Big Island (Hawaii) - what to see, do and eat

A few days after we booked our Big Island trip, Mauna Loa (the largest active volcano in the world, located in Big Island) started erupting. My social media feed was flooded with incredible video footage of the lava spewing from Mauna Loa, and getting closer to Saddle Road, the main connecting highway between the western and eastern sides of the Big Island.
We were a little nervous, and indecisive whether we should cancel the trip, but decided to take a risk with the hope of experiencing live volcano sightings, a once in a lifetime opportunity.

It did not really turn out as exciting, honestly was an anticlimax - Mauna Loa stopped erupting just a few days before we left 🙁.
While we were able to see the fissures and lava/ash trail of the latest eruption, explored the steam vents and cinder cones on Saddle Road, compared and read up on pāhoehoe and ʻaʻā lava patterns and textures, shocked by the devastation of the 2018 Kilauea volcano eruption taking out whole neighborhoods, and marveled at sculpted lava arches, intrigued by the formations and tree molds at the Mauna Ulu crater trail (Hawaii Volcanoes National Park), we missed out on the thrill of watching red, hot lava spewing live!

OK, now that we are done talking about lava 🙂, here are some of the other highlights of the trip:

1. Weather - Kona (on the west side) is always sunny, almost too sunny for us Pacific Northwest folks. Hilo, on the eastern, more lush side of the island is rainier, and we were expecting showers on and off. But we did not expect the tropical storm to come in with torrential downpours on one of the days. It made our short hike down to see the 440 feet tall Akaka falls a little dicey, to say the least 🙂 But the falls looked magical shrouded in the mist and the verdant tropical forest. The ponchos we got from our tour of the Hawaii tropical bioreserve were put to good use.

2. Marine life - So, if you know me, I am not someone who would go night snorkeling with manta rays, a very popular activity in the Kona bays. But this time we got lucky! The resort we stayed in had a night time Manta Ray viewing deck, shining a green light on the waters where snorkelers are down with the rays, and every night we spent an hour or more on the deck watching the rays come play with the snorkelers. It was a wonderful experience, seeing these magnificent animals up close swimming, flipping the white fins and circling around the snorkelers.

Punaluú beach offers excellent opportunities to watch sea turtles bobbing in and out of the water or resting on the lava rocks.

4. Flora and fauna - The banana blossoms and hibiscus all over the island made my heart warm, like I was back in India 🥰

The best place to see the exotic and common tropical plants was the Hawaii Botanical Bioreserve in Hilo. The path looping through so many species of stunning flora and fruit trees takes one down to the Onomea bay with a view of the twin rocks. A canopy of monkeypods, orchids, cocoa, pitcher plants, pineapples, anthurium, gingers - and so many other plants create this tropical rainforest.

The Orchestra! - The first night we were in Hilo, from around dusk and until the next morning, we heard incessant, rhythmic, loud chirping in the garden behind our airbnb. We decided at the breakfast table that they were nocturnal tropical birds. This continued every night of our stay. On the final day, during our coffee plantation tour right before we left for our flight back, we learnt who was behind this orchestra! It was the mating call of the coqui frogs, not birds! Coqui frogs are an invasive species nonnative to Hawaii. Lesson learnt 🙂


5. Beaches - I will start with a confession - we are not swimmers and are not fans of pristine sandy beaches. So my opinions are a little biased towards beaches that are visually striking. The beaches of Kona and Hilo are mostly lava beaches with very dramatic and rugged coastlines.
There is a remarkable similarity with the Oregon coast beaches, the only difference being that those shores are rocky, while the coastline of the Big island beaches are solidified lava from volcanic action.
The Old Kona airport beach has a long shore, with so much open ocean and sky for perfect sunset colors on the waters and the tidepools created by the lava rocks.
Punalu´u black sand beach is picture perfect with its coconut palms, gorgeous black sand, resting turtles and a water lily pond!
Laupāhoehoe beach formed by the sea cliffs of the Hamakua Coast was the most mesmerizing. It is a wild beach with lava creating fortresses and huge inlets. We spent a couple of hours at sunset just awestruck by the furious waves crashing in and swirling within the lava pools.

6. Food - On the second day of our trip, we drove down to see the Southernmost Point of the United States. No, it isn’t in Florida, despite what the signs say 🙂 The guidebook recommended putting on some hair gel for the strong winds there, and they weren’t wrong! The high cliffs and rough ocean currents, and the fact that the next land mass is Antarctica made this place super interesting.

But the main attraction of the south coast trip was this famous bakery and it's oh so yummy malasadas with coconut /mango/ passion fruit fillings! Made the drive worth it for sure.

Next up, the famous Hilo Farmers market. The fruits, vegetables, traditional Hawaiian Luau spread, along with local handmade jewelry, sarongs, bags gives this market a very rustic feel, close in ambience to the weekly rural markets we see in India. We got our lunch from Poke N Sides, and both the poke and fish tacos were super fresh and tasty.

Our last night on the island, we got dinner from 'Ponds' - a local restaurant at Hilo with a beautiful location, live music, and great seafood! Enjoyed the sauteed opakapeka filet with lemon butter caper sauce a lot, perfectly done and seasoned.

7. What will stay with me for years to come

- The airbnb at Hilo where we had a wonderful time cooking dinners and playing Rummykub as a family, so much excitement and fun! Not to mention the large moth that flew into the kitchen one night creating a huge uproar and hilarious reactions 😄

- The dinner at Kona Outriggers where the live musicians performing Polynesian and popular numbers suddenly started singing Imagine (Beatles) - it was totally unexpected and a surreal experience 

- Walking around the Kona downtown and pier late at night, getting custom made ice creams, making best of the extra time we got from the delayed return flight 

- My morning walks at the resort, when I soaked in the sunrise, rainbows, dolphins on the bay, green ámakihi birds fluttering around, my book and coffee