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Greetings from Hilo, Hawaii. This was my first port of call after a week crossing the Pacific Ocean aboard Celebrity Solstice. I only have one day to enjoy this destination, so I combined a guided tour with some solo exploration. This video is your mini travel guide to Hilo, complete with visits to gardens, beaches, and waterfalls, plus an introduction to Hawaiian cuisine. After 7 days out at sea, we have made it from Vancouver to Hawaii. Our first port of call being Hilo on the big island. So pumped to be here. I'm ready to explore. So the first thing I had to do was figure out transportation. I saw the hoa on Hapa off bus tour sign right outside of the port of Hilo's main entrance and decided to go for it. This is a guided and narrated tour that
visits Lily Walani Gardens, King Kamehameha statue, big island candies, and Rainbow Falls. The tour runs about 2 and 1/2 hours. So, it was a great option for me considering I had only one day in Hilo. So, our first stop today is at Reeds Bay Beach Park and apparently this is a bonus stop on the tour. So, we normally don't get a chance to go here. Beautiful spot. We had a great lookout point of our cruise ship. There's also the incredible banyan tree. I'd never seen anything quite like that before. I mean, it's the most distinct tree I've seen in a very long time. And also just a beautiful place to enjoy some leisure and some activity. I saw people doing some stand up paddle boarding and just
enjoying the early morning sun. So, what a nice way to start off. So, our next stop of the day is at the Japanese gardens, and I believe it's known locally as Lilyu Okalani. I am so sorry if I butchered that. We're on a little bit of a time crunch. So, I've decided at first to go to this cool spot called Coconut Island. And right this very second, I'm walking across the bridge towards it. So, this is my first introduction to this place. I decided to go directly to the Coconut Island. Already, I'm loving the vibe here at Moola, also known as Coconut Island. I'm seeing people enjoying sunbathing, going out for a swim, joggers, and also some fishermen, too. So, this appears to be a great place to enjoy some rest and
relaxation here on Moola Island. this tiny little island known as the Coconut Island. And guys, I should mention I'm already sweating bullets here in the sunshine. The Canadian in me is getting absolutely roasted by the 28° C and also the heat and humidity of this place. But it is a beautiful change from where we were in southern Alberta. Apparently, Audrey is telling me that even in late September, they're about to experience some snow. So, I am not complaining. I will take the vitamin D and a little bit of sweat anytime over snow that early in the season back home in Canada. So, Lily Okalani Gardens is also known as a Japanese gardens. And friends, I can tell you that this space is beautifully
manicured. It's so lush. It's so green. It's also so humid. I'm sweating bullets. And I've only got about 10 more minutes to explore. So, I'm going to show you as many vantage points as I possibly can. I'm going to have to get my feet wet, but let's go check out. Look at this. Let's go check those beautiful red bridge. Woohoo. Here we are. What a view. Skipping and hopping. Rattling roll. Try not to fall in here. There we go. Well, friends, that was a beautiful park. I'm so glad I had a chance to visit both the Japanese gardens and the Coconut Island with a very limited amount of time. I
always enjoy visiting the so-called lungs of any city, and this is a beautiful spot. It's actually a really large park and I just barely scratched the surface, but hopefully gave you a taste of just how beautiful it is out here. Well, I've already worked up a bit of an appetite and that's good because our next stop here is at Big Island Candies. We've been given a sample of coffee and a couple little cookies to try. So, this is locally sourced coffee. I'm really excited to have this. I'm a big coffee drinker, guys. Like, I have two, three cups every morning. So, this extra little jolt of coffee will be very much appreciated. That's good stuff. I'm going to try it.
I think it's a chocolate shortbread. M scrumptious. And another one that this appears to be pure chocolate. Oh, it's even better. So, really tasty chocolates. Really? Oh my gosh, that's the best one. Really tasty samplers here. Now, I'm going to take a look around the shop and see if I'm going to buy anything as a present to take back home to family. Hawaiian macadamia nut star chocolate. Yeah, sign me up. Okay. Most unique souvenir by far. This is eeka dried chewy cuttlefish and it is dipped in milk chocolate. I want to get a little exotic over here. Try that. Well, friends, that was a neat little stop. Got to indulge in my sweet tooth, feel a bit more caffeinated, and yeah, I'm ready to continue the tour. So, let's keep going.
