Hawaii Big Island trip

November 21 - 26 2021

Welcome back!! It has been a while, but we're back with the blogs! A little different this time, because I’m not gonna do a weekly update anymore. Instead I’m going to make blogs about the trips I did. Big or small it doesn't matter, just all the trips!! I hope it will be fun to read and it could might help you for your travel plans! :)

I want to Hawaii!!!! AAAGGHHHH Can u believe it??? A dream come true!!

My host family asked me if I wanted to join them for a trip to Hawaii during Thanksgiving, and of course I said YESS! We went to the Big Island, that's (like the name already says) the biggest island from Hawaii. Hawaii has 8 islands but not all of them are that famous. The Big Island is one of them that aren't THAT famous, but many people still go there. It's less touristy than Maui or O'ahu.

But one thing you can find on this island but not on the other ones are active volcanoes! Volcanoes National Park is a famous highlight from the island. In this park you will find 2 of the most active volcanoes! Going to this national park became part of my bucket list after finishing a course (discover the US) where they were talking about this national park! So I really wanted to go there! Maybe I will see some real LAVA!!!

Kona 

Day 1 We flew early in the morning, the flight wasn't bad at all. It took us 5,5 hours to fly from San Jose, California to Kailua, Hawaii. The airport in Hawaii is really cute, it's all outside and really small. My host family rented a car with Turo, so when we arrived we met up with the host at the airport and got the car. The car was pretty! We got a big Jeep!

The first moment I arrived in Hawaii I already loved the vibe and the weather, and this feeling got stronger when we arrived Kona! A town not far from the airport. A small town with a farmers market, small stores, a beach, very nice people and good food. It's just a whole vibe. I got myself a pretty flower for in my hair too!! Like the typical Hawaiian ones haha!! :) Ohhh and an inside tip for when you're in Hawaii! Go eat Hawaiian shaved ice! We got it after lunch, but I didn't really get it what I regret, but now I have a reason to go back haha. But its the best thing ever and a real typical Hawaiian thing!

After lunch we moved on to our resort where we will stay for 1 night before moving more south. We went swimming in the pool and I watched the sunset on a cliff somewhere at the resort. The sunset was so beautiful! There were SO many colors!

One thing I got really into while being in the United States is watching sunsets and sunrises! They are just so beautiful and especially in California you will see a pretty sunset EVERYDAY! Okay sorry back to the story. While I was watching the sunset I started talking to a couple from Alaska. ALASKA!! How cool! They were very nice and they told me that they go to Hawaii every year for their anniversary, and that they loved the big island the most from all the other islands. Just because it's not that touristy as the other islands, but still very beautiful. (Ohhh I would love to go to Alaska too, haha)

Most southern point of the USA

Day 2

What is the best way to start your day in Hawaii then on the beach? Sooo we did! We went to the beach in the morning, we even went snorkeling for a little. Some people on the beach told us that that beach was one of the best places to go snorkeling, so we had to check that out. It was cute, I saw really big fish and some other small ones with pretty colors. I have no idea how they all are called haha but they were pretty. Some other people also found a turtle, but we didn't.

After the beach we drove back op north to go to Pu'uhonau O Hōnaunau National Historical Park, this is a historical place where you can walk around and learn more about the Hawaiian people and their history. You could see a big wall, what was an important thing in the Hawaiian history, because east and south were separated by a L shaped wall. Besides the historic part there is also a beautiful side. The park has many palm trees, a beach, and impressive sculptures cut out of wood. We also saw a man carving things out of wood while we were there! That was pretty cool to see.

Our next stop is South point! Butttt before I’m gonna tell about that I need to tell you guys what we saw on the way to the south point! WE SAW A RAINBOW!! And now ur thinking what is special about a rainbow, now this was a WHOLE rainbow!! From one horizon to the other! It was beautiful and colorful! I have never seen a whole rainbow in my life! So yeah, that's what I wanted to share before telling about south point. That is gonna be fun too!! Becauseee I did something cool.

After a long drive we arrived at the south point, a cool thing about this point is that it is THE most southern point in the USA. And there is a cliff dive! So guess who jumped off the cliff?? :) Yess I did! I jumped off the most southern point of the United States of America! After jumping we walked a little further down to a spot closer to the water and we watched the sunset there. It was, again, gorgeous!

Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park

Day 3

We started the day in a good way, by watching the sunrise! We watched it at southern point, but a different part then were we where yesterday. It was soooo prettyyy! the location, the beach, the nature, the waves! It just all fits. After the sunrise we started our drive to Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park!!! Yaaayyyy we're going!!! On the way we stopped to get a smoothie and drove to the park. Our first stop at the park was a overlook to the Kilauela Volcano, this volcano erupted a little bit, a week before we were there!! Soooooo they told us that we had to go back when its dark and you could see the lava glow!!! We could already see a little bit of the lava when we were at the overlook. Sooo like they told us to do, we came back when it was dark after dinner. That evening it was very cloudy so we weren't sure if we even could see the lava glow. For a little we were doubting about not going anymore but I’m so glad that we still went because, okay hold on... weren't there yet. We drove to the overlook again, but there was a very long line and we started talking to a ranger to ask if it was even worth it to go and how long the wait was. So we ended up still going, because they told us that it was absolutely worth it! AND when we were already waiting in line to park our car at the overlook, we could already see the lava glow! IT WAS SO BRIGHT!!! The whole sky was read and orange! It was unbelievable. I think this is one of the most beautiful thing I have ever seen! This was a lucky moment, because its not gonna be something you will see again soon.

