On Fire On the Big Island

Ray and Traci decided to spend a weekend on the Big Island of Hawaii during their most recent voyage to the 50th state. After landing at the Kona airport we faced good and bad news - our checked luggage was not to be found, but we got a free upgrade to a Convertible Mustang since Hertz ran out of compact cars. Luggageless, we traveled to our hotel - the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel. Our visit happened to fall 2 weeks after the 6.7 magnitude earthquake hitting the Big Island. Damage to our hotel included the closing of the entire top floor although most of the facilities were operational - however, many cracks and damaged areas were seen. We chose to stay at the Mauna Kea because it has one of the highest rated beaches in Hawaii. The beach is beautiful with great sand. However, it is bordered by lava on both sides and does not get much of a surf so it is a lousy place to boogie board or body surf.

Fortunately, Hawaiian Airlines found our luggage (it didn't quite make the connection with us at Honolulu), and they delivered the bags to our hotel later in the evening. In general, the Big Island has a few outstanding resorts such as the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel but trails in comparison to the development of Maui. While no area with a Costco could be called primitive, if you are expecting deluxe shopping centers, exciting nightlife and tourist activities galore, Maui or Oahu are probably better options.

One world famous attraction on the big island is the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Kilauea is an active Volcano and you can hike on the lava fields to see real lava flowing. Many of the best views are only accessible by air. Although the helicopter flights are quite expensive, the views are breathtaking. We decided to take the Big Island Spectacular tour operated by Blue Hawaiian Helicopter. By making reservations over the internet in advance you do get a significant discount. Our chopper left the heliport which is located around the Hilton Waikoloa Village, a 10 minute drive down the main highway from our hotel. The helicopter headed out toward Mauna Kea (dormant volcano seen below) and Mauna Loa (largest volcano in the world).


From Mauna Loa, we headed south toward Kilauea - the active volcano currently pouring out lava. Underneath the great fields of lava that make up the volcano park are tubes which carry molten lava away toward the ocean. You can see lava bubbling up from these tubes in places. From the air, our pilot showed us a great pit where a river of lava could be seen flowing from above.:Kilauea constantly spews out lava which constantly changes the geography. We passed over lava fields which obliterated roads and even surrounded houses. When buying real estate on the big island one needs to study geography (and homeowner's insurance) very carefully.

From the tubes, lava flows into the ocean. When the superhot lava strikes the Pacific Ocean, chunks can fly off 100s of feet. It is quite humbling to watch the earth's newest land be created.

From the lava show, our tour continued with the gorgeous scenery of the Kohala coast. We had a brief stop at the Hilo airport on the east side of the Big Island for fuel.

It would be hard to imagine a place with more breathtaking scenery than the Big Island of Hawaii.

We did not have much time to sample the restaurants or see many of the resorts near Kona. The Mauna Kea is a wonderful resort and has a very friendly staff. We enjoyed the Sunday buffet which had an incredible spread of food. While we weren't able to enjoy it, the nearby Hakone Steakhouse (Prince Hapuna Beach Hotel) has a Japanese Buffet on Friday and Saturday nights - something we look forward to every year at the Maui Hakone Restaurant.

Hawaii's Big Island has got to be one of nature's most spectacular attractions on this planet.