01/01/2025
16th– 20th Nov 2024
It’s a super slow season at work, so I’m thinking about where we could go on a vacation. I was thinking about Mexico, that could go there by our lil’ Cherry (our Dodge Grand Caravan) and explore the USA on our way there. We can leave for almost a month and a half, but if I think about it and calculate it, I would leave this trip until next year and spend more time in USA, Mexico and Central America in total, so a road trip for 3 months and ideally sooner. I will not be discouraged and keep thinking … how about Hawaii. We look at the plane tickets, and when we see the prices, we are already looking for things to do there, which island to fly to, and we plan everything.
Since Sunshine Village (Local Ski & Snowboard Resort) opened the slopes already on November 8th, and we have afternoon shifts before the vacation, we are going to go snowboarding on November 13th and 14th that we can appreciate the heat in Hawaii more, haha. Our vacation starts on November 15th and we have flight on November 16th from Vancouver. We arrived in Vancouver on November 15, in the evening and we are looking for a place to leave the car for the duration of our holiday… Lu had read that there shouldn’t be a problem anywhere where there is no sign with some kind of prohibition or restriction. We go around a few spots in Burnaby and at the last potential place we see a car stop, I’m afraid that our Lil’ Cherry could be towed away during the time we’re gone, so I decide to ask the gentleman if he lives in the given location and if it’s ok to leave the car there for that long. We are not even on Hawaii and first trouble is here … in Burnaby, or there is a bylaw in almost all of Vancouver that you can’t leave your car for more than 24 hours in a place where you don’t live or work … And who checks it? Well, locals, of course there are websites where illegal parking is reported…
We had only one longer stop during our way, we hiked in Know Mountain Park in Kelowna, to stretch our leg, so we are quite tired after this trip from Banff to Vancouver, but since we have nothing better to do, we have to deal with parking … we search on the Internet, describe our friends and try to get around a few potential places. Hypothetically, we could leave the car at walmart parking, but parking would have to be approved by the property manager, but its Friday 9:30PM. I tried to write to a group of Czechs and Slovaks in Vancouver and thank God the first fu*k up was over; we have a covered parking lot exchanged for Pilsen beers. Thanks God.
With the time difference, we arrive on the Big Island at 8:05PM, pick up the rental car – we booked all the cars on Hawaii throught EconomyBookings – which was definitely the cheapest option. Then we had to go shopping and head to the southernmost point of the USA, where we also plan to sleep. We are still dealing with the problem of hotspot not working on the new esim, we try different settings of the phone and nothing works, we write to the support of the provider and the problem is solved just by restarting of the phone, haha.
Day 1st (Nov 17, 2024)
We didn’t sleep much at night, there were such gusts of wind that we thought we were going to get seasick, as the car was tossing at us. Worse or the most inconvenient was that the seats cannot be folded flat and the trunk is not very spacious.
Our alarm clock is set for 7 am, but we are awaken before the alarm clock, the coast is starting to fill up with people and exceptionally they are not tourists. We see cars driving by that leave their four-legged pets in the parking lot and continue off-road – that’s how dogs are walked here, haha. The entire coast is occupied by fishermen. We go to see the place where the cliff jump is supposed to be, there are fishermen there too. We’re trying to examine the ladder to get him back to mainland, but it’s very high above the ocean and looks like its best days are behind it. On the one hand, I was really looking forward to jumps, on the other hand, I was a little relieved when I saw the height. Our next potential point was Green Sand Beach, we have All Wheel Drive, but we have too low a chassis to get there by car and it should be about 8 km on foot, so about 2 hours, so we decide to skip it, because we still have about 22 km in Volcano National Park.
On the way we stop for ice cream at Punalu’u Bake Shop, they open at 8:30AM, we arrived about 10 minutes before and there is already a line of about 15 people at the door. Probably a famous business. The queue was cleared quickly and the wait was worth it, the ice cream is delicious. Our next steps are towards Punaluʻu Black Sand Beach, where we want to try the ocean and especially look at the turtles. It seems that we are very lucky because upon arrival we see two turtles resting on mainland and then two more swimming in the ocean literally a few centimeters away from us. Which scared me at the beginning because I only saw something big but I didn’t know what it is.