Next was Rainbow Falls, which flows over a natural lava cave. The falls are named so because on a sunny day, the mist that rises from the waterfall creates multiple rainbows. So, the one place that I absolutely had to come visit today was Rainbow Falls. And friends, it did not disappoint. Absolutely stunning scenery out here. So lush, so green, so many different and unique vantage points. So, as you can imagine on the tour, I am under a bit of a time crunch. So, I would love to do a bit more hiking here to show you a few more of the different vantage points. But I feel as though I got two or three really good vantage point views. So, I'm satisfied, happy, and it's time to get back on the
bus. All right, guys. As I head back to the bus, I'll just give one little safety tip. If you're a little bit compromised in terms of your mobility, be careful going up the steps as they're very uneven and jagged. Yeah, I just want everyone to be safe who's going to see this beautiful natural attraction. I'm under the banyan tree, guys. I just finished the hop on, hop off bus tour, and I have to let you know that was the best decision I made all day. I literally had no idea what I was going to do when I jumped off of the cruise ship today. My original plan was to cover Hilo entirely by foot, but after getting off the cruise and sort of realizing that things were pretty far away, I'm so glad that I
saved my legs and did the hop on, hop off bus tour. We came to $45 with tax included. So, I thought that was excellent value. And the other thing that's nice about it is I've been dropped right off here downtown. So, I'm going to have a lot of time to explore. It's only 11:23. I'm already starting to get hungry for lunch, so that's on my mind. But I have another six hours before all aboard. So that means I'm going to be able to explore the downtown. I'm going to be able to walk along the beaches, visit some more parks, and also I have the opportunity to jump back on the bus, go back to port, and take another bus which goes out to the beaches. So that is tentatively what my plans are, but I'm not sure how that's all going to play
out. It'll depend on how much time I spend downtown. So friends, our friendly bus driver gave us a recommendation, a local recommendation for lunch. He said, "Pineapples, just two blocks." And so I'm walking through the farmers market right now. I plan to come back here and get have a proper exploration, but uh food is on my mind at the moment. So I think I may go with this recommendation and check out pineapples. Okay, friends. I found the spot. I'm here at pineapples and I'm getting two local things. I'm getting the cocoa kina which is a coconut drink with coconut water lime, fresh coconut cream and lemonade. And I'm also going for the
poke tower. I'm so excited for both things. Going to be having a tuna edame and just a lot of other delicious things for lunch today. Oh my gosh, the local drink is so delicious. It's called the cocoa kit. basically comes with fresh coconut water, lime, lemonade, and coconut cream. So sweet, but also so tart, really creamy. One of the most refreshing drinks. Oh my gosh, my main dish is absolutely delicious, guys. This is my first introduction to Hawaiian food. And I feel like I knocked it out of the park with a grand slam here. What I ended up getting is the poke bowl and it has spicy ai tuna on a mountain of jasmine rice which is then covered in naggi drizzle and there's deep fried
wontons and various vegetables all surrounding the plate. Also tons of avocado on top too. So really delicious food. Apparently this is supposed to be an appetizer but the portion is really big. I also saw some people getting burgers here and the portions of those were behemoths. So, when you come to Pineapples, arrive hungry because you're going to be given a big plate of food whether you get an appetizer or a man. Friends, I still can't get over how amazing that meal was at Pineapples. And it was also excellent value. So, for my Pokey Tower, which was an appetizer, but it was definitely amaz. It was $18. And my drink was $9. And you might think ah that's a little
pricey for a drink, but that was a really delicious drink. So overall came to $27. I guess I could have got a dessert, but you know what? I figured I want to get out there and start pounding the pavement of the old town. So I figured better not to drift into a food coma. All right, friends. I'm back here at the farmers market. This is a bustling hive of activity. I believe it's mostly tourists. There may be some locals here, too, but there's all kinds of beautiful exotic fruits all over the place. If I had a little more room in my day pack, I think it would fill it full and uh enhance my breakfast on the cruise. But uh yeah, this is amazing. I love going to fresh markets. And it's a beautiful display of all the
different fresh produce that you can buy here from fruits to vegetables and everything else in between. And friends, the market continues across the street. Over here we have more souvenirs, more clothing, more trinkets that you can purchase. And again, one of the one of my favorite parts about the market is we have a roof over our head and this is offering a bit of shade cover because out on the open streets, I'm getting absolutely blasted. And friends, last but not least, there's a place here at the farmers market where you can grab food. Specialized in shaved ice, the pokey bowls, but I'm still too full from lunch to have any of that
right now. So guys, something I picked up that's going to be really useful for me today was this Hilo historic walking tour. I'm now going to use this to go on a self-guided walking tour. It's not that much of a walk, just I mean maybe a four or five block radius, but it's going to be really exciting to check out the downtown and see all the historic buildings. So guys, first up is the S Hata building. It's a really good example of Renaissance revival architecture and it was built in 1912 by a Japanese immigrant by the last name of Hata. So, what I've been able to notice since I crossed the street and had a little bit closer look at the Eshaza building is that they have a really big cafe called Cafe Pesto Hilo Bay and it
