We arrived in Kailua-Kona after a very pleasant plane ride in which we had the good fortune of having major leg-room because we had the emergency exit seats (woot woot). When the flight attendant asked me if I’d be able to rip the door off in case of an emergency, I answered with a very enthusiastic “yes!” No way in heck were we giving away the best cheap seats. The flight was around 7 hours if I recall correctly. I spent most of that time reading J.R.R Tolkien’s Silmarillion. A few minutes before we began our descent, the flight attendants passed out complimentary rum-punch. It wasn’t the best stuff in the world, but hey, free alcohol.
KOA is an interesting airport; everything is outside. Like, you step out of the plane, into sunshine (that’s pretty cool). There’s no long corridors or giant lobbies. Just a statue surrounded by benches (some shaded, some not so much). The no Lobbies thing means no AC, and we got introduced to Hawaii weather real quick. It was like 85 degrees, but humid as fuck. We jumped into the little rental-car shuttle and bonked out. Picked up the whip and it was adventure time.
We had a couple of hours before we could check in to the place where we were staying, so we whipped out the Yelp app and looked for the best reviewed hole-in-the-wall.
We found TJ’s BBQ by the beach.
It was so bomb. We ordered “the ribs” and a volcano burger. The burger was really good. But the ribs… The ribs were spectacular. Served with rice and slaw, they were fall-off-the-bone. And the sauce, perfect combination of sweet and tangy and smoky and spicy. Throw a fucking pineapple slice in the mix and I was in finger-licking heaven.
If you ever find yourself in Kona, looking for some good ass ribs, definitely check them out. You can find their information here.
Since we were in Kona, we decided to hit up the Kona brewing company, looking to get some of that fresh beer straight from the source.
Unfortunately, Kona brewing co beer is kind of terrible. Jeez Louise, I had a flight of their IPA’s and Pale Ales. I don’t know if it’s an acquired taste or what, but all I know is that people around me were chugging them down, and I was having a real hard time forcing myself to drink that swill. I’m probably spoiled because of all the great local breweries we have in the Bay Area.
After the brews, we jumped in the car and headed across the island to check in to our hotel.
We stayed at Kirpal Meditation and Ecological Center
It’s the coolest place I’ve ever stayed. 10 acres of organic fruit orchard, in the jungle, on the edge of the ocean… How cool is that? completely off the grid; they run on solar power and filter rain water. AND, ON TOP OF THAT, you can eat all the fruit you want!!! Definitely check them out. you can find their website here.
They had papayas that were so good, they didn’t even smell like vomit!
And the sweetest mangoes
Strawberry guavas, along with magnificent-smelling regular guavas
Behemoth avocados 
Figs
Fucked up looking oranges
According to the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawai’i at Manoa, “Fruit of citruses such as orange and tangerine usually fails to develop color when grown at Hawai‘i’s lower elevations, and a green or green-yellow skin coloration is normal in ripe fruit.” Still great tasting oranges, though.
Then they had fruits that I had never heard of, like breadfruit
And noni
And this thing, which I’m pretty sure is not a soursop.
There was ONE important rule to follow before eating any fruit off a tree: wash it. Prepare to be horrified. “Rat-lung” is a parasite that we were warned about on our tour of the grounds. It attacks your nervous system and if you get it, you’re pretty much toast… The way it spreads, as it was explained to me, is a snail, walks over infected rat poop, then crawls over fruit, leaving the parasite as it traverses through life, infecting the unfortunate. kinda terrible huh? you can learn more about “Rat-lung” here.
Now, after being warned against the parasite, I was a little hesitant to have any fruit at all. Fuck that shit, yo. But, after smelling the delicious aroma of the guavas, I had to try them (washed thoroughly). They were so good!!! “Wish I had me some now”.
