Entries Tagged as 'big island'

Manapua, My Love!

March 28th, 2011 · No Comments

Dallas has a few friends that live in Hilo on the Big Island so while we were at Hawaiian Volcanoes National Park, he texted them to meet up for a late lunch. However, we were starving because we hadn’t eaten all day and we were hiking and sweating. … so we had some spam musubi that we’d thrown in the car earlier. And when we stopped for gas at the 7-Eleven, I got some manapua. If you’ve ever gone to dim sum with me you know my love of char siu bao. Manapua is the Hawaiian version of bao. It’s similar, but bigger.. and you can get it everywhere… even 7-Eleven!

[Read more →]

Tags:······

Hawaiian Volcanoes National Park

March 28th, 2011 · 4 Comments

For about as long as I’ve known Dallas, I’ve been telling him that I want to see a volcano when we go to Hawaii and Dallas would always say, “But Kauai IS a volcano.” Sigh. Right. Millions of years ago Kauai was formed from a volcano. After almost 7 years of visiting the Hawaiian Islands and never seeing an active volcano, there was no way I was going to the Big Island and not going to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park!

The island of Hawaii, known as the Big Island, is a volcanic island built from 5 different shield volcanoes that erupted sequentially, one overlapping the other. These volcanoes are Kohala (extinct), Mauna Kea (dormant), Hualalai (active but not erupting), Mauna Loa (the largest volcano on earth, active), and Kilauea (one of the world’s most active volcanoes, actively erupting since 1983). Parts of Mauna Loa and Kilauea are located within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park borders.

So, here’s the thing: It’s not like you drive up to the park, get out of your car and there’s lava flowing all over the place. Eruptions and lava flow are extremely variable. And the area is huge. When you get to the visitor center they’ll tell you what parts of the park are closed (due to volcanic activity or poor air quality) and which parts you’re most likely to see lava flow. Park rangers directed us to an area that was about 2 hours away plus a hike, plus we’d already driven 2 hours, plus it was our last day on the Big Island and we didn’t want to be there all night. Long story short, I still did not see any lava flow.

That is not to say that I did not have a good time. We still saw plenty of cool things to make it worth the trip. We started out with a short walk over to the sulphur banks. This was an area where volcanic gasses seep from the ground and deposit sulphur crystals and other minerals on the rocks along the trail. Really cool to see this stuff coming out of the earth. It looked like we were on another planet or something. Very stinky, though! Also, the fumes are hazardous and people with breathing problems, kids, and pregnant women shouldn’t go near the sulphur banks. You have to stay on the trail, because if you slip and fall in a crack you can be seriously scalded because the steam is so hot. And don’t touch anything because it’s coated with sulphuric acid. Yikes!

Next we walked over to the steam vents. This phenomenon is caused when rainwater sinks through the ground and is warmed by rocks which are heated from the lava below. The hot water then rises through fissures to condense in the chilled air. This steam also contains sulphur dioxide and hydrogen sulphide, so even though you might want to stand there and steam your face, you shouldnt. The vents were pretty cool. You’d just be walking along and there’d be a hole or crack in the earth with hot steam pouring out. Parts of the sulphur banks were like this too, except more stinky!

The steam vents are nearby the Kilauea Caldera, so we walked over to take a look. It’s hard to show in a photo just how immense this was. The summit caldera measures about 3.7 miles x 3.7 miles. Inside there’s a big pit crater called Halema’uma’u Crater. From our viewpoint the crater looked tiny, but it’s about .5 miles x .5 miles and 270 ft below the floor of the Kilauea Caldera. As a side note, Pele is the Hawaiian goddess of fire, lightening volcanoes and dance. Her home is believed to be in the fire pit in Halema’uma’u Crater.

We hiked along the edge of the caldera and then entered into the rain forest where we continued hiking for a mile or two, before returning to the visitor center where the car was parked.

We then drove the car over to Kilauea Iki Crater. This is another pit crater. It was cool to see it a lot closer up than Halema’uma’u Crater. We only went to the lookout point, but you can also hike down onto the crater floor onto what was once a lake of lava. Even after 50+ years since the last eruption, the surface is still warm to the touch!

