Hawai'i Big Island - Ilha Grande do Havai

Das ilhas do Havai que eu ja visitei, sem duvida nenhuma a Ilha Grande eh a minha favorita. Digo isso porque tem mais coisas pra fazer la. Essa ilha eh maior do que todas as outras ilhas juntas e tem 11 dos 13 climas existentes na Terra. Tem o vulcao ativo Kilauea, tem neve no pico do outro vulcao Mauna Kea (e SIM, eles esquiam la!), tem praia de areia branquinha (que nem a maioria no Brasil), areia verde, areia vermelha, areia preta. Tem deserto de lava e tem florestas tropicais. O extremo sul dos EUA (nao, nao eh na Florida!). Enfim... a diversidade eh grande la. Chegando no aeroporto eu tirei essa foto. Eu nao sabia dos "desertos de lava" no Havai. Eu achei que estava chegando em Nevada.. heheh

From all the Hawaiian islands I have visited, I would say the Big Island is the best one. There are lots of things to do there. This island is bigger than all the other islands combined and it has 11 of the world's 13 climates. The active volcano Kilauea is located there. Mauna Kea , the tallest mountain in the world (if you consider the ocean floor) gets snow in the winter time - and YES, there is skiing on Mauna Kea. There are beaches with white sand, black, green and red sand. There are lava deserts and tropical forests. The southern most point of the U.S. is located here (nope! not the Florida Keys as most people think). Anyway.. there's great diversity there. As we were arriving in Kona, I took this picture. I did not know about the great lava deserts in Hawaii. I thought I was in Nevada! heheheBem que eu queria poder escrever absolutamente tudo que eu aprendi sobre o Havai nessa viagem, mas... eu ja nem lembro mais o nome de todos os lugares que eu visitei. Porem, eu comprei um livro MUITO bom sobre o Havai e eu indico a todos que estao planejando visitar o local. Eh absolutamente indispensavel. Eh o melhor livro guia que eu ja comprei e o autor eh engracado tambem. O nome dele eh Andrew Doughty e a editora eh Wizard.

I wish I could write everything I learned about Hawaii here but it's just too much. I don't even remember half of the names of the places I visited. However, there is a GREAT book that I highly recomment you get if you are planning a trip. It's absolutely worth it! It's the best guide book I have ever purchased and the author is very funny. His name is Andrew Doughty and the publisher is Wizard.
Esse templo era bem na frente do nosso hotel em Kona. Chama-se 'Ahu'ena Heiau e era o templo do rei Kamehameha O Grande do Havai. A praia na frente do templo chama-se Kamakahonu e no primeiro dia fomos mergulhar pra ver o que tinha ai. Pra nossa surpresa, tinham muuuuuitos peixes coloridos, muito coral e um cara no kioske disse que tinha tartaruga tambem (mas a gente nao viu nenhuma). Eh nessa praia que comeca o famoso triatlo-IRONMAN Kona (os atletas que se qualificam nadam 3.85 km no mar, andam 180 km de bicicleta e 42km correndo.. no MESMO DIA!!)

This temple was located right in front of our hotel in Kona and it is called 'Ahu'ena Heiau. It was King Kamehameha the Great's personal temple and it is pretty nice. The beach right in front of it is called Kamakahonu and on the day we got there we went to check it out. For my surprise there were looooooooooooots of colorful fish, coral and one of the locals told us there are lots of turtles too (even though we did not see any). It is also at this place that the famous triathlon IRONMAN Kona starts and finishes (the athletes that qualify have to swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles and run 26.2 miles... All in the SAME DAY!!! And then they get to brag about it!)

Lagartixa havaina. Hawaiian lizard

No primeiro dia a gente tava procurando um lugar pra comer e a gente pegou uma chuva.... Eu tava com saudades dessa chuva (nunca chove tao forte assim aqui na California) de Sao Paulo que alaga tudo.

On the first day we were looking for a place to eat and it rained very hard while we were out.. I really was missing the tropical storm. It never rains like that in California... I was glad.

Escada do restaurante - stairs to the restaurant

Indo pra Miloli'i. A faixa escura no solo - lava que destruiu tudo.

On the way to Miloli'i. Note the dark strip on the ground. It was lava that basically destroyed everything.

