Hawaii-More than just beaches..

Do you think Hawaii is just about beaches? If yes, this is the right place to know more about what Hawaii can offer except beaches and warm weather. When planning our trip to Hawaii, we thought about how we would spend our vacation just on beaches as we already live close to the beach in Long Beach, California. But then after exploring through blogs, youtube videos, and reading about multiple islands we realized that Hawaii can offer way more than just beaches, like rainforests to active volcanoes, and barren lands to amazing green landscapes. If you like photography or travel or both, then Hawaii definitely should be on your bucket list.

As we started to plan our trip, the foremost question was which island/s to visit among the top 4 and after reading & researching we picked Maui and Big Island. Big Island because we wanted to see an active volcano and wanted something more than beaches. Then there was confusion between Maui and Oahu as both are among the top-visited islands of Hawaii. And we picked Maui solely based on its evergreen landscape and another national park, Haleakala NP, that we came to know through the book “Complete National Parks of the United States”. And we came up with the below itinerary:

Trip Summary(3days in Maui & 2Days in Big Island):

Day 1(Maui): Landed at Kahului airport -> Lunch -> Sunset at Haleakala National Park Visitor center -> Check-in at our 3 day stay

Day 2(Maui): Breakfast at the stay -> Kaulahao Beach -> Road to Hana -> Rainbow trees -> Black sand beach/ Waianapanapa -> Lunch -> Red sand beach -> Kipahulu Visitor Center -> Pipiwai Trail -> Back to stay

Day 3(Maui): Team & Breakfast at the stay -> Snorkeling at Wailea Beach -> Lunch -> Search for turtle continues…. on beaches along west coast -> Arch -> Back to stay after sunset

Day 4(Big Island): Flight from Maui to BigIsland Via Honolulu -> Reached at 9:30am -> Search for Turtle continues..-> Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park -> Lunch-> Pu’uhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park -> Hawaii’s Local Buzz at Paradise Meadows -> Check-in at our stay -> Dinner -> Keanakako’i Overlook hike -> Back to stay

Day 5(Big Island): Breakfast at our stay -> Thurston Lava tube -> Kīlauea Iki Trailhead -> Lunch -> Mauna Kea -> Watched Mauna Loa eruption -> Checked-in at ou stay in Kona

Day 6(Big Island): Breakfast -> Kikaua Point Park -> Flight from Kona to Los Angeles

Day 1: As we landed in Maui, it was a bit disappointing as it was raining hard and the sky was filled with clouds. We weren’t expecting much throughout the day. After picking up the rental we went straight for lunch as we were pretty hungry after a 5hr long flight and then waiting for our bags for another hour. We had lunch from a nearby food truck and surprisingly it was good. Once we had our stomachs full, we headed straight towards the Haleakala Visitor Center as it was already 2pm and we wanted to catch the sunset near the Haleakala observatory situated 10,000ft above sea level. At this point, we were more excited about the destination than the journey itself. But as correctly said nature is always ready to surprise you and we saw multiple rainbows on our way to Haleakala Visitor center.

We reached right on time as the sun was just like 30mins away from setting within the clouds. It was a fantastic experience to experience this sunset, as we were at 10000ft elevation and clouds were below us. We spent an hour or so and left after it was dark as we had to yet check in for our stay which was like 1-1.5-hour drive from the visitor center.

Day 2: At the start of our day, we were sure that we would see if not many but at least one sea turtle on one of the beaches we were planning on visiting. But unfortunately, we didn’t see any turtles even after visiting multiple famous Maui beaches, Kaulahao Beach, Black sand beach, and Red sand beach. We headed towards Hilo Road without spending much time on Kaulaho beach as we had to reach Red Sand Beach before 10:30am as our reservation was to enter between 7:00-10:30am. Make sure to do the reservation before your visit as tickets get sold out quickly and without reservation, entry won’t be allowed at this park. We saw multiple vehicles turning around as they didn’t have reservations for the day. On our way, we stopped to photograph amazing rainbow trees, if you have less time you can just stop at this spot and you can find these amazing trees across both sides of the roads.

