Hilo, Hawaii - September 2013

Kaimu Beach lava field.

Well all going well I'll be well into my long walk on the Alpine Track by now. So rather than let the dust settle on my blog while I'm gone I've prepared a few posts to keep things ticking over while I'm slogging my way north. This a  short post about a visit we made to the small city of Hilo on the island of Hawaii, otherwise known as The Big Island by the locals. We visited Hawaii as part of a long South Pacific cruise a few years ago and after being cooped up on the ship for a couple of weeks (relatively speaking) I'm sure nobody would be surprised to know that I wasn't that keen on hanging around the city for the day. So as soon as the ship had docked Sam and I jumped into a mini van and headed straight out of town down towards Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to check things out a little - so the Hilo heading is a little misleading I suppose. 

 Lava tree, Lava Tree State Monument park.

The first spot we checked out today was the small Lava Tree State Monument. The lava trees in the park were created back in 1790 when a flood of lava 10 feet deep flowed through, what was rainforest. The lava solidified around the trees as the trees themselves burned away which then left the mould of the lava trees, this only occurred on Ohia Trees due to their high moisture content. Once we arrived at the park we took the short nature trail which wound around through the ghost forest for around twenty minutes before depositing us back at the car park. Coming from Melbourne the tropical vegetation here was also a bit of a highlight, the large Monkey Pod Trees being a particular stand out.

Monkey Pod Trees

Jumping back into the welcoming air conditioning we headed down to our next stop, the MacKenzie State Recreation Area. This is another little coastal park, although it's a coastal park without a beach. The main feature of this spot is the lava cliffs plunging into the surging surf. Wandering up and down the coastline a little beneath the canopy of the Ironwood Trees it reminded me a little of the Casuarinas that line a lot of the Australian coastline, although we don't have the jagged jet black lava cliffs. 

MacKenzie State Recreation Area

The jagged lava cliffs and surging surf at MacKenzie State Recreation Area.

Back in the comfort of our mini van we continued south along highway 137 to where it ends at Kaimu Beach. The highway use to continue on it's way south until 1990 when an eruption caused lava to flow across the highway on its way to the sea (and more or less obliterate the nearby town of Kalapana at the same time). Parking the van we took the short walk across the very abrasive lava field to the black sand beach. It's baking hot here on the lava fields but the crashing shore break would keep most people out of the water I would think. Interestingly there are some signs of life already eking an existence out on what is a fairly recent lava flow, with quite a few coconut palms poking through the lava. Our whistle stop tour largely finished here unfortunately, after a nice lunch in the grounds of the historic Star of the Seas Painted Church we headed back to the bright lights of Hilo to do a little shopping, before once again boarding the ship and sailing off into another South Pacific sunset. 

Kaimu Beach lava field.

There are a few shoots of green making their way sky ward.

The black sands of Kaimu Beach.

The lava fields of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

The Dirt.

We visited Hawaii on with Princess Cruises, Sam and I have been on cruises with them a few times over the years and they generally provide for a good value for money option. There is actually a bit of overnight trekking available at the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and while information is a little thin on the ground there has been a journal of a walk written up on crazy guy, if anyone wants to check it out. Lava Trees State Monument is free as is Mackenzie State Recreation Area, although you'll pay if you want to camp there. I'm thinking that there is a small fee to access the coast at Kaima Beach but as we were on a tour it was already sorted for us so I'm not 100% sure.

Relevant Posts.

Kona, Hawaii, 2013.

Haleakala National Park, Maui, Hawaii, 2013.

Kaua'i, Hawaii, 2013.

Sailing out of a fairly overcast Hilo.

Another South Pacific sunset!

