Hawaii Island Vacation - All Day Tour of Big Island - Pictures

Grand Circle Island Tour of the Big Island

This hub will address the all day tour (and taking of many pictures) that my husband and I had while vacationing on the Big Island of Hawaii...day 5.

Day 5 was another day of leisure for us so we grabbed a bite to eat at our usual morning fueling station, the open aired Cafe at our Ritz-Carlton Mauna Lani resort hotel and began the full day tour that would circle the Big Island of Hawaii. We wanted to see as much of this island as we could and thought that a tour is generally always money well spent when in a new area.

The Polynesian Adventure Tours were chosen which provided not only specially trained driver/guides, but also furnished very comfortable and spacious Premier Mini Coaches with very large windows so that we could easily see everything that we passed while on the road.

The coaches picked us up at our hotel between 8:20 AM to 8:30 Am and returned us between 6 to 6:30 PM. It totaled 11 1/4 hours for us that day of splendid sightseeing adventures.

The year we were there in 1993, the adult fee was $60 per person for pickup at the Ritz. Lunch was not included with this price.

(c) Peggy Woods - All Rights Reserved

Many scheduled stops were a part of this Polynesian Adventure Tour which let people stretch their legs and also grab a bite to eat or take photos. We were very happy with this tour and would recommend it to anyone who wishes to experience a great overview of the island with explanations of what we were seeing and a little history being given all along the way.

After picking up everyone from various hotels in the general area, the first stop was at a Kona coffee shop. They are very proud of their locally grown coffee, and rightfully so.

Many people re-boarded the mini-coach van with steaming cups of Kona coffee in hand.

Place of Refuge

After our coffee stop in Kona, our tour took us to the very old and historic Pu'uhonua o Honaunau (or Place of Refuge).

This is a historical park set aside by Congress in 1961. It consists of 180 acres and reflects what life in Hawaii used to be like when only native people lived here prior to the late 1700's when the first outsiders came to the island.

A huge stone wall 1,000 feet (305 meters) long; 10 feet (3 meters) high, and 17 feet (or 5.25 meters) wide was built in a L-shape using lava rock. This was used to partially separate this area belonging to the royalty from the common folks. The people who built this massive wall moved tons of rocks and they carefully placed each rock to mesh with the other rocks in place using no morter or cement. This must have been a painstaking process!

This original wall has been in place since the 1500's and has only had a couple of minor repairs.

What makes this place a sacred area is that it holds a temple that houses dead chief's bones.

Why is this called the Place of Refuge?

Back in the early days, the Hawaiian people lived by a set pattern of laws called kapus. For instance, one Kapu would not allow one's shadow to touch a chief; women could not eat with men; one had to abide by the rules (kapus) of when to fish and hunt, etc. If any of these rules or laws were broken, the penalty was death unless one could make it to this holy place...the place of refuge.

If one could avoid the punishment and get inside these walls, priests would forgive the person and they could have a second chance at life. Thus, this sanctuary was a life giving place as well as housing the ruling royalty at the time.

Thatched huts and buildings for the chiefs lie inside this sacred area. There is also the royal fish pond and private royal beach that the commoners could not utilize.

The kapu (laws) were abolished by Chief Kamehameha the 2nd in 1819 and the protection of this place of refuge ceased to exist. The native peoples for a time were confused and no longer had the parameters of life neatly delineated for them. Ideas from the outside world began to flood in and change Hawaiian culture forever.

These old palace grounds still retain a feeling of spirituality from the many celebrations of life and burials of the dead Hawaiian chiefs that took place there over the centuries. The National Park Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior administer these grounds. Much is left as it was and the carvings still stand guard in this holy place.

Punaluu Black Sands beach

After leaving the very interesting and historic site of Pu'uhonua o Honaunau on the southwestern side of the island, we drove for a while and started heading up the southeastern edge of the Big Island of Hawaii.

We passed many white steepled Congregational Churches along the way.

Our next stopping place was at the Punaluu Black Sands Beach and it's surrounding fish ponds along the Puna to Kau coast.

These black sands originate from lava that has been pulverized over time and can be a bit rough on bare feet. (On the other hand, just like pumice, it could grind down any calluses one might have on one's feet!)

We saw dogs and people having fun in the surf and also people doing some sunbathing along-side one of the fish ponds.

Having never seen a black sand beach, this was quite striking and I captured some photos as a memory.

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

Our next stop on our circle island tour took us to the Hawaiian Volcanoes National Park which was most interesting.

We learned that Pele, the volcano goddess was deemed to be responsible for these wondrous land building volcanoes according to old myths of the early Hawaiian inhabitants.

Each of the Hawaiian Islands was in turn built by her.

In reality, deep under the Pacific ocean lies a rift in the earth where molten magma (super heated and liquefied rock) begins to rise up creating cooled layer upon layer of a resulting mountain slowly built under the sea. Eventually as this process continues the mountain eventually rises above the sea and becomes an island.

This is called a shield volcano and is the type that has formed all of the Hawaiian Islands.

Also at work is a Pacific Plate (a portion of the earth's crust) that is constantly moving to the northwest about 2 to 3 inches a year. As long as the plate sits atop this rift in the earth spewing molten lava, the island continues to grow.

