Big Island Love

WARNING: The following post contains pictures of naked hippies.

Adrianna came to visit!



We brought in the New Year in Waikiki, watching fireworks over the ocean with mini-bottles of champagne.






Then we made our first attempt at crab fishing, although only ended up with the store-bought octopus used as bait and a lonely shrimp.



My favorite part of the week was our adventure to the Big Island. As soon as our plane landed in Hilo we went to Punalu'u, a black sand beach and green sea turtle nesting ground. The waves were too rough to swim in, but we bought fresh coconut meat and snacked on the sand. Afterwards, we picked sweet-smelling plumerias to wear behind our ears.



Then we drove to Volcanoes National Park. Unfortunately, you can't currently see flowing lava on foot, but we had a great time hiking around the park's craters. Our favorite trail was Kilauea Iki. It descended through a rainforest and onto a lava lake still steaming from the 1950s eruption.










Our second day on the Big Island we drove to the Puna District searching for volcanically heated tide pools and springs. We were looking for a lighthouse down a tiny unmarked dirt road when we flagged down an approaching car to ask for directions. The two women we met were also going swimming and were nice enough to let us tag along with them. It was lucky we found them - the "lighthouse" we were looking for was a metal frame transmission tower with a little light at the top, and after we parked it was still about a mile and a half hike over a jagged lava flow to the pool. The pool itself was deep and warm (although not hot) with a tiny opening to the sea. After swimming, the women we befriended invited to make us lunch and show us other tide pools near their house.

Their house was in a gorgeous area with gentle hills and lush trees. Adrianna and I decided to go to the tide pools while they ate, but they insisted we take bottled water and Luna bars and gave us their snorkel gear and Tevas so that we would be able to snorkel (we were so lucky we met them). The tide pools were connected to each other in a maze of volcanic rock that overlooked a deep blue ocean. Underwater, different shades of coral carpeted the rocks. Tons of glittering, colorful fish nibbled at their edges. Just before I was about to get out, I could feel the vibrations of music from underneath the water. When I emerged, a boy was singing and playing the ukulele on a ledge of rock.




Our new friends were headed to Isaac Hale Beach Park, one of the only places to surf on the East side of the island. They told us that it also has one of the warmest thermal springs. To get to the spring, we walked to the left of this little red house and down a beautiful path with forest on one side and the ocean on the other.





The pool itself was nestled in the forest floor. The water was about a hundred degrees - the island's most beautiful hot tub.





We then decided to go to a black sand beach a little further South. We drove up and down shade-dappled hills that winded around the coastline and finally stopped when we saw parked cars on the side of the road (there were no signs). We walked down a cliff with stunning views of the ocean...



...then rounded the corner and saw...



...a whole bunch of naked hippies!

They were singing and smoking and swinging (yes, there were swings tied to branches) and playing strange alpine horns, all on the most beautiful black beach protected by giant cliffs in the back and facing an aquamarine ocean with dolphins swimming just offshore. It was so picturesque and everyone was so happy - some were frolicking, others doing handstands (above you can see the guy in the center stretching before one of his acrobatics).



After our hippie encounter we had to head back to the airport, but we were able to sneak in one last waterfall on the way out.