The Big Island of Hawaii is spectacularly beautiful.

The Big Island is a microcosm of the planet earth. It has rain forests and deserts. It has tropical jungles and snow-capped mountains.

If you want to live life large, go to the Big Island of Hawaii.

Honestly, I went to the Big Island, thinking of nothing but a couple of days of R&R on the beach, after a long flight. I don’t do well with time change so I planned to self-medicate with long beach walks and ocean swims. It didn’t turn out that way. The Big Island is all lava rock and crashing surf. Not a place for long beach walks and ocean swims.I had to re-calibrate my brain and see where I landed. What a fabulous experience!

Getting there

The airport on the Big Island is lovely. It is open-air with covered walkways. Fresh tropical air is the perfect antidote to a long flight.

This beautiful sculpture shows women doing the ancient Hawaiian Hula dance.

Getting to the Big Island by boat

You can take a cruise to the Big Island.

We watched this cruise ship from our hotel balcony as it arrived in port.

How many watercrafts can you see? If you look closely, you can see the tiny pilot boat in the shadow of the starboard side of the cruise ship. It is the pilot’s job to lead that huge cruise ship into port.

Aloha from the Big Island of Hawaii

Whether you arrive by plane or boat, be prepared for great adventure.

Here is my list of the top ten activities that we did on the Big Island:

#1: Stand on top of the world

Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain in the world

Most of Mauna Kea is under water. When measured from its base on the ocean floor to the summit, Mauna Kea is taller than Mount Everest.

You don’t need to buy expensive mountaineering gear to reach the summit of Mauna Kea. You can drive.

Even though this is my number one activity on the Big Island, I didn’t really do it. We did not drive to the summit. I really wanted to to it …. but … It is a long and difficult drive. You need a 4-wheel drive… And It is cold at the top of the world … And many visitors suffer from altitude sickness. I just knew I would be one of them. Cold and dizzy. At 14,000 above sea level, there is 40% less oxygen. After a long flight, I did not need more altitude.

We were lucky to get a clear view of Mauna Kea at sunrise from our hotel balcony. We could see the sun glinting off the telescopes at the summit.

Mauna Kea is one of the best places in the world for stargazing

Mauna Kea is high, dry and dark. This makes Mauna Kea one of the best sites in the world for astronomers. The summit is almost always clear because it is above the inversion layer. It is dark at night because it is on a small island in the middle of a big ocean. Legislation controls light pollution from surrounding areas.

Mauna Kea is the world’s Home of Astronomy. Thirteen of the world’s largest and most powerful telescopes sit on its summit, funded by 11 countries, including Canada. A friend told me that astronomers need to book telescope time two years in advance and get about 20 minutes to conduct their experiments.

Mauna Kea is our window to the universe

If you want to stargaze at the top of the world, here is the official site to plan your visit to Mauna Kea.

http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/info/vis/

If you skip the drive to the summit of Mauna Kea, you can do the next best thing:

#2: Visit the Imiloa Astronomy Center

Experience Hawaii’s Legacy of Exploration at the Imiloa

The Imiloa connects Hawaiian history and culture with astronomy.

‘Imiloa brings together members of the Hawaiian and astronomy communities to share a common vision for the future.

 

‘Imiloa links to early Polynesian navigation history and knowledge of the night skies, and today’s renaissance of Hawaiian culture and wayfinding with parallel growth of astronomy and scientific developments.

https://imiloahawaii.org/

We did not budget enough time for this experience. Plan at least half a day.

Imiloa’s CyberCANOE is a highlight of the Center

Imiloa’s CyberCANOE is 3 very large display screens that showcase results from the world’s top science researchers. It is an interactive display, controlled by PlayStation controllers. You can travel virtually to anywhere in the universe and beyond. Where did we go? To see our house. We could our rooftop, from Hawaii. It is nice to know where we belong in this great big universe.

Mauna Kea and Imiloa are in Hilo on the eastern side of the Big Island. Hilo has a tropical rainforest climate. It rains a lot. It is one of the wettest cities in the world. We checked the weather report before we made the decision to drive to Hilo. We got lucky. We had sunshine and blue skies the whole time.

