Wednesday, June 26, 2024
The next morning we checked out of our Volcano Airbnb and headed towards Hilo. Our next accommodations were on the northwest side of the island, but we were taking a little roadtrip to get there.
Our first stop was Kaumana Caves, which are a set of lava tubes. We parked in the lot across from the caves and then headed over. There are two caves here, and we went to the one on the right first. We climbed down inside but didn’t go too far in. Then we headed over to the cave on the left. In this one, we headed towards the back and there’s a small passageway to duck under before it opens up to a larger area. We went in here and walked for 10-15 minutes through the cave. We heard that it eventually exits out into the trees, but we didn’t make it that far before turning around and heading back.
LS loved exploring the caves! A couple things to note: footing can be tricky here, so wear good shoes. My mom chose not to venture into the caves because it does require some climbing down rocks and to explore the caves beyond the openings, some crawling. You will also need a headlamp (or flashlight) here!
Next we drove over to Pe’epe’e Falls and checked out the waterfall. This is a super quick stop, as the parking is right next to the viewpoint, and the waterfall is actually off in the distance.
We were getting hungry at this point, so we drove into Hilo and ate at Hilo Bay Cafe. I read that it is usually rainy in Hilo, but this day was beautiful and sunny. We ate on the lanai overlooking the bay.
After lunch, we headed over to Rainbow Falls, which was more impressive than the last. We spent a little extra time here, as you can climb up next to the top of the falls and there is a section of woods with banyan trees that LS loved exploring.
Our original plan after this was to drive up to Akaka Falls, but it was unfortunately closed for some repair work on the day of our roadtrip. I had found another waterfall mentioned in a guidebook in our Airbnb, so we headed to the Umauma Experience to see Umauma Falls instead.
The Umauma Experience has ziplining and ATV tours and things like that, but you can opt to do a self guided tour of just the falls, which costs $5 per adult. We paid the entry fee and then drove up to where the falls are. This was a very pretty waterfall! Next to the falls was a little garden area, which we walked around for a bit, then headed out to continue on our drive.
Our final stop before heading to our resort was the Waipio Valley Lookout. This is a little ways off the road, but a pretty cool view into the valley. Only locals are allowed down into the valley itself, however.
We finally arrived at the Westin Hapuna Beach Resort and checked in. We were greeted with some delicious fresh juice and leis. We headed down to watch the sunset, and then ate dinner at Naupaka, the restaurant next to the family pool, before retiring to our rooms for the night.
