Where is Mouser?

Arriving to Hawaii at 11:30am on Friday and leaving Saturday at 10pm, you have to schedule accordingly!  There were several things I wanted to get done and by gosh, I did it!  Thanks to my friend Tom, who knows the BIG Island inside and out, I was able to some of the best things there are to do on the Big Island.  Tom suggested on things that I could accomplish and I pretty much hit them all.  One change is that instead of doing a counter-clockwise tour, I went clockwise around the island.

Kona Airport

This is a wonderful airport where you use a mobile ramp and immediately hit the fresh Hawaiian air at 11:30am.  This is the first airport I’ve been where everything is outside.  The airport terminal is a series of small tiki huts which makes it feel like an outdoor mall then an international airport.  The runway, and pretty much all of the airport is on top of a stable lava flow.  The Flight Attendant said this is the only one in the world.  Dunno about that but it’s really cool.

Coral graffiti in the lava fields

Heading north from the airport on hwy 19, I start seeing these white blots on the dark lava which I thought was salt or something.  Looking closer, they formed pictures and words.  Turns out they are coral graffiti!  In the picture I took above, there were people who was making more graffiti.  I wanted to do one myself but for the heck if me, I have no idea where they got the coral.  Maybe next time.

The Original King Kameamea statue

The first stop that I wanted to do was to go to Parkers Ranch, which is one of the US’s largest and oldest cattle ranch.  So I headed to Waimea.  On the way up, my friend John called for an Aloha!  So he told me of a place called Merrimans – http://merrimanshawaii.com- for lunch. It was around 1 at this time.  John raved about the food there.  So I went.  I ordered the “specialty” Chinese Short Ribs.  All in all, it was ok…. but I wouldn’t have raved about it.   While there, I was going through my tourist book and saw that to the north of me in Kapaau was the original King Kameamea statue.  I changed my plans to see Parker Ranch and headed up.  It was in front of city hall and was pretty impressive.

The beautiful Kona Coastline

The road up and back to Kapaau from Waimea, hwy 250 goes over a nice little mountain with this great view of the Kona Coast (facing south).  This whole area was mostly pasture land and even seen several cactus patches around.  Very roamy.  It was about 3 at this time and I wanted to try to be at the lava flow around sunset.  So I put Parkers Ranch on hold and headed back to Waimea and on to Hilo on hwy 19.

Akaka Falls near Hilo

Before getting to Hilo, I turned off to go see Akaka Falls, a 442 beautiful waterfall.  There are actually 2 waterfalls on this hike, the other being Kahuna Falls.  There is suppose to be a loop hike that goes to both falls be the leg between Kahuna to Akaka was closed.  So backtracking is required and I haaaaaate backtracking over covered ground.  But it was worth it.

Lava flowing into the ocean at sunset

So off I went to try to get to the lava flow before it got dark.  So I drove right through Hilo and headed down to the end of hwy 130 to the lava flow.  I was told by everyone that the hike to the view area required many things.  I had to bring water… bring a flashlight, where really good hiking shows, prepare for an hour hike, etc, etc etc.  Even on the road to the flow, you see people selling these things.  The only thing I really got was a flashlight.  I arrive and was wearing shorts and sandals while everyone around me were gearing up for what look like a 10 mile trek.  Wow!  So I thought I would turn back if it didn’t work out.  It was about 10-15 minutes before sunset at this time.  So I got to the entrance to the trail.  It was pretty cool that they painted reflective little strips on the trail to the lava flow to follow and there was a good amount of people.  So off I went… and 10 minutes later I was at the observation area.  Tough hike!

When I arrived at the parking lot, you could see the white pillar of steam rising from the place where the lava hits the water.  But the time I got to the observation area, the sun was just setting and the view was starting to get really spectacular.  The darker it got, the more you can see the lava reflacted off the white steam and the more stunning it became.  There were many times where you can see huge splashes of lava flying in the air and the crowd goes CRAZY!  I caught a minor splash in the picture above.  It was like the coolest fireworks display ever and the darker it became, the more amazing it got.

Out of all the things I was told to bring, the flashlight was really needed at night so you can see where you’re stepping.  So forget about all the other stuff and just bring a flashlight if you want to see this at night, which is HIGHLY recommended.

Angel Pilago for Big Island Mayor

On a side note… I was in Hawaii the weekend before the elections.  It seems that each island has a MAYOR and it’s highly competitive.  On the radio, a candidate called Angel Pilago had a jingle that got stuck in my head over and over again!  Here it is:  Angel Pilago Jingle

Along Crater Rim in Volcano National Park

I got up bright and early the next day and headed to the entrance of Volcano National Park.   I wanted to complete the 11 mile Crater Rim road around the volcano but half of it was closed due to high sulfur.  That sucked.  So I headed towards the lava tube and stopped at this view point.  The crater was huge and you can see the active area way in the background.  Kind of reminds me of the time I stayed overnight in the middle of Mt Aso in Japan (which is the largest crater in the world).

The Lava Tube in Volcano National Park

A few more miles down the road was a lava tube.  A nice little hike down a trail through a very noisy rain forest you get to the entrance to the tube.  It was about 100 yards down the improved section of the tube with level pathways and lights.  After that there was a gate with a sign that you can continue on to sections of the tube that hasn’t had anything done with it… not even lights.  I left my flashlight in the car so I didn’t go into that part.  But it would have been nice.

