Big Island. Huge.

Today we island hopped over to the island of Hawaii, also known as Big Island. We had booked through a Korean travel agency that organizes a one day tour. They actually picked you up from your home and take you to and from the airport in Honolulu which was convenient as we had an 8 am departure. A photo from the plane nearing Big Island:



And in a little less than one hour flight, we landed in Hilo, the biggest city on the island and were picked up by our guide, Bing. Although it’s the biggest of the Hawaiian islands, Big Island only has about 13% of the state population and the capital of Honolulu is not here, but rather on the island of Oahu.

After about a 40 minute drive, we arrived at Punaluʻu Black Sand Beach Park. As the island has many volcanoes, it has the unique feature of also having black sand beaches which reminds me of Iceland.





This beach is also known for where turtles come to eat like we saw yesterday on the northern shore of Oahu. There were quite a few bobbing in the water and one resting on the beach:





We then drove by many coffee trees and farms and arrived at Kua Coffee. Although Kona is the oldest and most famous of the Hawaiian coffees, Kua is also very popular and closer to Hilo.



We learned that the red coffee beans are ready to be picked and are edible and we sampled the many types of coffee in the store…







After the coffee tasting, we transitioned to the patio for boxed lunches of Korean chicken, spicy pork, and beef pancakes. We enjoyed sharing and washing them down with guava strawberry and lilikoi juices and some pineapple bread for dessert:





We then headed to the highlight of today which was Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. We first stopped to observe steam vents where you could really feel the heat and felt like you were getting a facial:



Then we walked up to the lava lake inside the crater of Kilauea which is the most active volcano in the world. A volcano is considered active if it has erupted in the last 10,000 years. The walk to the crater took about an hour round trip over a paved road:









We learned the island is divided into 9 zones with 1 being the highest for likelihood of being impacted by a volcanic eruption. Bing told us most of the island is a 3 or an 8, but the area we were visiting was 1 - the most likely to have lava flow. The local government prepares evacuations when residents are at risk and the island actually technically continues to grow in size, making it the Big Island it is because of the lava flow.

We drove down Chain of Craters road where there are about 4 - 5 craters and we stopped at a lookout to see the lava and the ocean:







We then headed to the famous Rainbow Falls…







We drove past the gardens and around Banyan Bay which were dotted with massive banyan trees and lovely. However, we opted not to stop and enjoyed the view from the van:



Our last stop of the day was Big Island Candies Store which is known for delicious Hawaiian shortbread. There’s a store in Honolulu, but much pricier and with less variety. We didn’t get to see the kitchen operational which was attached to the store, but Team Musubi enjoyed the samples of shortbread and coffee and shopping for gifts. A view of the storefront:



We then headed to Hilo airport for our return to Honolulu where we enjoyed jjapaguri noodles for dinner which is a mix of jjapagetti and Neoguri noodles made famous from the movie Parasite:



Indeed a big day, but fun and filled with many memories, sights, and experiences!

North Shore... Where the Ocean Meets the Sky

Today I got to sleep in as it was Saturday and got up around 8 am, instead of the usual 2:30 am. All were up and about as well - we enjoyed Japanese pastries for breakfast as Team Musubi was making our way north and taking advantage of the day.

Our drive to the north was about an hour and we listened to many of the same songs that we’ve listened to over the past few days. The team often starts to sing together as we reminisce old tunes and rock out to new ones.

Driving along the road and looking at the northern coastline, it was hard to see where the ocean hits the sky. And as this was pointed out to me, my mind was blown (or I pretended it was)….



Our first stop this morning was the Dole Plantation. Although you can pay an entrance fee and sight-see, we opted to only shop for sundries and gifts. We also drove by pineapple and coffee fields as this area is very agricultural.



We then stopped in Haleiwa where we shopped again - a few photos of the shopping experience. I enjoyed the unique Patagonia store here - Pataloha!









For lunch, we went to Kua Aina where we ordered pineapple burgers, french fries, and took advantage of the free drink refills:



The town was very cute and although we could have shopped some more, we rounded the northern shore on our continued adventures.

At Waimea Bay, we stopped at Laniakea beach where we watched turtles eat the algae and come right up to the sand and rocks. There was an attendant making sure no one got too close as there were many onlookers:



Our final north shore destination was the Polynesian Cultural Center. We had reserved tickets to enter and learn about the various islands. The center is actually owned by Brigham Young University Hawaii and 80% of the employees are students who are either getting paid or academic credits. Many are from the various islands and I suspect many are Mormon as well. We heard that many major in hospitality which all makes sense considering how important it is to the island economies.