Finally, we visited Nahuku, known as Thurston Lava Tube, because it was discovered in 1913 by Lorrin Thurston. This was pretty cool. Basically it’s a 500-year old cave and they have lights installed because otherwise it would be pitch black. Lava caves are formed when a river of lava gradually builds solid walls and a ceiling. When the lava flow stops, the last of it passes downhill and a cave is formed.

So, we saw a lot of cool stuff at Hawaiian Volcanoes National Park, just not actual flowing lava. There was an eruption 2 days after we visited, so we missed out on that too. In hindsight we realized that we should have gone to the park on our first day on the Big Island. Some friends who had been there recently told us about a night walk you go on and you get right next to the flowing lava.. and at night its more dramatic than during the day. We just couldn’t swing a night tour on our last night there.

Also, I wish I could have seen the petroglyphs, but it was too far out of the way. Oh well. There’s always next time. I might not be back to the Big Island for 7 more years, but I’m sure we’ll be back some time.

[Read more →]

Tags:·······················

Hanging Out at the Kona Coast Resort

March 27th, 2011 · No Comments

Danny, Caroline, Cory and Chris were all sharing a condo at the Kona Coast Resort. After our Kona coffee tour and stop at the Donkey Balls store, we headed back to the condo.

Cory, Chris, Caroline and I hung out by the pool for a while and I introduced Chris to his first lava flow. I feel like I’m the lava flow ambassador!


Chris trying to look up shuffleboard rules on his phone at the pool

The Kona Coast Resort is a perfectly nice place. The condos are clean and nicely decorated in a tropical theme. There are plenty of activities and a nice pool.. and .. the only thing.. is that it kind of reminded me of some kind of Florida retirement community. There were a lot of older people. When your pool has a railing all around it, you might be clued in to the fact that you’re staying at a retirement community!

Another clue? Shuffleboard! Actually, the shuffleboard area was right outside the patio doors of the condo they were all staying in. So, we decided we had to play. I never played before, so I was excited. Too bad excitement doesn’t convert to skill. I was not very good! But we all had a fun time! Caroline thinks that this will be our life someday. We’ll all get condos at a tropical retirement villa and have shuffleboard tourneys. Not a bad life!

After shuffleboard Danny made us dinner using the fish we did not catch that morning. He made grilled blue marlin; kimchi somen cakes; crab, cream cheese and citrus wontons; and a kimchi consomme.

That night Dallas and I ended up staying overnight at the condo. There was a pull-out couch, so there was plenty of space. Our hotel was about an hour north of Kona and the next day we were headed south, so it just made sense to cut out that driving time.

[Read more →]

Tags:············

Donkey Balls Factory and Store

March 26th, 2011 · 3 Comments

As we were driving south of Kona, on the way to Greenwell Kona Coffee Farm, we passed by an interesting sign on a store. On the way home we just had to stop.

This is the home of the original Donkey Balls factory and store as well as the Surfin’ Ass Coffee Company. Hm. Very interesting.

We went in and were right away asked if we wanted to try samples of Donkey Balls. I didn’t even know what they were! Turns out they’re all different variations of chocolate covered macadamia nuts.

All of the different Donkey Balls have slightly dirty names. But when you break it down, they all make sense. Sunkissed Balls are Hawaiian macadamia nuts covered in semisweet chocolate and then a Layer of white Chocolate flavored with orange. Balls of Fire are Hawaiian macadamia nuts covered in rich chocolate and then a layer of cayenne pepper. Flaky Balls are chocolate-covered Hawaiian macadamia nuts rolled with flakes of coconut. Jitter Balls are Hawaiian macadamia nuts covered with chocolate and 100% Kona coffee. I think you get the drift.

In the storefront window there was a cat sleeping.

I soon found out that his name is Mr. Butters and that he has a coffee named for him!

I also spotted a guy making donkey balls on site.

They also sell a small selection of Hawaiian products. We just stuck to the balls, though.

