PART 2: The Big Island, Hawaii. A girls trip to Hawaii.

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A Local Village Farmers Market, Two Beaches in Kekaha Kai State Park, and Poke

I awoke at what seemed an ungodly time, our first morning on the Big Island of Hawaii. It was our girl’s trip to Hawaii. The 5-hour time difference had my internal time clock off kilter. Not long after, I heard my travel companions start to rustle—my sister, Barb, and cousins, Sue and Beth, also sisters.

As we ate our breakfast and drank coffee on our lanai, a Hawaiian word for a covered patio, Beth and Sue had the travel books in hand, planning our day. A farmers market for some local fruits and beaches were in-store today.


The Village Farmers Market

We set out to stroll The Village Farmers Market, a short drive from our condo on Ali’i Drive in the heart of Kailua-Kona. We gathered plenty of local fruit—papaya, pineapple, mango, apple banana (have you ever heard of such a fruit?)—I had not. But let me tell you, sliced and put in my morning oatmeal—it was fantastic. Sue purchased a new fruit and as we stood in the parking lot, tasting it, we tried to figure out what it was. We thought it may be lychee, but later we learned it was longan.

Our girls trip to Hawaii was off to a good start!

The Beaches

Kekaha Kai State Park, Manini Owali Section

Kekaha Kai State Park, Manini Owali Section.

Next, we headed to our first beach. It was at Kekaha Kai State Park, Manini Owali Section. As we made our way, we saw a road—if you can call it that— off to the left. A couple of cars were driving on what looked like a path on a bed of lava rock. The lava rock path headed toward the ocean. What was that road? Where did it lead? We soon found out.

We continued to Kekaha Kai State Park, Manini Owali Section.
The winding drive to the beach was stunning. The beach was a mix of smooth sand and lava rock. We made our way to the beach, balancing, carefully mindful of each step we took as we maneuvered the lava rock protruding out of the sand down to the beach. Then we found our spot. We made our way to the far side where it was less crowded than the area near the entrance.

Beth was the first to make her way to the water. We quickly learned how rough the water was as we watched a crashing wave attack her. Soon it would be my turn.

After some time of frolicking in the water, at times beaten by the water, glimpsing a sea turtle swim by, taking tons of photos both in and out of the water, playing with our water cameras, examining the crab on the lava rock, taking selfies and sunbathing, we decided to head to the next beach.

Kekaha Kai State Park, Mahai’Ula Section

Kekaha Kai State Park, Mahai’Ula Section

Beth input the name of the next beach in the map’s app, and guess where it led us? Straight to the entrance of the “lava path” we noticed earlier. This cannot be correct, can it? I pulled up to the Kekaha Kai State Park, Mahai’Ula Section sign. I was driving. As we sat contemplating if we wanted to attempt to take our little SUV on a lava rock trail, a small sedan whizzed past us. Well, heck! If he can do it, we can do it. I pulled in behind him. “What’s the worst that can happen?” I asked my family…”we get stuck and have to call a tow truck.” I’m not sure I’d have been that daring if they hadn’t been in the car with me. But OMG, it was a blast! Our girls trip to Hawaii was turning into an adventure!

Off we went. I followed a reasonable distance from that little sedan but followed his route as best I could. If he went to the left of the path when topping a hill, I went to the left. If he slowed down and inched forward, I slowed down and inched forward. Sometimes, there would be humps in the road that, upon reaching the top, I couldn’t see in front of me, the nose of my car pointing too far up for me to see what was below. But it always worked out; ultimately, we reached our destination!

The beach had parking, but it took us a moment to find a spot. Once we did, we made our way to a walking path. It was a small hike to the beach along another path carved from the bed of lava rock. I thought it wasn’t possible for a more beautiful beach than that last one, but this one was just as beautiful. Again, lava rock protrudes out at various points. This area has numerous beaches, depending on where you park or how far you want to hike. Once we found our stop, we again realized the water was hard to navigate, still very rough for swimming. There was also lava rock in the water; it was a good thing we had brought water shoes. Sometimes airplanes would fly over, reminding us how close we were to the airport.

Poke

We finally decided we were hungry, it was getting late, and we needed dinner. So we headed to Kona and found Umekes Fish Market Bar & Grill. We ordered our cocktails and, of course, tried some Poke. Poke is a Hawaiian dish made of cubed raw fish. It was delicious.

The Big Island was not disappointing. It became an enjoyable, adventurous, beautiful destination for us sisters and cousins to continue our vacation together. This girls trip to Hawaii was fabulous.

Follow along and hear more fun tales about our Big Island of Hawaii adventures.

To read Part 1 of our girls trip to Hawaii, check it out here, The Big Island; Two Sets Of Sisters—Cousins, Explore The Big Island, Hawaii. For more discoveries, read here about the The Redwood Forest At Muir Woods National Park.

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