5 Things You Should Not Miss on the Big Island {Hawaii, Day 5+6}

I find that the farther I get from a trip the harder it becomes to write about and since I’ve been back for 2 months now I decided I better get this finished!


The last 2 days of our trip were very laid back. We went snorkelling at 2-Step both mornings, swam at two different beaches in the afternoons, did a bit of shopping, spent some time in downtown Kona and I finally got to eat at Bubba Gump Shrimp!

2-Step was amazing, as it had been on our previous visits. I didn’t see any more dolphins or turtles, but I spent some time exploring new areas of coral, stalking my favorite fish and swimming through the bubbles created by the scuba divers below me.

On day 5 we drove to Hapuna Beach State park. It was the only time we drove North past Kona and I wish we had have done it sooner. Despite the crazy wind that seemed to be threatening to push us off the highway it was a really nice area to drive and what I honestly expected more of the island to look like. Unfortunately, being the driver means I have almost no photos from these last days!

The beach is a little over an hour from where we were staying but it gave us the chance to drive past the airport and figure out how long we would need to get there the next day. Once we arrived, paid $5 to park and got to the sand I had to cringe a bit. There is almost no shade at all on this whole massive beach and I am not a sun worshipper, the sand is also incredibly hot despite its pale color. I would venture to say that this is likely the hottest and driest part of the island as well.

We found a place to leave our towels, loaded up on sunscreen and ran as fast as we could to the water in an attempt to keep our feet from burning. As much as I wasn’t excited about this beach in the beginning, I have to admit that it was a really gorgeous place to spend an afternoon and if you stay deep in the water with hat, sunglasses and sunscreen on you’ll hardly notice the crazy heat.

The second beach we visited, and sadly our last dip in the ocean, was at Magic Sands in Kona. The beach is very small and fairly crowded but it has bathrooms, showers, shade and is conveniently located in the city. The waves at this beach were fairly large and a lot of fun to play in, but I wouldn't recommend being too near to the shoreline. I saw several people get knocked over, rolled and spit out (with swimwear barely intact) by the powerful waves. That being said, going out a bit deeper tends to keep that from happening.

After our final swim we went to Bubba Gump Shrimp Co for.. lobster! Lobster mac n' cheese to be specific. I don't know that I would consider this a must visit restaurant, but I would definitely recommend trying it at least once if you get the chance. We also got a nice view over the water and out to the cruise ships from our table on the patio. 

Our long, very cold and thoroughly exhausting flight home gave me a chance to think about all the amazing things I got to experience and these are my top five that should not be missed:

1. Snorkel (or dive) with Manta Rays

This is without a doubt one of the most incredible things I've ever done. I remember watching movies like Free Willy as a child and thinking how amazing it would be to get so close to wild marine animals; I guess this fulfilled that. Getting to see these giant animals up close, see their behavior and have them completely unconcerned about the watching people was amazing.


2. Visit the summit of Mauna Kea
You don't need to do anything, you don't even need to get out of the car if you'd rather not, but just being up there and taking in the view is truly breathtaking. This is one of the only places in the world that you can go from sea level to 14, 000ft in two hours. The drive to the top was a bit intimidating but also quite thrilling and it gives you ample time to take in your surroundings before you come out above the clouds.

3. Snorkel (or dive) at 2-step

Though it is quite crowded, 2-step is well worth the visit. The water is full of a diverse assortment of marine life from coral and fish to turtles and dolphins making this one of the best snorkel spots in the state of Hawaii. We got lucky to see all of these things, have beautiful weather, meet interesting people that frequent this place and be staying within a 5 minute drive. Even if you're not interested in snorkelling or diving, dolphins and turtles can frequently been seen from the rocky shore.


4. Take in the lookout and drive to the bottom of Waipio Valley
Waipio Valley from above is a really beautiful scene and well worth the drive to visit, a lot of people go just to check the lookout point! Personally I found the way to the bottom to be one of the most fun drives I've done, with its bumps, ruts and steep corners. The black sand beach and waterfalls at the bottom are gorgeous and a perfect place to spend an afternoon, just keep in mind that swimming can be dangerous here because of rip currents and high swells. The valley is also home to Hawaii islands tallest waterfall at 1300ft.

5. Visit Volcanoes National Park

I'm not sure now what I was expecting, but it wasn't what I found in the national park. I suppose I imagined one big lava field when in reality it is a wildly diverse landscape that is as much green as it is black. The park is currently closed due to the dangers of an erupting volcano, but I think that makes my visit that much more special. I'm not sure what the park will look like when it opens again, but I would highly recommend you find out (and let me know!)

Now, off to plan my trip to Kauai for next year! Visiting all the main Hawaiian islands was my very first ever bucket list goal at 10 years old, long before I knew what a bucket list was. 

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Kilauea Volcano and Snorkelling with Wild Manta Rays {Hawaii, Day 4}

Seeing an active volcano was one of the things I was most looking forward to on the Big Island, hearing on the news that it has erupted dramatically within a week of me standing on it is shocking. Nature is unpredictable and we never know when things will change. Kilauea has been erupting continuously since 1983 with varying levels of destruction, over 100 homes have been destroyed in that time. As of now most of the national park remains closed to the public. Click here for closure info and current photos from the crater.

As was very typical, we started the day off with a 2-hour drive. To be clear, none of these long drives bothered me in the slightest due to the fact that they’re beautiful and scenic. We went straight to the visitor centre when we arrived, looked at the maps, decided where to go and went.

Here is a bit of what we saw.

  

Our very first stop was to see the steam vents. We walked a short marked trail to see several spots that allow steam to escape from underground.