But as the Pacific Plate moves further away, the island has no continuing source with which to build more land and the effects of erosion begin to chip away at its total surface.

This is what has happened over the eons of time and is continuing to happen today and will continue to happen far into the future of earth's existence.

Thus, the northwestern and oldest islands in the Hawaiian chain are continuing to decrease in size and some have already disappeared back under the ocean waves.

The Big Island of Hawaii has 2 of the most active volcanoes in the world and they are linked to the magma producing source far underneath the sea thereby still expanding the size of Hawaii for now.

Molten lava still flows to the sea from Hawaii's volcanoes where the superheated lava is cooled by the ocean waters and solidifies into more land area. This can readily be viewed by anyone touring the island and it is quite an impressive sight to behold!

Day 2 of our stay we flew over the fiery Kilauea volcano in a helicopter and saw the white steam cloud bank at waters edge where water and lava explosively met.

Mauna Loa and Kilauea are the two active volcanoes in this national park. A growing pressure point within the Kilauea caldera was pointed out to us. There are also steam vents within the park which let some of this heat underground escape into the air.

It is comforting to think that the geologists think that they can predict with fair accuracy when these volcanoes might become more active than they currently are so that people can be protected.

Wonder if Pele agrees?

Thurston Lava Tube

The surface of an active lava flow area might look crusted over but is riddled with tubes in which lava is flowing from the source of the volcano. Most of the time these are unseen until it hits the waters edge and steamily sizzles, cooling and adding to the land mass as it tumbles into the sea.

In some cases the top of the crusted tube might cave in, like happened on our helicopter tour, exposing the red hot lava as it continues to move.

For obvious reasons, this is why it can be dangerous to be walking in an area of active lava flows whether one can actually see the lava or not.

These tubes are originally formed from the lava itself.

The outer upper crust eventually cools and thickens as the lava inside continues to flow. As the lava flow diminishes in size the sides cool and harden and eventually when it ceases, the smooth floor hardens as well.

We got to walk through an extinct lava flow which left an impressive walkway called the Thurston Lava Tube. While not the longest nor largest tube in existence, it was quite a feeling walking through what at one time used to be molten lava.

You can get an idea of the height and width from the couple of photos that I took.

Outside of the Thurston Lava Tube, lush vegetation was growing. Many tree-sized ferns were flourishing among the vines and other plants.

Macadamia nut tree grove

As we left the Volcano National Park area and were driven further northeast, vegetation becomes very lush.

Another planned stop was at a macadamia nut grove and factory.

They grow millions of macadamia trees on the island we were told.

Originally brought to the islands for use as windbreaks against the sometimes fierce trade-winds, this growing of macadamia nuts has now become an industry for islanders.

My husband and I experienced some of those ferocious winds on the golf course on day 3 of this vacation!

Many of our fellow travelers stocked up on purchases of nuts at this stop.

Nani Mau Gardens in Hilo, Hawaii

Hilo is the large city in Hawaii on the east coast of the Big Island.

It has an airport which is where we stopped to refuel on our helicopter ride on day 2 of our Hawaiian vacation trip.

Hilo also is the sight of the beautifully landscaped grounds of the Nani Mau Gardens.

Our tour allotted some time for all of us to meander around the grounds and admire the different vegetation that grows in this environment.

This magnificent Nani Mau garden consists of 53 acres, so we merely got an impression of what was there. One could obviously spend the better portion of a full day there if desired.

There were many tropical plants and I have inserted a few photos which might give one an idea of some of the colorful displays that can be enjoyed in this Hilo garden spot.

Once again back on our tour van we headed north of Hilo. The next point of interest where we were allowed to disembark and walk was the area around Rainbow Falls.

As one can see from the photos I took, vines grow in abundance and use trees for support. Long aerial roots hang down and this made me remember the old Tarzan movies of my youth where slightly thicker roots were used by Tarzan to swing from tree to tree. ( I do realize that the setting was different...but there is no accounting for memories! Ha! )

The walkway down to view the Rainbow Falls is not handicapped accessible.

A rather steep trail is followed, much of it on stone steps and a metal handrail is provided to get down to the vantage point where one can see the falls.

The thundering flow of water crashing down can be heard from a distance and as my pieced together photo shows, a very pretty sight awaits those who are able to make the effort to see it.

The rest of our day 5 of this Hawaiian vacation...

We still had a way to travel to return to our hotel.

After driving along the northeast coastline for a while we headed inland and were driven through the lush area of the Parker Ranch near Waimea.

The Parker Ranch is one of the largest ranches in the United States and much beef is exported from this area.

It was a long and eventful 11 1/4 hour day on this circle tour of the island, but we truly enjoyed everything that we had gotten to see and experience.

That night at the Coconut Grove (at the Ritz-Carlton Mauna Lani resort where we were staying) a 50's Beach Bash was arranged and cocktails, a buffet dinner and a band playing 1950's music was furnished to our group. Some of the people really got into the swing of things wearing poodle skirts, bobby socks and leather jackets.

We retired to our room sooner than some of the folks who had chosen to lay around the pool and relax that day. That party probably continued for quite some time after we left.

Hopefully you enjoyed seeing the all day tour of the Big Island of Hawaii and all the pictures taken on day 5 of our vacation. We had two more days ahead of us for additional exploration.