Our last stop today was in the Volcano National Park, where we wanted to do a 20-kilometer circuit – according to the mapy.cz available, but according to the locals it has been unavailable for a few years. When entering the park, we were given a map with links where you can check the availability of trails. These trails are short and you can reach their beginnings by car. We will drive around and go around what we are interested in – The ones that interested us the most were:
- Steam bluffs, steam vents – Cracks near the crater from which steam goes into the air and if the volcano erupts the lava flow goes from them.
- Lava Tube – Tunnel made by lava flow.
- Hōlei Sea Arch – The place where the lava flowed into the ocean and part of it has currently collapsed due to the action of the ocean or waves, so that it looks like a bridge and the prediction is that over time its “leg” will also collapse into the ocean.
- On the way in Volcano NP, we drove past many craters and lavas, which were named after the years in which they were “formed”. Many of them were from between 1950s or 1970s. Volcano NP is home to Kilauea, which is considered to be the most active volcano on planet earth. And in Hawaii, of all the volcanoes, only Kilauea and Mauna Loa have erupted in the last 200 years. Kilauea in September 2024 and just as I’m working on this article, I have read about a new eruption from on December 23, 2024. Fortunately, its eruptions are only at the peak most of the time, so it doesn’t threaten local residents or their homes. Mauna Loa erupted for the last time in year 2022 – since then it can only be hiked (about a 4-day hike) and cannot be reached by car like Mauna Kea.
On the Volcano NP website we also learned about the closure of the Mauna Loa Road, due to road research, for our planned hike the next day. The closure is planned on weekdays from about 8AM to 4:30PM, so we go and ask the lady from Volcano NP if it is possible to drive up before the closure and back after the closure, she tells us that we can, but she discourages us from staying “trapped” there. When she finds out that we want to go on a trail, she discourages us even more, saying that the hike is not maintained and that the hike is difficult. However, we do not let ourselves be discouraged and go to see it ourselves. It is Sunday, approximately 6:30PM and the gate is closed. We lose hope and try to find more on their website. We found out that the closure is relatively new and that on weekends it should not be a problem to use Mauna Loa Road by car, but during the week it is closed to cars all day, only pedestrians can use the road during non-closed hours. This makes our hike impossible to do in one day so we change our plans. It’s not quite dark yet so we go to see the “Lava Tree Molds” – A Lava Tree Mold is a hollow lava formation that formed around a tree trunk. It was formed when lava flowed through an area of trees and covered their exterior. The lava cooled just enough to form a solid crust around the trunk, but the tree inside burned away, leaving a hollow. We saw new trees growing out of some of the molds. Soo cool.
We are going to sleep under the Mauna Kea, we are not even going to the visitor center, so as not to sleep too high up (we are sleeping in the car and we only took sleeping pads, we flew to Hawaii, so we don’t need sleeping bags, haha). In the morning we plan to go to the highest volcano and also the highest point of the Big Island, Mauna Kea.
Day 2nd (Nov 18, 2024)
We arrive at the visitor center below Mauna Kea at approximately 8AM, but the road up is closed and we should find out whether it will open at all between 8 and 9 AM. Neither the toilets nor the visitor center are open until 9 AM, so for now we at least brush our teeth, get dressed, because it is around 0 degrees Celsius at the summit, and refill our water. After 9 AM we go to the visitor center and find out that the road is closed due to ice on the road. If it is open, it may take up to a few hours. So we decide that we will go to Hilo for now and walk the Puna Trail to Hāʻena beach. The road leads through the rainforest, but it is perfectly quiet there, all you can hear is the splashing of waves, dripping water, and birds singing and … our steps of course. We slowly approach the beach and can see the ocean, enjoying the beautiful views, solitude, and peace. There are fallen coconuts lying around and Lu tries to break one, ugh, bad choice, it’s rotten. She takes another one, still in its outer shell, thinking it might be okay. We had nothing but rocks, so it took a lot of effort, but we finally got into the coconut and it was delicious (I don’t know if we liked it so much because it was so hard to get inside or because it was just fresh) – but the survival test went well.