The islands of Hawaii, Tahiti, Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, and Aoteaora or present day New Zealand are represented here with island villages. It’s essentially a living museum and reminds me of colonial Williamsburg, but island style.



We took a canoe ride so it could take us to the other end of the villages. Our canoe guide was named Chris and he joked he was from the island of California. We forced a few photo bombs of him behind us:







We sat through a few presentations and activities like the one below about Fiji and learned a little Hawaiian hula:





After visiting the island villages, we headed into the theater to watch Hawaiian Journey. The 14 minute film had beautiful and immersive images of the natural beauty of Hawaii. It also offered us a respite from the Hawaiian sun and provided much needed air conditioning!

Part of our entrance fee included a dinner at the Gateway Buffet. We sat outside and had poke and usual buffet foods with an island twist. One of the attendants was totally sweet and a freshman from Indonesia learning about hospitality. She had an awesome smile and was nervous about her English, but her enthusiasm was contagious. A photo of the huge buffet hall:



We then went to the Ha - Breath of Life show. We weren’t allowed to take photos during, so here’s one before the show started:



We were treated to dancing and singing from all the islands, weaving in a story of a young boy and his life experiences. The fire knife performances of Samoa were particularly thrilling and way better than the ones we saw earlier as they were just beginners. The performance also brought together a lot of the activities and stories we learned and heard earlier in the day, so it was a nice closer.

Here’s the souvenir photo from the experience:



When the performance was done, we headed home and did a few quick errands to take advantage of some late night shopping. But what an adventurous and fun-filled day on the northern shore!

Also, a throwback from when my family came to the Polynesian Cultural Center many years ago!

Fireworks Friday

As I leave tomorrow, I decided today would be a nondiving day - you need at least 24 hours of surface time before flying and I return to NYC tomorrow.

So today I decided to check out the turtle farm on the northern part of the island. The Cayman Islands is famous for turtles (we saw several on our dives), but also when Columbus discovered the region, it was named Las Tortugas because of the many turtles!

After getting ready, I waved down a public bus which are basically vans that can pick you up or drop you off at any part of the route and costs 2 Cayman dollars - it kind of felt like Via which is a shared taxi service in NYC. Here’s a photo of my first ride up West Bay Road and a selfie - I’m wearing a hat from Papa Kim:





At the turtle farm, there are two price points - the more expensive ticket includes swimming with turtles and seeing the nurse sharks. Since I already did that in the ocean, I opted for the basic ticket.

I perused the education center, the turtle tanks, and got to hold different turtles at the touch tanks:





Then it was feeding time in the breeding ground. Apparently, they are fed 9 buckets of this feed a day:







Here’s a link to a video of them eating. Mikey described them like the children’s game “Hungry Hungry Hippos”: https://youtu.be/GMisDdbMwAA

After my visit, I flagged down another public bus and asked to be dropped off at a northern part of Seven Mile Beach. Here’s another bus selfie:



I stopped in at The Ritz Carlton poolside restaurant called Bar Jacks and had their famous piña colada  and West of Cayman salad (I was craving vegetables) pictured below:



After digesting my lunch, I meandered down the beach and napped in a few places. Here’s one beach view from the day:



As with every other day, I returned to the condo and relaxed by the pool for a bit and washed off the sand from the beach. I met a nice family from Michigan and we chatted about the Pirate Week festivities.

I showered and headed out again to catch the public bus as Mikey asked me to meet him at his office downtown. The roads were already congested and the fireworks for the festival were downtown.

So I headed south in a very full van and Mike and his colleagues met me at the bus stop. We got drinks at Bread and Chocolate and hit up the street food fair. We shared roti and chicken curry, Cayman style beef, coconut curry shrimp, jerk chicken and pork, and various sides of Mac ‘n Cheese, potato salad, plantains, fritters, and rice and beans. Caribbean culinary heaven!





We ate in Mikey’s office benefitting from the air conditioning, but then having a balcony view of the fireworks!



All of Mikey’s colleagues were so nice and one colleague brought her 1 year old daughter and 4 year old son, Kaizer. As he couldn’t see over the railing, I had fun holding him during the fireworks display. Then we all ran around in the office, drew outlines of their bodies on the erase board, and spun them on the office chairs. We even squeezed in a quick video call to William!

What a fun time as my Friday night went off with a boom in Grand Cayman!