The Big Island Explodes for the Alpaca!

As soon as the Traveling Alpaca learned that lava was flowing from Volcanoes National Park to the ocean, he was on the next plane. Alpaca was thrilled to take a full-day tour around the island, starting on the west side of the island, at Kailua-Kona, where we made our first stop at a coffee farm and tasting shop (http://www.konaearth.com/). We literally picked coffee beans off the tree to try them (very interesting!), and sampled several regional coffees, one more delicious than the last. Our next visit was to Place of Refuge (where a native Hawaiian village is restored and preserved, http://www.nps.gov/puho/) and to the southernmost tip of the island. Our tour guide, Cousin Dino, told us that a small protrusion extending into the ocean was the southernmost tip of the United States. We took the obligatory pictures.

We then stopped at the Big Island's only black sand beach (http://www.volcanogallery.com/Places-Punaluu.htm), where the Alpaca was thrilled to see turtles floating just off the shore and an array of small and medium crabs. Alpaca, ever the ham, posed for a picture while balancing on a black rock on the beach.

We next drove to Volcanoes National Park (http://www.nps.gov/havo/), where we saw craters and the remnants of several volcanoes and had a lovely traditional Hawaiian buffet lunch overlooking a crater at Volcano House (http://www.volcanohousehotel.com/). The devastation from the volcano was frightful.

After lunch, when we went deeper into Volcanoes National Park, we also walked inside Thurston Lava Tube (http://www.hawaiiweb.com/hawaii/html/sites/thurston_lava_tube.html), where we walked through a hollowed-out cave-like area where lava had flowed freely. We then went to Hawaii's largest orchid garden, where we saw the world’s most expensive orchid and took pictures of plenty of other pretty flowers.

Finally, we visited Rainbow Falls (http://www.hawaiiweb.com/hawaii/html/sites/rainbow_falls.html), where we climbed to the top of the stairs next to the Falls. The Falls are rumored to be magical (if you look at the Falls, then look through the Falls, they look as though they are rising). The tour itself was pricey, but it was also very comprehensive and a must-do for visitors to the Big Island. On your own, it would simply be impossible to make it to all of these great sites, to see the sights, to learn the history and to exert so little effort into doing the research for all of it to happen. The Traveling Alpaca highly recommends both the trip to Volcanoes National Park and the all-day tour of the Big Island.