With our coconut snack, we gained strength and continued to Hāʻena or also called Shipman beach. An incredibly peaceful and beautiful place. Thanks to the fact that the beach is surrounded by private land (W.H. Shipman Ltd. and Hawaiian Paradise Park), it is not possible to reach it by car, although someone apparently tried but in vain… The way there and back should be about 8 km with an elevation gain of only 30 meters, it leads through the forest, so I consider sneakers to be suitable footwear and the total time spent walking was 2 hours and 10 minutes, which is not terrible, but thank God it still discourage enough people so that those who go there can have peace <3. On the way there we met only an older couple with a dog, on the way back we met 2 girls in flip-flops who were making sure if there really was a beach at the end and one man who was also losing hope that this trail even has a destination.
Since we are sleeping in the car, we are thinking about where we could take a shower or wash our hair. Fortunately, showers are available on every beach accessible by car, so hygiene is not a problem in Hawaii, even if we are sleeping in the car. The next plan is to check out our marked spots in Hilo and ideally find a shower at the same time.
We go for a walk to Coconut Island, where there are showers, but the locals are grilling and having a gathering, telling stories into a microphone and having fun together. So I guess it wouldn’t be entirely appropriate to shower at this place, haha. Anyway, the area is very nice for picnic. We read that this mini island used to be normally populated, there was no bridge like there is today, so one of the locals transported everyone until 1960, when a massive tsunami destroyed everything. Today, the land is owned by the state of Hawaii.
Our next steps were towards Carlsmith Beach Park, but on the way we passed Keaukaha Beach Park, where there was a building that looked promising for us in terms of showers, so we stopped and successfully found an indoor shower, so we could wash our hair, plus because we tried to save space in our luggage, so we didn’t even bring enough clothes for the whole time, so we washed the used ones, haha. And then we finally continued to Carlsmith Beach Park, which is an ideal place for families with children, for swimmers, snorkelers or for those who are afraid of waves. The place is very nice with calm water, but for us it was overcrowded. A local started talking to us there, but after the conversation with him we immediately left the place, plus we needed to hurry because the plan was to catch the sunset on Mauna Kea.
Our second attempt to get there failed again, even though we checked the website to see if the access is still possible. Just as we reached the visitor center, they were blocking the way to the top. So we went to ask… we came across a very nice ranger who explained everything to us, unfortunately the last car is allowed up about half an hour before sunset and after sunset everyone has to start descending immediately so as not to limit the astronomical observatories, which serve research purposes for about 12 countries (if I’m not mistaken, France is the only one from the EU). Among other things, one of them serves NASA, another for the University of Hawai’i. He asks if we like to hike and when we answer yes, he recommends that we should be at the visitor center no later than 3:30PM (currently sunset is about 5:45PM) and go see Lake Waiau. He also recommends that we should not go to the top for sunset, to all the observatories where all the tourists go, but he recommends us that we should turn to the left and go on place where the Pu’upoli’ahu is. And as a bonus, so that we are not disappointed that we will not see the sunset today, he recommends us to go see sunset from Pu’ukalepeamoa. We thank him for his willingness and go to park a car and literally run to the sunset. This place is simply magical, even though there were a lot of people around us, the sunset was beautiful and we are already looking forward to tomorrow’s one.
Since the next day we will have about half of the day to do something else then go to sunset from Mauna Kea, we drove to Rainbow Falls parking, where we will sleep and start the next day. Lu is lucky because she slept like a log, as always. I am not that lucky because a car parked not far from us was playing music which has to be heard all the way to downtown Hilo. There are also toilets near the parking lot, which were lit all night long… unfortunately. I saw some strange shadows from there, so I wanted to find out what it was and all I saw was some apparently “high” person, who sometimes danced with herself, sometimes argued with herself and so on. Heh, Good night.
