 |
| Green Sand Beach-Taken by a professional! |
A couple of recommendations:
Pine Tree Cafe for a Hawaiian Plate Lunch, Kohala Burger and Taco, Big Island Shave Ice. If Kona Coffee is your thing either Hula Daddy's or Greenwell Farms offer great tours and tastings. Also, if you happen to be staying in this area the beach here at Maunea Kea Beach Hotel is great and they provide parking and access so you don't have to be staying at this particular hotel. Hapuna Beach State Park is also a really nice beach just around the corner from here.
Yesterday was a little less "chilling out" and more of an adventure. We left the hotel at 4:15 AM and made a two hour drive to the southern tip of the island in search of the "Green Sand Beach", one of only four in the world. You don't just drive right up to it. Once you park it's about a three and a half mile hike to the beach itself. The hike was great, thankfully it was cloudy and breezy so it wasn't too hot. Unfortunately the clouds make the green sand a little less dramatic than we were hoping to see although it really is green which is due to some mineral deposits in that area. There were only a few people along the trail at that early hour but in true dramatic fashion I waited until a couple of them were only about twenty yards away from me before I slipped on a muddy spot and ended up on my back. Beth said I hopped up in record time and proclaimed the obvious "that's a slippery spot". Thankfully the only thing bruised was my pride and ego!
We then continued our quest for colorful beaches with a stop at Punalu'u Black Sand Beach. We've been to several black sand beaches but this was the best in my opinion. There's a small park with picnic tables making it a great place to stop for a break if you're out touring or still recovering from slipping in a mud hole.
From there it was on to Volcano National Park. The big island was formed entirely by volcanic activity over the past million or so years and makes up 62% of the total land mass of the Hawaiian Islands, hence the name "the big island". There were a total of five different volcanos at one time. One is "extinct", one is "dormant" (kinda like the Gators in the second half yesterday against Tennessee) and three are active. The park is located near the Kilauea Volcano and you can actually walk along the rim of the crater. Lava is flowing but to see it it's about a ten mile round trip hike. We heard some folks talking that were just getting back and they said there was minimal viewing. After already hiking to the green sand beach we opted out, besides slipping in mud is one thing, slipping into hot lava takes it to a whole new level!
We did learn while we were in the park that the next Hawaiian Island is rising up from below the sea. It's name is Lo'ihi and right now it's an active underwater volcano that is expected to break the surface in 10,000-100,000 years. Seriously, you think that if those scientist are so smart they could narrow it down a little closer than 90,000 years. I'm setting the over/under at 61,264 years if anyone wants to place a bet. Not sure if they're selling timeshares yet but it probably won't be long! I didn't bring my laptop so I am posting these from my i-phone which is a bit of a challenge. It's a work in progress that I'm semi-confident I will figure out......I've got time on my side!
 |
| Green Sand Beach-It was pretty cloudy so you can't really tell from our pictures how grean the sand actually is which is why I threw in a couple of professional pictures I pulled off the internet. |
 |
| Green Sand Beach-Taken by Us |
 |
| Another "Professional Picture of the Green Sand Beach |
 |
| Black Sand Beach, but you probably figured that out on your own! |
