Our Hawaiian Vacation: Ninth Stop of Two Day Circle Tour
This post continues details of our two-day circular driving tour of the island of Hawaii, which we began on our ninth day in Hawaii (May 25th). Here are the stops that we made thus far:
1. Our first stop was at South Point.
2. Our next three stops were in the towns of Waiohinu and Naalehu.
3. Our fifth stop was at Punalu’u Beach Park, near the town of Pahala.
All five of these stops were in the South Island region.
4. Our sixth stop was at the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
5. Our seventh stop was at Lava Tree State Park.
6. Our eighth stop was at Isaac Hale (Pohoiki) Beach Park.
Both Lava Tree State Park and Isaac Hale Beach Park are located in the Puna region near the town of Pahoa.
From Isaac Hale Beach Park we drove to Hilo, where we spent the night at Uncle Billy’s Hotel.
Uncle Billy’s Courtyard
View from Uncle Billy’s Courtyard
Hilo Bay; Coconut Island in the middle
The next day (May 26th) Bob and I were up by 6:30 AM. We ate a breakfast of papaya, danish, toast, juice and coffee/tea. After breakfast we strolled through the picturesque Liliuokalani Gardens, which is located about a half block from our hotel.
Liliuokalani Gardens
Liliuokalani Gardens
Liliuokalani Gardens
Liliuokalani Gardens
View of Mauna Kea from Liliuokalani Gardens
We visited Coconut Island too. The island was across the street from Liliuokalani Gardens.
Coconut Island is reached by crossing a footbridge.
The footbridge has had to be replaced after nearly every tsunami.
Markers on this coconut tree show height of tsunami waves.
In 1957 the waves reached a height of 8 feet. In 1952 the waves hit a height of 12 feet. In 1960 the waves reached a height of 15 feet. In 1946 the waves reached a height of 26 feet.
We met up with John and Dorothy at 8:00 AM. After checking out of Uncle Billy’s Hotel, we drove to the Hilo Farmers Market. John purchased fresh vegetables; Dorothy purchased fresh flowers.
Hilo Farmer’s Market
From the Hilo Farmers Market we began our trip back to Kona. Before leaving Hilo we visited Wailuku River State Park, where we saw Rainbow Falls and Boiling Pots/Pe’epe’e Falls.
Rainbow Falls
See the cave behind the waterfall? It is believed that Kamehameha buried the bones of his father in this cave. By the way the waterfall did create a faint rainbow while we were there. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that I captured that rainbow in this photograph (or others that I took).
We saw the strangest sight while walking to Boiling Pots/Pe’epe’e Falls. We saw two young men wearing tails. The day before they wore entire animal suits to Mauna Kea. One of the young men makes the animal suits, and they wear the tails (or the entire suit) often.
I don’t think they read the sign.
Walking to Boiling Pots / Pe’epe’e Falls
Boiling Pots / Pe’epe’e Falls
Pe’epe’e Falls
Boiling Pots
There wasn’t much water falling from Pe’epe’e Falls; therefore the boiling pots were not boiling.
I still have lots more to share with you about our Hawaiian vacation, so please stay tuned!
The Beauty Around Us 
16 Responses to “Our Hawaiian Vacation: Ninth Stop of Two Day Circle Tour”
Hi Linda, These are some of my favorite photos yet from your trip to Hawaii. Uncle Billy's Hotel is neat… Love the courtyard.Liliuokalani Gardens are beautiful… And Coconut Island is amazing…. Cannot believe the tsunami waves have gotten THAT high… Wooooo..Loved your mosaic of the market….And my favorite (of course) is the two waterfalls…. Interesting about the 'bones'….. HmmmmmmGreat post, Linda. Thanks.Hugs,Betsy
Gorgeous place…. love the bridge – and that collage!!
Such beautiful photos!
Quite a few places Linda. The Rainbow waterfalls and Pepee's were very inviting..In the first two photographs, I saw some blown out areas. Is it because of the settings you made or is that the best the 620 can bring out?Ram
Oh wow, beautiful photos, Linda! I love each one of those shots. Very inviting! You and Bob are fortunate to be able to visit such a beautiful place. I would love to visit Hawaii someday. 🙂
@Ram – The blown out highlights in the first picture are operator error. I should have taken more time to think through that picture. I've used the 620 before to take a picture of people or things in front of a bright window. The picture has turned out okay. So I can't fault the 620. In the second picture the only blown highlight was a small part of one of the clouds. Rest of the photograph seemed to suffer from not enough contrast. I re-edited that picture and posted a new one. The details of the distant hill show up better now. Thank you for your comments!
Great pictures! The vegetable and flower market looked so beautiful. The flowers in Hawaii are so amazing!
Linda, I love your Hawaii photos. They bring back memories of my stay in Hilo. The waterfalls are gorgeous. They are all wonderful photos and great memories for you two.
another series of great photos and interesting story, great to follow your journey 🙂
Hi Linda, as usual i am always fascinated and thrilled with the beauty, composition, details, etc of your photos. For the details i will just follow them in flickr. However, i am very amazed at the resiliensy of the coconut trunks to withstand all the tsunamis they survived for long historical years. I also love that photo of coconuts, as if you used filters in shooting them. thanks.
Linda: You got some great shots, love that big spreading tree.
Linda, beautiful photos, lovely surroundings and photo opts.
really nice places and photos. thank you for sharing
I just finished rereading your comments. I think I get as much pleasure from your comments, as I do in sharing my travels with you! Thank you for each and every comment.
I love the farmer's market photos. So colorful. The variety of flowers is amazing.
Oh my! I love the Liliuokalani Gardens! They are wonderful!