Haleakala National Park, Maui, Hawaii - September 2013

Every now and again things don't pan out quite as expected, today was such a day. On our little jaunt around the South Pacific a couple of years ago we visited island of Maui in Hawaii, with only one day off the ship we headed up to check out the volcanic Haleakala National Park. The ship anchored off Lahaina and we headed ashore bright and early on the one of the ships tenders, the day was a typical blue sky Hawaiian type of day, bright and sunny with a balmy breeze blowing. Jumping onto a comfortable coach we headed off on our journey up to Haleakala, the trip to the top would take couple of hours, initially we followed the Honoapi'ilani Highway along the coast giving us plenty of views out to the blue Pacific Ocean, before crossing the big isthmus that joins the two mountainous halves of Maui together and starting to climb.

Climbing up towards Haleakala National Park looking back down towards the large isthmus that joins the two mountainous ends of Maui together, Lahaina is further down the coast.

In the naughty seat at the back of the bus.

The climb up to Haleakala Crater involves a seemingly endless series of switchbacks with the views improving at every turn, well they were until we were enveloped in the cloud. By the time we arrived at the parks office the weather was very gloomy indeed, oh well, its all part of the adventure. Stepping out of the bus we were hit by the wind, and seeing that we were on a 5 week tour of the tropics we didn't have a lot of warm clothes with us so even wearing everything warm we had it was still, you might say....invigorating. After checking out the small garden of Silversword and having a quick look around we were back onto the warm and dry coach.

Hmm, looks a bit nasty!

The Haleakala National Park office with its small garden of Silversword.

Leaving the parks office the road continued to climb into the clouds, out the window we were passing through a barren moonscape with nothing appearing to grow above grass height. Arriving at the Haleakala Visitor Centre, which at around 2970 metres was the highest that I'd ever been in those days, we jumped out into the misty rain and headed to the lookout. Now I'd like to talk about the awesome view down almost a thousand metres into the crater (which is actually not a crater but a crater like basin!), but with the visibility well under 100 metres there was no views today. After checking out the interesting displays in the visitor centre we braved the wind and rain to have a bit of a look around, the lookouts only provided a view down into the swirling mist in the abyss. 

At least Sam had some long pants on.

This fool was only wearing shorts.

With no hope of a view we jumped on the bus and headed back to Lahaina, stopping on the way to check out the excellent Maui Ocean Centre on the way. The rest of the day was spent checking out Lahaina and relaxing in the sun, believe it or not. By the time we sailed away that evening the cloud was lifting from the mountains which at least gave us a great sunset view back towards the the West Maui Mountains.

There was a little wildlife braving the weather.

Visibility was pretty ordinary.

The Dirt.

Our visit to Haleakala National Park might not of given us any great views but it was still an interesting spot, it also gave me a bit of a feel for what would be involved doing a multi day walk there in the future. The park is home to a good network of trails which are serviced by some back country huts. The thought of a multi day stroll through a volcano that last erupted in 1790 sounds interesting to me, so I might be back one day, if only I could win lotto. Evidently the best time to visit Haleakala is for the sun rise, the later in the day it gets the more chance of being over run with cloud. Whenever you go take some warm clothes as even if the weather is OK it would still be decidedly chilly on top. This was part of a cruise we took with Princess, I've mentioned it before but they always seem to provide a good, value for money experience for us.

The sunset over the West Maui Mountains didn't disappoint.

Kona, Hawaii - September 2013

I've got to post a bit of a warning here, this post will have quite a few un-captioned photos of tropical fish, I'm not completely up to speed with all the different variations of our aquatic mates. This is also a bit of a retro post, going back to 2013 so some of the details are a little hazy. What I do remember though was anchoring in Kailua Bay on another beautiful day in Hawaii, after breakfast we went ashore on one of the ships tenders where we promptly jumped on a zodiac for a cruise down the coast.

There'll be plenty of these photos in this post.

The first activity today was to visit Captain Cooks Monument at Ka'awaloa Cove in the Kealakekua Bay State Historical & Underwater Parks. It was near here that Captain Cook was killed by the natives in 1779, the monument being erected in 1878. Before we got there though we had an exiting, if somewhat bumpy ride in the zodiac down the South Kona Coast, the shoreline being alternately composed of black lava cliffs along with beautiful beaches. Arriving at the sheltered Kealakekua Bay we were soon slipping off the side of the zodiac into the crystal clear tepid water.

