I came across this journal type synopsis written by Alanah, of our trip to the Big Island to see the volcano erupting.
Marlene took us to the airport early 6:15am to catch our flight at 7:30am… from phoenix Terminal 3. Luckily for us we took the extra time as the TSA were checking everyone’s food bags for dangerous goods. Evidently putting everything in clear plastic bags is not enough for these experienced persons to note that there were nuts and raisins and pretzels in them that they had to scan them and too the feel touch procedures…. Ugghh. Almost David’s undoing. Gate 24 is almost at the end of the terminal…. Of course. I do not like the way Hawaiian Airlines calls for zones because everyone lines up no matter what zone they are and shuffles towards the gate. We originally had seats apart – I was in 14J and David was in 14C and when I sat down the gent beside me started to chat and when the plane was almost boarded, he offered to change seats with David so we could sit together…. Nice man. 5 ½ hour flight to Honolulu. Mainly overcast when we flew in…. 2 hour layover for our flight to Kona.
Overcast when we got into Kona. We think it’s VOG.
We stopped at the fruit market in Kona and picked up some rainbow papayas at 6/$5. Then found our way to a supermarket where we bought up some supplies hopefully to last us for a couple of days. Everything is expensive. Bread $3 a loaf. Eggs $4 dozen Milk $4.79 for a gallon. Etc.
Then hit the LL Hawaiian BBQ for dinner even though it was only 4:45pm local time – that meant that it was 7:45pm Phoenix time…. Then we hit the road to Naalehu and our AirBND lodgings in “Discovery Harbor”. The highway 11 was pretty good. Not much traffic but a couple of slow pokes to get around when we could. We had a little bit of trouble finding the house because Google couldn’t pull up the address…. So we were driving blind but David seemed to know where he was going because we drove right up to the house, driveway and parked as instructed on the booking notice from our host Thea. It has started drizzling as we arrived so we had to unload in the rain.
Nice one bedroom open loft type with kitchen. Patio out front gives beautiful view of ocean.
July 27 David is not on island time…. He was up before the birds!! I was able to go back to sleep and get up at a reasonable time of 6:15am. We had breakfast and decided to go explore our little subdivision on foot. It was a nice walk but I did notice that at first we were going downhill which meant our way back home was going to be UP HILL. We spied some pineapples and avocados growing in people’s front yards.
We both worked up quite a sweat despite it being nicely overcast with a lovely breeze – again – Alanah’s breathing was okay. Even though it was overcast which we thought might have been VOG we came across some locals who told us that this neighborhood doesn’t get VOG so that made breathing easier all round. We found the couple of lots for sale but didn’t like their situation so headed for home. Back at the unit we had morning tea. Toast and Guava Jam before packing up and heading out for the day.
First stop were a couple of lots David had found online and the subdivision they were in is called “Mark Twain”. The roads in here are not fully developed like DH but they were passable but primitive.
One would need a little FWD pickup to survive in it. So we found the lots.. remarkable that there were street signs… YAY. David was checking them out on foot and we had parked on the road in front of a house that had a dog barking at him.
The owner came out to see what was bothering the dog and invited us in to see what he had done to his property after 30 years. He had 5 lots together that he bought back then for $4k each. He showed us photos of his house when he first moved in… not a tree in sight – just lava. Wow. His taxes for the year he said was $1000 for all the lots. He had a mass of fruit trees which he began getting and giving us samples to take with us. Texas Pink Grapefruit, Orange, lime, Tangello, etc. we left with our arms full. Lorenzo was so excited to have visitors I really don’t think he wanted us to leave except he had a to do list to get to or his wife would get mad that hadn’t been completed. We had spent a good half hour exploring his acreage with him as he showed us his trails and little bungalows he’d built on each parcel… odd little shacks complete with screens and what I could see – a small kitchen was down at the bottom of his property. We didn’t get an explanation as to why this was here but Lorenzo was such a nice guy pointing out all his trees and plants… He had chickens and everything that you couldn’t see from the main house. On the side of the road in front of his propeerty is the 1950’s era International pickup truck he had when he originally bought the lots. He left it wher it died – a common theme in Hawaii – and now it is a planter; more rust than bucket, but you can still see that it once was a truck.
