North America,  Travel Stories,  USA

Mauna Loa, couch surfing and swimming with the dolphins

Last week I decided to rent a car and tour the island. I had just finished my first week of working in the garden and I felt the urge to get out and explore.

The Big Island is 4,028 mi² and it takes about 5h to drive around it. I had 2 days. There is also a road that goes right through the center, but I decided against it because I wanted to see as much as possible.

The island is actually quite amazing. You have 2 sides. The Kona side and the Hilo side. My work-away was on the Hilo side. That side sees a lot more rain because of the trade winds that come from the east. The clouds get stuck on the 2 main Vulcanos and it rains. This means that there is a lot more green vegetation and most produce grows very well. Because of that reason the majority of farms can be found on the Hilo side. The Kona side is mostly sunny and dry. So most of the resorts can be found here and house prices are lot more expensive. The north and south I felt was dominated by old lava flows with not many people living in the area.

What I really liked was that you only had to drive for about 20min before the landscape changed and you had something new to look at. I have to say I do prefer the sunny side. I do love the sun.

Anyway, back to my road trip. First major stop for me was Mauna Loa Road. Mauna Loa is the second largest vulcano in the world, which is pretty impressive. It has been active vulcano for years, but for some reason it has decided to go to sleep, which is good and bad. Good for the people living on the island and bad for me because I’m missing out on seeing flowing lava.

The Mauna Loa road is a 12mile road that winds up the side of the vulcano. It was a beautiful but a surprising long drive. The last 8 miles are a one lane road which is in need of repair. Somehow I seem to find the worst roads to drive in the world, however it wasn’t quite as bad as the Indonesian roads I drove on earlier this year and it was a very stunning drive with amazing views along the way.

For the night I ended up staying with a very quirky film maker and producer. I joined the couchsurfing community just before I left. It’s a bit like AirBNB but it is free and you might have to sleep on the floor or a couch. This time I got very lucky. I got my own room and bed and the best thing was my host loved dolphins. So I asked him to take me swimming with the dolphins. We took off bright and early to Kealakekua Bay. If you ever in the area make sure you stop there early in the morning and to bring some snorkel gear including fins. It’s a bit of swim out to the dolphins.

As we arrived we could see the dolphins from afar already and I couldn’t wait to get in the water. And yes the water was pretty warm…thank good…What can I say, it was one of the most amazing experience. We swam out and there were about 30-40 of them. I tried multiple strategies to get them to stay with me; singing, telepathy. It did work on occasion and one or two dolphins would swim around me. It was so beautiful. We stayed with them for about an hour before finally deciding to leave. It’s a memory that will stay with me for a long time.

After all the excitement and some breakfast I left my host and continued my trip around the island. I got to see more beautiful scenery and taste some great coffee. The Kona side is well known for coffee and there are many coffee makers that have shops along the main road. I stopped at the Royal Kona Coffee Center in Captain Cook. I also took smaller detours which were some of the prettiest drives I’ve seen. Check out the photos below.

Sabine xxx

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