Kaimu Black Sand Beach is a quarter-mile hike across a barren lava field of smooth, ropey-looking black rock, following a footpath paved with finely crushed red cinder stones, to the rocky shore of crashing waves and tumbling boulders of Kaimu Black Sand Beach. This is an isolated and stunningly beautiful stretch of coastline carpeted with …
Kaimu Black Sand Beach – A Short Hike Across 30-Year-Old Lavafield Read More »
There is simply no better place on Hawaii Island to see the stars than from the summit and flanks of Mauna Kea – a dormant volcano towering more than 13,000 feet above sea level that makes up much of the island’s landmass and is indispensable to ancient Hawaiian spirituality. Above the cloud line, the night …
Mauna Kea- A Big Island Tradition of Stars, snow, and Lore Read More »
Kua Bay is what everybody calls Maniniʻōwali Beach, the white-sand cove at the north end of Kekaha Kai State Park, just north of the Kona airport. It’s one of the most picturesque beaches on the Big Island: a big stretch of white sand and blue water that plays the tropical-oasis part perfectly, close to Kona, …
Kua Bay (Maniniowali) – White Sand at Kekaha Kai Read More »
The finely ground soft white sand of Spencer Beach Park delivers swimmers, snorkelers, kayakers and board-riders into the crystal-blue waters of the surrounding bay, which on a typical sunny North Kona afternoon is calm enough for small children to safely frolic. Spencer is one of the northernmost white sand beaches on the island, and a …
Spencer Beach Park – One of the Big Island’s best places to Picnic Read More »
Every Sunday morning along a nondescript stretch of highway in Big Island’s Puna District, local vendors of every stripe arrive at Maku’u Farmers Market to set up their elaborate village of pop-up tents, flea markets, produce racks, food trucks and display tables crammed with all sorts of handmade merchandise. Local’s take Sundays only: Go in …
Along an unassuming side street within Big Island’s Hawaiian Paradise Park neighborhood is Hobby Garden – the brainchild of long-time island resident Johnson Lum, who many years ago sought to build a one-of-a-kind amusement park on his acre of rural, agricultural land that was equal parts science fair, petting zoo, museum and teaching farm. Johnson …
Few places on Big Island have been changed by its recent volcanic activity quite as much as Pohoiki Beach, which until a few years ago wasn’t a beach at all. What is today a long stretch of raw, isolated oceanfront land – a gently-sloping shoreline of smooth lava rocks mixed with finely pulverized black sand …
Pohoiki Beach – The Black Rock Shores of Big Island’s Newest Beach Read More »
Reed’s Bay Beach Park is a hidden gem along Hilo’s looping scenic oceanfront byway known as Banyan Drive – named after the rows of gigantic Banyan trees lining the road – and features a short, crescent-shaped white sand beach studded with coral rubble that gently slopes down into the vividly clear waters of the shallow …
Reed’s Bay Beach Park – Come for the beach, Stay For The geese Read More »
Just east of the City of Hilo’s two-mile long breakwater sits Keaukaha Beach Park; a rocky shoreline of calm tidepools and swimming holes protected from the onslaught of rolling waves charging in from the open ocean. It’s a collection of unassuming windswept inlets and inviting tree-lined coves found just off of Kalanianaole Street – the …
Lava Highway 132, Hawaii’s newest lava field is found on Big Island’s eastern flank, in its rural and agricultural Puna District, and is traversed by a gently curving highway that was opened just a few years ago: Lava Highway 132. This is a pristine broad-shouldered, two-lane road built on top of the vast sea of …
Lava Highway 132 – Puna’s Hilly Drive to the Coast Through A River of Hardened Rock Read More »