Miloli'i, a ultima "vila de pescadores" do Havai. Eu vi uma praia no livro e decidi que a gente tinha que ir la. Paramos o carro em Miloli'i e andamos mais uma meia hora entre o mato e a praia pra chegar na praia de Honomalino que eh quase deserta.. tinham mais 2 pessoas la.. heheh

Miloli'i is the "last Hawaiian fishing village". I read on my book about it and decided we had to check it out. We parked in Miloli'i and walked a little more than 30 minutes between the florest and the ocean to get to the nearly deserted Honomalino beach. There were 2 more people on it. hehe

On the way to Honomalino beach - A caminho da praia de Honomalino

No meio da mata tinha esse cactus que era muito estranho e tinham tantos que pareciam cobras no chao. Infelizmente as fotos nao fazem justica.

In the middle of the bushes there were those weird looking cacti. There were so many of the it looked like snakes. Unfortunately the picture does not portray it as good as in real life.

praia de Honomalino ao sul de Kona
Honomalino beach, south of Kona

Honomalino eh uma praia com areia "cinza"... eh uma praia vulcanica, e com a erosao das pedras de lava, forma-se uma areia preta. A erosao dos corais e conchas faz a praia ter areia branca tambem. Ou seja, daqui a uns 100 anos a areia vai ser mais clara ate ficar praticamente branca.

Honomalino is one of few black and white sand beaches. Black sand beaches erode with time and it will probably be a memory in a 100 years or so. However because the coral reef and shells are also being eroded, there is some white sand.

Da pra perceber que eu gostei dessa praia? Acho que eh porque eu nunca tinha visto uma praia com areia preta antes (a de Guarapari nao eh assim...). Talvez eu tenha gostado porque a praia era so nossa ate o outro casal chegar pra deixar a praia "lotada".. heheh

Can you tell I liked this beach? I think it's because I had never seen a true black sand beach before. Or maybe it was because it was "our" beach for the longest time until the other two people showed up to make the beach crowded.

Nosso amigo Tripe tirou essa foto.. heheh
Our friend Tripod took this picture.

Depois de Honomalino, nos continuamos em direcao ao sul e paramos no South point, o extremo sul dos EUA (O Havai eh um estado americano). A agua era muito clarinha e deu muita vontade de pular da pedra. Mas nao tinha como subir entao decidi que seria melhor nao pular.. hehe

After Honomalino, we kept driving south until we go to South point. As the name entitles, it is the southern-most point in the US. The water was so nice and clear I was extremely tempted to jump in. However I decided it was not the best idea since there was no way to get back on the cliff.

Kuba com o carro alugado..

A caminho do Parque Nacional dos Vulcoes - onde fica o vulcao ativo Kilauea. A gente ainda tava a uns 100 km do vulcao mas se voce olhar a foto da pra ver a fumaca que eh criada quando a lava quente se encontra com o oceano e esfria - jogando pedra pra tudo quando eh lado.

We were about 80 miles or so from the Volcanos National Park - where Kilauea is - but we could already see the smoke created by the encounter of hot lava and cool ocean. The lava cools down and shoots rocks pretty much everywhere.

Do outro lado da estrada, o outro vulcao Mauna Loa ao fundo.
On the other side of the road, Mauna Loa volcano in the background.

Antes de chegar ao vulcao nos paramos em outra praia de areia preta chamada Punalu'u. Enquanto o Kuba ia pegar agua eu fiquei olhando o mar sentada nas pedras e eu nao acreditava no que eu tava vendo. Umas 15 tartarugas nadando e colocando a cabecinha pra fora da agua de vez em quando. No meu livro o autor falou que tinham muitas tartarugas nessa praia, mas eu nao imaginava tantas assim. E eu nem fiquei olhando um tempao pra achar. Olhei pro mar e ja vi..

Before we got to the volcano, we stopped in another black sand beach called Punalu'u. While Jake went to get water in the car, I sat at the rocks and kept looking at the ocean. I just could not believe what I was seeing. About 15 turtles or so swimming and putting their heads out every once in a while. It was cool.. The author of the book alerted about turtles at this beach but I just could not imagine I would see that many. I did not even have to look for a long time. It was more like, I looked and I saw them.

As praias de areia preta tem a areia grossinha.. quase uma pedrinha.
The sand at the black sand beach was thick, almost like a little rock.

A pond on the other side of the beach - Um laguinho do outro lado da praia

Se essa tartaruga falasse... ia mandar todo mundo pra aquele lugar! Hehehe.. Eh crime tocar as tartarugas ou acabar com o descanso delas. Mesmo assim tinham varias pessoas tirando fotos de longe.

If this turtle could speak, it would tell people to F*** off! heheh.. It is federal offense to touch or disturb their peace. Still, there were a lot of people taking pictures close by.

No Parque Nacional dos Vulcoes. Infelizmente eu nao tive taaanto tempo assim pra aproveitar esse parque. Mesmo assim, o que eu vi foi impressionante...
At the Volcanos National Park. Unfortunately I did not have enough time to spend at the park. Still, what I saw was very impressive.

