Hawaii: a paradise to discover

Last Updated on 5 February 2020 by

The Hawaiian Islands, a paradise, an amazing adventure.

We had decided to go on an easy, uncomplicated and relaxing trip so, among many destinations, we decided to explore Hawaii. I had not particularly prepared, we had chosen the islands to visit, booked the first hotel and then we were going to follow our instincts, our hearts. The itinerary and useful info can be found here.

Arriving in Hawaii(United States) for us Italians is a long journey. Departure from Italy, stopover in Philadelphia, flight to Los Angeles and after a 13-hour layover, another 6 hours and you arrive in Hawaii.

But among the many islands of the Hawaiian archipelago, which ones to choose? There are four main islands, we decided to arrive in Kauai, then move on to Big Island and finish in Maui.

Yes, we skipped the famous island of Oahu-Honolulu because it was too touristy.

In the end the choice was great, I wouldn't change a thing about our trip.

Arriving in Lax, we stayed one night at the Travelodge near the airport, ready to leave the next morning for the Hawaiian Islands.

KAUAI: OUR GATEWAY TO HAWAII

In my imagination, I see myself landing in Hawaii and being greeted by young women with flower necklaces in their hands and warm, sweet Hawaiian music playing in the background.

We land, I get off looking around for flowers, I stretch my ears to hear the cheerful music but nothing, nothing.

We get off the plane's ladder, walk a little way and arrive at baggage claim with no necklaces, no flowers and no music. Oh what a disappointment!

Anyway, on we go. Picking up our luggage, we go straight to the car rental, collect the car and drive off to our Kauai Inn Lodge.

Right from the start, along the road, I feel as if I am immersed in a garden .

Tall, lush trees of a deep green embrace me, below them, huge ferns of a lighter green and here and there, like large natural flowerbeds, pink orchid bushes, strange red flowers, deep blue bellflowers.

I never stop looking, at every inch I spot flowers or plants I have never seen before.

We arrive at our lodge in the afternoon. It is a typical tropical lodge, with tall palm trees, a large manicured lawn in the middle, a beautiful pool and rooms all around.

Leaving my bags in the room, I go exploring: it is full of beautiful plumerias, plants with white-coloured flowers and brushed with yellow on the inside, the petals are like a pinwheel and feel like velvet when you touch them. Scattered around the garden are Heliconias, plants with bright red flowers that look like so many little boats attached to each other. Among the flowers I find some very cute green lizards and hundreds of small Iiwi birds, beautiful little red birds with thin, curved beaks. I have been birdwatching at home today!

The next day, we set off for the western part of the island, namely Waimea Canyon and Na' Pali Coast.

The road is paved, narrow and surrounded by dense vegetation.

We drive along a stretch bordering the ocean, it is fantastic to hear the sound of the waves that almost seem to come over you, low bushes hiding the beach and leaving only a glimpse of the deep blue sea.

To the right are low houses with manicured gardens and people walking their dogs.

The feeling you get is not that of a holiday resort as I thought, but of a place of peace and quiet, where there is no loud noise, no shouting, no rules, but freedom, simple freedom.

Yes, Hawaii gives you a great sense of freedom

At one point we are forced to turn right and the road becomes narrower and steeper.

Shortly afterwards we arrive at the Waimea car park. From here a short trek and we arrive at the canyon.

It is likebeing in the 'U.S.A. in miniature'. Waimea Canyon is the little son of the Grand Canyon, with a large opening to the valley, with rocks, with patches of green bushes that turn red and then blacken.

A kaleidoscope of colours, also emphasised by the clouds. There are no people, just us and the birds around us. Fantastic.

We proceed towards Kokee rd, which is unpaved in places, to the Kalalau lookout.

From the lookout we see the Na' Pali Coast in all its beauty : a section of the mountain seems to have been opened up to allow us to see the ocean.

A gap that seems covered in green velvet, now blue, now black, now yellow, the colours seem to change every moment. The clouds in the sky paint a different picture each time and off we go with the photos.

It is incredible to see the sharp break between the cobalt blue ocean and the mountain of a thousand colours. We stay up there for quite a while, enjoying the breeze and this view, which I can hardly describe.

We have covered no more than 40 miles in the whole day, but Kauai is so special that it has to be visited a little at a time, in no hurry and above all chasing the sun, waiting for the sun to play hide and seek with the clouds.

In the evening we are spoilt for choice when it comes to eating, we opt for Hukilau Lanai, recommended to us by the lodge owners. The typical Hawaiian dish with 3 different fish with fruit cream. Exquisite.

