Our flight from Oahu was at 4:30pm and arrived an hour later on the Big Island.  We were able to disembark off the back of the plane, which I love, out onto the tarmac.  The entire area of the baggage claim and gates we walked past were all outside. 

Our bed and breakfast is called the Mango Sunset B&B.  It is located on the Lyman Coffee Farm, which is currently closed to tours.  It is straight up a very steep hill, which affords spectacular sunset views.  Our breakfast is served every morning outside overlooking various fruit trees and we are served Lyman coffee with our breakfast. 

We had breakfast at 7:30 the next day and left for the a section of the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park that is only open Thursday through Sunday.  It was the only day we could visit.  It’s called Kahuku Unit.  It’s about an hour away from the main park and its suggested visit on the website because it is rarely busy.  It is also free. 

We stopped and studied the map at the first parking lot and decided to drive through the area first and then return to do a small hike.  The drive was not very exciting. We passed two other parking areas for hikes and saw a lot of grassland. A few mongoose ran across the road in front of us. We decided to hike up the Pu’u O Lokuana cinder cone.  You are supposed to brush your boots before and after your hike to stop spores from hitchhiking on your shoes.  The hike was pretty much straight up on the trail we chose.  

At the top, you can see the beautiful red sand of the cinder cone.  It had an amazing view and was definitely worth the trouble.  

Punalu’u Beach was our next stop.  There are signs everywhere that tell you not to take the sand with you.  I’m sure it’s the first thing anyone thinks of doing.  It was not that hot out when we were there.  We checked out some tide pools. 

There is shop that sells shirts and other souvenirs as well as drinks and snacks. They also have a lifeguard stand.  There were quite a few people lying on the beach, but more were wandering around exploring and taking pictures. 

We had to drive about 20 minutes to find somewhere to eat lunch.  Apparently not many places are open on Sundays.  We did have a lovely grilled cheese and French fries fried in beef tallow.  They tasted delicious, but I feel like that is all I tasted all day.  I will not eat them again. On the way back to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, we saw two feral pigs on the side of the road! 

The parks costs $30 and your receipt can be used for 7 days.  The suggested time for viewing every stop in the park is 3-4 hours.  My husband scoffed at this idea, but we were there for four hours and we did not do everything.  You get the sense that the park is very small if you take Crater Rim Drive West first.  When we were there the visitor’s center was closed for remodeling.  They had a temporary welcome center at the Kilauea Military Camp. The only bathrooms are porta potties. We stopped at the welcome center first since I wanted a shirt.  I found a zipped hooded sweatshirt for $50, which I thought was reasonable.  I love the design.  We then walked across the street to view the steaming bluffs.  It is not a far walk and there are several spots you can stop.  Although Kilauea is not erupting at this time (it stopped on March 11 and we were there on the 16), you can still tell by the amount of steam where the eruption would be…see if you can spot in in my pictures. 

We continued on Crater Rim Road West and stopped at Kilauea Overlook.  We ended up walking up to Uekahuna (the last stop on the road).  I should mention that it rained almost the entire time we were there.  We made the mistake of not having our rain jackets at one point and got quite wet because the rain only stopped for short intervals.  We always had it with us after that. 

On the way back from Uekahuna, we stopped at the steam vents briefly.  It is cool to feel the steam on you, but it’s a shame that people have filled the vents with coins and other garbage.  You can also walk a trail here to see more vents and the sulphur banks. 

You drive by the entrance gate and take a right to go on to Crater Rim Road East, which is also called Chain of Craters Road.  The first stop is Kilauea Iki Overlook.  (You can walk from this parking lot to the Lava Tube, since parking is pretty impossible near the tube.) The overlook is really cool because you can see the Kilauea Iki Crater.  You can also walk in the crater, if you wish.  It’s a couple of miles long depending where you start. 

The best picture of the Kilauea Iki crater was from the Pu’upua’i Overlook. You can also walk on Devastation Trail from this area.  I did it 20 years ago.  I remember it was very flat and not a lot to see. 

I love driving through all the lava fields. This one field was from July 1974 and it looks fairly new.  

Puhimau Crater

I turned off on a road  headed to Halina Pali.  It was 9 miles long and it says one lane, so I thought it was one way.  I was wrong, but we only met two cars on the way down and one on the way back.  There is a a really beautiful scenic view of the ocean and the edge of the 12 mile crater.  It’s also a spot to park if you want to do a longer hike, like 6-8 miles. We only saw one car parked there.  We got to see a Nene (Hawaiian goose) when we were there.  They run really fast.  We almost couldn’t get a picture. 

The drive down to Halina Pali was really lovely.  I enjoy when the lava fields looked like cracked pie crust that has bubbled up.  It was so cool.

We headed toward Holei Sea Arch after Halona Pali.  It’s a 19 mile drive and it is spectacular.  You are so high up and you look down and see a road and wonder, where does that go?  Then you realize, that’s the road we are taking!  It looks so far.  These are the best view in the park, as far as I am concerned.  We took a lot of pictures. 

Once you get down to the parking lot, you have to walk maybe five minutes to the Holei Sea Arch.  It looks like it will take forever because the road continues, but if you look to the right there is a small trail to view the arch. 

If you continue to walk down that road (which we did not do), you will come upon a lava field.  This is where the lava used to flow out into the ocean.  When I visited the Big Island twenty years ago, my ex husband and I walked out on the lava at night to view it flowing into the ocean. We could feel the heat under our boots.  It was one of the coolest things I have ever experienced. 

Even though we didn’t get to see any lava flowing, I still think exploring Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is the coolest thing you can do in Hawaii.