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I spent a little over a week on Hawaii, March15 until
March 24, which is more commonly referred to as the Big
Island. Although it is geographically the biggest
island of the group, so big that you could fit all the
other islands inside of it, it hold's only a small
percentage of the state's total population. The 9
days I spent here was just about the right amount of
time to get a real good feel for the island. A
rental car is a necessity if you plan on seeing the
whole island. You could hitch hike, but is not as
common as Kauai or Maui because it is so vast. The
most fascinating part about the island is that 12 out of
the 13 climates exist on this island. You can
drive through a rainforest, a desert, and a snowstorm in
one day. I did a counter clockwise tour around the
island. My plane landed in Hilo, and I drove up to
Honakaa for a couple days. Next, I drove
over to Kona for a few days. Finally, I
drove back to Hilo, where I spent the remainder of my
time.
Honakaa had a real authentic Hawaiian feel to it.
If you are looking to visit a place that is untouched by
commercial hands and get a good feel for what real
Hawaii is, Honakaa is a good place to stop. You
are hard pressed to see many tourists here.
Kona is the biggest city on the island, and it is where
everyone living on the island is coming to find work.
This place is starting to turn into the boom town of the
island with mass residential housing going up.
Here you could find most of the comforts of modern
living, Super Wal-Mart, Denny's, Gold's Gym, and many
other common household named establishment's. It
is the busiest place on the island, and the most
touristy. All beaches in the State of Hawaii are
public. Although some people may own beach front
property, no one owns the beach. I wasn't overly
impressed with the beaches in Kona.
Hilo is the second largest town in Hawaii. The
economy in Hilo is struggling right now, and people are
leaving the area for Kona where there is work. I
did not spend much time at the beaches here, most of my
time was spent at the Volcano, which I highly recommend
anyone do if they are in Hilo. With two of the
five volcanoes that created the island still active, it
continues to grow: Kilauea Caldera is the longest
continuously erupting volcano in the world; its present
eruptive phase dating back to 1983. Fifteen miles
off the island's southeast coast yet another volcano,
Lo'ihi, is erupting 3,000 feet below the surface of the
ocean. While it will still be several thousand years
before this volcano breaks the sea's surface, it has
already risen more than 10,000 feet from the sea floor
and has a crater that measures three miles across.
Hawaii Hostels Map
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