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Welcome to the Big Island

Flying to Kona from the mainland isn't a direct proposition - you can fly direct into Honolulu, but then you have to transfer to an inter-island flight to the Big Island (note: there are some exceptions to this, depending on where you fly from - check with your airline). Fortunately, the transition is pretty seamless - the gates are close together, and our layover was relatively short. And as a great bonus, you can take some fantastic aerial shots from the plane coming into and out of Honolulu:

The views aren't nearly as impressive when you reach Kona, as the airport is well north of town and the approach doesn't lend itself to great shots of the island. But on the way, watch for the islands of Molokai and Lanai, (and the small island of Kahoolawe)which you'll pass almost directly over, and the island of Maui off to the north of the plane's trajectory.

Kona is a small airport that takes full advantage of the wonderful Hawaiian climate - no stuffy indoor waiting rooms here, and plenty of cover if you get caught in a rain shower. The rental car area is accessible only by shuttle, which is a negative, but it is really close - you could actually walk to it across the parking lot if you really wanted to.

We chose to visit the Hilo side of the island first (and decided belatedly we could probably have flown right into Hilo), but it did give us the chance to see some of the northern and eastern parts of the island. The only significant part we missed was the Kohala Coast.

Big Island Wildlife

The Big Island has a lot of flora and a bit of fauna, including a few of our favorites - sea turtles, mongeese and geckos. Sea turtles are found in the south at Punalu'u black sand beach - we saw one right on the main beach here, and apparently there's a hatching ground with many more just over the hillside on the next beach. We decided this poor little guy had been chosen to represent the herd... he sat there very patiently while we photographed and taped him. For a short video, click here.

There are also many geckoes here - when we first ran across these cute little guys in our condo in Kauai back in 2000, we kinda freaked out - we had these little lizards running around inside the house, and once even had one pop out of the toaster when we were making breakfast - poor little guy was probably as freaked out as we were. But we got used theo them - after all, they do eat lots of bugs - and locals consider them good luck. Here are a few we saw while on-island:

Driving north of the airport, the country along the coast is very dry - in fact, this area is the driest place in the island, with only 15-20 inches of rain a year, making it essentially a desert. There are two highways that run north from the Kona area, 19, and 190 - we chose 19, in part because it followed the coast, and in part because the other highway was a lot harder to get to from the airport, requiring a slow drive across surface streets or a detour south.

One of the first things you notice are the lava flows that abound here. Black lava rock runs along the highway for miles, a remnant of flows from the Mauna Loa Volcano in 1859 and from the Ka'upulehu Crater in 1800-1801. The colors are amazing, from the deep blue hues of the ocean to the black lava rock to the greens and golds of the sparse vegetation growing tenaciously atop and between the rock.

The second thing you notice are thousands and thousands of little white rocks. Depending on who you talk to, these are either a wonderful example of social expression or a plague of grafitti on the land.

According to one of the locals we met, the whole thing started either with someone announcing his or her undying love for someone, or with an announcement of some sort - somebody took some of the white coral prominent in the area and spelled out a message on the black lava rock. Think those little magnetic letters some folks have on their refrigerators gone wild, and you have a good idea of what it's like. Now folks paint little lava rocks white and arrange them in all kinds of messages, and for miles you see things like "Mike loves Dana" or "Hawaiians!!!" spelled out along the road. Grafitti or art, they are kind of endearing, and give you something to look at as you drive the long dry stretch up from the airport.

As you travel north, watch for Mauna Kea to the east - on a clear day, you can see a number of the telescopes perched up there where the air is unusually placid and the city lights are far away and dim.

When you reach Kawaihae, if you want to see the beautiful Kohala Coast, continue northward. We, unfortunately, had other plans, and had to head east, across the island's interior, just north of Mauna Kea. To the north, you'll see a green ridge, the start of the Kohala Mountains. You'll also start to climb up from the coastal plain, arriving shortly in the town of Waimea. Here you'll see the first of the island's 7 Starbucks - if, like us, you have more than a passing addiction to the chain's frappucinos or cafe mochas, you can stop here. Otherwise, remember, Kona is famous for its coffee - take the time to sample the local blends while you are here.

You'll start to notice a change as you pass through this area. The arid but beautiful lavascapes start to give way very quickly to green, and by the time you cross the midpoint of the island, the area looks much more welcoming, with wide meadows and lush tropical growth.