Check the weather before driving to Hilo

There is lots more to do in Hilo besides stargazing:

#3: Visit the largest Japanese garden outside Japan

Liliuokalani Gardens is Hilo’s Japanese Garden by the Sea

We strolled along ocean footpaths, through rock gardens, across arched bridges over fishponds. We saw pagodas and Japanese stone lanterns and a teahouse. We walked across a bridge to Coconut Island.

The gardens are dedicated to Hawaii’s first Japanese immigrants who worked in the sugar cane fields.

The gardens are open 24 hours. Admission is free.

We had a lovely evening stroll through the gardens. It is a very peaceful place.

#4: Walk through a rainforest garden by the ocean

The Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden is a natural greenhouse by the ocean

This garden was a wonderful experience for me. It was a lush, colourful walk through a rainforest, with fabulous ocean vistas.

This spectacular orange flower is a Panama Flame Tree. The flowers last just a few days so we were very lucky to see this tree in bloom.

Here is the description of the garden from its site:

Aloha and welcome to Onomea Bay and the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden! This “Garden in a Valley on the Ocean” is located off of Highway 19 on the lush Hamakua Coast’s 4 Mile Scenic Drive, 8 1/2 miles north of Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii. (click here for map, admissions and hours).

 

The Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden is a museum of living plants that attracts photographers, gardeners, botanists, scientists, and nature lovers from around the world.

 

The 40-acre valley is a natural greenhouse, protected from buffeting tradewinds and blessed with fertile volcanic soil. Throughout this garden valley, nature trails meander through a true tropical rainforest, crossing bubbling streams, passing several beautiful waterfalls and the exciting ocean vistas along the rugged Pacific coast.

 

The Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden is a 501(c)(3) Scientific and Educational non-profit, whose mission is to serve as a nature preserve and sanctuary, a living seed bank, and a study center for trees and plants of the tropical world. The Garden is dedicated to the collection and display of the world’s tropical plants,and to the education  about the plight of the world’s rainforests. At a time when rainforest plants are disappearing at an alarming rate, the Garden is working to preserve as many species as possible for the benefit of future generations.

http://www.htbg.com/

Would you see a jungle and imagine a garden?

The Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden was created by Dan Lutkenhouse. He bought the property in 1977. It was an impenetrable jungle, choked with wild invasive trees, weeds, thorny thickets and strangling vines. He had a vision that the property could become a tropical paradise. For eight years, Dan and his two helpers carved paths through the jungle with cane knives, sickles, picks, and shovels. The work was done by hand to protect the natural environment.

The admission price to the gardens is $20. The proceeds are used to purchase and protect surrounding lands.

What is this flower?

These flowers look like cheerleaders’ pom poms. I have never seen anything like this flower. If you know what it is, please add a comment.

This is a close-up of the mystery flower

Is this the prettiest waterfall in Hawaii?

This 3-tiered waterfall is in the middle of the rainforest in the Botanical Gardens

This is the ocean view from the Tropical Botanical Gardens

This is the first time I have seen a no-drone sign

We spent a couple of hours at the tropical garden. We had time for one more sight in Hilo:

#5: Visit Rainbow Falls

This is Rainbow Falls

If you arrive in the morning, you might see the rainbow. The Falls cascade over a lava cave.

Rainbow Falls is just outside Hilo. There is plenty of parking. It is a short walk from the parking lot to the falls.

There is a rainforest jungle at the top of Rainbow Falls

There is a walkway and a staircase to the top of Rainbow Falls

Time for our last adventure in Hilo:

#6: Visit a macadamia nut farm and factory

These are fresh-roasted macadamia nuts

I was looking forward to this visit because I love macadamia nuts. It was a huge disappointment. There was no guide and no tour. There are windows over the production plant. That’s all.

There were lots of tour buses taking tourists to this site. Skip it and just buy a bag of macadamia nuts.

It was time to leave Hilo and head north to see a vanilla farm:

#7: Visit the only vanilla farm in the United State

The Vanilla Farm is a great adventure

After our disappointment with the macadamia nut factory, we were a bit hesitant about our next adventure, visiting a vanilla farm. The drive did not appease our trepidation. The road was not much more than a single lane dirt path. We pressed on and arrived in time for our tour. We were surprised to find a full parking lot. Others had found their way off the beaten path for a vanilla adventure.

If we had arrived earlier, we would have had a pre-set lunch before the tour. Every course is infused with vanilla, of course. The vanilla farm is family-owned and the wife is a chef. With limited time, we ordered a vanilla milk shake. It is the best milk shake I have ever had.

