Hawaii - Big Island Adventure - Introduction

We went on this awesome trip to Hawaii in April 2013.  I wrote the following summary of our days with the intention of selling it to a newspaper or travel magazine, and becoming filthy rich and famous.  Or at least remaining underpaid and unknown, but with a travel article published.  As it turns out, I never sent it anywhere.  In fact, my wife couldn't even get herself to read it.

Ah well.  We all learn to live with the failure and regret of unrealized dreams.  At least I have the knowledge that we had a heckuva good time on this trip.  And since I spent a fair amount of time writing down the places we went and things we did, I can at least post it here for posterity. 

We spent seven days driving the Big Island in a Westy.  It was our first experience living in a camper van and likely laid the turd in our heads that festered into the idea to buy one and drive around America.  But more on that another time.  For now, I hope you find something inspiring here.

Introduction

We planted ourselves on the beach after a hot two hour drive just as a pair of spinner dolphins propelled themselves from the Pacific Ocean and into the sky as if they were at a tryout for SeaWorld.  “Did you see the dolphin?” my daughter asked, pointing excitedly towards the horizon.  My son, his shirt already wet from his game of chicken with the ocean waves, paused long enough to look as the applause of a dozen other spectators relaxing on the salt and pepper sand mingled with their murmurs of appreciation.  The dolphins continued to launch themselves skyward in twos and threes, their lithe, glistening gray bodies contorting like gymnasts as several folks waded into the surf for a closer look.

As my wife turned towards me with a faraway look that told me swimming with dolphins was her life-long dream, we heard a collective buzz of excitement and turned our heads just in time to see two humpback whales breach less than a hundred yards from the dolphin display.

Set between these marine pyrotechnics was a late afternoon sun so brilliantly red and round that you would bet it was a Hollywood production.  It’s like a three-ring circus, my wife marveled.   

Exactly, I thought.  This is exactly why we came here.

The eight major islands of the Hawaiian archipelago, all formed out of volcanic eruptions over the course of millions of years encompass over 800 miles of coastline.  The island of Hawai’i, also known as the Big Island, which at slightly less than a million years old is the youngest of its siblings, offers a large range of climates, landscapes, and adventures. 

In fact, when my wife began to explore an itinerary for our planned 7-day trip to the Big Island we were overwhelmed by its size and diversity.  Our initial thoughts were that we would frolic in the sunshine and sand of world-class beaches, typical of the island visitor.  But in researching other activities, we realized the island presents too many unique opportunities for us to justify spending the time watching the sea from a beach chair and eating shave ice.

Years ago, I had wanted go on my honeymoon to Hawaii, without really knowing what that meant.  At that time, the inside of a hotel room and cocktails served poolside would have sufficed.  In the thirteen years since my wedding, however, mine and my wife’s theories of vacation, as well as our family, had evolved.  We wanted to make lasting memories for our ten-year old daughter and seven-year old son that we didn’t think a week at a generic beach resort could deliver.  Instead, we wanted to plan as memorable a vacation as we could, with resolutions to hike in ancient rain forests to waterfalls and lava deserts, snorkel on coral reefs and swim with dolphins and other tropical fish that we might only ever see in an aquarium, and if luck was with us and our timing was right, experience the once in a lifetime thrill of viewing lava flows from the active Pu’u O’o vent on Kilauea volcano in Volcanoes National Park.    

The problem with our lofty goals however, was that none of the affordable alternatives to Hawaii would come close to meeting our expectations.  So, when a friend recommended renting a fully-equipped VW camper van as a means to tour the island, we were intrigued.  Not only could the van serve as our day-to-day residence, but also as our primary means of transportation.  This would allow us to more fully experience what the island had to offer than if we rented a car and returned to a hotel room each night.  Plus, the van came with a “kitchen” which would allow us to cook some of our own meals – saving money on food. 

Our excitement at finding this apparent solution was tempered by the websites we visited which talked about dirty and noisy campgrounds.  There were postings about how unfriendly, even threatening, the locals could be.  Gas was prohibitively expensive.   

Despite these reports, and hoping for the best, we shrugged our shoulders and decided to take our chances.  Memories, we decided, would be made, for better or worse.