HAWAII
THE BIG ISLAND

We headed for Hapuna Beach State Park where you can splash in on boogie boards and ride the white rolling waves.




When Captain James Cook, the first Westerner to visit Hawaii sailed into Kelakekua Bay at dawn on January 17 in 1779 the beach was lined with ten thousand onlookers and a thousand canoes a came out to greet him.


His tall ship with high sails appeared to fulfill a prophesy about the god “Kolono” who was supposed to return on a floating island covered in high trees.



We arrived after a long, but surprisingly comfortable flight and we didn’t feel particularly god like, but were made to feel equally welcome. Garlands of scented flowers were put about our necks at the airport and the fragrance of frangipanis and orchids hung in the air.


As we came in to land at Kona, the airport for “ Big Island” as Hawaii is known, the volcano sat clouded in smoke and fumes. There was a really large eruption back in 1801 and they reckon another big one is due.

Once 900 million cubic tons of lava came spewing out in three months, now there’s enough of it around to make a lava highway 2½ feet thick to the moon. Along the roadside flowers contrast sharply with the black mass. Orange and red bushes shoot up through the cinders.

The lava might look dead but once growth has started, it is rapid.

We drove south and the vegetation became lush. Growing by the road side found Orchids, Java fruit, lychee, bananas, avocados, oranges, mountain apples, papayas, tea, nuts, mangoes, and of course coffee.

If you want to delve into the Hawaiian culture it’s worth making an visit to the Pu’Uhonua Historical Park. It will give you an understanding of the Polynesian connection and the severity of the early rulers.


It’s well worth the small entrance fee to see the strangely carved statues and visualise the people taking refuge behind the great wall.

We headed for Hapuna Beach State Park where you can splash in on boogie boards on the white rolling waves.

This is one of the finest beaches on the island and there are other beaches too, like Lumahai Beach which was made famous in the film South Pacific as the place where Mitzi Gaynor tried to
‘Wash that Man right Out of Her Hair.’

I was keener on looking under the water so
I visited Kahalu’u Beach Park.

It had black volcanic sand and was not immediately attractive, but under the water we immersed ourselves in a psychedelic dream of brightly coloured creatures.

Giant Angel fish, Parrot-fish, Blue Eyed Damsels, Ornate Butterfly fish and a host of their colourful cousins, finned their way around us.

On the west of the island it was like driving through a botanical garden but we were drawn towards the volcano at the top of Kilauea Caldera.

We took a helicopter ride that skimmed over the trees climbing up above abandoned houses and roads that had disappeared under the lava flow.

We banked steeply and circled above the coast where a great white cloud of steam, high in hydrochloric acid content, billowed hundreds of feet into the sky.

Below us as the lava met the sea it was exploding violently and forming black sand, creating the newest land on earth. Then we shot off up the hill to see the red glowing fiery cracks.

Hell itself seemed to peep out from below the fragile crust, then it was up to the top of the mountain where again we banked steeply as we peered down into the fires that burned in the crater and the pilot muttered “engine don’t fail me now!”

The Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is well organised and it is possible to stay in camper cabins or lodge at the Volcano House. One particularly popular activity involves a sunrise breakfast followed by a 37 mile downhill ride to the flatlands on a mountain bike.

On the sunny west side of the island. Hilton run a futuristic resort called Waikoloa Village.
This is set in 62 acres of gardens and has two monorails. After checking in we travelled to the tower that contained our room on a boat that sailed along a tree lined canals.

It was captained by a pretty Hawaiian girl with a flower behind her ear and a hat dripping with so much gold braid that it would have done an admiral proud. It was a holiday fantasy.

Landward might have been a sea of back volcanic rock but here was an ultra modern pleasure palace where the corridors were lined with works of art. We swam below waterfalls and found in a cave with a steaming whirling hot Jacuzzi.

Birds flitted amid a jungle of plants and exotic ducks paddled in the pond by the dining room . Outside a manicured golf course had been imposed over the lava and a golden beach glinted in the distance. It’s amazing what developers can do with $300 million. After my swim I travelled back in a little train but I didn’t dare close my eyes just in case woke up and found myself commuting to work on the local rattler.

FACT FILE

Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau: Waikiki Business Plaza, 2270 Kalakaua Avenue, Suite 801, Honolulu, HI 96815

Tel: (808) 923 1811 or (800) 464 2924 (brochure line, toll free). Fax: (808) 924 0290
Website: http://www.gohawaii.com

IN UK: This holiday is featured in the United Vacations America & Hawaii brochure.
call 0870 606 222.

Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau (UK Office): PO Box 208, Sunbury-on-Thames, Middlesex TW16 5RJ, UK
TEL:(020) 8941 4009 Fax: (020) 8941 4011.

E-mail: info@hvcb.org
Website: http://www.gohawaii.com


Volcano House, lodging and camping (in Hawaii call 800 438 6707)

Report by Allan Rogers

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