So reluctantly we left and David completed a full circle of the subdivision on the unpaved roads to see how and where the roads went to….. we got the most wonderful views of the coast and ocean on several roads. This subdivision was zoned Agriculture – meaning you could grow stuff on it – not that you were supposed to make a farm of it but you could grow enough to support your own table. This subdivision is in Lava Zone 6… same as Discovery Harbor.
On our way heading to the beach we passed through the little hamlet of Naalehu and found the Post Office where we mailed Jeremy Ryan’s card. David wanted a soda and found a shop and purchased an orange soda 2ltr bottle for $7.50… YIKES.
So then we headed off to the beach… we first stopped at Whittington Beach. Lava frontage – no beach but some great pool to dip in if you had pool shoes to walk in with.
I had conveniently left mine in Phoenix. Ughh! So just dipped the toes in the water – cool but okay. We explored around the beach park and went out to the old pier that was just a skeleton of it’s old self.
The park had a huge tree in the center that had branches that could have supported a mass of people the girth of the branches was at least 4 feet round. They were massive.
Then we headed off to Black Sand Beach (Punaluu). The beach is just black sand – ground up lava!!
It is awesome to see.
It is also home to a large group of turtles. We saw at least 6 bobbing in the pools that were close to the beach.
Even the little sand crabs are black. I saw several skittering over the lava rocks and they were all black. It was so nice at the beach we brought the beach chairs and towels and set up on the beach to relax and read our books. It was overcast and there was a nice breeze blowing that kept us cool without having to go for a dip to cool off. We stayed on the beach for over an hour before heading off to explore some more.
Going out the other exit road toward Hilo David saw a road heading off into the hills so decided to take it….. yes it was only 2 dirt tracks for most of the way. There we some magnificent huge trees – looked like the huge mahogany trees of Fiji along the roadside. There were papaya trees all growing in the wild along the roadside too. about 2 miles in the road deadended at a subdivision of 290 acres – we could see the white posts dotting in and around the high grass and along the fence line. so we headed back out to the main road and back to Naalehu. We found the password for the Wifi and both got on computers to do some work, send some emails and then get dinner.
David is still on Phoenix time so he was asleep at 7:30pm Hawaii time. Alanah watched a movie “Dr Strange” on Netflix and turned out the light on Hawaii time at 10:30. Of course, David was up before the sun again this morning. I am going to make him stay awake longer tonight to try and get him acclimated to the right time zone.
Saturday July 28
We took off north towards Ocean View to look at some properties that David had researched.
We spent a good 2 hours climbing over lava looking at views from various properties before going down to a trail off Maikai Road. Come to the end and find the trail impassable for a vehicle. So that meant trudging all the way down to the Bay. I could see the end of the trail 4 miles off in the distance and decided that that trek was not for me so we headed off to Milolii to explore around there and look for their Beach Park.
Coming down off Hwy 11 into Milolii was a hairpin bend one after the other down, down, down the mountain. At least a couple of thousand feet drop down from the top, some quite precipitous and houses all the way down, some hanging off the edge, others parked back up into the mountain.
The lava ledges were incredible. We wandered down off to the right end to see some new houses on the lowest FLAT of Milolii – looked like mostly new construction (less than 10 years). Then we headed off to see the Beach…. Ha ha. This was the oldest part of Milolii.
