The Big Island: Roadside Attractions

Wrapping up our trip on the island of Hawaii i've thrown together one last post featuring a  hodgepodge of some of the other places we visited. There's a ton to do on the island and we didn't have enough time to even scratch the surface. There are a lot of locations here so i've subdivided them.

When  you leave Hilo you may cross this bridge. It looks great for skateboarding. Don't fall off the side though.

 Highway 19 starts off in lush jungle.

A side trip up to the lower slopes of Mauna Kea where plantation fields have been replaced with grazing meadows.

Hakalau Bay

The ruins of the mill site at Hakalau Bay, destroyed by the great Tsunami of 1946. Below are some more of the ruins, which are overgrown by the jungle. The area also features expansive grassy lawns and picnic facilities, a gravel beach and a partially damned stream that looked like a good wading pool.

Kaumana Cave

Kaumana Cave is located right on the road and is a two mile long lava tube formed during an 1880 lava flow that nearly destroyed Hilo. It's between the Saddle Road (a cool drive on it's own) and Hilo. Being so close to town this tube is well worn inside. We had a good time tubing in Bend so we were looking forward to this trip, but after a few dozen feet on our knees avoiding cockroaches and getting dripped on we came to our senses and realized there was no reason to spend your time in Hawaii underground in the dark.

Inside the tube has a lot of creepy tree roots dangling from the ceiling.

Mahukona Beach Park

I don't know why it's called a beach park but it's a neat place to go snorkeling. The first day we stopped by here with no gear and the water was crystal clear. A few days later we showed up prepared but the water had become very cloudy and a bit of a nasty riptide was present. I was fine with flippers but Maree had  a hard time getting back after we noticed how fast we were being pulled out to sea.

Much better than a black cave of cockroaches.

The bay is an abandoned sugar company harbor, and under the water you can explore the ruins of a collapsed dock and a pieces of a scattered shipwreck if you can find them. The nice place about it is you can drive right up the edge of the water and enter via a ladder. There's also a handy hose nearby for cleaning up afterwards.

Here's me in murky water.

An anchor chain.

Lots of Tangs!

A guy was learning to kite board at Kekaha Kai State Park

Hawaii Tropical Gardens

There are several good road trips you can make, one of them is the north road (highway 19) along the Hamakua Coast from Hilo to Waimea. The coastline is beautiful here and winds through portions of "old Hawaii" when the islands main economic purpose was sugarcane. One of the first stops on this trip is just outside Hilo; Hawaii Tropical Gardens is small, dense and very well done. I didn't pay the hefty fee for the exclusive portion of the botanical gardens on Kauai, but this garden on the Big Island is definitely worth the much lower price. Bye the way, the picture on the top of this post is the falls at the tropical garden.

 Nice pathways to walk on that are wheelchair accessible.

I don't know what any of this stuff is but I have to admit i was unprepared for the sites i would see in the garden. If i had known how cool it was i would have reserved more time and brought a macro lens.

I never heard of this. It's a Cannonball Tree, and it grows these gourds that look like cannonballs, along with big flowers all up the trunk. Kind of an intimidating tree.

Laupahoehoe Point and Memorial

There used to be a village below the cliffs at Laupahoehoe Point. Then in 1946 on April Fools Day a tsunami came by and destroyed a school full of children. There's a memorial there now and some people still live at sea level. The landscape is beautiful. The waves are incredibly violent, and apparently that's normal. A neat place with a sordid past.

I wasn't able to ever get a picture before my camera got too wet but the waves were smashing into the rocks and flying up into the air well above that shorter tree over there on the left. It was windy with constant spray in the air.

There were trails through the tall grass along the rocky coast. Occasionally you could work your way out there. In some areas the pillars of rocks were completely covered in pine needles.

Pololu Valley is at the end of the road on the far north end of the island. It's one of the only places on Hawaii that has high cliffs like Maui or Kauai. A trail leads to the bottom of the valley where there is a black sand beach. The valley can also be accessed from the other side via a long drive out of Waimea.