Uma das crateras - one of the craters

Cratera

O tunel de Lava - quando tem lava fluindo, o parte em contato com o ar esfria e solidifica enquanto a parte que nao esta em contato com o ar continua a fluir embaixo da terra. Quando a erupcao diminui e a quantidade de lava fluindo para, o tunel eh formado.

Read about how Lava tubes are formed.

Entrada do tunel de lava
Entrace of the lava tube.

Dentro do tunel - Inside the lava tube

A gente dirigiu pelo parque quase inteiro (ou pelo menos a parte que estava aberta ao publico) e eu achei muito interessante ver por onde a lava flui no passado. Eh como olhar o passado e o presente ao mesmo tempo. Eh muito interessante ver as plantas brotarem do nada no meio da lava seca e ver a floresta que nao foi afetada pela lava. Eu nao sei explicar direito... mas eh muito interessante.

We drove around the entire park (well, the part that was open to the public) and I thought it was very cool to see where lava had flown in the past. It was like looking at the future and the past at the same time. Out of the lava I could see some plants starting to grow. There was also a patch of forest that was completely spared by the lava flow. I cannot explain... I just thought it was interesting.

Steam and sulfur vents. Obviously this was a steam one.. Sulfur dioxide is toxic to us and we would not be standing so close to it.

Enxofre e vapor. Obviamente essa era de vapor porque o gas dioxido de enxofre eh toxico e nao estariamos tao perto.

Enxofre - Sulfur vents

Kilauea caldera - A cratera do vulcao ativo. Quando a gente pensa em vulcao, a gente pensa em lava jorrando pra tudo quanto eh lado. O vulcao Kilauea no Havai nao eh bem assim. Muitas pessoas chamam esse vulcao de "drive-thru" vulcao. Porque voce pode chegar mais ou menos perto da cratera e ver lava de longe sem se machucar. Em Abril desse ano, o vulcao voltou a explodir (como os outros vulcoes) e continua explodindo na cratera e tem um outro ponto no parque onde tem lava fluindo. A quantidade de dioxido de enxofre no ar nao eh saudavel para nos e por isso metade do parque estava fechada pra nossa seguranca. Ate o comeco do ano, tinha um deck pertinho da cratera pra voce poder olhar dentro, mas esse ano foi tudo destruido. Mesmo assim, ainda acho impressionante estar tao perto assim de um vulcao.

The crater of the active volcano. When we think of a volcano, most people think of explosions and lava going everywhere. It turns out Kilauea is not quite that volcano. Many people call it the "drive-thru volcano" because it is so friendly. You can get kind of close to the lava and still be safe. In April of this year the volcano crater had a few explosions that continued until now. In fact, the day we were there they had an explosion in the morning. The amount of sulfur dioxide gas released by the explosions into the air causes the air to be very unhealthy for us and because of that half of the park was closed. There used to be a deck in which you could stand in look into the crater. This year.. gone!

Lava seca

Esse aparelho mede a atividade sismica no Havai.
Measuring the Seismic activity in Hawaii

Lava a noite - Pena que nao tenho uma camera profissional pra tirar fotos da lava a noite. Seria uma foto linda.
Lava at night. Too bad I cannot mess with the exposure of my camera. It would have been a good picture!

Lava encontra o oceano. A Big Island "cresce" alguns metros todos os dias.
Lava meets ocean. Big Island gets bigger every day.

Kikaua beach - pathway in the middle of a lava field
A praia de Kikaua - pra chegar la temos que andar pelo campo de lava

Essa praia era simplesmente maravilhosa... a agua.. hmmmm. Ponto final!
This beach was just awesome! The water was sooo nice! Enough said!

Claro que o Cache tinha que ir tambem!
Of course Cache was with me.

Road to Kiholo Bay
A estradinha pra Baia de Kiholo

Do lugar onde a gente estacionou o carro, andamos mais ou menos uns 40 minutos na trilha pra chegar nesse lugar onde tinham varias tartarugas e um campo de lava imenso. Eu fiquei impressionada com a lava.

From where we parked the car, we walked about 40 minuts on a trail to get to this place where there were tons of turtles and a huge lava field. I was mesmerized by the lava shapes and forms.

Kiholo Bay

O mais interessante dessa praia eh que tem um riozinho que desagua nessa baia. A agua eh meio fria na superficie e depois de uns 30 cm a agua fica quente (porque a agua do oceano eh bem mais quentinha). Entao os pes ficam quentinhos e as maos meio frias. Ainda sim, num dia em que o mar nao esta agitado da pra ver aonde a agua do rio se mixtura com a agua do mar. Muito interessante.