When we were at the park we visited some other places too, of course haha. We decided to go for a little hike around the volcano after being at the overlook during the day, we walked to the Steam Vents, it was a nice hike, not that pretty or special but just nice to walk around after being in the car for a while. The steam vents were cool! They were pretty too.

We also stopped at the Tursten lava tube, yes a lava tube. And we could walk through it too! Enough volcanoes for today and we drove more down to the beach. There was a hike there too where you could see some old drawing in the rocks. I don't remember the name of the hike, I’m sorry... but it was on the way to Hōlei Sea Arch. The Arch was cool! There was a viewpoint not far form there but it was still kinda far from the arch, so the arch was kinda far away. But it was cool to see that the sea made an arch out of itself.

We also went to a place where we walked on lava, and the stone forming was amazing. The colors from the lava stone was amazing, the shapes are all different and its just if you're on a different planet or something. It's incredible.

Pulalu'u Black Sand Beach

Day 4

We started the day off with a sunrise again, this time close to the house we stayed in. On the way to Punalu'u Black Sand Beach we stopped at Punalu'u bake shop 'most southernmost bakery in the USA'. I wasn't that special, but it's cool that I can say I went to the most southernmost bakery in the USA haha. It was very busy there tho, so we ended up not buying anything there. But the beter side of this day was the black sand beach! This beach is beautiful! the sand was black, like the name already said, we saw a SEA TURTLE!! and we had a coconut. <3 Like isn't this the most Hawaiian thing you can get? It was amazing! I was so happy.

Later that day we went back to Volcanoes National Park to do the crater hike in Kilauea Iki. It was a 4 miles hike where u start in the jungle kinda haha and then walk all the way down in the crater of the volcano and then back up back in the jungle.

Akaka Falls State Park 

Day 5

Today it's time to see some falls! It's a very rainy day today, but were also on the rainy side of the island right now. So it's not that surprising. But even with the rain our day is busy planned. We drove to the falls, where we saw a different falls. we saw 1 that was more in the back and we couldn't really really see it but it was still pretty, we saw a little one that was next to the trail and we saw a giant one!! And that one was so pretty!! You had to climb up the fence a little to see the bottom of the fall, that's how high it was.

This wasn't the last pretty view we would see today, because we went to the Waipio Valley Lookout. PFFFFF That was pretyyyy!!! Its on top of a cliff, with a beautiful view of the other cliffs and the ocean. People live down the cliff, but they live there without electricity, running water and other 'normal' things. So they are really back to basic and they don't really like tourist or people who do not belong there. You can drive all the way down to the beach, but yeah like I said before its not appreciated.

Next stop is Thanksgiving dinner!! Because it's Thanksgiving today! Happy Thanksgiving! At first we didn't had any plans for Thanksgiving, but later we ended up at my host dad's brothers, friends house who lives in Hawaii and he invited us over for Thanksgiving dinner! So nice!! We had dinner at this house with his family. We had the typical thanksgiving dinner with turkey, cranberry sauce, smashed potatoes, stuffing and many more. Ohh and we had pumpkin pie!

After we couldn't walk, stand or even sit anymore because we were so full we left the house and we drove to Mauna Kua. This is the highest point from the island and it goes from sea level to 14,000 feet! It's the second highest peak on an island in the world! (my ears hurt again by just typing this) We started driving when the sunset almost started, so before we entered the mountain we saw the sunset. And it was THE most BEAUTIFUL view I have ever seen!! We had the volcanoes in the background with the sunset and the colors... omgg they were sooo pretty.

We made it kinda in time on the mountain to see a little bit of the sunset still. and, again, it was breathtaking. Now even more, because you could see the colors coming out from the atmosphere or I don't know if that makes sense, but it was amazing. We didn't go all the way to 14,000 feet, because there are some rules that apply if you want to go all the way up. Also my ears were hurting so much from already driving up the mountain that I don't want to know how it would have been if we went higher up. We marked the 7,000 or 8,000 feet!

Laupāhoehoe point

Day 6 Our last day... We watched the sunrise for the last time, and this time at the accommodation we stayed at. We stayed at a farm, it was super cute and a perfect place to watch the sunrise! I even saw chickens!! Haha I tried to catch them but they didn't like that. There were chicks too, so cute!

After we packed all our stuff we drove to the last destination before the airport.

Laupāhoehoe point. It was very pretty! It was a kinda cliff next to the ocean and the waves were strong and beautiful and they clattered to the rocks.

And then back to the airport to fly back to California.

This trip was amazing!! I really loved it and I’m so happy that I was be able to go with my host family!! I would love to see more of Hawaii maybe soon! I hope you enjoyed reading and maybe found some things that you could take in to your own trip. :)

Follow me on instagram to find more stories, videos and pictures about this trip! @Naomi.Kremer