Hawaii

Somewhere in the Volcanoes National Park

In January 2014, my friend Clark and I escaped frigid Montana winters and went on a beach camping trip to Hawaii. The Hawaiian archipelago contains hundreds of islands. Of these, the following 8 are the biggest and the most populated:

• Niʻihau
• Kauaʻi
• Oʻahu
• Molokaʻi
• Lānaʻi
• Kahoʻolawe
• Maui
• The Big island or the Island of Hawaiʻi. 

We decided to go to Oʻahu and the Big island because Honolulu - the biggest city and the capital of Hawai'i - is in O'ahu and the Big Island because we really wanted to see the Volcanoes National Park.

The Big Island:

Volcanoes National Park

We reached Hilo at around midnight in the middle of what my phone described as a "torrential downpour". The moment we landed, we were greeted by the welcoming fragrance of the pacific ocean in the air. It was warm and humid - a pleasant change from the dry, subzero frigidness of the rockies. Hilo is one of the two major cities in the big island and has all major services. We found a cheap, private camping spot in Arnott’s lodge ($11 per person). They had hot showers and a small kitchenette. There's also a Walmart just 5 minutes outside the airport and it's open 24hrs even on weekends. As Hilo is the nearest major station from the Volcanoes National park, we bought groceries, firewood, utensils etc. there for the next 3 days.

Drying our clothes after rain camping -true hippie style!

Next morning, after drying our clothes, we left for the Volcanoes National Park. From hilo, the national Park is only ~40min (~30 miles) away. There's a campground right next to the park called the Nāmakanipaio Campground. It's only $15 per tent campsite for the night and it's nice and pleasant.

We spent the next 3 days exploring and hiking through the park and nearby areas. Some of the exciting things to see are:

• Colorful Lava Rocks: The color of the lava rock depends on the temperature of the flow before it solidifies as well as the chemical composition as well as any impurities.

Geologist's Heaven! Colorful blend of metals and rock

• Thurston Lava tube - formed by a river of red hot lava rushing through hundreds of years ago 

Thurston Lava Tube, Volcanoes National Park

• Lava Trees Loop Trail -  This is a great example of what remains when lava gushes through the forest. It's a short (less than a mile) easy trail Off Pahoa-Pohoiki Road around 2.7 miles southeast of Pahoa.

lava tree: the lava flows around and covers a tree, the tree burns and the mould remains

• Chain of Crators road - fantastic drive through an amazing landscape full of crators.

At the end of the road, there are some nice cliffs and you can see the birth of the island - the place  where lava meets the ocean and land is born!

Cliffs at the end of the Chain of Crators road

• Night time Active Lava viewing from Jaggar Museum: It's a great museum to learn more about Volcano geophysics and there's a great lookout point for seeing Kīlauea eruptions in the night. You can check the Volcano eruption status here  - https://www.nps.gov/havo/planyourvisit/lava2.htm   

Clark and the eruption glow from Kilauea. 

From there, we drove to the other big city on the Big Island - Kona, known for Kona coffee. Along the way, we saw -

• Punaluu Black Sand Beach
• Kahaluu Beach Park with green turtles

For snorkeling, we went to Honaunau Bay – the City of Refuge has calm water and exceptional visibility. When we got there, it was extremely crowded, but still enjoyable as there's plenty of space for everyone just off the shore. If you wear prescription glasses, you can easily rent prescription Snorkel masks and vests for only $10/day. There are many rental shops around there including  the Big Island snorkeling outfitters, Jack's Diving Locker, Snorkel Bob's and Miller's Snorkel & Surf. They are all sort of right next to each other.

Then we looped around the island on our way back to Hilo. There are some nice waterfalls in the Akaka Falls State Park along the way.

O'ahu: 

From Hilo, we flew into Honolulu!

From Honolulu, we drove north to a beachside campground called the Friends of Malaekahana in the town of Laie. With all the traffic out of honolulu, it takes around 2 hours from the Honolulu Airport. At that time, we paid $72 for 3 days for a primitive campsite right next to the beach. Sleeping to the sound of the ocean under dark starry skies is quite something. 

Not too far away from the campground, there's a Polynesian culture centre. They have a fantastic culture show called Ha: Breath of Life, in the night. The tickets are rather expensive though. The cheapest ticket for the culture show starts around $75 per person. We were able to see it because some kind-hearted girl somehow decided to give us extremely discounted tickets for $20 each!

Evening Culture Show at the Polynesian Culture Centre (Courtesy: PCC)

The next day, based on whale density map (red zone, see below), we went whale watching near the Makapu‘u Lighthouse. It is a 2.5 mile round trip hike and I recommend doing it early in the day when sun's behind the cliff. After that. we hiked the Diamond Head.

Source: JR Mobley (NOAA)

North Shore Skydiving 

The next day, we went skydiving. We paid $125 for the tandem dive (with student discount) and an additional $150 for the video at Skydive hawaii. It's a fantastic dive with great views of Hawaiian mountains, the beach and the ocean.

After that, we visit the North shore and stopped at the Banzai Pipeline to take a nap and see surfers make their way through the waves.

Pearl Harbor:

No introductions needed. It's one of the most important places of historical relevance that pushed the United States' involvement in the great war. What was interesting, although not so surprising, and speaks to how far we've come as a society, is how some of the staff at the Pearl Harbour were people, likely American citizens, of Japanese heritage / ethnicity. Perhaps, it should be mandatory for politicians and policy makers to visit such memorials of our tragic past every year for some reflection.