Akaka Falls is east of Hilo off of Route 19, and is reached from the parking area by following a paved trail/stairs dropping down through lush tropical plants to an overlook.  The trail is narrow, and the stairs many, but the view is simply lovely. 

We made an accidental discovery (looking out for the little King Kamehaha highway signs that mark historic or scenic sights) of a vanilla farm and factory.  The only USA vanilla farm in existence, this family-run enterprise is a small treasure--with tours, lunch (both requiring advance reservations) and a small gift shop. We learned the intricate process of making vanilla from a specific orchid plant, which must be fertilized during a tight 4-hour window of opportunity, and then how it must be carefully stored to develop the sweet vanillin, and finally how it can be added to almost anything to enhance flavor and scent.

We continued along the scenic coastline highway all the way to the end of the road for a lookout over the Waipio Valley -- beautiful, but requires horses or 4-wheel drive for the extreme excursion.  We` lunched on crackers and chees/salami at a little park, then headed back. 

Earlier this morning, we watched the Norwegian Cruise Line ship Pride of America sail in (below), and we planned to watch it sail away, but it was very late in leaving.  My camera could not catch a good image of the ship, all alight in the falling dusk, sail away.

The Puna District

The Puna District sets below the Kilauea Volcano that regularly sends lava emerging from fissures on the great volcanic mountain then flowing down its slopes to the sea.  The Volcano has taken out homes and highways, and built new island in vast stretches along its base.



In the past, the flows sometimes encased trees as the lava slowly moved through the ancient forests of what would one day become the Puna district.  Some of those trees stayed upright, allowing the lava to wrap the tree, which in its destruction left behind hollow shells in tree shapes (shown above).  The state has created a lovely walkway through a grove of these lava encased trees at Lava Trees State Park in the heart of the district.  Now filled with the rich greenery that 200 inches of rain a year brings, these trees are thrust out of the dense jungle as stark reminders of the volcano's power.



The road to the lighthouse at the distant Cape Kumakahi traverses vast fields of pahoehoe lava.  Black flows edge the road as we traveled down to the sea.  At the lighthouse parking lot, three disreputable vehicles containing large groups of young haolies were parked with their campsite gear strewn about.  As one had to leave one's car and walk to the lighthouse, Helen, Lizzie, and I decided that the car would likely be broken into while we walked, so we didn't stay, and instead traveled back to explore the lava-formed Wai' Opae tide pools in the district,  with a stop at the lovely Painted Church.

In 2014, a new flow emerged and instead of heading as it traditionally has toward Kalapana (where it destroyed the highway paralleling the sea decades ago), a new fissure opened and disgorged slow-moving lava.  This lava crept toward the town of Pahoa, threatening the entire developed section of the Puna district.  It wrapped around the disposal transfer station, crossing Old Cemetary Road, and continued down the valley toward schools, houses, businesses, and a thriving community. Then, as tragedy was threatening, the flow stopped as suddenly as it started, sparing the bulk of the town.  We stopped near the transfer station and looked at the wall of lava on both sides of the re-opened road.  The black rock has already began to be colonized by plants, with ferns the first invaders of the new rock surface.  This shouldn't be surprising, as ferns are among the oldest plants on earth, and must have colonized lava many times over the eons.

Rainforests and orchids

The wind continued to be strong in Hilo, so we decided to save explorations of the Puna coastline4 (including tidepools) until Monday when the ocean would hopefully  be more calm.  Today, we headed south to visit the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Gardens.  The gardens start well above the sea, then drop down through jungle terraces with orchids,  bromiliads, ti plants, ferns, bananas, gingers and so much more.

The setting is a tropical forest, with light shimmering through dense canopies of tall trees, draped with orchids, vines, and ferns.  Through th0s jungle cascades streams, with layered waterfalls abundant.

Hilo Happiness

We have  arrived in Hilo Hawaii on the big Island--our vacation rental is rustic but nice, and the view is wonderful.  We were tired after returning to the airport to collect Helen who was on a later flight, so it was an early night for all.  On Thursday, we  breakfasted-in while watching a large Princess Lines cruise ship glide past our deck to settle in port barely a stone's throw away.  The Bay is calm, and the weather slightly overcast as we head out for Volcano National Park, about an hour away.

The first stop was the visitor center, where we watched a film of the geology and cultural history of the park, then gathered maps and headed out to devastation trail, and other overlooks.

Our picnic lunch was at a pretty site at the end of a road where we passed grazing ne-ne geese amid vast stretches of hardened lava from slow-moving flows.  New "island" area was visible from the overlook--where kava had flowed and hardened in the sea, for mining a brand new and very large stretch of rock bench shelf just above the water's edge. At the Jagger Museum we saw the crater and steam vents shown below.

As we headed back the day grew cooler and the wind stronger.  What had been a calm flat bay now was a white-capped angry patch of water crashing against the rocks at the base of our rental lot.  The wind carried the salt spray all the way to the upper story deck.  Surprisingly, the cruise ship began to leave in these stormy waters, heading out through the bay to the open sea.   The winds howled all through the night.

Friday morning it was still windy and we decided to look around Hilo, as the winds were expected to die back by Friday night.  Helen and I took Lizzie to some of the places we enjoyed in Hilo--the lovely Japanese garden park off Banyan Drive, the tsunami memorial (and Vietnam memorial), and the exquisite gilded statue of King Kamehameha.