To say that the houses looked like the ghetto was an understatement. It also looked like this was the spot to just park your old vehicle when it died and then fill it with trash and hope someone would come and take them away eventually. All up on blocks and filled to the brim with trash bags. Why??? When there’s a dumpster not 30 yards away for the community to fill.. oh well. I read that the 2011 Japanese tsunami wreaked some damage in the lower levels here and it looked it. Being a Saturday there were a lot of families parked under shades and tables and large groups together at the water’s edge. We kept going to the end and finally found a sandy walk in beach where we finally got into the water. Heaven. Salt and pepper sand with lots of small stones and rocks to snag your toes on. Only about 18 inches of water but enough to wallow in and cool off. WE set up our picnic in the picnic rotunda where there were several tables and ate our sandwiches and fruit watching the waves over Milolii Beach Park.
We then set out our beach chairs and soaked up the sun for about an hour.
Climbing back up out of Milolii you really see how far down the mountain you went. We stopped at Ocean View shops and got a roast chicken and some sodas, and luckily for us they had some sample fruit out on paper plates. The first one looked like a beet but it was jelly like – come to find out it is DRAGONFRUIT. Okay but nothing really to write home about. As we were checking out a lady came out with plates full of pineapple. Snagged a couple as they will probably be the only pineapple we get here because they are $1.39 per pound. (Funny how I can buy a Dole pineapple in Frys Scottsdale for 88c on sale.) We also made a discovery on the oranges we had bought that they were imported from Australia…. What???? Oh well.
We had seen a cheap gas station at $3.83 so David decided to fill up with the cheap gas. Everywhere else it is over $4 a gall. Then back to the house for afternoon of checking out emails and doing reports on the patio. The sun was out today and not much haze. We could even see the windmills on South Point from the patio. Watched a couple of movies from Netflix and kept David awake until 9:30pm. Yay he’s on Island time.
Sunday July 29
We decided to go back to Honomalina Beach only to find out that access to it was from Milolii Beach Park. So we headed back that way. Along the way David wanted to check out another couple of lots he’d researched online in Ocean View so we spent another couple of hours wandering over lava and checking out the lay of the lava at the various lots.
Then we headed back to Milolii. We found the entrance to the pathway easily enough and glad to have had on the sandshoes as it was over a pretty rocky terrain.
The Hawaiians have a pretty good rort going on with sections of the beach frontage signed off as Private Property do not enter and signs saying private beach no swimming etc. we thought that the Hawaiians had advocated that all beaches should have access for everyone???? Oh well.
Over hill over tree trunks… come out to a salt & pepper beach lined with coconut trees and with several houses up along the shoreline and then a couple of buildings in one corner that look like they should have been open for business – like renting paddleboards, etc and selling hot dogs etc but they were all boarded up even though some of the structure looked pretty new.
We found a green coconut and David went about smashing it open. Photos to prove it. We actually got some juice but the inside was fabulous so we ate it all.
David spied some small ripe papaya in a tree in the back of the lot and was able to reach them so we pocketed them. the riper one we had with lunch on the beach. The salt and pepper sand was really hot.
Larger smooth pebbles bordering on rock size at water’s edge but smooth and silky underfoot until you found a bigger rock to stub your toe on as you walked in deeper. About 30 feet into the water it got over David’s head. We explored along the shoreline and found some really nice houses that didn’t look currently occupied but really nice.. how to access??? Who owns them???
Back home with a stop at the store to buy some vitals.
Monday July 30
Got up early to get Monday reports started. No dramas. We eventually took off to seek out Ho’okena Beach between milepost 101 & 102.
First a stop at a farm that was advertising free tastings of macadamia nuts, chocolate, honey, coffee etc…. so we took the tour and had our free tastings. YUM.
David had another couple of lots to look at in Ocean View so we stopped their first along the way to check them out – see what the view was from the lots and check out the lava.
Stopped at the Post Office to mail the postcards to the grandkids that David had bought, I had filled out and completed.
Found the turn off for Ho’okena Beach easily enough – I wonder why we didn’t find it the previous time we were stopping at every beach there was? This park is fairly popular to the point where we had to wait for someone to leave for us to find a park. Lots of tables, toilets and showers and camping areas.
Unfortunately, we didn’t have a snorkel or mask packed with us this trip because this was a mecca snorkeling beach. Turtles everywhere and schools of fish.