The tour leader is the niece of the owners. She was wonderful. Very knowledgable and funny.

Her uncle started the farm about 20 years ago. He knew nothing about farming and nothing about vanilla. He decided to harvest vanilla because it is the second most expensive spice after saffron. Recently, he has gotten lots of growing advice from the cannabis industry.

Growing conditions for vanilla are perfect on the Hamakua Coast. The lava is covered with 12 feet of topsoil.

Our tour guide told us how to make vanilla at home.

Vanilla Recipe:

• Ingredients:
  • 3 vanilla pods
  • 12 ounces of vodka
• Instructions:
  • Split the pods lengthwise
  • Place the pods in a bottle and fill with vodka
  • Let it sit for 18 months

After 18 months, you can pour off a third of the vanilla and refill with more vodka. You can keep doing this for 18 years!

I bought 3 vanilla pods at the gift shop for $45. I now have vanilla for the next 18 years.

Here is a confession. I didn’t wait 18 moths to try the vanilla. I tasted it after a day. It tastes like vanilla vodka. Pretty good already.

Vanilla comes from an orchid

The vanilla plant is an orchid. Its flowers last for only a day. Each flower must be pollinated by hand in order to produce a vanilla pod.

There was not much to actually see in the greenhouse. The tour was great because the guide was great.

After our tour, we drove across the centre of the island to the west side. This is a fabulous drive because it is through a lava desert.

#8: Drive across a lava desert

A lava desert is miles of black rock in all directions

The Big Island is a land of contrasts. The east side boasts 12 feet of topsoil. The middle of the island is miles of black rock. Finally, we saw signs of life and stopped to take pictures of these hardy little ferns.

Desert flowers

After the ferns, we saw these pink flowers

A desert in bloom

Finally. we knew that we were leaving the desert. It was a surreal experience to drive through miles of black rock.

The west side of the Big Island is famous for its coffee:

#9: Visit a coffee farm

Kona coffee is one of the most expensive coffees in the world

Kona coffee flowers are called “Kona snow”

Coffee flowers bloom in February and March. We were there at peak bloom time. Green berries appear in April. By late summer, the berries are a rich, deep red. The berries are ripe for picking throughout the fall. Kona coffee is very expensive because the beans are picked by hand as they ripen. Each tree produces about 15 pounds of beans which result in about 2 pounds of roasted coffee.

These little birds flitted around the coffee trees

Almost anything can grow in the fertile soil in Kona

This is a sack of unroasted coffee

Wake up and smell the fresh roasted coffee!

Kona peaberry coffee is the most expensive coffee

A coffee fruit usually produces two beans. The flat sides face each other as they develop. Occasionally, a fruit will produce only one bean. It is round because it is not flattened by its twin. Originally these round beans were considered as waste. Then someone roasted them and found them sweeter and more flavourful. Now they are prized and packaged and expensive.

Our time on the Big Island was coming to an end but I needed to do one more thing: I needed to sit by the ocean.

#10: Watch the Ocean

Find a path through the lava to get to the ocean

The crashing surf on the Big Island is magnificent

Do you see the palm trees and grass? This is a golf course. If you overshot the green, don’t try to hit your ball out of the lava!

These women are rowing right next to the crashing surf

The Big Island is the home of the Ironman World Championship

We stayed in a hotel that has these wonderful paintings that depict the 3 stages of the Ironman:

• 2.4 mile open water swim in Kailua-Kona Bay
• 112 mile bike ride across the lava desert
• 26 mile marathon run along the coast of the Big Island

Do you qualify for the Ironman?

Here is the official Ironman site to see if you can qualify:

http://www.ironman.com/triathlon/events/americas/ironman/world-championship.aspx#/axzz5mEUNzNVb

Ironman Records

The current Ironman Hawaii course record was set in 2018 by Patrick Lange (Germany), whose winning time was 7 hrs 52 min 39 sec. The women’s course record is 8 hrs 26 mins 18 sec, set in 2018 by Daniela Ryf  (Switzerland)

This is how I would look if I just swam, biked and ran for 8 hours

Instead, I am heading to the ocean for my favourite activity in Hawaii:

Enjoy an epic sunset on the Big Island of Hawaii

Next week, we will see the best of island of Maui