The Big Island… Yeh – it’s big!

The Big Island or Hawai’i is so big, it often feels like you are no longer on an island. You can all of the other Hawaiian Islands, put them together and you would still not have the land mass of the big island. Not only that, it has two 13K+ mountains that are the largest mountains in the world by mass. The big island also has the most active volcano in the world, but that will be covered in the next blog.

I spent a great deal of time driving around this island. Nowhere was close. After being able to zip around Kauai to get from point “A” to point “B” quickly, it was a bit of an adjustment in planning my excursions. On top of that, I had planned on taking a helicopter ride over the volcanoes but after driving for 2 hours from Kona to Hilo over the Saddle Road, the flight was cancelled as we got ready to walk out onto the tarmac. Never fear though – it was supposed to happen. The next day, after driving the Saddle Road through a driving rain the next day, we had a spectacular flight. I will post those pictures later.

One great thing that came out of the cancellation was an incredible sunset. I just sat on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere and shot the sunset using the local flowers as a framing subject.

Volcanoes National Park it quite interesting with massive lava flows from various eruptions and craters that were once very active. It rained while I was there, providing ample opportunities for rainbows. It was also extremely windy – moving this big guy around like I weighed 100 lbs. I’ve never experienced such strong winds.

Speaking of winds, the island is interesting in that every part of the island is different with different weather. It could be pouring on the Saddle Road – the road between the two massive volcanoes that dominate the island, and be totally sunny and hot in Hilo or Kona. The only time I saw both mountain tops was on the flight to Maui. Both were in clear blue skies with a ring of clouds around their slopes.

The Northern part of the Big Island features steep rocky coasts and massive cattle ranches. At times it feels like you are driving through the rolling hills of the Midwest until you look more closely at the plant life or suddenly see the massive ocean in the distance as you top one of the hills. Absolutely gorgeous country! Again, one minute raining like crazy and the next clear and beautiful.

Speaking of plants, there are more flowering species of plants here than anywhere else I have ever traveled. The purple blossomed tree that we see in the painting in Robin William’s wonderful movie “What Dreams May Come,” I thought was an artist’s idea of an ideal artistic tree. But it’s real! It lives on Maui and the Big Island. So many times I have felt like I am in a live Dr. Seuss book or a florist’s shop. It’s amazing!

Well, that’s enough rambling for now. Enjoy the pics!

Stay tuned. More form the Big Island and Maui coming up!