Aloha friends! I hope you've had an amazing week! We've just returned from a wonderful getaway to the Big Island. At 4028 square miles, it is the largest of all of the Hawaiin islands combined. To give you scope, Maui, the second largest Hawaiin island, is 727 square miles. Oahu, the most populated Hawaiin island is 596 square miles. So you get the idea, it is definitely the Big Island. We absolutely loved it. It is so laid back and isn't full of tourists. The beaches were virtually empty compared to other tropical destinations. It is so unique and diverse in its landscape. We drove one afternoon for three hours and travelled through lava fields, desert and lush rainforest. There's just so much to see and explore. We rented a cottage on the back of a family's beautiful property (2nd photo above). (I highly recommend using the VRBO website to look for vacation rentals). It was a gorgeous studio-style home set up with a kitchen and bathroom, indoor and outdoor showers and wonderful screened sliding door walls that fully opened up the cottage. There was no TV and at night, we'd open the doors so the walls were just screened and listen to the birds as we fell asleep with the nice tropic breeze drifting in. I don't think I've ever slept so well. I couldn't recommend this way of travel enough. We had a pool to ourselves! It felt like upscale camping, just listening to nature and unplugging from tv, cell phones, etc. The family gave us some great tips of places to check out. We'd pack up the jeep each morning with our cooler full of sandwiches, drinks and fresh fruit, grab the snorkel gear and beach towels that the family provided for us, and pick a new route to explore. We'd leave the house around 9 a.m and wouldn't get back until 6 or 7 at night, then change and hit the town for dinner. I say "hit the town" but being pregnant, it was more like, "hit the rounds of ice tea." The town of Kona has a great promenade full of a variety of restaurants and shops.
The snorkelling on the island is outstanding and each day we saw a huge variety of vibrantly coloured fish and had the pure joy of swimming with sea turtles on a daily basis. The coral reefs are spectacular - I was just in as much awe of their beauty as I was of the fish that lived among them. When we first arrived on the island, I literally had to run off the plane to the nearest washroom and vomit with nausea. Aloha! I was nervous that I was travelling too soon into my pregnancy and was going to be stuck vacationing near an assortment of Hawaiin toilet bowls. But, after that first travel day, I didn't feel nauseous again. I honestly think the mix of sun and hours of swimming each day were the perfect cure. Of course now that I'm home, I've been sick each morning. I'm hoping I can find a doctor willing to write me a prescription: Must return to Hawaii - STAT!
Here are a few more photos from our trip. This is probably the least amount of photos I've ever taken on a trip, but we spent most of our days swimming and I didn't want to leave my camera (ie - only thing I own worth any $$) - on a beach or in a parking lot.
If you find yourself going to the Big Island anytime soon, here are a few of our favourite finds:
Best Beach: Mauna Kea - amazing snorkelling, white soft sand, turquoise water, banyan trees to provide shade - the only hitch - you have to get there early(before 9:30am), they only give out 40 parking passes to the public. We felt like we won the beach lottery each time we were handed the coveted pass.
Best Park: Volcano National Park - spectacular hiking, lava tube caves, natural steam vents, smoking volcano - we spent 6 hours there but could have easily spent more. A lot of people spread this out over a few days and book a night at a hotel or b&b in the volcano village. It takes approx 2 1/2 hours to drive to the park from Kona.
Best Mexican food: Big Island Brewhaus - Waimea.
Best lunch spot: The Coffee Shack - 15 minutes south of Kona - outstanding food and views.
Best snorkelling spot: Pu'uhonua O Honaunau: There's a little access road just before the entrance to the Pu'uhonua O Honaunau park (you don't have to enter the park). We've heard the best snorkelling on the island is at Kealakekua Bay, but this is only accessible by a chartered boat. And knowing my propensity to nausea, I didn't want to book a boat ride. Pu'uhonua is supposed to be the next best thing. We were blown away by the beauty of this reef.
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