Without spending much time here, we headed towards reaching Black Sand Beach also known as Waianapanapa State Park. We were already running late and were hoping that they don’t stop us to enter. Fortunately, we got a nice guy who allowed us to enter the park even when we were late by 30mins. We were happy as we again were thinking about seeing turtles as this beach is also known for turtles sightings but seems it was not a turtle day. Wait, nature gifted us with another amazing water creature sighing, a cute creature was waiting for us on the beach, a monk seal. Sad to know Monk Seals are another endangered species with only 1500 left in Hawaii.

We spent around 2-2.5 hours here as there are trails and a few viewpoints where you can see waves crashing the shores.

This is definitely a recommended beach from our Maui trip as there are good options for photographs and landscapes are filled with some amazing contrasts of white, black, and green. After spending enough time we had lunch at a Thai Food truck, relaxed for a while, and then headed towards Red sand beach, not a directly accessible beach instead you have to hike for like a mile or so to reach the beach access. We didn’t go to the beach but witnessed red rocks and had a beach view from afar as we were already tired and were not looking forward to a hike after lunch LOL. But it is definitely rare to see the red sand beach so do go if you are fine for a hike to reach the beach else you can skip this as there are plenty of other stops on Road to Hana.

Before the day ends we also wanted to spend some time around trails near the Kipahulu visitor center so we headed straight to Pipiwai Trail. We spent around 1.5-2 hours on this trail and were able to see some amazing waterfalls. Do recommend nice shoes while doing this trail as it becomes muddy and slippery during rainy days. It was already dark when we reached the parking lot so we headed straight to our stay after a beautiful and tiring day. The search for turtles continues…

Day 3: This was our last day in Maui and we planned it with snorkeling to start our day. As we don’t know swimming so we planned it with instructors through Airbnb. You can do it on your own with snorkeling gears at multiple beaches around the west coast of Hawaii as the ocean is calm on the west and you can find experience life in clear warm and clear water. Maui is known for its amazing beaches, so definitely check them out at least for a day. We were still looking for turtles as unfortunately for the 3 days when we were in Maui it was a wind and high waves advisory because of which turtle sighting was rare.

We spent the afternoon roaming around some beautiful beaches and eating pineapple and drinking coconut water. One of the sweetest pineapples we had in our lifetime. Even after visiting 5 beaches around the west coast, we were not able to see even a single turtle around the beaches. Beaches that we visited were Wailea beach (we did snorkeling here), Maluaka beach, and Makena cove. Out of these, our fav was Makena Cove as this is a secret beach with less crowd with lots of photo opportunities.

Day 4: We checked out from our stay in Maui and after returning the rental we headed toward the airport for our flight to BigIsland. Our flight landed around 9:30am and after picking rental we headed again for Turtles but with less hope as it is said that Turtles love Maui more than the Big Island because the water is calmer on the west coast of Maui. From Kona airport, there is a place just 10mins away Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park, this was our first stop, and guess what we saw turtles turtles and turtles. Finally, we were able to witness turtles, and that too like 20-30 nearby the beach & our search for turtles for 3 days ended here. After spending an hour we drove more toward the south to reach an amazing place Pu’uhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park. There is a fee to enter this park but if you have an annual pass to the national park then it is free. This place has lots of nice compositions for photographers as there are coconut trees around the beach. And today was turtle day for us as we saw one sea turtle sitting on the sand this time and we were able to capture some nice shots too.