Today we explore the eastern part of the island.

This part of Kauai is particularly lively and full of trails.

Our first stop is Wailua Falls.

The road from Lihue climbs up to a fantastic bright green mountain. Narrow roads, curves and fabulous scenery.

We arrive at Wailua Falls and feel like we are the protagonists in one of the many films shot in these areas.

The wind carries refreshing drops of water, all around trees, ferns, flowers.

We descend, walk along the stretch of coast along Lydgate park and stop on this long stretch of white sand.

We realise only now that this is the first time we put our feet in the water, the first time we go to the beach in Hawaii...but there is so much to see that being at the beach is the last thing we want.

Hawaii is anything but sea.

We continue on, turn left following a brown wooden sign that says Kamokila Hawaiian Village. We expect a village, it is actually a piece of paradise.

Inside a cave made of trees is a wide, wide river bend. It is time for a canoe ride. We rent a kayak, put on our orange jackets and go paddling.

The water is clear green, so transparent that we can see the sand on the bottom perfectly, there is a disarming silence, the sound of our paddles on the water echoes and seems to disturb the many birds perched in the trees. It feels like paradise.

From Wailua we continue along the coast until we arrive at Kilaue Lighthouse.

Luckily today is Wednesday, because the lighthouse and the lodge are open from Tuesday to Saturday.

We walk along, only realising later that we are surrounded by hundreds of birds: red-footed boobies, albatrosses, seagulls.

Some loiter in the bushes, others have nested right on the path and, many, are perched on the cliffs overlooking the lighthouse. The sound of the waves is interrupted by the singing of the albatrosses and the squabbling of the boobies.

By now it is evening, so we have dinner on the way back and return to our lodge.

SECOND ISLAND OF HAWAII: BIG ISLAND

We take a small plane from Kauai to Big Island with a stop in Honolulu.

We arrive in Kona in the evening. The flight from one island to the other was spectacular.

In Kona we rented a 4X4 so we could better enjoy Big Island.

From Italy we had booked a lodge in the hills. When we arrived it was dark, we were greeted by three chickens and two peacocks. The owner is a young girl who shows us the room, not beautiful, but enough to sleep in.

She greets us, saying 'this is the mating season of the Coqui frogs, I am sorry'.

There and then we didn't understand, but as soon as we turned off the light and put our faces on the pillow, we began to hear a song, co-qiiii co-qiiii, and so on throughout the night. We would fall asleep around three in the morning.

When we woke up, we connected the symphony of the night to the owner's words and laughed.

Ahhh, there, now we get it. Of course they must be so many and so much in love to make such a fuss, we think, also considering how small the Coqui frogs are.

We set off to explore the western part of the island. The paved road runs between the ocean and immense expanses of solidified lava. It is all grey-black, the lava makes an impression when you look at it. The rays of sunlight illuminate it, making it look as if it has just been painted.

Here and there, thin golden yellow blades of grass appear, enlivening and warming the barren landscape.

Today I want to see the turtles, I keep telling myself.

Meanwhile we continue along this very special part of the Big Island until the road turns right and we start to climb. Suddenly rain, mist, very cold. We arrived in Waimea, about 1,000 metres above sea level. All around, big farms with white fences, we see horses and many cows...it feels like home. If you are catapulted here, you would never think you were in Hawaii, but that is exactly what Hawaii is, different landscapes within a few kilometres.

After a nice hot coffee at the Village Burger we head back down to the ocean, in search of my beloved turtles.

We stop at Wailea beach but it is too crowded. We keep jumping from beach to beach, one more beautiful than the other, but I look for more.

Until we arrive at Anaeho'omalu Beach. A bay next to a big hotel.

Tall palm trees frame a wide white beach. There is no one there. We lie down to warm up a bit after tracking in the mountains and suddenly we hear a noise, as if someone has slipped, but we don't see a soul.

I get up, walk towards the sea and, next to me, who do I spot? A turtle. A big, beautiful, very nice turtle. I go into the water to get a closer look at it and at that moment another and then another, three more turtles glide in.

It is amusing to see them coming in from the sea.

Quickly they glide over the sand, then slowly move further up, moving first one fin and then the other. I would like to help them, but I know it would not be right, nature must take its course. I look at their snouts.

I see them struggling, one, two and ahhh, they seem to snort. Again one two and ahhh. After ten minutes there they are, they open their fins and sunbathe.

