Header photo credit Scott Hess; original photo cut and enlarged. Deep in the forests of the Big Island lies Pahoa Town – a sleepy little town, its sidewalks made of hundred-year-old planks of wood left over from a bygone time. A few old hippies wander around the streets, also left over from a bygone era. Pahoa Town’s rustic colorful buildings look like fake storefronts for a western movie, but they are real and still used as homes and businesses. This…
Like any Hollywood actor, Hawaii has played many different characters onscreen. We’ve seen it play a prehistoric world in Kong: Skull Island (2017), alien jungle planets in Avatar (2009) and Predators (2010), and even itself in The Descendants (2011). And in 2017, it was chosen to play the world of “Jumanji”. In Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, the titular fictional jungle – which isn’t even seen in the original 1995 film – is finally realized, so now there are many…
If you’re a fan of the Predator franchise, you’ll have recently seen the trailer for The Predator, the fourth film in the hugely-popular, ever-enduring sci-fi series. But what you might not know is that the third film, Predators (2010), starring Adrien Brody and Laurence Fishburne, was filmed in Hawaii. That said, you probably do know that Hawaii is no alien to blockbuster franchises. The 1987 original – now a true sci-fi classic – pits Arnold Schwarzenegger against a marauding alien…
This is a part of our 9-day Big Island Itinerary. Saturday, December 30. We are going on Kohala Waterfall Adventure with Hawaii Forest & Trail. When I was doing research on what we could see on the West side of the Big Island, I noticed great reviews for Hawaii Forest & Trail. This company specializes in the Big Island, they don’t have too many tours but theirs are about education as well as beautiful scenery. The company was founded by…
This is a part of our 9-day Big Island Itinerary. UPDATE May 22, 2019: The spinner dolphins off the Kona Coast of Hawaii have the highest human exposure rates than anywhere in the world and federal officials work toward finalizing a rule outlawing the practice. Friday, December 29. I had originally scheduled our swimming with wild dolphins trip for yesterday, but considering that we could arrive to our cottage very late the night before, I contacted our dolphin guide Roberta…
You might think of whale watching in Hawaii as a rather peaceful activity. To see a whale surge out of the sea and fall back down in a massive splash is a beautiful sight. Some things are beautiful from a distance. To see a whale up close is rather scary. Let me tell you a real whale’s tale. A Maui Whale Watching Tale We were on a whale-watching boat off Lahaina, Maui one morning, all the camera toting tourists were…
This is a part of our 9-day Big Island Itinerary. Thursday, December 28. Today, we wanted to get to Hapuna beach, but ended up on a completely different, yet very nice Waialea beach, a.k.a. Beach 69. We just spent the first night at our final vacation rental home on the Big Island. We are taking it slow today, resting from active days spent on the Hilo side. When I did my research on where to stay on the western side…
This is a part of our 9-day Big Island Itinerary. Wednesday, December 27. With help of a local guide I made arrangements to meet an authentically trained Kahuna healer in Volcano. We’ll treat her to a lunch at 11 am in Kilauea Lodge and then I will have a private session with Kahuna. After that we planned to stop at Jaggar Museum and Kilauea crater overlook, and then head to our rental cottage on Kona side. We’ll take the longer route,…
This is a part of our 9-day Big Island Itinerary. Tuesday, December 26. It will be a long day, as we are checking out from the Grand Naniloa Hotel and driving south from Hilo, past Pahoa town, towards the ocean to what the locals call the Red Road. It runs for about 15 miles along the coast line from Kapoho Tide Pools to Kalapana. Our goal for today is to see Big Island hot springs and hot ponds in the…
This is a part of our 9-day Big Island Itinerary. Monday, December 25. We slept longer today, because it’s Christmas and some of the places we would see otherwise will be closed. We are driving north from Hilo, along the scenic Hamakua coast. Our first stop stop is Rainbow Falls, a 10-15 minute drive from the hotel. The waterfall view is just a few steps away from the parking lot. We took a trail on the left going up the waterfall….