Hilo, Hawaii

“The beauty of Hawaii probably surpasses other places. I like the Big Island and the two mountains, Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, where you can look out and see the stars.”

Buzz Aldrin

The town on Hilo, Hawaii is the second largest city in Hawaii yet it is a quaint town with beautiful Victorian homes. The city with its historic downtown section overlooks a half moon bay and is a great place to spend some time roaming around. The view of Mauna Loa’s (a 13,679 foot dormant volcano) is an amazing site and is snow capped during much of the year. This is considered America’s wettest town and rains over 128 inches of rain per year. Most of this side of the Big Island is rain forest and is lush and beautiful. The average temperature here is 76.4 degrees. This was were our cruise ship docked.

Before leaving the ship, many of our friends from my work asked what we were doing on shore. I told them I had done my research and had many scheduled places we wanted to stop and see. They loved the idea so when we exited the ship and went to rent a car, there were five other groups who rented a cars and followed us. Renting a car in Hawaii was easy to do and very inexpensive and is the best way to get around. We had quite the caravan.

We started our days adventure by driving down Banyan Drive which is a gorgeous curvy road near the coast. Most of these Banyan trees were planted in the mid-1930’s. We drove down Old Mamalahoa Highway which led us to the “Onomea Scenic Drive” which is a 6 ½ Km loop road that crosses several one lane wooden bridges, past Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden, which overlooks Onomea Bay. One of the Onomea Trails called Na Ala Hele was amazing. The trail lead us down to the rocky waters edge past all kinds of tropical plants. Everywhere you looked, there was more beauty that God created.

We spent quite a bit of time there taking pictures and enjoying the breathtaking views. This was a nice stop as no on as in rush and we just enjoyed being here. The tropical plants were amazing and the views of the ocean were nothing less than spectacular.

From there were headed to see Rainbow Falls which is not far from Hilo. It gets its name because on a sunny days around 10 am, rainbows can be seen in the mist of falls. This is an amazing falls to see that drops an impressive 80 feet down over a lava cave and into a natural pool surrounded by wild ginger. The falls are almost 100 foot in diameter.

The walk to see the falls is lush with vegetation with very colorful plants. The Hawaiian Mythology states this river is mentioned in many tales. According to legend, Hina, the mother of Maui and ancient Hawaiian goddess, lives in the cave behind the falls. You can not swim there and you have to be prepared for it to rain at any time but it is well worth the stop. When we saw the falls it was small but I’ve seen pictures of this after a rain and it flows much heavier.

After seeing the falls, we stopped at a wonderful road side fruit stand for coconut and pineapple drinks and to taste some of the wonderful tropical fruits they had for sale. That was a wonderful stop where we learned much about the different fruits and the owners of the stand were very nice. Fun times.

Volcano National Park was next and we did a short stop there as we didn’t have that much time left. We were able to check out the museum and the steam fields and drive around the scenic drive in the park. This is one of America’s most exciting national parks where the live volcano erupts daily. This park has been a national park since 1916. Halemaumau Crater is still a fuming pit of steam a sulfur.

The scientist have been keeping an eye on Mauna Loa which has been swelling after the eruption in 1984. They are right to watch since the volcano’s on the Big Island as they did have massive eruptions this year 2018, from Kilauea and the lava did much damage to the area. When we were there the whole park was open but now there is much of the park that is still closed due to the latest eruptions. It is sad as many houses and buildings were destroyed as well as roadways and bridges. I can’t imagine how scary it must
have been for those people seeing that happen.

Kilauea has done quite a bit of damage over the years but by dumping its lava into the ocean, it has increased the size of this island by 560 acres and that was before the 2018 eruptions. This is the home of the Goddess Pele, giving the volcano and surrounding area a sacred status. This was an interesting stop and we enjoyed looking at the lava fields.

Our last stop was back in Hilo where we stopped for dinner at Don’s Grill. The food was good and they could accommodate our large group. The whole day was a blast being with our group and seeing the amazing sites we saw today. I really enjoyed this island and hope to make it back someday.