The second week of our trip was to the Big Island. Such a different vibe than Oahu and no big cities like Honolulu. Lots of open fields covered in lava rock. More mountains and lush vegetation. Our condo for this stay was called Royal Sea Cliff in the Kona Coast area and it lived up to its name, sitting right on the water on a small cliff. The best part was the view from our patio each night. Sunsets galore.

Our room and view!

Arrival and settling in…

We got to the big island Saturday afternoon with not much planned. Mostly settling in to the condo, checking out the resort, food run and of course catching our first sunset from the patio. We had a couple of organized tours planned for this week. One was to go swim with the Manta Rays and the other stargazing on top of Mauna Kea. The rest of the itinerary…beaches, coffee and chocolate.

Swimming with the Manta Ray

This has to be one of the coolest things we have done. I found out about swimming with the Manta Rays when researching things to do for this trip. The idea sounded insane, but the more I looked at it the more I knew I wanted to do it. There are several places you can do this on the island and a good number of tour operators to pick from. One of the trip sites I was using for research recommended a few, but we ended up using Manta Ray Advocates (https://mantarayadvocates.com). A couple of things made me pick them. One, they don’t take you out on a boat, you swim out from the beach. Several reviews I saw talked about the other operators and how the spots were getting over crowded with boats and people. Sometimes this has even resulted in Manta’s being hit by boats or harmed by the people on the tours. Manta Ray Advocates does small groups (7 people and 1 guide), does a great job of teaching you what to do and not do, and really takes the protection of these amazing animals seriously. I would highly recommend them!

As for the swim…absolutely amazing! And yes it happens at night. They use bright lights to attract the plankton that the Manta feed on. These pictures, while they look amazing, don’t fully capture what it is like having a creature that massive doing barrel rolls a foot or less underneath you. For something that big, they truly are graceful. Don’t pass this up if you go to the big island and you are good with snorkeling.

Mauna Kea Sunset and Stargazing

The other big tour we did on the big island was a trip up Mauna Kea. At 13,796 feet above sea level, it is one of the taller mountains in the US. If you count the part of the mountain under the sea, it is the largest mountain in the world, taller than Everest. The mountain is home to 11 active telescopes and is one of the best places in the world to see deep space objects. This is due mostly to the lack of light pollution and its location near the equator. Our trip took us to the visitor center a little over 9000 feet up for a stop at the gift shop and dinner provided by the tour company. Then it was up to the top to watch the sun set and the stars come out. They close the top right after sunset so we headed down a few thousand feet to a parking area where the tour company setup a couple of small telescopes that we could actually use. Our guide was really good and pointed out a lot of really cool facts and stars in the sky.

The one thing you really are not prepared for is the fact it is around 40 degrees on the mountain at night. Then you get back to sea level and it is 80. That difference will really mess with your head. The tour company does provide parkas and gloves, so that did help.

Beaches, hiking, volcanoes, coffee and chocolate

We went to several beaches on the island, including Kekaha Kai State Beach, which has a couple of unique things about it. One, you have to drive through a massive lava rock field. It was crazy and glad we had an SUV to handle the terrain. The other thing about it was it’s location close to the runway of the airport. It was pretty cool to lay there on the beach and watch planes land.

The next two beaches we visited were the type you can’t just find anywhere. The first one was a green sand beach. Yep, that is right, green. Apparently there are only 4 in the world and the big island has one. It’s more of a green tint, but pretty cool all the same. It was a 2.5 mile hike to get to along the southern coast, but was well worth it. At the same time we got to say we have been to the southern most point in the US. The other beach we visited was a black sand beach, something Hawaii is known for.

Wrapping Up and heading home…

The last full day included the green and black beaches, but also a drive through Volcanoes National Park. We got to stand on the side of the crater on Kilauea, which is the current active volcano. It was really impressive to see smoke coming out of the two vents and think you were that close to an active volcano. The very next day after we had flown off the island it started to erupt. Most people probably think that looks like what is in the movies, but that is really not the case. It starts with slow lava flow into the crater and then maybe some fountain of lava for awhile. From what a read all of the lava was maintained in the crater and posed no thread to anyone.

The trip home…whew…that was rough. The flights were fine, just long. We had a 10am flight out of Kona on Saturday and landed in Sacramento that evening after picking up a few hours time difference. Then a 10:30pm flight out of there to Nashville, arriving at 5am on Sunday. To say we were exhausted when we got home is an under statement. Overall a great trip with family and friends along for the ride. We would love to go back one day and maybe hit Maui and Kaua’i

Volcano Pre-eruption

Eruption the day after we left

Last Sunset!! So long Hawaii!