The snorkelling at Ka'awaloa Cove was the best we did in Hawaii.

First up I've got to say that this was some of the best snorkelling that I've ever done, the zodiac anchored over a huge drop off which felt like we were floating over a deep blue abyss. Closer to shore there was some beautiful coral bommies to snorkel around, the amount of colourful fish here was stunning. As we snorkelled in and out of the numerous different corals the fish kept coming, we were also lucky enough to spot a sea turtle at one stage.

Parrot Fish

Some idiot.

One strange thing to note is that we weren't actually allowed on shore to check out Captain Cook's Monument, there was even a guard in place to make sure no unruly Aussies tried to bend the rules, as if I'd do that! So not wanting to take on the guard I had to swim in within a metre or so of dry land and take a photo of the monument whilst I floated in the shore break, easier said than done, The problem with my stealth approach was that I couldn't get a shot that didn't include peoples excess clothes in the shot, oh in case your shouting at the screen and saying that how did the clothes get onto dry land well it appears that if you walk down to the bay from the road you are allowed to access both the water and dry land.

Captain Cook Monument.

Sam at Ka'awaloa Cove, that's our zodiac anchored up behind.

Anyway after a couple of hours it was time to climb back aboard the zodiac and head back up the coast to Kona. The highlight of the return journey was taking the zodiac into a sea cave and also getting up close to our ship anchored in Kailua Bay off Kona. After saying our farewells to our zodiac crew we headed back onto the ship to drop off our snorkelling gear and have a shower. After refreshing on board we caught the tender back to the pier and went to check out town.

Getting up close to our ship on the zodiac.

Kona is a bit of a strange place, with a population of around 10,000 it's a very spread out kind of a city. The city is situated on what looks like an old lava flow with the land sloping downwards to the sea in a very uniformed and equal way, therefore there are no real hills in town its all just one gently rising slope. To be honest we probably didn't see the best of Kona, with only a few hours to spare we headed up towards the massive shopping centre that is the Lanihau Centre, but to be honest my heart wasn't really in it. Luckily for me Sam was happy enough to pass up on some retail therapy and we retreated to a bar on the coast and enjoyed a couple of drinks while sitting in the balmy breeze.

Our ship at anchor in Kailua Bay from up near the Lanihau Centre.

Enjoying the nice tropical breeze in Kona.

The Dirt.
Kona is on Hawai'i or if you prefer the Big Island and while the city of Kona wasn't overly inspiring the coast line to the south was stunning, the snorkelling was the best that we did in Hawaii. The Big Island is also home to some very active volcanoes so there's plenty to do there once you get out of town. Once again we cruised with Princess Cruises and once again we were more than happy with the experience. I can't recall the name of the company that took us down the coast on the zodiac but the half day trip was very reasonably priced, its definitely worth doing if you ever find yourself in Kona. You can also walk into Ka'awaloa Cove from the Mamalahoa Highway or sea kayak in from Napo'opo'o Wharf.

Kona from the deck of our ship as we sailed away.

Yeah, another sunset shot over the Pacific Ocean.

Kaua'i, Hawaii - September 2013

Kaua'i was our second Hawaiian stop on our cruise to Hawaii and around the South Pacific a couple of years ago. Kaua'i is probably most famous for being the place where Jurassic Park was filmed and we were going to head out the Na Pali Cliffs which was the actual location for the movies. For me though it was the sheer grandeur of the coastline and the wildlife under the water that I wanted to see. At the same time I wanted to get a bit of a lay of the land because its also the site of a walk that I want to do one day, the awesome Kalalau Trail, a three or four day return walk that traverses long sections of the cliffs before dropping down to idyllic beaches, my kind of trek!

The Na Pali Cliffs.

