Hawaii Trip #2-2: Hiking Diamond Head and Halona Beach Cove

Breakfast

Tuesday began with a walk to a donut shop we spotted the night before, “Donut King”. Sage and Vivienne start almost every weekend with a pitch on why we need to go pick up donuts, usually at the BoSa Donuts nearby our house. So whenever we get a chance to try and compare new donut places, we’re all over it!

Donut King was a block north of our hotel and had a mix between your standard fare yeast and cake donuts with assorted other options. We all went for our usual “go-to” – Meghann a vanilla frosted cake donut with rainbow sprinkles, Sage with a glazed yeast donut, Vivienne with a yeast donut with strawberry frosting and rainbow sprinkles, and I got a yeast donut with chocolate frosting and rainbow sprinkles. The girls decided to also split a pineapple donut (was meh) and I also got an Oreo donut (also meh). Overall we agreed the donuts were better and fresher than the ones we get back home!

After breakfast, we stopped by an ABC store to pick up some waters and get the girls hats. They took in quite a bit of sun the day before, especially on their cheeks, so we picked up some Hawaii-themed baseball caps for extra shade. I also stopped and picked up a “Duke’s” hat from the hotel restaurant store. 

Diamond Head Hike

We picked up some towels, packed up and climbed into the Jeep to get on our way to Diamond Head. Diamond Head requires an advanced reservation for visitors, which you can book through the website. The reservation is a two hour block – we were 10am – 12pm.

The hike up was a little less than a mile and took ~45 minutes. The incline was reasonably steep at times, with stairs when getting close to the top. Nothing too crazy, but you wouldn’t want to hike it in flip flops. There were a few scenic outlooks to pause and take in the view (or some pictures) on the way up. Near the peak was a helipad with some awesome photo opportunities. On the way back we saw the “do not cross” sign on an opened gate that was probably supposed to be closed – oops. Wasn’t the last “do not cross” of the day either, for that matter!

The peak itself had beautiful views in all directions. You could see the inside of the crater. For some reason I was expecting volcanic rock but instead was lush green with a military installation – go figure. There were also some WWII bunkers you could see from the peak, including one you could enter. 

The trek down was much faster and easier, taking around 20 minutes to get back to the parking lot. There was a nice rest area at the bottom with some water vending machines. We took a quick rest before heading back.

Kona Brewing Co

Post-hike we grabbed some water and headed back to the Jeep to figure out lunch. We decided to eat at a Kona Brewing Co restaurant, about eight miles east. Notable – this is different than the Kona Grill we have in Arizona, although to make it more confusing Kona Grill serves Kona Brewing Co beer. A quick 20 minute drive later and we were seated at a table overlooking Kuapa Pond. Overall experience was great – awesome service, delicious food and drinks. We started with bruschetta, and then all shared a pizza and pepperoni rolls. Meghann and I each had one of their Duke’s Blonde Ale, which was amazing with the pizza. Unfortunately it seems this beer is only available in Hawaii. 

We wrapped up lunch around 1pm, with the afternoon open ahead of us. We pulled up some maps to figure out where to go next. Nearby on the map we spotted “Halona Beach Cove” and “Halona Blowhole”. Having no expectations and going by only the name on a map, we stumbled upon one of the most amazing places I’ve seen in Hawaii to date.

Halona Beach Cove

Upon approaching our destination, we spotted shores covered in lava rock and massive, crashing waves. We eventually came upon a parking lot with a scenic overlook. The scenery was amazing, with waves crashing more than twenty feet into the air! As we were watching the waves come in, we spotted a few people down on the rocks – interesting. Walking a little bit farther down the path we saw an entire beach down below with swimmers in the crashing waves! We walked down the sidewalk and came upon a “Danger Do Not Go Beyond This Point” sign. What to do?

Well obviously, we decided to scale the rocky path down to explore the beach cove and lava rocks. The path was a little bit tricky with some big steps and sandy rocks, but manageable. We first walked along the cliff edge, ran across a sandy spot between waves, and climbed up onto a big rocky area with huge waves crashing in the background. It was AMAZING!  We had huge waves crashing right behind us, shooting water up into the air. Crabs crawled around the rocks. Poses were held to time shots with the bigger wave crashes.

After climbing back down, running across the sandy spot while the water was down, and getting back to the main beach area, Meg decided to take the girls down into the water. Even being at the edge of the water, huge waves rolled in and splashed them. Some swimmers were scaling the nearby cliffs and jumping into the waves. One guy was surprisingly swimming about 100 feet out where the water was incredibly choppy. 

After spending some time on the beach, we decided to explore the lava tube cave behind us. This cave was a few hundred feet long and led underneath the highway above. It was pitch black inside. We made it about two thirds of the way through – the last third was only a couple feet high and would have required crawling. Not this time! We headed back to the beach and climbed back up to the parking lot, satisfied with the unplanned adventure! Some later research on the location showed that several movies were shot here. 

Dinner and ZzZzZ

We decided to cruise north along the coast for a while, and eventually head back to the hotel. We made it back around 4pm and decided to rest for a couple hours. We had some delicious pasta for dinner at Appetito Pizza and Wine Bar, a place we had enjoyed on our first visit. We grabbed some Cheesecake to take back to the room from the nearby Cheesecake Factory for dessert. Back at the room, we relaxed for a bit and quickly drifted off to sleep.

Tuesday was a busy and exciting day with some amazing and unexpected surprises! Tomorrow’s booked activity is a semi-private boat tour to go snorkeling at Turtle Canyon. To be continued!