I was told that the noni fruit was terrible. that it tasted like blue cheese. That everyone hated it. That it was really good for you. And that if you took a bunch and let them ferment, you’d have some some powerful hooch. Well, no-one had any hooch for me to try. But I was feeling adventurous, so I ripped a noni off a tree, washed it, and took a nice big bite. I don’t think it was ripe enough ’cause it was hard as a rock and I couldn’t even bite a chunk off. Furthermore, it tasted of vegetation, not blue cheese… Well, I tried.
The sun began to sink and the sky began to darken. And all of a sudden, “COQUI!!” “COQUI!!” We were surrounded by a chorus of frogs.
The coqui frogs are native to Puerto Rico. In the 80’s they were accidentally introduced to Hawaii and have since thrived. You can learn more about them here. Their call is super-loud, but surprisingly lulling. combined with the pats of tropical rain, my head hit the pillow and I passed out.
The next morning, I woke up in our jungle bungalow with the sun shining over the ocean… That’s the way were supposed to wake up. Not some alarm blaring “AANGG! AANGG!! AANGG!!!” I got up to find little geckos, everywhere.
And then Shannon called me over to where she was standing. she had found gecko eggs!!
They were so good. I fried them up with a little bit of ham and hot sauce… YUM!
Just kidding, of course.
But seriously, after coffee and breakfast, we decided we should check out the green-sand beach nearby. I know, right? Green Sand? It turns out there’s only like three or four of them in the world!
On our way off the KMEC grounds, we ran into manager and two guests, having car trouble. It turns out the manager was giving the two guests a ride into town when all of a sudden they got a flat tire. We were asked if we wouldn’t mind giving them a ride into town. “Of course not”. And that’s how we met our two adventure buddies.
Turns out they were just going to town to find something to do. Once we told them of our plan to visit the green sand beach, they decided to tag along with us. We drove until we ran out of road, and we did the last three miles on foot. Trekking cliff-side over jagged volcanic rock and super-fine sanded dunes made for a surprisingly challenging hike. But it’s probably worth it.
Papakolea gets its coloring form a mineral called olivine produced by the nearby volcano, Mauna Loa
From a distance, it’s like “fuck, how am I gonna get down there?” But once you’re there, on top of where you’re supposed to climb down, it’s not so tough.
The sand wasn’t as green as I expected it to be. I guess I expected it to be green-green. Nevertheless it does have a green tinge to it. And it is a very very beautiful beach.
After snapping some pictures and taking a dip, we decided to keep on checking out the sights. On our way to Papakolea beach, we passed a sign for Punalu’u beach, so we headed back that way.
Arriving a few minutes before sunset.
The sand really is black!
Then, all of a sudden, we spot a sea turtle.
Wow, right? Seeing wildlife is a huge goal in all our trips and it’s something that I really appreciate.
So imagine how I felt when all of the sudden a second sea turtle popped out of the ocean onto shore.
Followed by a THIRD!!
By the time it was too dark for me to shoot, there were six sea turtles on the beach. All grouped together like old friends. it was kind-of spectacular. And an experience that I will not soon forget.
We left the beach, grabbed a bite to eat and had a few brewskies before heading back to the resort and calling it a night.
The following day, we met up with our new friends during breakfast and invited them to come along with us to Volcanoes National Forest. We all jumped in the whip and split.
We got to the park and the first thing we did was go check out the volcano
Yeah, that’s cool, I guess. From a distance, in broad daylight… a little wisp of smoke… I wanna see lava, yo! We said we’d come back when it’s dark to see what we’d see, and continued to explore the rest of the park. 
One of the most interesting things to see was steam just coming out of the damp earth. Notice how it just steamed that tree alive! Just turned it white.
Then we checked out a lava tube.
A lava tube is a cave formed by lava flowing through it.
Can you imagine, one day, you’re just hanging out, then all of a sudden the ground underneath your feet isn’t there anymore? That’s crazy, huh? The park is filled (no pun intended) with craters like this one.
Over the years, there’s been a lot of lava flow. occasionally, the lava will just flow and cover roads.
There’s massive fields of rock. Acres and acres and acres of lava-flow covering the entire landscape.
