As we’ve previously mentioned, there is more than one way to travel to the National Parks. For this trip, we flew to Honolulu and boarded the Norwegian cruise ship Pride of America which travels around the Hawaiian Islands. The cruise itinerary included a day in Hilo on the Big Island close to Volcanoes National Park and an overnight stay in Maui, which allowed us to go to the summit of Haleakala for sunrise. It also was easy to rent cars at each of the ports, giving us a lot of flexibility in how we toured the islands.
We had previously spent a day several years ago exploring Volcanoes National Park and highly recommend it; it is such a unique and fascinating park. On our previous trip, we were able to see lava fountains from the Kilauea volcano in the Halema’uma’u crater; this time there were no active eruptions, although lava started flowing again a few weeks after our trip. You just never know! It is very worthwhile to drive the Chain of Craters Road to see lava flows from different time periods. We used the Shaka Guide, a GPS-based audio driving tour, that described the area, gave some Hawaiian history and folklore, and let us know which sites were not to be missed. One of the highlights of our daylong visit was hiking the 4-mile Kilauea Iki Trail, which takes you down to and across the Kilauea Iki crater floor. It’s worth just hiking down to the crater floor and back up for a shortened version of the hike, if you don't have time or want to hike the entire crater floor. We also recommend stopping at Volcano House for a bite to eat or something to drink. The restaurant, which dates back to 1846, has fantastic views overlooking the Halema'uma'u crater and a nice selection of beers that include local brews.
Our sunrise visit to Haleakala National Park was one of the highlights of our trip. Visiting for sunrise requires a reservation and very early arrival; advance reservations are required to enter the park between 3 am and 7 am. We left the cruise ship at 2:30 am for the drive, as we wanted to be in the summit parking lot, which has only about 45 parking spaces. (There is additional parking at a few other sites a little below the summit.) We arrived plenty early and got to enjoy a spectacular star-filled night sky. We dressed warmly in layers, but the wind was very strong, making it feel quite cold. Fortunately, there is a glass-enclosed shelter at the top of the summit, so we were able to stay out of the wind while watching the sunrise. The first hint of light started appearing over an hour prior to actual sunrise and it was a great experience to watch the slowly lightening sky to the east, while also seeing a profusion of stars in the still dark skies to the west. While we made a few other stops in Haleakala (mainly at scenic overlooks), we opted to not do any hiking because of the strong winds.
As for brew pubs, Hawai'i has plenty of really good ones and we fit in a few of them! On Maui, we went to the Maui Brewing Co. (they have several locations on the island). On the Big Island, Kona Brewing Company is always a favorite, but we also found the Ola Brew Co. nearby in Kailua Kona (they also have a taproom in Hilo). On the island of Kauai, we found the Kauai Island Brewing Company (which claims to be the westernmost brewery in the world), the Kauai Beer Company; and Napali Brewing Co., all of which had good selections of tasty brews.
Commenti