Hawaii: Day 2 (Big Island)

Started out this day with a breakfast of champions at Ken's House of Pancakes, an iconic diner in Hilo. It used to be 24 hours, but now opens at 6 a.m. I couldn't resist taking a Colby donor out for breakfast to thank her, and she picked this local flavor. 

When I got back, we visited the Hilo farmers market for some special fruits, including new ones: longan and apple bananas. Longan are similar to lychees, but more mild. Apple bananas are zippier, sweeter, and more flavorful than the bananas we're used to on the mainland.

Avocados, longan, pineapple, and other fruit at the Hilo farmers market

Next up was local stop Rainbow Falls, which apparently is less crowded than Apaka Falls nearby. 

Then we headed to the Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, which covers a lot of different ways that volcanoes impact the landscape. Craters, steam vents, and lava tubes can all be found and explored. 

Uekahuna view in Volcanoes National Park

You can see all over the Big Island how volcanoes transform the land, and also how vegetation terraforms it. Grasses and sacred trees are the first to find purchase on the cooled lava flows. I also found some nice mosses in the lava tube area.

We hit the road up to Kona in the afternoon. On the way, we stopped at America's southernmost bakery, Punalu'u Bake Shop, for two malasadas (filled donuts): 1 Bismarck and 1 chocolate filled. I thought they were fantastic, like a regular donut but a little breadier, like a Hawaiian roll. Careful what line you jump into - one is for lunch and takes a lot longer, the other is just for the baked goods and flies by. They are not well marked, or I didn't think so.

Southernmost bakery in the U.S.!

Continuing up to Kona, we visited Greenwell Farm for a coffee tasting (for Dave); he usually likes lighter roasts, but this time he preferred the darker roast and bought a bag to bring home. (You can't bring a lot of agricultural items home from Hawaii, but roasted beans are basically dead, so it's fine.)

We stopped for some shopping in the super touristy area in Kailua, mainly because Dave forgot to bring a swimsuit on the trip! We also hit up the Big Island regional chocolates at Puna Chocolate Company, then beers at the Kona Brewing Company. We'd had some of their beers before, and actually we thought they were good despite being pretty big and widely distributed. 

For dinner, we visited Jackie Rey's, a bit touristy but tasty. 

The big finish for the day was a night snorkel with the giant mantas through Hawaiian Island & Ocean Tours (there are a few tour companies operating here, all seem fine). Too bad we don't have any pictures, because it really was spectacular - basically at night, tour companies shine a light to attract plankton, and the giant mantas (800 to 1,000 lb.) come for miles around to swoop up and eat them. Snorkelers like us float up top and watch them go to town. They were so big and cool to watch! 

I was fairly cold and a bit seasick, but oh man, it was worth it.

Other things we would have liked to have done on the Big Island but weren't open while we were there: Waimea farmers market, Hamakua Chocolate, Honamu Goat Farm, and the Kona Coffee Living History Farm.