Caroline and I ended up getting Salty Balls (chocolate-covered Hawaiian macadamia nuts rolled in sea salt) and Crusty Balls (Hawaiian macadamia nuts covered in rich chocolate and toffee bits added). I think. Don’t quote me on that. I tasted a lot of balls and in the end I can’t remember exactly what we bought. They were delicious, though, and made a good dessert after dinner that night.

[Read more →]

Tags:········

Greenwell Kona Coffee Farms

March 25th, 2011 · 4 Comments

After lunch Cory, Caroline and I made the spontaneous decision to tour a Kona coffee farm. You can’t be a coffee drinker in Kona and not do this, right?

Greenwell Kona Coffee Farm was located just down the road, so we decided to go there. When we arrived there was a little gift shop and a small parking area. We parked the car and walked up. The free tour was just about to begin. Great timing! We were invited to take a taste of the coffee ahead of time and to bring a sample on the tour with us.

There were about 10 people on the tour, so it was a nice, small group. Our guide, Gloria, covered what was involved in the coffee-making process, plus a bit about the history of Greenwell Farms. She walked us across a small street to an area where they had some coffee trees growing. On the way Gloria pointed out some other things they grow at the farm – macadamia nuts, oranges, huge avocados, bananas.

Gloria told us that most of the their coffee is grown up the mountain. Greenwell Farms buys coffee cherries from 300 farmers in the North and South Kona Regions. Down by the tour site was the original farm and we could see the original, vintage coffee trees. Greenwell farms has been operating on this land since the Greenwell family was there back in the 1800s.

In the early spring time the orchards are in full bloom with white flowers. A lot of people call this “Kona Snow” because the orchard in full bloom looks like a snowstorm hit! In the fall the flowers turn and the trees are then covered with “Coffee Cherries.”

These red cherries are hand-picked and harvested from August to February. Farmers from all over Kona come to Greenwell Farms with their day’s picking. Gloria told us that all Kona coffee must be picked by hand and that is why it’s sometimes so pricey. Other coffee farms plant their coffee tree rows wider and send machines down to pick all the berries – green, red, or otherwise. This leads to the coffee being less consistent in taste. Kona pickers pick all the red berries off the tree and leave the green ones or overripe brown ones. Then they’ll revisit the tree again later on and pick the ripe berries again. It’s a longer, more laborous process, but leads to a more consistent quality and taste in the coffee.

Greenwell Farms operates pulping and drying facilities, a mill, and a bean grading and sorting facility. Though they employ many modern industrial coffee practices, some things they have are still super old school. Like the Hoshidanas, which are platforms used to sun-dry the coffee.

Greenwell Farms also has a roasting facility that is used to roast coffee that is sold retail and wholesale. They also roast for a bunch of other coffee companies in Kona. They even sell green beans to the coffee industry and have established themselves as a premiere source of Kona Coffee. Gloria told us that Greenwell Farms produces 20% of all Kona coffee sold worldwide. As a sidenote, in order for a coffee to be packaged and labeled as a “Kona blend” it has to contain at least 10% Kona coffee.

After the tour we got to taste all of the coffee products at the Greenwell Farms Store. Other than coffee, we tried chocolate-covered macadamia nuts and chocolate-covered coffee beans. The nuts and beans are grown on-site and all of the chocolate products are made from Kona-grown cocoa beans at the Original Hawaiian Chocolate Factory. They also sold some Big Island Bees honey.

Gloria told us a story about how they noticed that the Kona coffee pickers had really young-looking hands. They did some studies and found out that the fruit of the cherry is a natural anti-aging substance. They used to use this as a mulch or fertilizer, but now they sell it to a Kauai company, Malie, who uses it in anti-aging creams. I was interested in trying this, but it was $50 for just one ounce!

The coffee fruit is also chock full of antioxidents and nutrients, and so Greenwell Farms also sells the coffee fruit to KonaRed who makes a “wellness beverage” from it. I thought it was interesting how this side-product industry has popped up. Where before they would take the pulp and work it back into the ground, they now sell it for a profit.

[Read more →]

Tags:···············