Day 3rd (Nov 19, 2024)
We started our day early in the morning at Rainbow Falls. It’s interesting how you literally have to climb to get to some waterfalls and then you end up thinking they weren’t even worth it, and you can just drive to the others and they’re beautiful. Rainbow Falls are super easy to reach and worth it. We can see on the maps that Peepee Falls (Boiling Pots) are a short distance away so we decided to drive also there – unfortunately it’s not possible to get closer and the view is somewhat obscured by trees, but according to the photo on the information board, it would be worth taking a look at the waterfalls, for example from a drone.
Sunrise and sunset are early, so we try to get up early to catch as much as possible. Next on the agenda is the Hilo Farmer’s Market, which is scheduled to run from 7 AM to 3 PM, we arrive around 8 AM and not all the stalls are ready yet. We would love to buy something for our families, but we can’t do much shopping because we have only small luggage’s, so we go to at least look at magnets, or what else we could bring. We taste local lemonades and buy fresh avocados for dinner. At the markets you can find all kinds of fruits and vegetables, handmade products, such as clothes and accessories, but also natural soaps and shampoos, not only for people but also for dogs.
We continue to Akaka Falls – there is a paid parking and entrance fee at the waterfalls (for two adults + a car it is more than 20 USD), but there is a very nice lady at the entrance and she advises us that if we park in front of the barrier, we will only pay the entrance fee for two adults, which means half of the price, that sounds like a good deal. Akaka Falls are more than twice as high as Niagara Falls, but their width cannot be compared. Helicopter sightseeing flights are offered on all the islands of Hawaii, when I see all these beauties, I am not surprised at all and I would also fly with one, or even more, haha.
We found out that we were doing better with time than we expected, so we went to see the southern part of the island. On the way we stopped at the laupahoehoe point tsunami memorial – a memorial for the victims of the 1946 tsunami. We stopped for a while on the beach, watching the crabs, the rough ocean and the birds trying to catch their prey from the rough ocean. Our tracks continued south to the Pololū Valley Lookout, where we planned to take a short hike to the beach, since we didn’t have enough time and were very hungry, so we only went a short distance, but all the views were still worth it. But unfortunately it was high time to go for a very late lunch and hurry up to Mauna Kea, which we had been looking forward to since the beginning.
We arrive at the visitor center exactly at the time recommended by the ranger from the previous day. However, today there is someone else on guard and he sends us back to acclimatize for at least half an hour and generally tries to discourage us from our trip, especially by saying that our brakes might overheat and fail. I don’t know if he is being overly cautious or if he thinks we are two young frogs who don’t know how to drive and have never been to this altitude. We explain to him that this is our third time here in two days and that we definitely want to go up and that we don’t mind making more stops on the way down as a precaution so that our brakes don’t overheat. We spend some time at the visitor center and continue up. It seems that we are catching up with everything, so we set off for Lake Waiau – we climbed from zero to more than 4000masl in a few hours, so of course we feel it, but it’s nothing terrible. Of course, it’s a little harder to breathe when hiking and there’s volcanic dust everywhere, so the air is incredibly dry, but that’s why we have water with us… which we left in the car in our hurry… we’re going slower, but we’re really enjoying this experience. With all the equipment on the volcano, it feels like I’m in outer space. We hurry to Pu’upoli’ahu… according to the ranger’s description, we understood that the place can be reached by car, but the last section that can be reached by car is over the hill. We quickly park and hurry, as we can, but luckily we made it and we’re grateful for the ranger’s recommendation, the sunset was amazing and from the recommended spot we had it to ourselves. We go to see the top, from where everyone else is watching the sunset, but unfortunately they won’t even let us take a photo, we all have to leave the area and slowly move to the visitor center, where they make sure everything is okay and check the tires, usually they let each car stop to cool down, because there are still many meters of altitude to descend to the highway. Outside of the visitor center you can observe the stars wonderfully, the astrologer shows the stars, the Milky Way and tells a lot of interesting astrological facts. Unfortunately, we are already incredibly cold and tired and so we continue to our next sleeping point – we could not have wished for a better end to the day.
