

It’s a rocky shore, but one young guy was body boarding. He would take short runs and then pull off quick before he hit the rocks.

An ambulance came down to the park, but the paramedics just leisurely watched the waves. I guess it was their break. Or were they waiting for the surfer to hurt himself?

We got back in the car and shortly we were at Pololu Valley Lookout. Views of the cliffs up the coast.

We hiked down into the valley on a steep, hot trail. The hike would probably be cooler in the afternoon, but... oh well.

At the bottom of the hill, the valley floor is a flat forest. Some campsites. Some “no trespassing” signs stopping anyone from walking upstream. We headed to the beach and sat, ate a snack.

A couple men were fishing to our left; I think they were the ones camping. To our right, a family with small kids. A quarter mile away, one surfer. Not many people on the large beach, but it was a Monday morning, after all.

Near the cliffs, the beach is composed of boulders. It quickly transitions to cobbles, where we were sitting. Near the mouth of the river, the beach quickly transitions to sand. Pololu Stream (as the USGS map calls it) flows underground through the beach, a berm of sand and rocks, to get to the ocean. There is no inter-tidal zone.

Eventually, we decided we’d had enough and thus tackled the hot climb back up the hill. Water and shade are good.

We returned to Kapa‘au at 11 a.m. Pizza time.

March 17 - Waipi‘o and Waimea

We drove along the coast to the end of the paved road, at a place called Waipi‘o, the valley of kings.

We stopped at the overlook. The beach was way down below us. Taro fields covered the flat-bottomed valley. A trail switchbacked up the hill on the far side. Many visitors. A group of college-aged people returned from a backpacking trip while we were there.

There’s a steep road down the hill -- four-wheel-drive only, not all-wheel-drive. Huh. Pedestrians must yield to vehicles.

Steep enough for you?

We headed back east to Honoka‘a and then inland up the old highway (which parallels the new highway) to Waimea/Kamuela. It seems most locals call the town Waimea, but the Post Office calls it Kamuela because there’s a larger Waimea in the state. We got lost, but found the Kamuela Inn hiding behind some other buildings. It was our cheapest room all week. Outside, it was dry but overcast. Down the hill westward, it looked like it might be sunny at Kona and Waikoloa.

We took a walk around town. The sun came out. Waimea’s not really a walking town. We walked on the gravel shoulder of the highway. Big, red hibiscus grow in hedges all over town.

Waimea/Kamuela is a quiet town, excepting for the busy highway connecting Hilo and Kona that cuts through the middle. We wandered to the Parker Ranch Mall. The food court is inside, but all the rest is a strip mall. Cattle ranching is the tradition around Waimea, so it's got an old-west decor.

At the Keck Observatory offices, a “no pedestrians” sign graces the narrow shoulder. So we didn’t walk to the churches further down the road. We turned around and headed back to the motel.

Bird-of-paradise flowers grew in bunches outside the Isaac Hale Art Gallery, as did bananas.

We got back to the motel at 6 p.m. Not quite hungry, we ate a banana each for dinner -- from the grocery store, not the tree. I guess my loco moco lunch filled me up.

March 17 - Along the Hamakua Coast

Aloha and on the road, north out of Hilo. We turned off the highway to head up to Akaka Falls for a walk in the jungle. Flowers blooming, vines growing, bugs biting, water falling.

It’s a paved trail with handrails, reminding me of Huangshan. Drippy sky.

Akaka Falls looked taller than its 420', according to Chunlin.

We headed back down the hill and on the road. I pulled off the highway briefly in Hakalau looking for a taro-chip store, but we didn’t find it. I think I should have turned left, not right. We ended up on the old highway under the new bridge above.

We turned back up the hill to the new road. Down the highway, we stopped in the town of Laupahoehoe for gasoline. While I filled the tank, Chunlin went to the next-door farmers market and bought some macaroni with olive oil and cheese, and a pita sandwich of zucchini and other veggies. We ate it at Laupahoehoe Point. To get there, you take the highway down into the gorge and back up the far side, then turn off onto the old road and head back down the hill into the gorge and out to the sea.

Waves crashed and crashed and crashed. I could watch them forever.

March 16 - Back to Hilo

We drove back to Hilo and then eastward to Onekahakaha Beach.

Sandy, rocky pools behind a semi-natural breakwater. Not much rain at the moment. Lots of family picnics were going on. No one was in the water, though. Too cool out for locals, but we waded.

Some spots were warmer on our feet, but cooler at the surface. It’s a peaceful, happy place.

Chunlin wanted to walk the length of the Hilo Bay breakwater (2 miles each way). I found the access point.

We walked out a little ways, but actually stopped before the inner bay began. It was very windy!

After returning to the bed and breakfast, we walked the mile down the hill into town.

The sun set while we ate dinner. It gets dark quickly in Hawai‘i. It made me appreciate the long twilights of Seattle. After dark, we wandered around Hilo.

The shops were closed up already, even though it wasn’t very late. People were walking around, like us, but only the restaurants were open. Not really a tourist town, but we liked it there.

We walked back up the long hill in the dark. Orange streetlights. Chartreuse streetlights.

"Honu" is "sea turtle," so the Hilo Honu Inn had a stuffed honu.

For being heralded as the rainy side of the Big Island, Hilo was rather dry. We got a bit of light rain the first evening, but the rest of our time there, the sky was overcast but it didn't rain when we were in town. Odd, that.

March 16 - Puna

We head up the coast on a narrow roller-coaster road. Forest, lava, ocean cliffs, forest.

We stopped at MacKenzie State Park, a forest of wispy trees and no undergrowth, right to the cliffs over the sea. A local, who asked us if we were lost, said she knew nothing of the lava tube mentioned in the guide book. The book only has vague directions to the cave, so we just went to the cliffs instead.

Some fool was down by the water as huge waves crashed into the rocks.

Back driving, we turned off the paved highway onto a washboard and pothole dirt road to the Kumukahi Lighthouse.

The tower was spared (but barely) by Pele when the lava came rolling down the hill. There’s a vast expanse of rough a‘a lava. And the ocean all around.

Inland we went next, to the Lava Tree State Park.

The towering forest canopy was more interesting to me than the small monoliths.

The name "lava tree" refers to the 8'-high tubes of lava that remain after lava flowed through the forest and cooled around trees, as the trees burned. They just look like lumpy rocks now.

Nice place for a walk, though, even in the rain.

We then headed to Pahoa for a late lunch at Kaleo’s. Dark inside. I guess the food tastes better that way.

We ordered pork wontons and mahi tempura. A few minutes after ordering, Chunlin wanted the fish special...

The rain didn’t let up, so after eating we didn’t head back to Kalapana for the lava viewing hike. Wimps, right?