Notable Times: Hawaii 4: Waterfalls on the Big Island

On Sunday morning, January 26, 2025, our group awoke in our interesting AirBnB to find a nice little sunrise from our deck.

Then Linette and I decided to take the little hike to the tiny waterfall on the property, and Sandra and Dave joined us. On the way to the path, we saw this huge tree that had been cut up after it apparently fell across the driveway.

The path was pretty muddy and overgrown, so it was more of a slog than a hike (and I can see why people use machetes in situations like this).

But we soon reached the baby waterfall.

Then we pushed our way back out.

We had a "gold dust day gecko" hanging out in the sunshine on the deck.

We got ready for church, and then enjoyed the view for a few minutes.

We attended a ward nearby, and I don't think they get many tourists there.

One young man who helped bless the sacrament was apparently leaving that week to go live with his mom on the mainland. So after the closing prayer of sacrament meeting, they had him come up front, everyone turned to the inside cover of their hymn book, and we all sang "Aloha 'Oe" to him, to show our love and wish him well. Afterwards, the young men all patted him on the back and shook his hand. I thought that was so sweet!

This Hawaiian lady talked to us before and after the meeting, and then we got a picture with her. She texted Lori several times, and I guess they are besties now.

On this part of the island, things appear to grow really well, so there are farms all over. One of the couples we met at church said that they had moved there from Sandy (Utah) in order to farm and live the island life.

Our house had an alligator bench.

After church, we had crepes, bacon and eggs for brunch.

It turned into a beautiful day.

Our main activity that afternoon was to visit several waterfalls. The first one was Akaka Falls, which was just 3 minutes from where we were staying.

There were a lot of stairs and a paved path through the foliage.

The path went by one waterfall in the distance that wasn't that impressive, but Akaka Falls itself is 442 feet tall, and it was pretty cool.

It was pretty hard to find a way to see the top and the bottom of the falls at the same time, due to some brush in the foreground.

But I was finally able to capture one.

Here's a picture of each couple with the waterfall.

These leaves are so big!

Sandra captured this interesting mural as we drove along.

Our next stop was 30 minutes away at Rainbow Falls. (It is called that, because if you come in the morning and look down from above, then you can usually see a rainbow).

A man came over and started telling us dad jokes in rapid succession. I had heard some of them before, but some were pretty good. (Unfortunately, I can't remember any of them right now).

The next stop was called "Boiling Pots", because there are a series of pools, and when it is raining hard, the pools churn and bubble, looking like they are boiling.

From there, we could see "Pe'epe'e Falls" in the distance. (That's pronounced like Peh-eh peh-eh, not the way you might otherwise think).

Our final pair of waterfalls was Wai'ale Falls (in the distance, with a manmade dam in the foreground).

I made my way over to those falls, and found that people were swimming there, so I decided to jump in.

But first, I couldn't help but notice a group of 5 people clapping and singing away over on the side. It was a very odd sight.

Here's a 25-second video of that curious group:

It turned out that the group were the last 5 that hadn't flown home yet from a group of musicians that came to the big island for a musical retreat. I talked with one of the guys later on and even connected with him via YouTube after our trip.

I tried to swim all the way to the waterfall, but the current was so strong that it pushed me away.

While I was there, three people jumped off the cliff, essentially jumping over the waterfall. I caught one guy on slow motion video (and then shared it with him via AirDrop). It's funny seeing him swish his hair when he comes back up:

Linette came and joined me, and here she is catching all the water as it falls.

On the way back to the house, we saw a wild hog.

Then Linette was looking out the window and saw a whale jump out of the water. I turned the car around and we found a good place to watch for a while.

We saw several spouts shoot off, and a whale breached one more time. It was really far away, so we couldn't get a good picture, but I happened to be looking through the binoculars when that happened, so that was fun.

We texted the kids to say that we had seen a whale, and apparently they were in the final minutes of the Bills vs. Chiefs championship game, and it was really intense, so Erika responded with "NOT NOW MOM". Once the game was over, though, they said, "Okay mom now tell us about the whales. We need it." (For the Bills did not win).

On the way back to the house, we saw trees like this one that were full of flowers.