I must have taken a thousand photos.

After a while I decide it's time for us too to sunbathe and relax, happy, next to the turtles. Now evening is coming, we say goodbye to the turtles still lying there and go back to our co-qui room.

Heading south. Our destination? The town of Volcano with the Kilauea

The landscape has changed from lava to agricultural. The road is a snake between coffee farms, Kona's famous coffee, which, logically, we buy and take home as souvenirs.

We pass through the Kau Forest Reserve, an area of large trees, a dense forest important for preserving Hawaii's unique ecosystem. The road is a bit boring until we make a long left turn and a window to the ocean opens up. We are at the southernmost tip of the island and from here we can see the full force of the ocean.

After a long climb we finally arrive at Volcano, our point for exploring Kilauea.

Kilauea is one of the largest active volcanoes in the world. Its cone has been active continuously since 1983. The fascination of this volcano is the peculiarity of its lava, so much so that it is the main attraction of the island and of Hawaii. As the lava flows out of the caldera, it cools rapidly on contact with seawater, forming clouds of steam. Hence its name, Kilaue, in Polynesian, means 'cloud of rising smoke'.

In Volcano, we booked a cottage online.

It was funny, also because in the first emails the owner always ended by writing 'mahalo'. I thought it was his name so I started my emails with "dear Mahalo...." until in the last email he wrote "mahalo means hello in Hawaiian". Oops... how embarrassing. Anyway, for me now he was Mahalo.

The cottage is very nice, surrounded by a crazy garden, the grass so well cared for and soft, orchids of a thousand shapes and colours, ferns, flowers never seen before. Mahalo, or rather the owner, is keen to show us his garden, he tells us how and how much he looks after it, the names of the different trees and ferns, you can see c

that he loves it. He insists that we take off our shoes and walk barefoot on the grass, so that we realise how soft it is. "Like a pile rug," I tell him, and he smiles proudly at me.

We explore the surrounding area a bit, visit a beautiful orchid farm and the small town of Volcano, full of little shops and restaurants.

In the evening it is very cold, we sleep, for the first time in our lives, with fleece sheets and pillowcases. Luckily we have them and we also have a nice duvet, inside the cottage it is freezing.

In the morning Mahalo brings us breakfast: homemade banana bread, fruit and toast, all on a plate covered with foil put on so well that you can't see it. This makes us laugh, we think about how long it must have taken Mahalo to pack the plate, but from someone so meticulous with the garden, we could only expect this.

Today we have a visit to the volcano ahead of us. The morning mist has given way to bright sunshine. We head towards the park and find a sign warning us that part of the park is closed due to the dangerous fumes from the volcano. Alas, in the meantime we enjoy the open part.

The landscape is supernatural, with incredible vegetation.

I struggle to describe the colours, the thousands of shades of colour of the plants, flowers, trees that surround us.

Smoke, in patches, envelops the bushes that seem to swirl in nothingness.

We come to a bend and here the volcano opens up in all its magnificence.

An enormous crack, which further on becomes an endless hollow that holds the dense, high steam of Kilauea at its centre. We walk along the ridge, captivated by its beauty, its majesty.

It is frightening to hear the roars, and to see the tall red flames coming out of Kilauea's mouth.

At that moment you realise how small you are, how spectacular and at the same time overwhelming nature can be.

It is a spectacle that we decide to see again at sunset.

We return, eat a mega Hawaiian sandwich at Café Ohii'a, grab our quilts and head back to Kilauea.

The sun is setting and we see the gushes of the Kilauea light up the sky. It is cold, but the view is so exciting that we do not realise it. We watched open-mouthed for hours as smoke billowed from the crater, high spatters of lava erupted from the crater, and the patterns the red streams created in the blue of the night.

On the way back we stop at the Volcano Lava Rock Cafe for a well-deserved fish dish. As our first dish, we taste a typical dish called 'poi', which to look at it makes you think bad, but it is exquisite, it is a very thick purple taro velouté.

We are on our way back from Volcano to return to Kuna.

We stop at a crazy black beach, pitch black, very fine black sand that we can hardly get off our feet.

Here we see a family of turtles intent on sunbathing. The green brown of the carapace, the deep blue of the ocean and the green palms shimmer in the black of the beach.

We are at Punalu'u, the most beautiful black beach in the world, not just in Hawaii. Another place not to be missed if you come to Hawaii.

We return to Kona, to our coqui frog lodge, but first we take a walk around the centre of Kona.