The most interesting thins about this place is that there is a little stream that flows into the ocean. The water at the surface is a lot colder than at the bottom. So when you get in, your hands are somewhat cold while your feet are warm. It's cool to see the water separation about 1ft below the surface. The cold freshwater flows on top of the ocean water. Quite intriging.

Lava at Kiholo Bay

Turtles at Kiholo Bay - Tartarugas na baia de Kiholo

De um lado a agua clarinha.. do outro lado um deserto de lava.
On one side - clear water. You turn around - lava desert.

I just love this picture. No explanation... simply silly Nataly
Eu amo essa foto! Nao tem explicacao. Simplesmente uma Nataly muito boba! hahah

Tartarugas tirando uma soneca
Turtles taking a nap

Waialea Bay - "Beach 69" - because it was at mile 69. We went snorkeling there but there was nothing interesting. The beach was very nice but I think we were tired at this point.

Baia de Waialea - "Praia 69" - Ficava na milha 69 da estrada. Mergulhamos la mas nao tinha nada de muito interessante. A praia era bonita, mas acho que ja estavamos cansados a essa altura do campeonato.

Hapuna beach

Por-do-sol na praia de Hapuna. Hapuna tem a fama de ser uma das melhores praias da ilha. A areia eh fininha, a agua clarinha e tem facil acesso de carro (nao tem que andar na trilha). Eu nao achei la essas coisas nao. Tinha muita gente la e isso estragou um pouco.
Sunset at Hapuna beach. Hapuna is very famous and most people consider it the best or one of the best beaches in the island. The water is very clear, the sand is white and very fine, it is easily accessible by car (no trails!). I did not think it was that great. There were too many people there and I think that killed it for me.

Kuba's b-day was on October 14th. Even though we had a great day at the beach he was not too happy because he was getting older.

O aniversario do Kuba foi dia 14 de outubro. A gente aproveitou a praia nesse dia mas mesmo assim ele nao tava muito animado. Ele tava triste por estar ficando mais velho.

O lugar na frente do nosso hotel onde o triatlo IRONMAN comeca todos os anos.

The place where IRONMAN starts. It was right in front of our hotel in Kona.

O Kuba ficou meio decepcionado porque a gente nao tinha volei de praia no nosso hotel. "Que praia eh essa que nao tem uma rede pra jogar volei de praia?" heheh pelo visto na Europa todo resort tem volei de praia..

Jake was quite disappointed we did not have a voleyball court in our hotel. "What kind of vacation is that if you don't get to play beach volleyball?" I guess in Europe most beach hotels have volleyball courts...

Hotel in Kona

O ultimo dia em Kona. O Kuba fez questao que eu tirasse uma foto dessas placas. Uma diz "Limite de velocidade 45 milhas" (ou 72 km/hr). A placa logo depois dessa diz "Limite minimo de velocidade 30 milhas" (50km/hr). A noite era dificil saber qual era a placa que a gente tinha passado. Era o limite minimo ou o maximo? hehe

Last day in Kona. Kuba really wanted me to take a picture of those signs. "Speed limit 45" and "minimum speed 30". At night is was difficult to see which one was which. They were not always together...

Baia de Honaunau. Um dos melhores lugares pra mergulhar. Pena que nao estava sol, pois assim a visibilidade seria melhor. Mesmo assim, nos vimos muitos tipos de coral, muitos peixes...

Honaunau bay. One of the best places for snorkeling. Too bad it was not sunny (the visibility would have been better). Even then we saw tons of fish and different types of coral...

Pu'uhonua o Honaunau - Isso quer dizer "o refugio". Se uma pessoa cometece um crime como por exemplo, entrar num lugar sagrado ou comer algo proibido, essa pessoa seria julgada e condenada a pena de morte. Mas se voce conseguisse chegar ao "refugio" antes de ser condenado, o crime seria perdoado. Esse parque eh um parque nacional e eh um lugar muito sereno.

Pu'uhonua o Honaunau - means "place of refuge". In Hawaiian law, if you did something forbidden such as enter a site reserved for kings and chiefs or ate forbidden food, death was your penalty. Unless you reached one of the places of refuge such as this one, you would not be spared.

Honaunau

Os deuses... mas parece a carranca do meu pai!
The Gods.

A ilha de Molokini vista do aviao. Otimo lugar pra mergulhar. Os novatos mergulham dentro da cratera (dentro da meia lua) os mais avancados mergulham do lado de fora.

View of Molokini crater from the place. Great place for scuba diving. The newbies dive inside the crater, the more advanced crowd dive on the outside walls.