Schools of yellow fish that we could see from the shoreline up in our chairs. Again, S&P sand really hot with the sun on it….. water was divine. Had to seek out the sandy entrance otherwise we were walking over rocks but there were seams to go in…. again silky sand sensation underfoot. Water as clear as a bell…. Wonderful.
Tuesday July 31, 2018
Up doing reports early this morning… had a bloody scam phone call that woke us up at 5:30am Hawaii time. UGHH!!
It’s helicopter day.
We took off for Kona about 9:30am David had emailed the realtor of the property in Mark Twain beside Lorenzo’s and we stopped in to talk to him. Pinky found the address and we sat and chatted with Tony Arruda for a while. We left having put in an offer for both lots for $13K each. YAY.
NEXT was directions to the airport to Blue Hawaiian Helicopters. This airport takes up a lot of space. We parked and then checked in. we sat in on a TV briefing and then were herded out to “waiting area” where another girl gave us the same safety briefing before we followed her out to the helicopter waiting landing area.
We were assigned seats. 1 2 3 5 and 6. David 5 Alanah 6. And we’re off…. Over lush green farmland that surrounds the airport out over the ocean. Sky was blue, ocean was blue/green and off in the distance we could see the smoke plumes of Fissure 8. We headed over to where the lava meets the sea and it was really something to see….
Then followed the RIVER OF LAVA back up the river to the spewing lava fountain that had consumed a large portion of LEILANI ESTATES.
Truly amazing sight to see. Hopefully we got some good photos and videos. Then we came back across the airport over Hilo and up the coast to see where the normal rivers meet the see.
Some amazing waterfalls right into the sea.
Hopefully some good photos of those. Then back to the airport. Had it really been 50 minutes already? Rats.
Decided on looking for Rainbow Falls. For something that is as accessible and in Hilo to all the tourists of the area, the parking lot was a joke. Only about a dozen parking spots and people galore. Sure there were spots for buses which accounted for a lot of the bodies around, but there were definitely not enough car parking spaces to accommodate a regular day at the falls.
What a spectacular sight. Pity we didn’t see it in the early morning with the sun on it. Then up to Boiling Pots State Park to see where the water comes crushing down over large boulders in the river.
Look to the left and you could see Pe’epe’e Falls – PEH-EH PEH-HE. Less than a mile up the road we came to a bridge and thought we had seen the Wai’ale Falls which looked like a manmade wier from the bridge we had walked out on.
We drove past and headed up further to see if you got any views of the sea but saw only mountain views. As we were crossing back over the bridge, I spotted that there was another waterfall behind the weir so we stopped again and walked back to the bridge to the other end a saw the real Wai’ale Falls.
There was a track that lead back from the road where we could see people were off in there swimming somewhere but we weren’t interested in that.
Back to Hilo in search of a McDonalds for an ice-cream cone… Yay. Then looked for a supermarket to buy some supplies for the last couple of days. Then headed back to Discovery Harbor. The road at the Volcano Park was marked off with cones.
Signs saying Earthquake Damage and roads closed were all around.
We could see evidence of road cracking and the pavement had lifted slightly along the small stretch of highway 11.
Other than that, smooth sailing. Moana Loa loomed large along the side of the highway being engulfed in cloud. Unfortunately the sun was directly behind it so I couldn’t get a good photo of the enormity of the volcano. It took us 90 minutes to get from Hilo to Discovery Harbor.
August 1, 2018
Woke up to no Wifi or Internet. UGHH so I can’t check any of my emails or reports.
Borrowed a ladder from landlady and took off to get a better look at the two lots in Mark Twain. David climbed the telephone post but a big tree in front blocked his view straight ahead – but to the side there were views from up there and to the side. So he came down happy and reloaded the ladder into the back of the car. Then he took off into the lots – not for me… but about30 minutes later he emerged back on the road after I could hear him thrashing about in the underbrush.
He walked down a little further then came back with a big smile on his face and I could see he’d already built the house in his imagination. He loved the property.
