HAWAII: The Big Island

Yes, Hawaii is paradise! I've lived here for eight years and continue to find wonderful places to vacation in my new home state. Friends from the mainland regularly ask me, "If I have only time to visit one island, which one should it be?" Even though I vacation on all the islands and continue to find new trails to hike, beaches to explore, and places to stay and eat, I still recommend, first of all, the Big Island, also known as Hawaii. Why?

• The VOLCANO: more on that in a moment!
• A huge variety of countryside to explore: lava fields, old and new; tropical rainforests; black, green and white sand beaches; wonderful Hawaiian history exhibits and treks; colorful birds and ocean vistas.
• Wonderful Hawaiian arts and crafts: wood carving (David DeLuz does wonderful bowls), quilt making, lauhala weaving, outrigger canoe building, lei making, and more.
• Places to stay to fit anyone's budget: camping, gorgeous resorts with world class golf courses, quaint and personal B & B's, reasonably priced hotels with clean beds and showers for those like me who spend as little time as possible in their rooms.
• Hawaiian music and dance: ukulele, slack key guitar, lovely falsetto, graceful or fun-loving hula.
• Food: fresh fish of all kinds, tropical fruits, traditional Hawaiian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, or some of the best beef available from the largest ranch in the US, the Parker Ranch!

Volcano National Park

This unique park of over a quarter million acres (more than the island of Moloka'i) has 2 active volcanoes, Kilauea and Mauna Loa. Kilauea has been continuously erupting since 1983.

I first was enthralled when visiting the Big Island for a medical meeting in 1984, when I flew over the flowing orange lava fields and also hiked up to the edge. Upon moving to O'ahu in 1992, some family members and I visited the park in early December of that year.

We had magnificent views of the flowing lava by day and by night. In the day, one sees the steam rising up and can safely hike to the flowing masses. At that time the molten orange-gray rivulets flowed into the sea. At night, the vast expanse of the active field glows orange in the dark, in fact, can be seen when driving down the Chain of Craters Road as one approaches the pali (cliff) and winds his way down. On that trip, the front of the flow was a short hike from the parking area, some of the hike over still warm, new land.

This was a spiritual experience for me: walking on newly formed earth that minutes to hours before had been inside our planet! We watched many small orange "water-falls" that when falling into the sea formed black boulders tumbling around under the water.

The park has every kind of hike. My favorite is Kilauea Iki, a 4-mile hike that begins and ends across from the Thurston Lava Tube in a tropical rain forest. It winds down and then travels a mile across a moonscape: a barren gray crater floor with steam vents hissing here and there, with only a few tiny spots of green - ferns and ohia - bringing new life to the rock. This was a fiery inferno in November, 1959 when the crater floor was a bubbling lake of lava. One ascends out of the crater and back around on the rim with many lovely overlooks, and tree ferns, ginger and orchids among the lush surrounding plants.

Other points of interest I never tire of include the colorful Sulphur Banks; the Jaggar Museum containing both my volcanology lessons and a marvelous crater overlook of the large Kilauea crater; the Helemaumau overlook and trail into this crater; and the Thurston Lava Tube.

The Big Island has taught me much about Hawaiian history. I always visit the Pu'uhonua National Historical Park or Place of Refuge south of Kona. This beautiful oceanside site encompasses ancient temples, royal grounds, and historic exhibits.

I recently visited another favorite, in North Kohala, called Lapakahi State Historical Park, a quiet beachside location of an abandoned village where one can imagine life as it was lived centuries ago.

I haven't begun to describe hikes to isolated beaches, favorite restaurants or places to stay, but hope this overview helps some to decide to discover the beauty and intrigue of my home state - HAWAII!

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Note about the writer: Kay Bauman is a physician who not only practices medicine in Hawaii but also competes on a women's outrigger canoe team and takes hula lessons from a native Hawaiian. What a life!

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Please send questions or comments to bbruno@snet.net.
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