Our first stop in the land of beaches is Wawaloli Beach. Located just south of the airport, we came here about an hour before sunset. Wawaloli is a sandy beach protected by a lava barrier and allowing for several tidal pools.
Our next beach day was Mauna Lani Beach Club, located just north of Waikoloa Beach, just off Hawaii 19. That’s what they call the road. They don’t say “highway 19” which is what I’m used to. Every time I hear Hawaii 19, my mind launches into the Hawaii 5-0 song. Seriously, every time. I didn’t get many pictures of this pretty beach unfortunately. It was nice, but pretty well populated. The main takeaway from this beach was the crazy long walk from the parking lot to the beach. Turns out it was called the Kalahuipua’a Trail, which is a loop of 1.7 miles. In the scheme of things, that’s not a long walk, but when you’re not used to wearing flip flops, it wasn’t all that fun. Still, at the end, we came upon a beautiful beach.
Our next beach is Kikaua Point Beach Park. Very beautiful beach that merits more time to enjoy. First of all, the beach is located in a resort but is open to the public. Actually, all the beaches in Hawaii are open to the public, even the resort beaches. For this one, you must check in at the security gate where you’re given a visitor pass and directions for parking if there is space. There are only about 20 parking spaces in the public parking area, which means there aren’t many people at this beach – nice!
Just look at the beautiful colors of the water! And surprisingly calm for the Pacific. I was expecting more turbulent waters. By the way, the rocks David is walking on looks level and smooth. The problem is getting to them. I was too afraid of losing my balance and falling on one of those jagged lava rocks, so I stayed put. Didn’t want to ruin my $quarter-mil robo knees. Have to protect the assets!
Ending our day was another throw down meal – tzatziki chicken burger with cheddar broccoli. Again I flattened some chicken strips and seasoned with greek seasoning, dill, salt/pepper. Pan-seared with a little olive oil. Placed on lightly toasted bun starting with a heaping layer of homemade tzatziki, chicken, sliced tomato & lettuce. The broccoli was cooked in the microwave with a little butter, garlic powder, salt/pepper. I added just a little shredded sharp cheddar afterwards and let it melt. 15 minute total throwdown.
The weekend took us on a day trip to Hilo. Just north of Hilo we found a nice beach called Laupahoehoe Beach Park. Laupahoehoe means “leaf of lava, and refers to the angular lava tip or peninsula that was formed by an ancient lava flow. Lots of waves at this beach and we captured some nice shots of the water.
This was supposed to be a dietary lunch, but I couldn’t resist adding the bread/butter. Anyway, I put together a halfway decent spinach salad which included fresh spinach, onions, red pepper, tomatoes and roasted pecans. Plain olive oil/balsamic vinegar dressing and salt/pepper/garlic powder to taste.
Youvarlakia Avgolemono (Greek Meatball Soup). Picked up a bag of lemons at Costco so I decided to make this. In a bowl, combine hamburger, mint, dill, parsley, bread crumbs, milk, 1 egg, salt/pepper. Kind of like a meatloaf, only different. Make meatballs, roll lightly in flour and place in a pot of boiling water. Add chopped tomatoes (or can of diced) minestra (orzo), lemon, and some greek seasoning to the pot. Once the orzo was cooked, I made an avgolemono sauce (eggs/lemon), tempered with the broth and added to the pot. Lots of variations you can do with this based on what you have in the pantry. Served with crusty bread and salad. Turned out pretty good.
I love a good donut with a cup of coffee in the morning. Donuts aren’t good for either David or myself, but the best relaxing lazy morning meal is a Shipley donut apple fritter with a cup of joe. Well, there’s no Shipley donuts here and my desire for an apple fritter was strong. So I made my own….
Ten minutes’ walk from our home base on the wet side is Kehena Black Sand Beach. To put your toes into the sand there, you must face the trial of passage down a small cliff face. While still possible for old nerds, it is daunting for those with bionic knees. This is a clothing optional beach – and anyone from children to adults may be unclothed at any given time. This presented a problem as I (dsm) was taking video of the surf when a 6-ish year old boy walked into my captured video. Holy Guacamole!!! What happens if Google gets a hold of that (automatic upload). The good news is that we have no cell phone coverage here, and were able to expunge all traces of nudity from our data spaces. Photos below shows the beach from below and above at street level.
Slightly further up the road to the northeast is the Pohoiki Black Sand Beach and hot spring within the Isaac Hale (pronounced HAH-Leh) Park. The beach is both beautiful and intimidating – it is a steep beach! (Part of the beach is a sacred region to Hawaiians, and is off-limits to whatever it is we are.) It was one of the few places on the southeastern shore that had a boat launch. Of interest here is that the 2018 lava flow which cuts off both ends of this shore road created a circumstance which captures a pair of brackish pools behind the beach where the boat launch was located but is now unusable. These pools are tidally refreshed (by salt water) but also receive heated fresh water due to the close-by monster (still warm apparently) lava fields. We have visited twice – once to walk along the black lava beach and one morning to swim in the hot pool. We enjoyed swimming in the warm water when the park first opened and the air was still cool. The acoustical environment is dominated by the roar of the nearby surf, but we had interesting conversation with local regulars about rain water, living in Hawaii, finding a way to retire, travel, and of course, hot springs. We observed that the Western pool is more clothing-optional than the Eastern pool, but do not proclaim to know what the rules may be, if indeed there have ever been rules in this part of Hawaii.
The walk to the beach involved hiking over old lava flows from 2018. The beach is beautiful but not really swimmable. Still, pretty nice to stick your feet in.
