Living the Hawaiian Life
- shiningbrightphoto
- Apr 23, 2021
- 8 min read
I'm going to start this out by saying that if you EVER get the chance to go to Hawaii, may that be Oahu, Maui, or even the island of Hawaii (the big island). DO IT, DO IT, DO IT! You will not regret the decision to take the leap and fly 2,596 miles to the BEAUTIFUL state of Hawaii.
Photo of Palm Tree in Pahoa, Hawaii taken by Cheyenne & Trenten from Shining Bright Photography
Lets start with some background from the island. The Big Island is huge, in comparison to the others, but realistically it does make sense the Big Island is made up of 3 primary volcanoes, Hualalai, Mauna Loa and Kilauea. There seems to be two main sides of the island, both with vastly different topographies. There is the Kona side, which is more of a desert, has the majority of the resorts, the white sand beaches and absolutely crazy UV index most of the time. Then on the other side of the side is a tropical lush jungle, it rains a ton, there is not a lot of sandy beaches, most of the shoreline is cliffs with HUDE waves bashing against them and honestly it is so calming just sitting there watching these waves as they crash ten, maybe fifteen feet away from you. It puts you in this trance that just lulls you into the serenity and peacefulness, pulling you into this daze that goes with the ocean.
Photo taken by Cheyenne & Trenten from Shining Bright Photography
We just got back to the mainland from the big island and I honestly cannot wait to go back. If I could go back tomorrow I would in a heart beat. I absolutely LOVED it. From the amazing hospitality to the PERFECT fresh fruit, palm trees, and meat, to the beautiful light blue waters. We were in Hawaii for eight days from March 16th to March 23rd, and I wish that I was still there. I want to be laying on a rock by the ocean with the sun beating down on my skin. I would quit everything and sell everything I own to live there. My family went to Hawaii because we lost my grandmother in November to her cervical cancer and her last wish was to have her ashes spread in Hawaii and trust me, we were sad that she was gone but I do not think that she could have picked a better spot for herself to be laid to rest.
As she wished we started to plan to go to Hawaii, and trust me when I say that this process was STRESSFUL. From traveling in a pandemic, which already makes this process interesting, through making sure everything is squared away such as lodging, food, excursions, finding a biodegradable urn, deciding how we were going to send her off. All of it was exhausting for my mom. She planned EVERYTHING! She booked six of nine flights, booked the house, explained to the VRBO home owner as to why we were traveling in the pandemic to the island. She killed the planning process, and I believe that it all paid off for her. For all of us really.
We wanted to see everything we could and I am so grateful that I was able to have this opportunity. From black sand beaches to swimming with sea turtles. By far the sea turtles were my favorite and the best part about them is that as long as you follow state laws of not touching or riding them you are good to sit and stair swim around in the water with them just beware that in rocky beaches they kind of look like rocks, Trenten found that out the hard way. He was walking out to a deeper spot with my stepdad and they were looking at this "rock" as they thought when suddenly that rock started to swim towards them. Trenten was definitely the first sea turtles best friend for a little bit and then he was off to sun bathe.
Above is a picture taken by Cheyenne & Trenten from Shining Bright Photography of a Sea Turtle in Hilo, Hawaii
Here's more of an overview of how our eight days went:
Day 1 - Tuesday, March 16:
Boarded the Hawaiian Airlines plane at 9:30 am in Portland (PDX)
Flew five and a half hours to Kahului Airport as well as three hours back in time
Got on another plane and flew fifty minutes to Kona International Airport
Decided to stock up on food for the next week at Costco, where we also decided to have dinner
Drove the two hours over to Pahoa, where the house was located
Day 2 - Wednesday, March 17:
We really just needed a day to recoup from a full day of travel
We went to Isaac Hall park black sand beach in Pahoa, Hawaii
Dinner was next on our agenda because we decided to have spaghetti
Day 3 - Thursday, March 18:
It was rainy so we took the kiddos go to swim in the warm water
A few of us wanted to explore a little more, so off we went
We go to see a local man fish in a lagoon
Day 4 - Friday, March 19:
We went back to the same swimming hole because it was a nice sunny day and the kids LOVED it
Had lunch and did some shopping at the farmers market
Swam with sea turtles
Day 5 - Saturday, March 20:
We got up early, ate breakfast, and left to go to Kona for the day
We checked out a farmers market
Took the kiddos to the Kona Coast national historic park where we could swim
Saw a Hawaiian Monk seal
Time for the Luau at Fairmont Orchid Resort in Kohala Coast
Day 6 - Sunday, March 21:
The weather was rainy off an on again today
Saw the Black sand beach that sea turtles love
Went to the Volcano National park
Day 7 - Monday, March 22:
We celebrated my grandmother's birthday by floating her out to sea in a biodegradable urn
Went to Rainbow Falls in Hilo
Celebrated as a family
Day 8 - Tuesday, March 23:
Woke up at 4:30am to be able to leave at 5am to go to back to Kona, HI
