Landed in Hilo right on time, actually sailed into a beautiful sunny day! Quite unusual for the rainy side of the big Island. Disembarcation was a breeze and the car rental pick up was much smoother this time around in Hilo. The first time we were here was on the NCL Star, which was making one of her first port calls to Hilo (they had previous tendered into Kona). While getting off the ship wasn’t a problem (we were even greeted by a tourist representiatvie with shell leis!), the rental car situation was not very coordinated and it took us forever to get the van to go to the airport for the car. This time we walked right out, got on the Budget van, hit the airport and got our car right away.
We were out of the airport at 9:55 and onto route 11 headed toward the Volcanoes. The 45 minute drive took us through farmland and past typical Hawaiian villages before climbing uphill to deposit us at the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. A $10 entrance fee and we were on our way. First stop, the welcome center to check out any volcanic action. Unfortunately for us, there was none. A couple of steam clouds had been seen a few days before, but otherwise, nada! Oh well – at least it was a gorgeous day for a walk.
We took off out on Crater Rim Road and hit Chain of Craters Road by 10:55. Took another half an hour through incredible lava fields, Craters and cinder cones. Winding our way back down to sea level, in some places the road is cut through lava rock 30 feet high on each side. The views are amazing for the entire 19-mile drive, until it abruptly stops at the Mauna Ulu parking lot - the end of the road, literally. The Chain of Craters Road has been covered by lava since 1983 – approximately 10 miles of the road still remains under massive flows of the inky black lava mass.
We parked in the little circular parking area and headed out for the trails. Ed had developed a full blown cold by this point (thank you Sapphire Princess passenger who sneezed all over the elevator while we were riding with him!), but ever the trooper, he kept up the pace as we hiked down the “white” trail markers to get close to the shoreline in hopes of steam plumes (not!) and then back on the “yellow” trail markers that took us more inland over miles and miles of lava fields and up on top of huge lava mounds for breathtaking scenery.
The day was fantastic. Beautifully sunny, could have been very hot except for the very stiff ocean breeze. Completely unlike our first visit when it was so cold and windy I often times refused to get out of the car! After an hour of hiking through the lava fields we were ready to head back down into Hilo and explore the Northern side of the big island. From the bottom of Chain of Craters, it only took us a little over an hour to get back into town. We stopped by the WalMart for provisions ( Kleenex and cold medicine) and then headed out to find the waterfalls.
We had never been into the town of Hilo, and driving through it looked like a cute, old-fashioned little town. We thought we might explore later, if we felt like it, but first headed out toward the Akaka Falls.
Easy to get to, the falls are only a few miles outside of Hilo. On the way we had seen a sign for a “scenic” drive, so we detoured a bit and meandered through a small, and sometimes very narrow, drive along the coast and through the forest. The “scenic” drive wends through the woods with views of secluded bays and huge palm trees with leafy vines. It goes past the Botanical Gardens before coming back on route 19 a few miles before the Falls. The road is a great diversion – but beware the one-lane bridges! Eight in all – they’re very picturesque, but very narrow and can come up on you quite quickly. All in all, the scenic route probably adds a very worthwhile 5 or 10 minutes additional to the total commute time.
From the Scenic route it only takes about 5 minutes to the Akaka Falls turn off onto Route 220. From there, the route takes you through an old country town, Honomu, complete with wooden sidewalks and quaint little shops and cafes. It looks like something right out of the old west – which is really what Hawaii was all about – the FAR west! After leaving Honomu, the road turns uphill and winds through more beautiful farm land with livestock and Taro plants all around.
The Falls themselves are a pretty incredible sight. There are two falls – the lower Kahuna Falls which only has a 400 foot drop, and Akaka Falls, which is larger by a whole 20 feet at a 420 foot drop. We parked in the lot (it was fairly full, but we squeezed right in), and headed off to the trails. The signs suggested we head to Kahuna Falls first, then loop back to Akaka. We followed the instructions, which was probably a good thing as the loop down to Kahuna had many, many steps. It was worthwhile heading down the steps for Kahuna, then up many less steps to get to Akaka. Mind you it was still a strenuous little walk/climb, but worth it for the waterfalls. Both were stunning and we took our share of photographs – plus a helpful fellow tourist took an excellent picture of the two of us in front of Akaka Falls (as you can see here, we finally figured out the photo uploading!).
Back in the car, we headed back down the road – and just in time! As we were heading back to town, two tour buses were heading up the road to the Falls. We visited at just the right time! Half an hour later, we were sitting on a stone wall in the Liliuokalani gardens just out side of the town of Hilo. The gardens are beautifully landscaped in Japanese fashion with rock formations and Koi ponds. It’s a very serene place to sit or walk and contemplate. Right on the water at the head of Banyan Drive, it was a nice little rest stop before heading back to the ship.
Turned in the car at the airport and then waiting with a huge klatch of other folks for a van to the ship. Were a little concerned about fitting into the van (since on the ride over we were filled to over capacity with some poor man crouching in between the side of the van and the 3rd row of seats!). Ran into Sarah and Geoff (our Tisa’s Beach organizers) who had rented from another agency. Got to chatting and ended up on the bus with them back to the ship. Worked out perfectly.
Freshened up, headed outside to watch sail away and tried not to let the fact that we were on the very last leg of our “epic” voyage affect our moods too much! Can’t believe we’ve been away this long, can’t believe it’s almost over! We’re hanging on to every last day we can………….
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