We were up at 5:30 yesterday morning in the beautiful rain forest where our B&B was on the Big Island. It was almost too secluded! Very quaint little place, and we'd stay there again. By 8 were in Volcanoes National Park.
At first I was disappointed because the lava viewing area was a night time thing. Half of the road around the rim was also closed due to high sulfer dioxide levels. It was feeling like a fail trip. But as it turned out, we got to walk through an amazing lava tube and see landscapes that were completely alien. I got a little teary. I still can't process some of what we saw.
We drove all the way down from 3,700 feet to the ocean, passing through various lava flows of the last fifty years and various craters. Down at the ocean, we could see the steam miles away where the island was "growing," but again, the gasses and distance made it impossible for us to check out. Still, it was all pretty amazing.
I was hesitant to do any island hopping, and unfortunately, my fears came true. Hilo was an eating disaster, stuck at a Pizza Hut the night we arrived, then an Ihop for lunch. We returned to the airport barely in time, but then the layover on Oahu got extra long when they pulled us off the plane to change a tire.
Once on Kauai, our baggage didn't seem to be there. Diana was crazy upset and I was pissed. They were holding it at the ticket counter but didn't tell anyone. By the time we had our car, almost seven hours had passed since we arrived at ITO. Wasted half day.
Fortunately, the Hyatt excels at ass kissing, as they should for what it costs. Asian fusion for dinner, hot tubbing and a walk to the surf put us in the right place mentally. We're back on our honeymoon.
What B&B did you stay at? We stayed at "At The Crater's Edge" for two nights which was really secluded and completely awesome. The same stuff was closed for us as well and to make it all worse we had crazy amounts of clouds/ fog obstructing our views mid afternoon. Went on a killer hike through Kiluau Iki before it got too bad though.