When you arrive in Honoka'a, you've reached the eastern coast. Starting south from here, you'll enter the jungle, where vines filled with red and peach and white and yellow and purple flowers climb over everything, and deep valleys split the hillsides on the mauka (Mountain) side of the road.

This area is fairly sparsely populated until you get down to Papaikou, and the edge of the Hilo area.

Hilo, Pahoa, and the Puna District

Hilo sits between north and south Puna. South Puna is a wide, jungle-covered peninsuyla sandwiched between Kilauea crater/the current lava flow and the ocean. Hilo is on Hilo Bay, along the north end of the peninsula, and has a cute plantation downtown and several resort hotels.

From what we were told by locals, the hotels here are on leasehold land, and so when the leases run out, the hotels may have to be torn down if the lease owners do not renew the leases. So there's little incentive to update and renovate these hotels, and they tend to be old and run-down.

Hilo Farmer's Market

One of Hilo's main draws is the Farmers' Market - a large gathering of local farmers and artisans/craftsfolk selling a huge variety of local fruit, vegetables, flowers, and arts and crafts. We bought some beautiful jewelry from Lily Haywood at Lily's Crafts, a local artist who imports gemstones and other materials from around the world and the local islands to make necklaces, bracelets, and other jewelry.

Kaikodo Restaurant

There's a FANTASTIC restaurant in Hilo - Kaikodo (60 Keawe St., Hilo, Big Island, Hawaii, 808 961-2558) - right in the old downtown.

The cuisine is an italian/asian fusion, and was excellent, including such specialties as red curry chicken and edamame raviolis - while they sound a bit odd, they were amazing, a blend of edamame paste and cheese that was light, delicious and addictive. We also tried the spring rolls with ginger sauce, and the chicken with red curry sauce was also fantastic.

The decor was nicely upscale, including glass chandeliers imported from Murano and a gorgeous magnolia bar that came from the mainland (New Orleans or somewhere on the east coast, depending on who you ask). There's also a saxaphone player here on Wednesday nights.

Ask for Kevin, our favorite server here - he's cute, professional, and friendly, and will take great care of you.

Other things to do in-town include movies at the Kress Theater - second run movies (in theaters elsewhere a month or two ago) for just $1.00. The Palace Theater in town shows more current movies at regular movie prices.

We also ate at Cafe Pesto after getting several recommendations, and the food was just passable and the service very slow. We hoped for a bay view, but when we asked, they told us the only table near the windows was a six-seater, and they couldn't seat the two of us there. They then proceeded to seat us at a six seater at the back of the restaurant, and gave the next party (three people) the close to the window table. We also had to request the bill three times. needless to say, we didn't go back.

There are a number of devout Christians in Hilo, and we saw the Ten Commandments posted in one shop window and a man walking around with a Jesus T-Shirt at the Kress. But no one was hostile, so we figured live and let live.

Also, the whole town pretty much closes down after 5 pm (except restaurants) and is closed on Sunday.

For groceries, there's a safeway down in the newer part of town.

Just south of Hilo lies the small plantation town of Pahoa and the bulk of the Puna District, a heavily forested tropical peninsula on the Big Island's South-Eastern Tip.

Puna is new land, created by the volcanoes in the last few thousand years. Some areas have recent (last 10-50 years) lava flows that cut through lush tropical foliage, covering entire subdivisions of homes and one beautiful black sand beach. The land is so new that there are no rivers in the lower Puna - they haven't had a chance to be carved. Instead, the water seeps directly into the porous ground very quickly after the rainfall.

If you take Highway 130 south from Hilo, through Pahoa, and down to the sea, you'll reach the edge of the current eruption - it started in 1983 from a vent on the side of Mauna Loa, and has resulted in a number of flows that have erased a long stretch of highway and a small town on the southern part of the island. From here, if you stop and stare west over the miles of new lava, you can often see steam rising from the sea where the current flow is steadily creating new land.

The current flow has created over 600 acres of new land, and the town of Kalapana was entirely covered by the current flow, along with one of the nicest black sand beaches on the island. One of the former residents of Kalapana started a movement to plant palms along a new stretch of beach, and someday it may rival the old beach in beauty. More about Volcanoes National Park in the Volcano section later in this travel report.