Along the same trail we saw the sulphur shelf and very near by, and quite memorably, we also saw a small hole that a 10 year old who went off the path fell through in the 90's. The hole would have been covered by a thin crust caused by the steam before he stepped on it.. The steam inside was about 700 degrees Celsius but he somehow got out alive with burns on only 10% of his body.


One of the things I was most excited to see was Nāhuku or as it is more commonly known, Thurston lava tube. A short walk through a lush forest of tree ferns leads to the lava tube. You walk right through, in one side and out the other, back into the forest. The tube is open 24/7 so you can visit any time. Lights have been installed inside, presumably for safety reasons, but they get turned off at night so visitors can experience the true darkness of the cave if they wish.

From the fern forest we drove to the Jagger Museum which has the best view of the Kīlauea caldera/Halema'uma'u crater . Don't be fooled by photos though, you are quite far from the active vent and cannot get any closer. If you look closely you can see a small amount of lava bubbling up beneath the gas and steam. Not that we stayed to see but the whole area glows red in the darkness.

 

An unexpected favorite from this day was stopping to see the Pu‘u Loa petroglyphs.  The hole is where families would bring newborns and place their umbilical cords. It connects the baby to its family and the earth. Some markings were also made by ancient travellers, a sort of "DH was here" kind of thing.

We drove a significant portion of the Chain of Craters road, stopping many times along the way to walk through the lava fields, do short hikes or just take in the views all around us. I wish I got more photos but as the driver I would have had to stop constantly to capture it all.

When we had our fill of the park we drove to the nearby black sand beach in hopes of seeing the green sea turtles. We had planned to swim as well but decided against it since we would be snorkelling later in the evening. Strangely, all the turtles laying on the beach were within an area that had been marked out with rocks. I know that the rocks are put there to make a boundary between man and turtle, but how do the turtles know to go there?!


As great as the park and beach were, the best part of this day (or maybe the whole trip) happened after the sun went down; Night snorkelling with Manta Rays.

We drove to downtown Kona, got into our wetsuits, onto a boat and took a short ride to where the Rays spend their nights. I spent 4 months waiting for this and could not wait to get in the water with them.

The tour we went on had very specific rules about what you should and cannot do in the water. The leader has a surf board with a battery and lights on top (with holes cut in the board so the light shines under the surface), handles around the edges and a rope at the end so he can pull us to where we need to be. We are expected to keep our mask and snorkel on at all times, hands stay on the handles, legs stay straight out along the surface. We were also given a noodle to put around our waists to help keep us up. Putting legs down or reaching isn’t allowed and will get you kicked out.

We were only in the water for a minute when we got our first sighting, surprisingly it wasn’t a Manta Ray, it was a pod of dolphins! Some kept their distance but a few swam right below us, close enough for our lead to touch if he had wanted to. For the record, touching, feeding, chasing, or generally harassing marine life is Illegal in Hawaii.


I’m not sure how best to describe this whole experience. The Manta Rays are like giant butterflies under the water; gentle and unconcerned by our presence. The lights on the surf board attract Plankton, one of the main sources of food for Mantas, and therefore attract the Manta Rays and keep them swimming nearby. We had several come right up to perform their feeding backflips, and it was quite a sight.
We were in the water about 40 minutes or so and it was truly one of the most memorable things I've done. I couldn't recommend it enough. This is the company I went through for anyone interested in trying it out for themselves!

Chasing Waterfalls; Jasper National Park

Long weekends in the summer are so great because they offer the chance to get away without taking time off. Unfortunately, everyone realizes that and parks, campgrounds, beaches, etc.. tend to get pretty crowded.


I would have loved to go camping in Jasper for the May long weekend but I wasn't prepared to deal with those crowds. Instead, we decided to take a daytrip on the Monday when everyone would be leaving and the park would be much less full.


Is 5 hours too far to drive to see a waterfall? Nah, I don't think so.

For the first time in my personal history, we drove right past the Jasper town site and continued down the highway. We knew we wouldn't have a huge amount of time so we just continued driving until we got to Sunwapta Falls.

I've wanted to visited Sunwapta for a long time now but never realized just how close it is to town. I also didn't realize it would be just like Athabasca Falls with its big tourist parking lot. Fortunately, our end of long weekend plan worked well and it wasn't too busy at all.

The whole area was different than I expected, photos can be so deceiving. I didn't expect to be looking down at the fall from a bridge, I didn't expect so many trails with fences on the edges. I suppose the park needs to protect itself and its visitors though.

If you go across the bridge and through the trees towards the fall you'll get a better view. From there you could almost pretend you were the only one around at a fall you just discovered.


After spending some time here we did the 4km roundtrip to see the lower falls which are smaller but equally as beautiful. And we actually were the only ones here. I would have loved to keep going and see what else was further along, but between you and I, I have a bladder approximately the size of a grape and it is useless.

Our next destination took us down the Icefields Parkway for nearly an hour which is nothing to complain about. That has to be one of the most beautiful drives in Canada, if not the world. (Just out of curiosity, as I write this I Googled the most beautiful drives in the world and it does come up in the top 10!)

Having discovered it the night before via Instagram I couldn't wait to get to Tangle Falls. It is conveniently located directly on the side of the highway and it has it's own little parking lot to make visits easier and keeps people from holding up traffic.

I'm not really sure what I can say about the fall other than to state it is one of my favorites I've ever seen. I highly suggest that everyone stops to see it.

We spent quite a while here, climbing the rocks to get closer, cooling off in the spray and taking pictures. I think the photos speak for themselves.

And that is all. 10 hours of driving, 2 waterfalls, a couple passenger side naps; 1 well spent day off.