Shaka, the Southern Most Restaurant and Bar in the US

Around 7am I arrive to Naalehu which is the town just about South Point, the southern most location in the US.  I wanted to stop for breakfast at the Shaka Restaurant that bills itself as the most southern bar in the US (and serves breakfast) but it was sadly closed.  Around the corner was a restaurant that billed itself as the southern most restaurant in the US.  That was closed too.  A farmers market was being set up… so I got some fruits for breakfast instead.  I think that was the best choice.

One of the MUST DO lists Tom gave me is the 40 foot cliff jump at South Point.  I LOVE cliff jumping so I had to do this but I HAD to videotape it for prosperity.  So I saw a group of locals fishing nearby and asked on guy to video tape it for me and he agreed.  So here it is!  It was GREAT!  The only problem was that to get up, you have to climb a rusty metal hanging ladder.  By the time I got up that 40 foot ladder, my feet was almost cut.  If it wasn’t for that ladder, I would have done the jump MANY more times.

Blow hole in South Point

Another activity Tom suggested was jumping in the nearby blowhole and swimming out through the cave back to the ladder.  The hole was bigger then I thought and I wouldn’t have any problems doing this but I guess the tide was out or something because it just didn’t seem deep at all!  So I passed.  But it would have been great fun, for sure.

The southern-most human in the United States

At this moment around 9am on November 1, 2008… I was the southern most human being in the entire United States! wooHOO!  I don’t know why the camera was taking such whitewashed pictures… maybe it was something mystical.

Captain Cook Monument

After the cliff jumping, it was time for some of the world famous snorkeling.  While there are several “best snorkeling” places on the Big Island, I chose to snorkel Kealakekua Bay mostly because I wanted to see Captain Cook’s monument.  Unfortunately I didn’t have an underwater camera so I didn’t get any good pics.  There’s no roads to the monument so the only way to get there is by a really bad trail or over water. I grabbed my snorkeling gear and hit the jumping off point which is the opposite side of the bay from the monument.  It looked like a good distance away but doable.  The Kealakekua Bay beach is where you can rent kayaks and things and that side of the bay is excellent snorkeling by itself.  So off I headed towards the monument.  On the way I saw a TON of tropical fishes of unlimited variety.  And amazing coral.  On the way, I pass, and was passed by kayakers.  Seems that I was the only one snorkeling towards the monument and was kept being asked 2 questions.  The first was.. OMG! You going all the way to the monument?  The other was… you see any spinner dolphins down there?  So the answer was YES!  I’m gunna try to make it out there and NO, I don’t see any dolphins OR turtles, dangit.  So I swam… and swam… and swam… an hour later I finally made it where other snorkelers were jumping off a commercial snorkeling boat having a great time…. while I was exhausted.  I got on land, checked out the monument which marked the spot near where Captain Cook was killed (google for more info on this).  I then found a nice flat warm lava area and took an hour nap, got up, and headed out for the return trip.  And got back to the launch point an hour later. When I got back, one of the locals who rented kayaks asked if I went all the way out.. and said it’s over a mile! GEESH! I knew it looked far but if I knew it was that far, I prolly wouldn’t have done it.  But it was a GREAT snorkeling adventure that I would prolly do again.  One thing I have noticed about the waters.  After snorkeling in Costa Rica recently, the waters were a bit cooler.  Not cold, but definitely colder then the tropical waters of Costa Rica.

Kona Joe Coffee Plantation

Coffee in Kona is world famous so I just had to do a plantation tour.  All around Captain Cook are coffee plantations and I chose Kona Joe.  The unique thing about Kona Joe is that they grow there plant in a way called “trelused” which is how they grow grape vines in wineries.  Don’t know how much difference this makes but it was a nice little walk through the plantation.  I don’t drink coffee but John insisted that Kona Coffee is different and I would love it.  So I tried a sample and by gosh it tasted like any coffee I’ve ever had.  EW!  So after one sip, I through the rest away and bought John his requested decaf ground.

Entrance to Parker Ranch

I still had some time before my 10pm flight so I headed back to Waimea to see if I can stop by Parker Ranch.  I arrived and saw a bit of thier rodeo going on but didn’t see the store to get some Parker Ranch  gear.  Not sure where they hid that.

Tom suggested a couple of restaurants to have dinner before taking off.  So I punched in the location on my GPS and headed off.  They were RIGHT in the middle of the tourist strip of Kona and the cruise ship was in.  Being a Saturday night, the place was PACKED.  I couldn’t find any parking anywhere and there were lines outside every restaurant in site so this idea was out of the question.  So I headed towards the airport and found a strip mall hole in the wall for dinner before catching the plane back home.

I haven’t been to Hawaii in over 20 years and this was a great trip.  I accomplished all I wanted to do and MORE.  One of the most invaluable tools on my trip was my phone.  On it, I have TomTom GPS Navigation but also the free Microsoft Live Search Mobile which showed me where everyplace was located, the best fas prices, restaurants by category, etc.  If you don’t have this on your phone, it’s a MUST!

I got on the plane just before it took off at 10pm and was asleep before the plane took off and slept the entire time (thank goodness I got 1st class).  It was a fun but exhausting trip…. ’specially after that LONG snorkeling swim.  While I had fun, I don’t think there is anything I would want to make the trip back, as there are the other islands I would want to see first with new things to explore.  Maui looked WAY inviting from the air.

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