Hawaii: an escapade to the Aloha State

The American tropics have certainly fulfilled all our expectations and more. If we forget the chaos and urbaneness of Honolulu and Waikiki, we can truthfully say we found paradise, with so much to offer, from white sandy beaches to active volcanoes, from diving inside a crater to admiring some of the world’s highest waterfalls. For us, Hawaii is the ultimate travel destination.

Waikiki from Diamond Head

Although we had some of the best food in Waikiki, the crowds and the overdeveloped hotel and resort area disappointed us so much that we changed our flight itinerary and decided to spend one extra night (actually the last one) on Molokai, instead of the initial plan of spending it in Waikiki. Nevertheless, two places will be engraved in our memories forever: Leonard’s bakery, selling “malasadas” since the 50’s, and Ono Seafood, a poke shop which does take away but, if you’re lucky, you might find a place at the table outside, and enjoy your poke on the spot.

Leonard's bakery

Being Portuguese, eating malasadas more than 10 thousand miles away from home had a special feeling. This fried pastry was brought by the Portuguese laborers from Madeira and the Azores who came to work in the sugarcane plantations in Hawaii at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th.

The Big Island was for us the most diverse island, comprising not only 8 different climate zones but one of the world’s most frequently active volcano – Kilauea. Although there was no lava flow when we visited, we still managed to the see the night glow in the crater from afar.

Volcanoes National Park: Halemaumau crater

Hawaii’s Volcanoes National Park, on the southeastern tip of the Big Island, is an obligatory stop. It’s possible to go in with the car and do several trails, which vary in length and difficulty. The best would be to get advice first at the visitor centre, as well as a proper map before starting exploring. Accommodation in Volcano Village is limited (as well as dining options), so it’s better to plan your travels and do some research in advance. Something else to keep in mind when visiting the Park is bringing a raincoat and proper hiking shoes. It rains often and temperatures are not so tropical here as one would expect.

Volcanoes National Park: Kīlauea Iki crater

Hilo, the island's former capital has a decadent, western-like feeling. It didn't come as a surprise that this town is slowly loosing influence and inhabitants. Despite this, the coast is lovely and the swell highly recommended.

The capital, Kailua-Kona, is located on the west coast and is well known for the Ironman World Championship, which is held here every year and the Kona coffee. The scenery is moon-like all around because of the several eruptions and higher dryness on this side of the island. Kona downtown is lovely yet small, with plenty of small businesses, catering mainly for the tourists.

We did a couple of dives, north of the airport, where we've seen manta rays, and dolphins when leaving the harbour. Unfortunately, the corals are suffering and it is heartbreaking to see so many lacking colour.

Makalawena Beach

Maui is a popular tourist destination, but we were positively surprised with how nice and welcoming people are on the island. Instead of staying in a resort we preferred Lahaina and the historic Pioneer Inn, reminiscent of the old plantation days. The location just by the harbor is nothing but convenient. While on Maui, we took the opportunity to dive in the Molokini crater – although we were a large group of divers that day, we still enjoyed two peaceful and easy dives. Food tip: Cool Cat Café has the best veggie burgers in town!

Sunset from Lahaina

Our last island was Molokai, where everything is easy-going and enjoyed slowly. Tourist do pass by, but not in the same numbers as on other Hawaiian islands, which makes this island and its agricultural nature extremely attractive.

"Aloha. Slow down, this is Molokai"

Although a lot of deforestation happened for farming and cattle ranching, the north is still pristine and many spots are inaccessible and can only be admired by plane or boat, like the Oloʻupena Falls. We didn’t do the Kaulapapa Peninsula tour, which is probably on the top of the list of every single tourist who comes here, but we took some cool pictures during our flight with Mokulele Airlines.

Oloʻupena Falls

Coffee used to be big in Molokai but not anymore. Nevertheless it's still possible to visit Coffees of Hawaii in Kualapuu, where they also have a gift shop and a small cafe.

Although malasadas and “pão doce” (sweet bread) are pretty much everywhere in Hawaii, not everything about Portuguese people and the impressions they left is sweet. This is reflected on the many (maybe too many...) anecdotes about Portuguese immigrants to Hawaii. This is one of the funniest… enjoy:

Three construction workers, a Hawaiian, a Japanese and one Portuguese are sitting on a beam 100 feet above the ground at lunch time. The Hawaiian guy opens his lunchbox and says: "Laulau again? If I get laulau one more time I'm gonna jump off this beam!" The Japanese guy opens his lunch box and says: "Sushi again? If I get sushi one more time, I’m gonna jump off this beam!" The Portuguese guy opens his lunch box and says: "Portuguese sausage again? If I get Portuguese sausage one more time I’m gonna jump too!"

The next day the Hawaiian guy opens his lunch box, sees his food and jumps off the beam falling to his death. The Japanese guy opens his lunch box, sees the sushi and also jumps to his death. The Portuguese guy opens his lunch box and also jumps.

This tragedy was such a big deal that all 3 men's funerals were held at the same time. The Hawaiian guy’s wife cries and says: "if I had just known he hated laulau so much, I wouldn’t have given it to him..." The Japanese guy’s wife crying uncontrollably also says, "if I had known too, I wouldn’t have packed him sushi!" The Portuguese guy’s wife looks at both of them and says "don’t look at me! He packed his own lunch!"

French Polynesia, or as more commonly known: Bora Bora and the islands around it

It's almost shameful that having traveled to Paradise, I didn't write a blog post about it. Although I returned home more than two months ago, here it is.

