Welcome to my first ever Travel Thursday!
I am really hoping to develop Travel Thursdays on the blog into something that can eventually have guest bloggers so if you have an adventure and are willing to share keep me in mind! Traveling is the one thing that I am passionate above a lot of other things so you can expect my blog to take a shift in that direction soon!
Enough of my rambling though... On to Part 2 of the the Lovely Hawaiian Adventure that I recently took!
The Big Island of Hawaii is a very active Volcano. So of course the best part of a live volcano is that lava right? I was all for hiking down through the lava fields to the shore to watch the lava flowing into the ocean, or taking a boat tour right up to the active rift zone, at sunset. I'm all about mood lighting.
However the more... conservative... members of my travel party vetoed my vote by offering a view by air instead. And it was breathtaking. We saw everything from the Volcanoes, to the valleys, all the major waterfalls and the ranches covering the island. Definitely a must do if you are there. We covered a lot of ground and it gave us a good overview of the whole Island.
Bit on the pricey side, but well worth it.
Our Helicopter was a 6 passanger Eco-Star. It was awesome and was a pretty smooth ride for how windy out it was. There were a few times I gripped my seat as we came around the windier parts and the poor Russian girl in our hilo with us was very motion sick... Wear your Sea Bands!
It was so surreal to see the Earth building itself up at the cost line. The steam was hundreds of feet tall coming off the lava going into the ocean.
It was really beautiful.
A look at the mouth of the crater of one of the 6 volcanoes on the Big Island. This one is actively flowing and we saw lots of breakaways... Ok Mom maybe you were right and it wasn't the best idea to go hiking across the lava field.... Still would of made for some great photos though. There isn't anything I'm not willing to do for a good picture apparently. Anywho. The mouth of the thing was glowing like crazy for mid afternoon. Again I'll voice how amazing it was to see the Earth literally breathing and growing right underneath us.
The view of Waipio Vally from the ocean was beautiful. I think one of the neatest things about Hawaii is the combination of the cliffs and the ocean combined.
One of my favorite places that we visited on the Big Island was South Point. Which just so happens to be so aptly named as it is the Southern most point of the United States! Looking out into the ocean and knowing that there was nothing between me and Antarctica was pretty amazing. South Point was nature at it's finest. The waves were so loud and rough crashing into the shore at 90 degree angles. The trade winds coming from both direction were like whips hitting us. It was absolutely amazing. I feel like this is one of the few places in the world you can actually feel Mother natures power. Hawaii is such a volatile state and it was really breathtaking to experience the vengeful side of nature that is an everyday occurrence there.
Still don't believe me about the wind? Check out the tree above... One of the most amazing shots from the whole trip probably. (I was hanging out of the car's sun roof to get this shot.)
Visiting a Black sand beach was on my Life Bucket List so I was super excited to be able to check that off my list!
This particular beach is also a favorite place for some of the locals! Sea Turtles! They were so big and so chill. They just hung out wherever the waves rolled them up. This guy washed up and then just fell asleep on that rock. We were able to get pretty close too.
Definitely worth a stop. Even if it is out of your way I highly recommend visiting Punalu'u. It's a once in a lifetime experience for sure!
Deep Sea Fishing. Being an Island fishing is a huge thing. And EATING fish is a local must do! Seeing as you are closer to Japan sometimes than the states as well that means Sushi is pretty popular on the Isalnds. And what do you put in Sushi? Ahi Tuna!
Check out my man's 129 lb Yellow Fin Ahi Tuna! That thing was a BEAST! Congrats babe I now know we won't starve if we have to live in the middle of the ocean! HAH! The Hubs and my Daddy chartered a private boat and took it out for 6 hours. They both caught these beautiful tuna's.
XOXO The Mrs.
