There are eight islands that make up the Hawaiian Islands. The four most well known of these are O'ahu, Maui, Kaua'i and the Island of Hawaii, which is more commonly referred to as "the Big Island". If you're interested, the other four islands are Moloka'i, Lana'i, Ni'hau and Kaho'olawe (which has no permanent residents). By population, the island of O'ahu has close to one million residents. This represents around 80% of the total population of all the islands combined. When it comes to land mass, there's an obvious winner. The Big Island is larger than the other seven islands put together!
As I mentioned in the previous blog, we've spent some time over the years on the four main islands. While each is unique and has plenty to offer, we're in agreement that our favorite island is the Big Island. There's diversity that includes ranch land with huge herds of livestock. The largest ranch is the Parker Ranch which spreads out over 130,000 acres. There are snowcapped mountains reaching nearly 14,000 feet into the sky, lava fields that make it look like you're on another planet and of course tropical areas like those you commonly think of when you think of Hawaii. There are also amazing white sand, black sand and green sand beaches. Combining all this with having plenty of "elbow room" is why we like the Big Island so much.
Our flight from Honolulu to Kona was a wonderfully short 28 minutes. It was made even better because there were only 18 passengers on our Southwest Airlines flight. Overhead bin space and leg room weren't an issue! I'm not sure the top brass at Southwest liked it, but the 18 passengers and crew were pretty happy.
We cashed in a bunch of Marriott Bonvoy Points (which due to changes in their program are becoming less valuable and more difficult to use) and are staying at the Mauna Kea Beach Resort on the northwest side of the island. It's our second stay at this property. The first time was shortly after my retirement almost six years ago. Covid and covid restrictions were really hard on the Hawaiian Islands, which depend so much on tourism. We understand that the property was closed for a period time. It has obviously reopened and based on the looks of things business is very good. Masks are required indoors throughout Hawaii, however the hotel is very "open air" so the only time we have to wear them on the property is walking into a shop or restaurant. Our vaccination cards have been checked numerous times at restaurants, but once we show our cards and are seated at a table the covid magically disappears and we can remove our masks.
Because we arrived early in the day, as expected, our room wasn't ready. This gave us time to pick up a few grocery items in the town of Waimea. We also had time to visit one of our favorite beaches, Hapuna Beach State Park, which is just a mile from the hotel. Sitting under the palm trees and listening to the waves crash along the sandy beach put us both in a Hawaiian hypnotic state of mind, Big Island Style!
Our first full day on the Big Island was spent enjoying the hotel and surrounding area. From the property you can access a section of the Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail. The trail, which is managed by the National Park Service is actually a non-continuous network of trails that are culturally and historically significant to the Hawaiian people. We enjoyed a pre-breakfast hike on the relatively short section of the trail that runs from the beach at our hotel, along the rocky shoreline to Hapuna Beach State Park. Sandwiched between the two beaches, the trail itself is mostly flat but somewhat rocky and uneven. Shoes with good support are important. Equally important, if you hike this section make sure you pay attention to your footing while moving and stop plenty of times to take in the breathtaking scenery. It's all about the journey!
Speaking of journeys, day two of our Big Island adventure was a journey! We did a loop drive that encompassed a majority of the Big Island. First crossing inland from the northwest side of the island to Hilo on the northeastern side. From there it was southward to the Hawaii Volcanos National Park before continuing on further southward to the black sand beach of Punalu'u. From Punalu'u we continued on Highway 11 making our way back up the western shoreline through Kona (home of the Ironman Triathlon World Championships) and back to the hotel about thirteen hours after starting the journey.
The black sand is actually small pebbles about the size of poppy seeds. We visited one of the green sand beaches on a previous trip. It was great, but required a 3.5 mile (each way) hike. It's doubtful that we'll go back to it this time. Removing sand or lava rocks from Hawaii is considered bad luck (Pele's Curse). It is rumored that the bad luck will continue until it is returned. It is also illegal!
It was a fun day and a full day as we revisited some of the places we had previously enjoyed, marveling at both the size and diversity of the appropriately named, Big Island!
