HAWAII ADVENTURES

On a previous blog, we mentioned that our November holiday was cut short due to a Hurricane in St. Lucia and we re-scheduled our holiday for Hawaii in February.
We're back, and our rating for the Big Island of Hawaii is definitely thumbs up. There is so much to do, we didn't get to explore everything on our list (*that just means we'll have to go back), but we hiked, snorkeled, swam with dolphins, and giant turtles, and ziplined in the rainforest, walked to an active lava field, learnt about the amazing gods, legends and myths of this beautiful place, went up to 14,000 feet at Mauna Kea,met great people and ate yummy food.

The Big Island boast 11 of 13 climate zones in the world; from the desert sunny side of the Kona Coast (where we stayed) to the rainforests of the North and east side of the island, and freezing conditions at the top of Mauna Kea, it makes for a diversified eco-system depending on where you end up.
We found many advantages of hiking in Hawaii; no bugs, no carnivores, no snakes, and if hiking in the rainforests, it is particularly nice and cool.

There are 2 hikes we'd highly recommend; Polulu Valley and Waipi'o Valley located to the North of the Island. The 2 valleys used to be connected by a trail but the rains has washed out a lot of the trail, making its passage too dangerous, and we were also told that this is sacred land to the Hawaiians and there are no trespassing signs everywhere. There are lookouts at both trail head if someone doesn't want to hike down to the black sand beaches, and back up the other side. We went as far as we were allowed to go on either side and the scenery was breathtaking. Wear decent footwear; it rains a lot and the treck down can be hazardous at times.

This picture is on the Polulu valley trail. The hike isn't very difficult, and once we got to the end of the beach, the trail continues to another peak. The weather was partially overcast that day, which made the hike very comfortable.

The above photo shows the black sand beaches on Hawaii. we continued on past the beaches and ended up on the other side of the peak showed above.

The accessible trail ends at the bottom of this cliff. There are few hikers venturing this far so the trail was nice and quiet. A group of 4 arrived as we were making our way back, and were the only people we ever saw.

The picture on the left is at the lookout of Waipi'o Valley; the great thing is that if you are not a hiker, this is what you see from the lookout, it is spectacular.

The road down to the beach and waterfall is steep; you can drive down with a 4 x 4 or pay a tour company $50; we hiked down, it wasn't that bad. Our goal was to reach Hi'ilawe falls, which at over 1400 feet are the state's tallest falls. we were warned that bad weather had made the trail almost inaccessible. The trails also meanders through private properties so we were careful to stay close to the stream and not venture inland.
We didn't make it to the waterfall but very close; at the second pool, Mike ventured a bit further but it involved carrying our packs through water and bolders, and we didn't have any waterproof bags with us. So we turned around but the hike was fun and beautiful.



Photo above is walking through the rainforest in search of the waterfall.

Photo to the right is trying to find a trail at the first pool we encountered.

And below, the beautiful falls in the distance.

Most of the island is very rocky so if you are looking for white sandy beaches, there are a few of them but most of the coastline is rugged. Lava fields are present in many places and we walked for miles on the black landscape that it creates.
Sea turtles, and all sea creatures are protected in Hawaii; if you are caught touching a turtle resting on the beach, like the one pictured below, you will be fined up to $10,000. From what we observed, it seems tourists and locals alike respect the law. Humpback whales were also all around the island while we were there, we could see them breaching from a distance and were lucky enough to see them on a couple of boat excursions we did.

If you want to see a few more pictures, scroll down to the very bottom of the blog. Hawaii is definitely a worthwhile place to visit.

Happy trails, anywhere you end up in the world and remember, life is an adventure.