We docked at Lihu'e on Nawiliwili Bay on a beautiful day, the entrance to the port had us passing close to the scenic golf course that lined the bay on one side, everything looked perfectly manicured and impossibly neat. Once off the boat we met our guide for the day and piled into a mini van for the drive half way across the island to Port Allen, where we boarded our much smaller boat for our cruise around to the Na Pali Cliffs. Leaving the small harbour we were immediately thrown around in the swell as we headed west and then north around the sand dunes that house the Barking Sands Pacific Missile Facility, you don't see that every day in Australia!

We were joined by some Spinner Dolphins on our zodiac trip. 

The water looked very inviting.

Slowly we turned to the North East and the huge Na Pali Cliffs started to loom above us. My words can't really do this scene justice it has to be seen to be believed, the cliffs rise abruptly 100's of metres above the beautiful blue water, the faces of the cliffs fluted where eons of water have eroded them. Every so often we would pass by secluded beaches that were the sole preserve of sea kayakers or intrepid walkers, the beaches were backed by lush green valleys that inevitably had a picturesque waterfall cascading down from the top of the cliffs. Some of the punters on board were getting a bit sea sick in with the swell but luckily Sam and I were going OK, I think the fact that we had so much to look at to take our mind off any queasy feeling in our stomach helped, as well as the coastal cliffs to admire we were also visited by a pod of dolphins that stopped to check us out for awhile.

Its hard to get a good photo while being tossed around on the zodiac.

Every now and again there was a break in the cliffs, this is why I would love to walk The Kalalau Trail.

Eventually we anchored beneath the towering cliffs and it was time to go snorkelling. While the water was pretty deep, probably in the 3 to 4 metres range, the visibility was so good that we didn't need to be able to dive all the way to the bottom to check out the fish and the hard corals. We had to be a little careful not to get to far in towards the shore in case you got caught in the shore break, getting smashed onto the rocks that lined the cliffs wasn't something that I wanted to experience. This was different to any snorkelling that we had done before, we'd definitely never snorkelled in such a heavy swell and it was slightly strange to be floating 4 metres above the coral one minute and then as we dropped into the trough of the wave we'd only be a metre or two above the ocean floor, before once again rising as we floated over the crest of another wave.

Time to go snorkelling.

There was some coral but it you had to be a good swimmer to dive down and get close.

We were fairly close to the base of the huge cliffs so had to be careful not to get swept up in the shore break.

After a couple of hours of snorkelling in this stunning location it was eventually time to start the fairly long journey back to Lihu'e. It was on this leg of the trip, as we passed by the missile facility that we had a very memorable wildlife encounter. Whilst ploughing through the swell the captain spotted a highly endangered Hawaiian Monk Seal, it was lazing about on the surface eating a butterfly fish. The Hawaiian Monk Seal is the only true seal that stays in tropical waters all year, and there are now thought to be only 1100 of them left in the wild, so we were very lucky to see one. After the excitement of the seal the rest of the journey back to the ship was fairly uneventful by comparison. Re boarding the ship we headed to our usual spot and settled in to enjoy the beautiful scenery as we sailed out of Nawiliwili Bay, the cliffs and mountains slowly receding into the ocean along with the setting sun.

The last of the Na Pali Cliffs on our way back.

The sand dunes are part of The Barking Sands Missile Facility, not something you see much in Australia!

The critically endangered Hawaiian Monk Seal, the yellow thing is a Butterfly Fish it was eating.

Yeah, another photo of a seal.

The Dirt.
We did this cruise with Princess Cruises who seem to provide a level of service that both Sam and I can live with! If your interested in some more information on Hawaiian Monk Seal check out this site it explains more about their plight. We organised the cruise along the Na Pali Cliffs from the ship but there appears to be a multitude of companies running excursions along this wild coastline, it really is a very spectacular place and shouldn't be missed if your in the area.
If I've piqued your interest and your considering having ago at the Kalalau Trail then you need to check out the Na Pali Coast State Park site.

The mountainous hinterland behind Nawiliwili Bay.

Sailing away from Lihu'e.

The cliffs to the south of Nawiliwili Bay.

Another fairly average sunset over the South Pacific!