Big Island National Park Sites

01Jul12

On the big island of Hawaii there are four National Park sites. I have already blogged about the magnificent Volcano National Park on the east side or Hilo side of the island.

The other three were close by where we stayed on the Kona side. Of those, my wife, Carole, and I were able to visit two, one that was fantastic – the other we should have stayed by the pool at the resort.

The disappointing one was Pu’ukohola Heiau National Historic Site on the northwest tip of the island. The site features the great temple of Kamehameha the Great next to the Pacific Ocean. Sharks supposedly return to the submerged ruins of a temple, but we didn’t see any sharks or temple ruins.

We did take the ½ mile loop trail but I didn’t find the above ground ruins much to look at. After a brief walk and a quick look at the visitor center museum, we headed back to Kona. All told, I think it took longer to drive back to our resort than we spent at Pu’ukohola Heiau.

On the day we left to fly back home, Kaloko-Honokohau National Historic Park was on the way to the airport. Since we had several hours to kill before our flight, Kaloko-Honokohau seemed a natural place to spend some time. Carole was admittedly gun shy after the previous day’s experience, but Kaloko-Honokohau was everything Pu’ukohola Heiau wasn’t.

A ½ mile trail leads from the main parking area to the beach. Along the way, we crossed soft sand, loose, jagged lava and dense vegetation. We walked along the beach for a while, coming to first to a fishpond and a fish trap.

But the highlight was a sea turtle that was lounging in the water close enough for us to get some good photos. It was also a great place to take shots of the ocean crashing onto the beach’s rocks.

We could have spent much more time there but we did have a plane to catch. Unfortunately we didn’t have enough time to go to Pu’uhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park. I’ll probably never know if it was worth visiting or if we should have stayed by the resort pool.

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