Given that we booked all our flight in Hawaii in First Class, we went really quickly through the check-in. As fast as the flight from Maui to Big Island (Hawaii). Picked up our SUV, we easily found our Airbnb accommodation.  This was only a few minutes away from the town called Kona. In Kona we had a nice dinner. They brought the starter together with the main course which was the reason we had the starter for free. The night has begun and it was a bit scary with our accommodation in the woods.

We had brunch in Kona and went to Black Beach where we saw a beautiful sea turtle and watched it. Next, we went to the Volcano National Park. Since the volcano erupted a year ago and all the lava had already cooled, we unfortunately could not see any liquid lava. We also felt the government shutdown. There were some parking lots that left a few volunteer rangers open.

They also gave us some tip where we can go through. Many roads were damaged by the eruption and could no longer be entered. Because of the shutdown, nobody could reprocess these paths. Nevertheless, the volcano and the area were very impressive. We also saw the power of such a volcano. Roads were partially broken and the strong wind blew into the crater. Arrived in Kona, we enjoyed the beautiful sunset. In the Kona brewery we had a beer and dinner. By the way, Kona is a very good beer from Hawaii and offers a lot of variety.

The next day started sporty. At the Lifeguards we booked surf lessons. After a short instruction, we were already on the boards and inside the water. We had a lot of high waves and so came our group of 4 with the 2 surf instructors pretty much at our expense. After a few falls each of us could stand a few times and enjoy surfing. After a short break, we drove on to the Polynesian Cultural Center, which is still used today for ceremonies. Unfortunately, the cultural center suffered under the shutdown, which is why the visitor center was closed. However, it was still allowed to enter the grounds and view the buildings and Tiki figures. At home we were greeted by our house Gecko Franky.

On our third day on the largest and youngest island in Hawaii, we wanted to climb the highest mountain in the world. At least if you measure its size under the seabed. The Mauna Kea is a volcano which from the bottom of the sea to the summit merasures 10,203 m. From the sea it is 4205 meters high. By car we climbed the first 2,500 meters and visited the visitor center. They explained to us that in today’s weather we had ideal conditions to go to the summit. We should, however, stay here for a while to acclimate on the high.

It was also conditional that we drive with a 4×4 because the majority of the way goes steeply and is a gravel road. We took a couple from Germany with us who didn’t had a strong enough car to go up to the mountain / volcano peak. Andreas drove us safely to the top. From there you had a breathtaking view of the surrounding islands of Hawaii and the island itself. Also, you could see the curvature of the earth well. With our SUV, which was not a 4×4, we arrived at the bottom. Next, we drove to a beautiful beach where we rested.

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