Monday, April 12

Today’s adventure took us to the Puna District on the southeast side of the Big Island. This area is one of the most undeveloped and volatile areas in all of Hawaii because it is located on Kilauea Volcano’s East Rift Zone. It’s a risky place to call home; living in the shadow of an active volcano. That said, the land is very fertile here making this area one of the best places to grow crops and flowers.

Andi, Janie, Tory, Aden and I left our rented airbnb in Honomu around 10:00am Monday morning and drove south of Hilo, arriving first to the small town of Pahoa. We were actually near this town yesterday when we visited the Maku’u farmer’s market, but didn’t spend much time exploring the area.

Our first stop was for an early lunch at Kaleo’s Bar & Grill, one of the few restaurants along Pahoa’s Main Street. I wasn’t expecting much by way of food offerings given the size and location of the town, but we were pleasantly surprised! Kaleo’s turned out to be some of the best food we’ve eaten on our trip. Andi ordered a plate of homemade hummus & pita bread for the table, and then kalua pork & cabbage, coconut curry, and fish & chips for he, Janie, Aden and I to share as entrees. Tory’s our pickiest eater, so she got her own bowl of spaghetti.

Once our bellies were full, we were ready to explore. On a map, making a loop around the Puna District seemed like an easy choice — follow Highway 132 south from Pahoa to coastal Highway 137, then take the ocean road until it connects with Highway 130 leading back to Pahoa — but we soon discovered that wasn’t possible. Parts of Highway 132 south of a residential neighborhood called Leilana Estates no longer exist after the 2018 Kilauea volcanic eruption.

Driving along Highway 132 gave us an eerie ghost-town feeling, yet the landscape was strikingly beautiful with lush rainforest intermixed with fields of black lava. Compared to other parts of the Big Island, we hardly saw any tourists in this area. It’s not that tourists aren’t allowed here, but it’s probably a place you would skip visiting if you only had a few days to spend on the island. There is no major tourism infrastructure in the Puna District, just winding roads, lush rainforest, and a largely undeveloped coastline with a few residential neighborhoods sprinkled in between.

Our first stop was Lava Tree Monument State Park where we had the entire grounds to ourselves. Lava swept through the area in the 1790s, covering the trunks of native o’hia trees leaving behind tall lava molds in its place. Lava trees are created when hot lava coats moist, wet trees which cools and hardens the lava around their trunks. What’s left are rock statues of standing trees solidified in their place. Over the past 200 years, new plants and trees have grown in the park around the lava trees filling in the forest once again.

If there’s one thing our sweet Tory Girl does not enjoy, it’s being hot. Kudos to her for finding a solution! Tory brought along an umbrella from our rented airbnb today, not because there was a chance of rain, but to create her own shade as we explored the Puna District.

From Lava Tree Monument Park, we followed Highway 132 until we came to a road barricade ending the highway. At first Andi and I were confused as the road clearly continues according to the printed map I was viewing. Google Maps, however, kept re-routing us back through Pahoa. We quickly figured out that this road once led into Leilana Estates which was completely wiped out during the 2018 Kilauea volcanic eruption. The residential neighborhood is now a flat, black, hardened field of lava — no trace of a neighborhood ever existing there. It felt surreal to imagine the panic, grief and amount of loss residents must have felt during and after the devastation.

We back-tracked, now driving counter-clockwise from Pahoa south along Highway 130. Twenty minutes later, we arrived at the once-charming seaside town of Kalapana now covered by lava from Kilauea’s 1990 eruption. Kalapana used to be a loved spot by locals and tourists alike for its beautiful beaches, including Kaimu Beach, which was once Hawaii’s most famous black sand beach. That beach disappeared after the 1990 eruption and now a new black sand beach is appearing there.

Some of the previous homeowners in Kalapana have rebuilt houses on top of the lava fields in a move of resilient. It seemed totally odd to see houses sitting on top of lava as far as the eye could see.

One interesting fact we learned today is that the Big Island of Hawaii is actually growing in size with every Kilauea eruption. Where in the world can you stand on a piece of Earth that is younger than you are?! Here, you can. We were also interested to learn there’s a new Hawaiian island forming under the ocean named Lo’ihi. Scientists believe it’ll rise above the ocean surface in about 200,000 years.

From Kalapana, we drove east along Highway 137 toward Issac Hale Beach Park. This stretch of highway is nicknamed "The Red Road” or Kalapana – Kapoho Road and passes through gorgeous tree-lined canopys as you drive along the ocean. We saw a few people calm water tide pools along the beach and were definitely a few interesting characters wandering around as well.

The road ended abruptly at Issac Hale Beach Park where the recent 2018 lava flow cut off the boat landing’s ocean access and dropped a heaping pile of new black sand in its place. The new sand created a dam on top of the old boat landing and made a pool there where people were swimming. The water didn’t seem very clean to us though.

The five of us walked along the rocky black sand beach and took in the view. We could see dolphins swimming off in the distance.

I’m really glad we had the opportunity to spend a day in the Puna District. It was so surreal seeing towns completely wiped off the map by recent lava eruptions and how people still continued to live there despite its challenges.

Andi and I stopped at KTA grocery store on our way back through Hilo to grab a protein for dinner. We picked up a fresh Ono filet which Andi sautéed with soy sauce in a pan on the stovetop. I made a pineapple salsa to go on top — it was really tasty!