Kona is a small town but there are many small restaurants, local handicraft shops and many shops selling the characteristic flowered shirts.

There are not many hotels here, but rather holiday flats.

But what absolutely struck me was the lightness and freedom one breathes, that nice feeling of being able to do what one feels like, with mutual respect.

We meet guys doing yoga on a beach, further on a gentleman with a ukulele singing Hawaiian music, and groups of women sitting on the lawn working with textiles.

Here no one watches what you do, how you dress. You hear no noise, no shouting, but a lot of peace, and you feel the peace on you, you feel as if an embrace of tranquillity is enveloping you.

READY FOR OUR THIRD ISLAND OF HAWAII: MAUI

At the Kona airport we look for the name of our air carrier and, after much searching, they point us to a place 2 km further on.

We arrive at a hangar where we find a sticker with the name of our plane. We enter intrigued.

They weigh us down with all our luggage and tell us to wait. Frank looks at me and says "what the hell kind of plane did you book?" Actually I don't know and I'm a bit worried too but, anyway, here we are.

After half an hour, a small plane arrives, a Piper: it's our flight. We get on, the two of us and a couple of young Californians. The luggage is stowed in the back. The pilot, wearing a flowery shirt, turns to us and says 'OK, ready, there should be vests under you, but if the plane crashes we won't have time to put them on' he laughs and starts to warm up the engine.

The plane takes off.

We dance here and there, fear in the air, but what we see through the windows compensates for any anxiety. Formidable, stupendous.

We see Big Island from above and so close that we recognise the turtle beaches and even our frog lodge. We fly over the north coast and find ourselves in the open sea. The ocean is a thousand shades of blue, we even see a few dolphins.

We fly over Haleakala National Park for a while until the little piper lurches to the right towards Kahului Airport. Strong winds, very strong, we are right in the famous Kanaha Bay known for kitesurfing.

Hundreds of colourful sails in the sky and us legs in the air as the piper jerks.

We finally land, alive. I must have lost 10 kg from fear but it was the best flight of my life.

Another hire car and off to discover Maui.

If Kauai is the garden island and Big Island is the volcano and coffee island, Maui is characterised by sugar cane and pineapple plantations.

Maui is in the shape of an 8, on one side the Pu'u Kukui mountains and on the other the Haleakala volcano, in the middle in the isthmus are the plantations and the main towns.

On Maui we decide to enjoy the sun and the beautiful beaches, starting with Ka'anapali Beach. We then move on to tiny Napili Beach until we surrender to the sun at Wailea beach, for me the best on the island.

We stay in a fantastic B&B not far from the centre of Kahului. In the morning, a mega breakfast awaits us: waffles with fresh cream and strawberries, bread and homemade jams.

Perfect for tackling the roads of Haleakala National Park.

Up to Pukalani, the road is smooth, beautiful, wide and straight. From Pukalani we take the 377 and the curves begin. But it is shortly afterwards, when we turn left and take the 378 that things change.

All a succession of curves, tight, sharp bends, almost impossible not to vomit.

It takes us three hours to get there, but finally we are there, we are at Red Hill.

From here a spectacular view, a wide, open plain of orange and pink. There is no vegetation except for a few grey bushes, our eyes fill with excitement. We seem to have landed on a planet thousands of kilometres away from earth.

We hear nothing, only the sound of the air in the air, the sky is clear and we can perfectly see the white circle of the moon waiting to appear. Too bad we are not here at sunset, I guess you can definitely touch the stars from here. We make our way back to the B&B and rest.

Last day on Maui, dedicated to relaxation and sweet idleness. We finally enjoy a whole day of sun and sea, reading a good book.

Hawaii will always remain one of the most beautiful trips I have taken, especially because it was unexpected.

I thought I would go to the beach and find myself bored between swimming, sunbathing and dinners, instead they have been a wonderful and continuous surprise.

They are not just sea or beaches, but incredible landscapes, each one different from the other.

From the small and cuddly Kauai, full of forests, canyons, waterfalls and multi-coloured flowers. To Big Island, with its rugged landscape in the north to the bewitching fire of Kilahuea, passing black and white beaches, the natural home of many turtles. And Maui, with its plantations and the incredible moonscape of Haleakala.

With all this to see, to touch, to experience, how can you stay still on the beach?

Hawaii are islands to be discovered, (find my itinerary here) it takes time, patience and above all naivety, to fully experience this incredible, wonderful, colourful and unique archipelago.