By Christine Haines and Chris Sikes
Photos by Chris Sikes
All in all, who you spend Valentine’s Day with is more important than where you spend it, but face it, there’s something to be said for a romantic location. And Hawaii is near the top of the list when it comes to romance.
Last week my friend Chris Sikes shared his experiences on Oahu. Today we’ll explore the Big Island with him:
Hawaii (the Big Island) - more area than all the other Hawaiian Islands combined. While we were there we had to visit Kilauea, one of the most active volcanoes in the world. We didn’t know if or when we’d be back, so we spent 24 hours there, staying overnight at Volcano House, a hotel on top of Kilauea, overlooking the Halemauma’u crater (the big one on top, but not the active crater.) Driving and hiking around to see the crater and surrounding areas was great. All around the crater, but especially on Devastation Trail, the site of a 1959 eruption of Kilauea Iki crater, was a very interesting contrast of the destruction from eruptions and the rebirth of new life: ferns, flowers, birds, etc. You wouldn’t expect a rain forest with bright orange flowers on top of an active volcano.
Hands-down our two most memorable things from The Big Island:
1. Chain of Craters Road that goes down the crater to the ocean, then along the shore back towards Hilo. Over the past 20 years eruptions have been flowing over the road. We hiked over these cooled flows with active flows only dozens of feet below us and could feel the heat radiating through the lava rock underneath us. We saw glowing lava flowing into the ocean, steam billowing from the sea, cooled black lava rock, and new land forming just yards away from us, and a rainbow arcing above it all. It almost didn’t seem real. As we hiked back that evening and it got darker, we could see the slopes of the volcano light up with orange glowing lava that we could not see during the light of day. If you go to Hawaii, this is an absolute MUST-DO.
2. Helicopter from Hilo airport over and around Kilauea and southeastern part of the island. We flow over and around Pu’u O’o, the currently active vent and source of active lava flows. This was well worth the several hundred dollars for a one-hour flight.
Again, don’t forget Chris’s tips from last week: don’t try to see the whole state on one trip, pick one or two islands to explore. You may also want to pick up a copy of The Big Island Revealed from Wizard Publications to help with your island exploration.