(A good reason to bring this blog back to life anyway…)

Papeete, Tahiti's main city, is not the usual meeting point, but that’s where I met my travel buddy and our journey together started. Coming from opposite directions of the globe (Asia and Europe), and having required demanding organization skills, our 10-day trip in French Polynesia started here.

The atmosphere in general is laid back and locals have an easy-going approach that we definitely appreciated. We were never short on advice and a helpful hand.

Tiaré - the flower of Tahiti

We started in Bora Bora, the island that is not only the most touristic but also the one that many of us have probably heard of or seen depicted on a postcard. The lagoon is considered one of the most beautiful in the world and it’s indeed impressive. Wanting to avoid the hype of the resorts spread around it (you know, the typical over-water bungalow), we decided to stay on the main island, close to town.

Bora Bora Lagoon (from the airport)

One of the funny things about landing on Bora (and on other Polynesian islands) is that the runway is on a motu (islets, surrounding the main island and enclosing the lagoon), and after picking up our luggage we had to take a boat to town. The fare is included on the flight ticket, though not the case on other islands, like Maupiti, where you have to pay for the navette (shuttle) to and from the airport.

Air Tahiti airplane used on inter-island flights 

Our guesthouse (Sunset Hill Lodge) guaranteed our transfer and we were quickly settled in. We also had bicycle available and we took them to go to Matira beach, the only beach on Bora. It seems strange to write (and probably to read) “the only beach” but there are actually not many beaches on the French Polynesian islands, and normally they are located on the motus.

We had lunch by the beach and I had my first Hinano (the local beer), which would be a central element throughout the whole trip. It’s hot out there! Now, being a vegetarian immediately brings some obstacles when finding food abroad but in Polynesia it was taken to a whole new level.
Vegetarian options are simply not available and local options neither. Normally steak and fries are always on the menu. Most of the times you can also find raw fish in coconut or chow mein – yes, there’s a considerable Chinese community whose roots go back to the 19th century with the first migration wave to work on cotton fields, as well as coffee and sugar plantations.

The food experience was nothing short of a disaster. In less touristic islands, supermarkets close very early (around 5 pm) and small hotels normally require that you make dinner reservations 24 hours in advance, so we tried to stock up as much as possible, which was not always easy. Normally there is a snack or a roulotte (camper) in town serving a few dishes but if you want to avoid eating always the same thing… then serious planning is required. But if you do go out to the grocery store, ask for “pain coco” (coconut bread) – we tried it in different places with different levels of success, but it was always a solid staple.

Roulotte

Before leaving Bora Bora, we did a tour in the lagoon, which was so disappointing as soon as we learned that tour operators feed the rays and the sharks for them to get close to us. Furthermore they also give tourists bread to feed the fish when snorkeling. We refused doing it and always stayed away from the rest of the group. Polynesians, wake up! This is your most valuable resource so don’t mess up the ecosystems just because you want to make the extra buck.

Snorkeling on Bora Bora

From Bora Bora we moved to Tahaa island. We first flew to Raiatea and then took the ferry to Tahaa (check the schedule in advance and also take into consideration that there are two ferries going to Tahaa from Uturoa port). Helpful note: there is a big (well, “big” in Polynesian terms) Champion supermarket just across the street from where the ferry departs. Self-catering here is definitely recommended, because Tahaa is a small island.

This island is famous for its vanilla plantations and we visited one of the farms – we arranged through our hotel but would have rather enjoyed it cycling there on our own. Two farms are open to the public and normally closed on Sundays.  Apart from the Vanilla highlight, Tahaa is a quiet island with limited activities. We also scuba-dived but due to the rough sea conditions both the visibility and the amount of fish were not as amazing as they would be on a normal day.

Vanilla pods drying

It could have been a relaxed break if it wasn’t for all the mosquito bites I got on my legs. Our bungalow only had nets on the windows and one of them was torn and since there was no net over our bed, the mosquitoes feasted on my legs during the night. This was the only time I regretted being a heavy sleeper. Mosquitoes are a serious problem on these islands, so go prepared with powerful repellent and make sure you always have nets over the beds in the hotels you stay.

Leaving Tahaa

After leaving Tahaa we spent one day in Raiatea touring the island despite the heavy rainfall. The rainy season lasted longer than expected this year and we were greeted with cloudy skies and some rain almost everywhere we went. Raiatea is a must visit island due to its dramatic landscape and we were open-mouthed stunned with it.

Sugar loaf on Raiatea

We then moved to Maupiti, the “small Bora” as they call it. It’s famous for its manta rays. The dive centre was closed so we had to snorkel to see them. A good experience nonetheless and we thank our guest house (Pension Espace Beach) for having organized a free of charge tour of the island for us, including not only the mantas but also snorkeling on a coral garden. Being a small island, and with no ferry link as in the past, Maupiti has limited supply of food, and this is something to keep in mind.

Snorkeling on Maupiti

Manta ray

We spent the last night in Papeete sipping Mojitos and buying flower wreaths, only the leave them the next day at the airport because we thought the flight between Tahiti and New Caledonia was more “domestic” than it actually was!

In a nutshell, the most memorable moments of this trip (both positive and negative) involved self-catering with poor results, mosquito bites (a lot of tamanu oil), jaw-dropping lagoons with postcard worthy turquoise water, rich underwater life and Hinano!