I think there was once a tree here.
On the map of the park, there’s a short hike that leads to petroglyphs. And that’s what we’re in search of.
After the .8 mile hike, you find a little wooden path that you’re instructed to stay on to help preserve the area.
A petroglyph is basically carvings in rock. In this instance, the natives in Hawaii would carve little divots and place their childs’ umbilical cords in them, after birth. So, this guy had four children.
This person had many more.
After the petroglyphs, we continued down the road until it ended at the edge of the island.
Where we found a natural sea arch.
And spotted the rain coming in.
We covered a lot of ground, and saw most of everything there was to see in the park that we could in a day, by car. Very satisfied, we headed back to the beginning and the Halema’uma’u crater. 
So much cooler to see at night!!
With a cool drizzle coming down, we grabbed a bite to eat and headed back to our resort to call it a night.
The next day we visited the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden, and it was incredible! So many beautiful plants and flowers… 
Fuckin’ bananas, yo!
The most vato loco-ist flower ever, homes.
Orchids
Since it’s so humid in Hawaii, these orchids don’t even need to be planted in the ground. They just absorb water from the ambient and derive their nutrition from animal poop and organic stuff that falls on to them like leaves that then decompose.
Orchid paradise.
If you ever find yourself on the big island of Hawaii and looking for something to do, visit the garden, you will not be disappointed. Check them out here.
We made it out of the garden with enough time to check out Akaka falls before it got dark, so we headed that way.
I found a random rooster in the parking lot. There’s a lot of free-range poultry in Hawaii
It’s a super short paved walk through beautiful jungle to get to the falls. 
We got there, I snapped a few pictures, and it started pouring! Luckily there was a covered seating area. We had to wait like 45 minutes for a clearing in the rain, but it was cool. We snapped a couple more pics and we ran outta there.
Sitting in the car, browsing yelp for a place to have dinner we settled on Lucy’s Taqueria
The burrito looks impressive, but it lacked in flavor.
We get back to our bungalow, and chill for a while. Knowing that we only have one full day left in Hawaii, we decide to go on a hike at 11ish pm.
The Moon is full and the sky is clear except for the occasional drizzle cloud. We came prepared with umbrellas! The trail was 4 miles of dirt and rock road through lava-field. And we arrived to our destination at 12:20 am.
Kamokuna
Lava flowing straight into the sea
I shot hundreds of images. Towards the end, my batteries were dying. In the camera, and in me.
Trekking 4 miles back to the car, we arrived back at our resort at 4ish am. And knocked out.
Our last full day on the island, we took it super easy. We went into Pahoa and visited the farmers marker.
And I found a lady who made stuffed coy!
They were so good. They’re like griddled pancakes with stuff inside of them. I had one with ham and cheese, and one with apple cinnamon. They were both Bomb dot com.
Speaking of delicious, this is where I discovered rambutan (the most delicious fruit in the world).
It’s got this outer shell that you crack open to get to the delicious inside.
Imagine a really firm sweet green grape jello. that’s what it tastes like. I bought a pound and ate them all before we got back to the car. They were so good!!
The rest of the day, we took real easy. Did a lot of photography and just enjoyed our time in the jungle, for we know it would soon come to an end.
Awakened by the sun, we had breakfast and packed our bags. Saying goodbye to all the fellow guests and employees we conversed with every morning in the communal area, we headed to back to Kona.
Having a little time to kill before having to return the car and catch our flight, Shannon typed in an address to the GPS and we headed downtown. where she surprised me by taking me to a donut shop!
Holy Donuts in Kona. We sat and hung out, having our donuts and our Kona coffee. Followed by a walk through all the local shops. But it was getting to be that time, so dropped off the car and caught the shuttle back to the airport.
Without a hitch, we flew back home.
I’d really like to thank my wonderful girl, Shannon, who is my adventure partner. And the whole reason we even went to Hawaii. Thanks babe, I love you.
Grizzly De Haro 