Back to the house and still no Internet access…. UGHH!! Checked in to Hawaiian Airlines with David’s phone – it was the only thing that had Internet access – thank goodness.
Off to Honomalina Beach again. Today there was hardly anyone there. We saw a group at the far end that obviously had a vehicle to bring in all their camping gear – paddleboards, BBQs etc and tents. So they had more help than lugging it in over the trail. We set up under the palm trees and went down to the water – cool to start then fabulous. We lolled around in the surf and on our towels – had lunch and then one last swim before hiking it back out again. Tide was up so I had to change shoes to get across the one spot where the Hawaiians don’t want to you to trespass on their property that goes under water (only a couple of inches) at high tide… and then changed back into my sandshoes to trek the last 100 yards back to Miloliii Beach Park.
When we got there we decided to have one last swim in the tide pools. David borrowed a mask that was on the beach and found huge parrot fish just beyond the surf break. Pity he didn’t have a spear or we would have had fish for dinner. Waahh!!
Last swim before we head back to Phoenix tomorrow…. What a vacation.!!!
So we have a plan to put into action for getting ourselves up and at em tomorrow morning (we have to be in Kona by 9:00am to hand in the car and go stand in line. We are both checked in so all we have to do is get boarding passes once we are there – we have almost packed our carryons now. Just a couple of wet things we are trying to air out before that last step. I have TSA Pre (I think). For the first leg out of Kona – yay.
Back at Thea’s we have Internet finally. I checked on my emails and there didn’t seem to be much that needed immediate attention so I let it go and went about cooking up dinner on the one burner element. I stacked the frypans and saucepans on top of each other keeping things warm so I could dish up everything at the same time. This made the preparation of dinner a lengthy process. On Netflix I found Thor Ragnarok so I started it early. Strange movie… not one of my favorites of the Marvel movies.
Aug 2
David got a phone call at 4am – UGHH!! Thinking it was just a junk call he ignored it and we went back to sleep eventually. 5:30am I got a junk call that woke me up – being up I decided to stay up and get the process of packing up and getting out of here started. David got another call at 6am that got him out of bed. When he finally checked his voicemails he found out they were both from work and he probably should have answered both of them. So I had already showered and was in the process of having breakfast – David had packed and we were enjoying the last of our papaya… YUM.
The drive back to Kona was uneventful – a little bit of traffic but nothing to complain about. Dropped the car off and headed off to TSA. Got our boarding passes – I had TSA Pre and breezed through. I watched as David was waylaid as they checked his sand bags. The agent checked a couple and then gave up. It took him 20 minutes to get through TSA. I had found a table in the shade and we watched as an Hawaiian band and dancers had set up in the forecourt and entertained the howlies as we departed their shores. Off to Honolulu. The walk from the gate we came in at was long. We had to go through another produce check station – took a little time. WE got to the gate and they were asking for folks to check in their carryons so we obliged. We settled down and I made our lunch sandwiches and they started boarding. So we gulped down the sandwiches and got in line to board. David and I weren’t sitting together but my seat mates were nice fellas from Chandler.
We got to Phoenix and unfortunately mother nature decided we needed to extend our holiday and sent the biggest dust storm to Phoenix just as we were arriving – followed by rain in parts of the Valley. We were put in a racetrack pattern with several other planes and stayed that way for about 45 mins. Then we got the go ahead to land. Pilot bounced us a little. Dry at the beginning and then raining on the plane as we got to the other end of the runway. Typical Phoenix storms.
As our carryons were last on the plane – they were first off which meant they were buried on the carts as it took the longest to get them at baggage claim. Taxi home – the whole trip it was dry. Not a drop in Scottsdale. 11pm we arrived home. We were still on island time so it took us a while to get to bed and sleep. David has to work tomorrow.
Aug 3.
Wash – my whole carryon of clothes went in the wash. Some still a little damp from Hawaii ocean. 😊
TropicalCastaway 