For Thanksgiving 2023, I was fortunate enough to spend three days on Hawaii Island, or the Big Island of Hawaii. This wasn’t going to be my first time on the Big Island – I had spent a couple of days there August 2022. However, that trip left much to be desired. There was still more to explore, so on a last-minute whim, I returned to the largest, but youngest and most climactically diverse, island of Hawaii.
Day 1
We departed early in the morning on Thursday December 23 – at 6:10am to be exact. Getting to the airport early enough to catch the flight was rough. We severely underestimated our abilities to wake up early.
Note to self: avoid booking flights that early again if possible.
After an unfortunate series of loops through the airport parking structure in an attempt to find long-term parking, we finally secured a spot. And despite my lack of TSA pre-check (#CanadianInTheUSProblems), we made it through security and boarded our flight on time.
Upon landing in Hilo, we were greeted with a beautiful rainbow that livened up the grey skies.
Our first order of business was picking up our rental car. Of course, it ended up being a red Jeep Wrangler – cherry red. I was immediately reminded of this good ol’ meme.
Alright, tourist mode activated.
On the way to our Airbnb, we came across another cute car.
It definitely exuded the charm of Hilo town. Our Airbnb also had the same quaint quality. It was surrounded in lush greenery and had lovely views of the neighborhood around.
‘Akaka Falls
The first stop on our trip was ‘Akaka Falls. Even though I had visited this waterfall on my first Big Island trip, I was still excited to see the falls again. They’re pretty spectacular.
Upon later research, I discovered they’re 442 ft tall – which seemed very tall, especially based on how they looked in person. But apparently the tallest waterfall in Hawaii is one on Molokai that’s 2953 ft tall? Mind-blown.
Rainbow (Waiānuenue) Falls
The second stop on our trip was Rainbow Falls, which I had also seen before. To be honest, in comparison to Akaka Falls, Rainbow falls is pretty basic. It’s heart shaped, so I guess that makes it kinda cute. But it’s not particularly special compared to the numerous other waterfalls in Hawaii.
However, the Hawaiian story behind Waiānuenue Falls is interesting. There were placards by the falls with the story, which was nice to see. It’s always good to inject a bit of Hawaiian education into tourist spots.
Boiling Pots
Boiling Pots is just a bit up the road from Rainbow Falls. It was essentially a series of mini-waterfalls that led down to a lovely beach-like area at the end.
I was getting rather sleepy at this point – the early morning flight was getting to me – so I was just glad to take a dip in the cold, refreshing water
Summit of Mauna Kea
The summit of Mauna Kea was going to be our final stop of the day. Like the waterfalls, I had been up the summit before. But you can never go up a 13,803 ft volcano too many times! We rented our Jeep specifically for this so that we’d have the 4WD necessary to make it pass the Visitor’s Center. The way up was arid and dry. But once we were past the clouds everything took on an almost ethereal quality.
The summit was epic. We timed it perfectly to catch a glimpse of the setting sun! As much as I would’ve like to believe otherwise, we were not special in that regard because there were plenty of other visitors up on the mountain with the same intention.
It was absolutely freezing up at the top. I can’t say I felt sad when it was time to head down – I was ready to be back in the warm!
On the way down, we were able to view the stars from the Visitor’s Center. Wow were they incredible! Thank god for my friend Clara’s iPhone 15 Pro because we would’ve not been able to get such clear photos otherwise!
Day 2
Papakōlea Green Sand Beach
On the second day of our trip, our first order of business was getting to the Green Sand Beach on the southern part of the island. This was my specific request for the trip – I had heard about the mystical Papakōlea Beach from a friend who had been there. It’s one of the four green sand beaches in the world. The other three are in Guam, The Galapagos Islands of Ecuador, and (surprisingly) Norway. Essentially, a series crazy geological events created the olivine grains of sand. I had been to black sand beaches, white sand beaches, and even a red sand beach, but never one with green sand.
The good friend who told me of this place highly recommended “tipping off the locals in the parking lot”. I had no idea what that was supposed to mean. But that all soon became clear once we got there. There were a bunch of old trucks in the parking lot with people standing in the truck beds, cramped like cows in a shipping truck. Guess that was going to be our ticket to the beach, lest we wanted to hike for over an hour with no shade through the mid-day Hawaiian sun. Fortunately, there was one truck that was just about to leave that had room for all four of us. We tipped the driver $20 per person – in cash, of course – and we off.
The journey to the Green Sand Beach felt like an eternity of torture. It was all off-roading through completely unpaved paths that were wrought with ditches. Oh, and forget personal space – you renounced that when you handed over the 20 bucks. It was time to get comfortable with the other sweaty bodies crammed on the truck bed. And to top it off, we were doing that in the scorching sun for nearly 20 minutes. It honestly wouldn’t have been too bad if we were standing anywhere besides the very back of the truck. But we happened to be standing right above the rear wheels, which accentuated every single drop and bump on the road. I was feeling pretty nauseous by the end of it.
Clara had brought her corgi named Lily on the trip, so she was also sliding around with us humans on the truck. There was an interesting French lady there with us who clearly had a distaste for dogs because she preemptively demanded we keep Lily away from her. However, given the nature of the trip, we were all shaking on the truck bed and inevitably Lily slid closer to her. In the middle of the trip, to everyone’s surprise, she turned around to Clara and asked “Control your dog! Are you high?!”
Like okay bitch we’re not, but why does that even matter?! I never understand people who come on vacation only to get angry.
