Hilo – Saturday/Sunday, Wailoka Sunday-Tuesday

So Saturday morning we got up and after breakfast at the hotel went to the Saturday Market in Hilo – all the fruit!!! It was great – just like in Asia. There was even Rambutan and Dragonfruit, R did pick up a Sugarloaf pineapple which are considered the best in the world as they have no acidity. Everything here is incredibly ripe and fresh. I picked up some award winning coffee to try with friends (as I am not a coffee drinker). Everyone says Kona coffee is the best but many of those on the Island feel that isn’t accurate – just branding – so we’ll be testing it 🙂 The market also had lots of trinkets, jewelry etc.  Hilo is HUMID. 

After the market (where we spent to much time and money) we had lunch at the hotel because it was easy, took a break and then headed to walk the tea garden. We had planned to do some snorkeling but put that off.

We went out to a local Japanese restaurant where I had Chicken Katsura and Renee had tonketsu which was’t great – but that happens traveling so a late night whopper was required. We try to not eat anything we’d get at home but restaurants close early – by 8pm most things are closed. 

Sunday dawned and we left the hotel with our bags – this time circling the south of the Island. We stopped at a Coffee plantation to buy some Peabody for R’s dad and at a Black Sand beach to see the turtles. The roads randomly have goats or chickens – it wouldn’t be Hawaii otherwise. We stopped at a sweet bun bakery to enjoy lunch, and maybe I snuck in an eclair… I mean its a bakery after all. We then proceeded up the west side of the Island through Kailua-Kona to our hotel.

That night we drove up Mona Koa – all 13000 ft to the visitor center – we saw the stars and the Milky Way – it was beautiful – R did not appreciate my downhill driving on the switchbacks though. One of the amazing things we saw on the drive up was a shooting star. 

Monday was snorkeling day!!! We got up and drove to 2 step beach, where we saw lots of fish. The beach is small and parking is a nightmare but as it was our only day in the ocean it was worth it. Unfortunately R did hurt her foot and helping her I put my hand into a Sea Urchin. While I was getting the car – a Gecko did choose to climb R…. it apparently was surprised when she said Hello.  It was straight back to the hotel to allow R to rest her foot and for me dig a urchin spine out from under a nail bed and out of my finger – needle and tweezers for the win. 

We went for a drive around the north coast and back country – got to see Beautiful vistas and found a road called Holy Bakery St that R feels she should live at.  The sunsets in Hawaii are often breathtakingly beautiful. We also saw a fair few cows on the way and listened to the audio guide describing how Hawaiian cowboys are based on Mexican vasquero’s and existed before the USA cowboys.

Once we got back to the hotel we drove the 30 minutes each way to get a Domino’s pizza from our hotel because that is how far the resorts on the east coast are from Kailua-Kona – nothing like keeping the guests prisoners on the resorts….

Tuesday – our last day. We visited the last 2 National Parks and got the stamps for my Parks passport books, R with her messed up foot couldn’t get out and walk so they were quick visits. The wind on the east side makes the temperature and humidity bearable.

We then visited several markets and stores (and enjoyed a shaved ice from the gecko girls shack) on a hunt for Hawaiian vanilla before driving back to the Airport via a mountain road so we could see the temperature changes. The airport has little in amenities in Terminal 1 but we managed. Sitting in the Terminal we did enjoy our last Hawaiian sunset of the the trip