Arrived at Kona International Airport at 7am got all checked in returned the rental car and now we waited for our 9am flight to Honolulu International Airport
We boarded the flight to Honolulu, where we were gonna have a two hour layover
After 50 minutes on the flight we landed and we NEEDED lunch
We departed to the mainland at 12:10pm and landed at 8:45pm
Isaac Hale black sand beach in Pahoa, HI. Photo taken by Cheyenne & Trenten from Shining Bright Photography
When I say that the weather in Hawaii is weird, IT IS WEIRD. Like I was born and raised in Central Oregon and well I still live there, so I am used to the dry, no humidity at all climate that gets very little rain. Then going to Hawaii where one side of the island is more of a desert and the other side more like a rain forest is interesting because the desert side is HUMID. That isn't even the part that I thou was weird. The part is that you get warm rain, the rain is never cold. Which is honestly a dream come true being able to not be cold while standing in the rain! Also what I found interesting was the fact that one side of each island gets a significantly more amount of rain. Which makes the topography very interesting everywhere you go! You can go from rainy gloomy weather to bright sunny and very hot in the matter of less than an hour. The weather on the island of Hawaii and realistically probably the whole state the weather is definitely not something you'll be complaining about when you are visiting!
From the delicious food to the very beautiful scenery it was a perfect way to spend an evening. On the Big Island most all the luau offered are on the Kona side of the island, since it gets very little rain. So whether it be inside or out, I know for a fact that it will be drop dead gorgeous! Every part of the luau was very worth it from having four kiddos with us to the food to the entertainment. They truly put their best foot forward and they make you feel like you have joined their family. There is so so much love within the luau, it does not matter where in the world you came from or if you'd lived on the island for your entire life.
A luau is something that I believe that you should do EVERY single time you go to Hawaii. We went to the Luau in Kohala Coast, which is roughly 20 minutes from Kona, at the Fairmont Orchid Resort. Our luau was inside instead of on the planation estates like normal but that did not take way from the beauty. We had a blast, myself, my sister. and our cousin Averi learned a hula dance (which was so much fun by the way). The doors opened at 5:30pm and they brought us through the line to be served dinner which was all traditional food, that was all to die for by the way! There was an open bar that all the 21+ crowd was certainly enjoying, but they did a remarkable job at making us all feel at home and explanation of the culture and why things are done a certain way in their dances so that they can relay the correct message through to people. I know that every time we go I will make sure that we will go to one because it is SO worth the money!
Photo taken by Cheyenne & Trenten from Shining Bright Photography
Now some things that may make you question is "Why was the flight so much longer on the way back", but in reality the flight was the same as when we left but instead of losing three hours we had to gain them. So on Hawaiian time it was only 5:45pm. I honestly loved flying away from the sun, yes I was disappointed as to be leaving Hawaii, but it was the coolest experience to be in the air while the sun set beyond the curve of the earth. Seeing that was honestly magical, just slowly watching the sky change all sorts of color while you a flying into the dark. On one side of the plane its a beautiful sunset and on the other it is a deep dark abyss, you can no longer see the blue ocean or what may lay beneath the plane. When the sun had finally set the night sky from the plane is absolutely AMAZING.
You hear all these bad things about the fact that everything is "SO EXPENSIVE" and honestly there is only a few things that are noticeably more expensive than on the mainland. Such as milk and gas. Like, milk was $4.99 plus tax per gallon at Costco in Kona, Hawaii and gas ranged between $3.60 - $3.90 per gallon. So yes it was roughly $0.50 more expensive than home, but I believe that is a small compromise you make when live on a island where gas has to be shipped to you over 2,500 miles from its last stop may have been, therefore at least in my eyes the gas price differential is completely worth it.
Photo taken by Cheyenne & Trenten from Shining Bright Photography
So how did this all work in a pandemic? Well I'll tell ya, you have two choices, get a Covid test from a State of Hawaii approved site or quarantine for your stay or ten days. My personal choice was the Covid test, which has to be done o earlier than 72 hours before your last leg of the flight you've chosen, so for me since I went from the mainland to the islands my negative Covid test results had to be in my trip profile through the State of Hawaii website. Trenten and myself went to Walgreens did our Covid tests and were on our merry way of waiting for the results. We created Hawaii profiles through their website and waited to upload our results. We pretty much knew that our test results were going to come back negative even with me working at the hospital.
Photo taken by Cheyenne & Trenten from Shining Bright Photography
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