Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Get happily lost amid magical coral gardens and multicolored reefs while snorkel-
ing at
Two-Step
(
Click here
)
.
Witness
Halemaʻumaʻu Crater
(
Click here
)
, the smoldering home of Pele, god-
dess of fire, at Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park.
Get in touch with the local side of Hawai'i while perusing the many museums of
Hilo
(
Click here
) .
Find hidden
Makalawena Beach
(
Click here
), take pictures of its perfection, then
make your friends jealous.
Bodysurf till the waves pound you into submission, then bodysurf some more, at
White (Magic) Sands Beach
(
Click here
)
.
Dance a surreal underwater dance with manta rays on a nighttime snorkeling trip
off
Kailua-Kona
(
Click here
) .
Watch the raw power of creation as Hawai'i forms itself anew on a lava flow tour
(
Click here
)
in
Puna
.
History
The modern history of the Big Island is a tale of two cities - Kailua-Kona and Hilo -
which represent the island's split personality: West Hawaiʻi and East Hawaiʻi. Kame-
hameha the Great, born in West Hawaiʻi, lived out the end of his life in Kailua, and
throughout the 19th century, Hawaiian royalty enjoyed the town as a leisure retreat, using
Huliheʻe Palace as a crash pad.
Yet, during the same period, Hilo emerged as the more important commercial harbor.
The Hamakua Coast railroad connected Hilo to the island's sugar plantations, and its
thriving wharves became a hub for agricultural goods and immigrant workers. By the
20th century the city was the Big Island's economic and political center, and Hilo re-
mains the official seat of island government.
On April 1, 1946 the Hamakua Coast was hit by an enormous tsunami that crumpled
the railroad and devastated coastal communities (such as Laupahoehoe). Hilo got the
worst of it: its waterfront was completely destroyed, and 96 people were killed. The city
was rebuilt, but 14 years later, in 1960, it happened again: another deadly tsunami
splintered the waterfront. This time Hilo did not rebuild, but left a quiet expanse of parks
separating the downtown area from the bay.
After that the sugar industry steadily declined (sputtering out in the 1990s), and the
Big Island's newest income source - tourism - focused quite naturally on the sun-
drenched, sandy western shores where Hawaiian monarchs once gamboled. Since the