The beach was definitely worth the crazy journey. It was nestled in a tiny bay and the sand was a dark shade of emerald green.
I was so happy to go for a swim and cool off!
We had 40 minutes at the beach before our truck would depart back to the parking lot. For the journey back, my friend Kym and I opted to sit in the cab with Lily the corgi and our driver.
Although I didn’t remember his name, our driver made quite the impression on us. He had grown up right around the beach area and owned several coffee farms on the island. He made approximately 3-4 trips daily to Papakōlea Beach, taking 10+ visitors each time on the back of his truck. If you did the math, this guy had clearly made it. But there was one thing he said really stuck with me. He told Kym and I that we had good hearts. Then he said “You can always make more money, but you can’t always have a kind heart”. I thought that meant a lot, especially coming from someone who was raking in the dough.
South Point
We were all pretty pooped after the journey back from the Green Sand Beach. But we were so close to South Point – the southern tip of Hawaii Island and also the southernmost point of the United States. Might as well check it out, right?
Once we got there, we noticed a crowd of people hanging around the edge of a cliff. Turns out it was a cliff jumping spot! I had remembered vaguely hearing of a super high cliff jump somewhere on the Big Island from another friend, but I didn’t realize it was here at South Point! I saw a couple of dudes take the plunge and it seemed like the water was deep enough. However, there was a sign right next to the takeoff spot in memory of a dude that died jumping, so that was somewhat concerning.
Nevertheless, I knew I had to do it – we were here after all! The opportunity had presented itself, and I jumped at it – literally and figuratively, I guess.
My friend Clara recommended I take the jump with her GoPro in my hand – I was like why not?!? #YOLO
I had quite the hype crowd – and I’m really grateful for that.
(I’ll link my jump video here at some point, but that’ll be once I get my YT going)
The jump was absolutely crazy – and I wanted to do it again immediately after! The way up from the cliff involved either climbing up a janky ladder or hiking up these rocks. I rightly opted for the ladder.
On the way up, I witnessed the girl that had taken the jump before me vomiting into the ocean. I’m sorry but you can’t unsee someone vomiting – yuck. I quickly scratched the idea of jumping again. All the adrenaline and nausea must’ve really made her unwell.
It was definitely for the better that I didn’t go again – as we were leaving I started feeling crazy exhaustion. My nervous system was shot. The jump at South point is 40-60 ft tall depending on how high the tide is, which is pretty freaking high. It’d probably hurt a ton if you don’t land straight into the water. I was so freaking grateful to not be driving, because I completely knocked out in the car.
Hōlei Sea Arch
On the way home, we made a quick stop at Volcano National Park and saw the sunset at the lovely Hōlei Sea Arch.
Looking back I wish I had taken more photos, because this one really didn’t do it justice.
Day 3
Volcano National Park
On the final day of the trip, we decided to check out the other parts of Volcano National Park. We made several stops and saw several steam vents and craters.
Unfortunately, I was still pretty checked out mentally from my cliff jump so when my friends wanted to venture into a lava tube, I passed in favor of napping in the car. The lava tube was pretty epic though – I wished I had seen it in person but I also knew that I was not feeling it energy-wise.
I ended up also passing on a bunch of other lookouts in the park in favor of napping in the car. In one instance, a couple walked by and the woman, who was wearing a bright green shirt, started posing by our cherry red jeep while the guy started taking photos! I was absolutely shook – she was standing right next to the rear-view mirror on the passenger side, where I was seated, with her arm casually propped up against the car. Initially, I thought she had seen me inside the car and still thought it was okay to do what she was doing. But then she finally noticed my awe-struck, gaping face staring at her through the window. Let’s just say she had the quite the scare! The couple promptly left after that. I was still in absolute disbelief.
How do people have the audacity to do such a thing?
Anyway, after that odd series of events my friends came back into the car and we drove to the next lookout. I again chose to remain in the car. Suddenly, a giant black Cadillac SUV pulls up right next to our red Jeep. The driver of the Cadillac was a terrible driver – the parking stalls were very generous yet he still parked the car over the white line so it was in our stall. When the driver and passenger got out, it was – surprise – the same couple that posed with our car! What’s more, when the man got out of the driver’s side, he actually managed to scrape our Jeep with his car’s door but didn’t even bat an eye. I quickly opened my door to check the damage and fortunately it was nothing noticeable. But again, what audacity?! I couldn’t understand.
Honoli’i Beach Park
After Volcano National Park, there wasn’t much time left before we had to board our flights back home from Hilo. We drove back to town and decided to check out a cute beach. I had never been to Honoli’i Beach Park before, but I quickly realized that this was one of the hidden gems of Hilo town. The beach was super cute and shielded from the main road. The waves were beautiful and the landscape was well-maintained. There was even a large palm tree purposefully planted at the end of a pathway in someone’s honor.
Upon seeing how nice the waves were and how much fun people were having, I definitely wished I had brought my surfboard on this trip. But that’ll be an adventure for next time.
Queen Lili’uokalani Garden
With our remaining time in Hilo, we ventured over to the Queen Lili’uokalani Garden which is right by the airport. It’s a Japanese-style garden with ponds, shrines, and little bridges. A placard mentioned it was gifted from Japan. It was a serene stop to end off our trip on a very chill note.
I left Hilo that evening feeling very grateful for everything I was able to experience – it was Thanksgiving after all. I was reminded of how fortunate I am to be able to call Hawaii home.
Wennie 