Near this park, there is a very nice place for snorkelers known as two step beach, you can see beautiful yellow fishes and other aquatic life near the beach, definitely one of the safe spots for children to experience aquatic life without being at risk. It started raining when we reached here so had to leave early and thus headed towards our stay which was near Hawaii Volcano National Park Visitor center around a 1.5hr drive. On the way, we stopped at Hawaii’s Local Buzz at Paradise Meadows to taste buy some famous coffee. We recommend checking this place out as you can try various kinds of nuts, coffee, and honey, and definitely, you won’t be leaving without buying them as their macadamia nuts are amazing. We reached our stay around 7pm and after having dinner at a nearby pizza place we headed towards the night experience of an active volcano. Do check out the NPS website to check out the status of the volcano and the recommended viewing spots. We did a short 1-mile hike to witness the Kileau volcano from Keanakako’i Overlook point, park at the devastation trail or Puupua parking area if the nearby parking is full. The eruption distance is just 0.5 miles from this viewpoint, so this will give you the best view to witness this amazing volcano.

We call it a night after returning from this amazing volcano sighting and going straight to bed.

Day 5: The most memorable day of our trip and actually many more trips that we have done so far across the other 12 national parks. The day started with news that Mauna Loa has erupted last night around 11:30pm Nov27th2022 and after looking outside we saw just a gray sky filled with volcanic ash. We were a little scared but also happy as we were hoping to see a new volcano eruption today after witnessing Kileau the night before but we had no clue of how and from where we will be able to witness it. We went ahead with our plan to visit Lava tube, this is an awe-inspiring short walk. A must-see if you are visiting this national park. Bring some light or headlamp as it can be dark sometimes even though they have lights installed but you can still find some patches with less light. After this short walk, we headed towards another famous hike Kilauea Iki Trail, if you want to see how contrasting a trail can be then definitely do this hike. It is a 3-mile moderate hike, bring some high-grip shoes for this hike as it can be slippery in the rainforest part of the hike if you are visiting in the rainy season. Recommend doing this hike counterclockwise.

We did lunch at the visitor center dining hall and as we wanted to visit Mauna Kea, another inactive volcano for witnessing sunset, we left this beautiful National Park. Quick tip on planning a Big Island trip, do have a check of time as places are quite far and it takes time to travel as some streets have just one lane. It took us 2 hours from the NP visitor center to reach the Mauna Kea visitor center, unfortunately, the road was closed for the summit as conditions were risky for driving due to ice on the road. We got super disappointed at this time as we traveled for around 2 hours to witness the sunset and were not able to see that and even lots of clouds came in so it became all cloudy. At this point, nothing was planned ahead but suddenly we saw 10-15 photographers with a tripod & cameras and were looking to capture something which we were not able to understand as it was cloudy 360 degrees. So we waited another 15-20mins to decide what to do next as Mauna Kea’s plan didn’t go as expected. Here come one of the best and jaw-dropping moments when from 11000ft we were able to see a red glow in the sky because of the Mauna Loa eruption. And within a few minutes, it was dark and we started to see lava with our naked eyes. To your knowledge, Mauna Loa is at 13,600ft elevation and we were at around 11,000ft elevation so it was an eye-level view. We opened our tripod and started getting some amazing life-memorizing pictures. Nothing can explain how we felt at that time and photos can’t do justice to what we saw on that day. Witnessing a live volcano, that too the one which erupted after 40 years is an amazing experience in itself. What more we could have asked for this trip than getting an opportunity and being lucky to be present on the day when the eruption happened at Mauna Loa.

We left after watching this amazing eruption for 1-1.5hour, towards our stay in Kona as we had next day flight back to LA. On our way, it looked like everyone was on road taking pictures and viewing eruption, part of sky was glowing red and residents & tourists were easily able to see the volcano even from the city but definitely watching it from 10kft elevation was more close and clear. We had Indian dinner at Swami’s Dosa Grill, do recommend checking this place as they had amzing Dosa and Vada. After getting our tummy full we headed towards our Airbnb and call it a night.

Day 6: We had just last few hours before flying back to LA. And we thought of spending some time on a new beach Kikaua Point Park. This was an another beautiful and serene beach, do visit if you have time.

That was all from our first trip to Hawaii!! Let us know if you liked our itinerary and what you would like to know more when you are researching for a place 🙂 We will try to include that in our next trip blog!