Aloha! We’re in Hawaii!
We chose this little slice of paradise to celebrate our combo birthdays and nine year anniversary. I’ve been to Oahu and Maui, but never been to the Big Island, while Sean had never been to Hawaii, so this was really exciting for the both of us.
We decided on the Big Island because we wanted low-key, mellow and relaxed. We wanted slow-paced nature over the hustle and bustle of a big city. We wanted to see waterfalls, lava fields, tide pools and volcanic activity. But most of all, being absolute space nuts, we wanted to go up to the Mauna Kea summit to see all the observatories.
Our 9 day itinerary consisted of 2 days in Kona, 2 day in Hilo, 2 days in Volcano Village and 2 days in Pahoa.
And then on May 3, hundreds of earthquakes struck Hawaii, the biggest one measuring a magnitude of 6.9. This was followed by a massive eruption of the Kilauea volcano.
That happened 13 days before our departure.
Mind you, the current eruption of Kilauea’s east rift zone began in 1983 – the longest, continuous eruption in written history. Kilauea (Hawaiian for spewing) is the world’s most active volcano, and thanks to its steady lava flow, the Big Island is only getting bigger.
Kilauea is located on the southeastern flank of Mauna Loa, which not only makes up over half of the Big Island’s 4,034 square miles, but is also the largest volcanic mountain in the world AND the third largest shield volcano in the solar system (only smaller than volcanoes on Mars and Venus)!
Fun fact: to many Hawaiians, the lava is the physical form of the volcano goddess, Pele.
We took the wait and see approach, tweaked our itinerary, but ultimately, decided to proceed with our travel plans and hoped for the best. We figured if anything bad happened, we’d come back early and just eat the cost. (because we’re ballers like that. Riiight)
This morning, there was news of Kilauea spewing a 30,000 feet ash cloud into the atmosphere, however, flights weren’t cancelled, so away we went.
We touched down at Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keahole around 5pm and picked up our car rental.
Pro tip: You will need a car in Hawaii to get around. The island is huge and public transportation is scarce. Save money by booking your vehicle with a local car rental agency that offers free cancellation with no penalty. Start booking around 6 weeks out, and keep an eye out for lower prices – until about 2 weeks out when prices will start going up again. I went from $515.94, to $449.93, to $328.66 to ultimately, $299.52 for an 8 day rental for an intermediate SUV with Dollar Rent a Car. A savings of $216.42!
The service agent told us that the mainland media was causing a panic with the eruption and that most of the island wasn’t affected by Kilauea. His friends in California were calling him, all freaked out at the news and asking how he was. He would then tell them he just had his morning swim in the ocean; there was no impact to most everyone on the island.
Coming from a local, that settled our nerves immensely. We got out of anxious mode and proceeded to enjoy our vacation. We headed over to the Kohala coast, one of Hawaii’s most scenic areas, with its world class resorts. The Hilton Waikoloa Village would be our home for the next 2 days. And holy poop, the place was impressive!
The 62 acres oceanfront property was built in 1988 to the tune of $360M, and boasts 3 swimming pools featuring waterfalls and a 175 foot waterslide, a 4-acre saltwater lagoon, a dolphin encounters pool, canal boats and air conditioned tram service for guests to get around the resort. Wha?!?
Not going to lie, the resort is pricy, but we figured, this is for a triple celebration. (and likely our one big trip for this year), so we were ok with splurging for 2 nights.
We decompressed from the flight, freshened up and headed out to the Boat Landing Cantina, one of their onsite restaurants.
I ordered the crispy avocado tacos with 2 big wedges of avocados on 2 corn tortillas with shredded romaine, lime crema, tomato salsa, with lime Mexican rice and refried beans.
Sean ordered the mahi mahi fish tacos on 2 corn tortillas with guacamole, garlic, cabbage, chipotle aioli, radish and cilantro, with lime Mexican rice and refried beans.
While enjoying our dinner, we had a couple of animal encounters. One being the tons of myna birds flying above us, roosting at sunset, loudly sing-songing. While at our feet, 2 cats and one kitten come up to us, hoping for some food.
How strange to see random cats at a hotel, we thought. So I asked our server about it. Turns out that there are tons of feral cats living in Hawaii. They’re harmless and very used to people. The locals often feed the cats. There are even feeding stations all around the island.
But why subsist on dry kibble when you can prowl a 5 star resort’s restaurants, looking up at highly gullible tourists, with your big eyes, all cute-like? I swear, I didn’t even really get to taste the mahi mahi tacos I shared with Sean, having given them 3/4 of my fish. I can’t deny them! (I’m such an easy mark)
It was worth it. These cats got themselves a sweet deal. They just patiently wait for scraps, they don’t fight with each other and they purr to show their appreciation. Our server said that Hawaii cats are super humble. I like them already!
We caught the canal boat back to our digs at the Palace Tower, went for a grocery store run at the nearby Queens Marketplace and then chilled out the rest of the evening, excited for what tomorrow will bring. Aloha, Hawaii!
View more photos of our trip on my Flickr album!
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