Day 4th (Nov 20, 2024)
I had found a beautiful hike that ends in the Waimanu Valley, which we were looking forward to. Unfortunately, we had very limited time for the hike and when we woke up in the morning it was raining, we waited for more than an hour and hoped that the weather would get better, but unfortunately it did not and if we had waited longer, we would not have had enough time to reach the valley anyway, so we decided to change our plans again. We are going to see if the weather would be better in another part of the island and possibly take a break on the beach. We told ourselves that we would not pay more than 20 USD for two adults + car to lie on the beach, so we crossed out the most famous beaches near Hilo, which are Wailalea & Hapuna Beach. We were tired of searching and were about to give up when I discovered 49 Black Sand Beach (public) – you have to drive through a hotel complex to get to the parking lot, so we were quite unsure at first, but it really is a public beach with public parking, where we finally had some beach relaxation and a little diving.
Relaxing is nice, but we both want to continued somewhere else, we are looking for what else we could see on the Big Island and Lu found the Pu’uhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park, at first I didn’t really want to go because me and history … but it was a nice change and it was interesting to listen to, read or see how the original inhabitants of Hawaii lived, what their concerns were, or what ideas (innovations) they came up with.
On the way to the national park we saw a sign for a macadamia farm and since we had time, we went there to have a look. We learned, for example, that macadamia trees live for about 100 years, their fruits are collected by hand from the ground and the shell of the macadamia nut is the hardest of all nuts. We bought a package of nuts for the trip and continue towards the airport.
On the way there is also the Royal Kona Coffee Center, where they not only sell coffee, but also do tours, unfortunately it is already 5PM, and they are just closing. In Kona we at least have some ice cream as a farewell and go to the airport, which by the way surprised us a lot upon arrival. The airport has a large part uncovered, after the airport control you walk under the open sky, it amazes us that this airport is approved in terms of security, when we saw how some airport controls are carried out, but it was nice to experienced something that different.
In December 2024, when I am working on this article, there are many interesting things happening in Hawaii, as I wrote above, the eruption of the Kilauea volcano and the Eddie Aikau Big Wave competition – what is it? These are very prestigious surfing competitions, which are called Eddie Aikau in honor of the great Hawaiian surfing legend and, above all, the man who sacrificed his life for others. A man who worked as a coast guard on the North Shore of O’ahu and saved countless lives until unfortunately it became fatal for him in 1978. Only the best surfers are invited to the surfing competition, usually a maximum of about 40 women and men, and the waves reach an incredible 30 to 40 feet. This tournament has only been held 11 times since 1978, so it is a very prestigious event.
It will be super hard to choose, but I’ll try to write down 3 best spots from each Island.
we consider those as a 3 best spots of Big Island:
- Mauna Kea – definitely the best place from where to watch sunset – you’ll be packed out directly after sunset but it’s something incredible. You can hike there or you can drive there which is also amazing – you can drive from 0masl to higher then 4200masl which is crazy. You should stop for 30 mins at visitor center because of acclimatization and you should definitely check websites before you’ll go there and check whether it’s open or not. Last car can go there around 45 mins before sunset but I definitely recommend to drive there earlier and do a small hike to see a lake and everything what is on the top – you’ll feel like you are in space. It’s super dry there, so don’t forget to grab a water with you.
- Hāʻena Beach – Puna Trail
- Volcano National Park – you can find there the most active volcano on planet earth , called Kilauea and lot of other interesting things subscribed above (Steam bluffs, steam Vent, Lava Tube, Hōlei Sea Arch, Kilauea Iki Trail and many others).