looks like one of those iconic grand cafe. Something like cafe Tortoni if you've been to that in Buenosaris. It looks so iconic. It looks so distinct. And if I have enough time after my walking tour, I may pop in for a coffee or something like that. So, yeah, I just got some information about the cafe. a really nice young man uh basically told me that uh if I wait an hour that the crowds will disperse a little bit because at the moment it's absolutely packed and I would probably have to wait for a table. The next historic building for me to show you is the AOF building which was built in 1925. From what I can see there's some really nice boutique shops but they're closed because it's a
Sunday so can't go in. I got so lucky. The one museum I really wanted to go to was the Pacific Tsunami Museum because it's such an important part of this city, of this town's history. There's been two very significant tsunamis that have occurred in the last 100 years. The first one being in 1946, that one came from the Illutian Islands and it impacted here severely. And then the second one being in 1960 that came from Chile and again caused so much devastation here. In the museum, you'll learn about distinct tsunamis that have happened all over the world. You'll also learn about safety protocol and also the science as well. You'll notice that along the ring of fire is where most of it happens. So, think Japan, think here,
think places like Vancouver Island, also think Alaska. Those are places that are impacted the most. It's near and dear to me because I grew up on Vancouver Island and every year in school we used to do earthquake and tsunami drills because there was so much potential for either of those two natural disasters to occur where I grew up. So today is Sunday and I arrived a bit late but the staff was kind enough to let me have a quick little tour. Normally it's $15 for an adult, but yeah, a really neat museum, lots of thoughtful presentations and I highly recommend it to learn more about tsunamis and also about the history of Hilo. So friends, I was so happy that I found time to go back to Cafe Pesto after
walking by earlier. That place has so much character and charm. Like I said earlier, reminded me of the classic cafe in Argentina, Cafe Tortoni. Those grand ceilings, those death fans, the giant space, and also all of the tables packed. If only those walls could talk, I'm sure they would have a lot of stories to tell. Anyways, in terms of what I got, I just grabbed the virgin pina colada, which was $8. Again, super thick, super creamy. I could really taste the pineapple and the coconut and that is officially disqualifying me from trying the shaved ice today. I'm sorry, but I'm just too full. So, friends, I'm back under the banyan tree. This is the place where I've come to grab some shade
and wait to get my transportation back to the cruise. I just wanted to talk about how having a few hours here in downtown Hilo was fantastic. I got to frequent two iconic places for food and beverages, go on a self-guided walking tour, and just explore everything at my own pace. So, I thought it was a really good compromise to do the tour and the sightseeing in the morning for a couple hours and then do the self-guided exploration by myself afterwards. I feel like I've maximized the day. Right now, it's 2:30. I've got three more hours until all aboard. What I'm going to do once I arrive back at port, I'm going to see if I have enough time to hop on the other bus. If I have time to go check
out the beaches, I will. If not, that's going to be okay because I already feel like I've had a full action-packed day. Oh, and friends, before I forget, I just wanted to mention one more thing about transportation. If you don't want to do the tour like I did this morning, there is something called the Hellele on bus. I just saw it pull into the bus terminal and then leave. That is a local form of transportation and it is absolutely free. So, if you're looking to do things on your own, that's something to consider as well. I ended up catching one of the Hapa on Hapa off shuttles to the beach. They run to Richardson Black Sand Beach and Carl Smith Ocean Park. So, if you're planning on a swim before boarding your
cruise, pack a swimsuit and enjoy. Friends, what a day in Hilo. This was my introduction to Hawaii and my goodness, this place did not disappoint. I had so much fun visiting. Obviously, part of the anticipation is being back on land again after being out at sea for seven days, but it was a really, really cool place to visit. To close off the day, I was fortunate enough to get back on the hop on hop off bus and go visit some beaches. So, I got to visit the Black Sand Beach and specifically Carl Smith Beach Park. And it was a really fascinating experience being there on a Sunday. I mean, it was absolutely packed with locals. You wouldn't believe how many cars were parked alongside these
narrow roads. But it was really cool to see people doing all kinds of different things, families out and about. I noticed families having picnics, other people were out fishing. But I just felt really grateful with only one day in Hilo that we had such nice weather. This place is known as one of the rainiest cities in the US. In fact, it gets between 130 in to 200 in a given year and apparently has roughly 211 rainy days out of the year. So to come here and to have such nice weather was such a blessing because apparently just a couple days ago it was pouring rain the entire time. And I can't imagine the experience of being here under such conditions. I thought that the city was
really neat. When I had a chance to get downtown, I found it very compact and easy to explore on foot. There were so many fascinating historical buildings, but the highlight was definitely the food. My gosh, that Poke Tower at Pineapples is probably the best meal I have had on this entire trip, and I've had some fantastic food here on the cruise. But that was just absolutely legendary. If you go there, that is the dish I recommend you order. So, to wrap things up, I would have loved to have another night or two here. I didn't get to Volcano's National Park. I didn't get to try the loco moco. Given the extra time to explore, I would have ventured out from the city. Hilo was an excellent
introduction for me personally in terms of visiting Hawaii. It reminded me quite a bit of going to Rapanui, the Easter Islands. It reminded me of Southeast Asia. Reminded me a little bit of the Caribbean, too. But of course, it has its own distinct charm. And there's just something about the laidback vibe here. This is considered to be the authentic Hawaii, not the tourist Hawaii. And I totally get why people feel like that here. There is just a very laid-back pace of life. So anyways guys, if you enjoyed this video, please give it a thumbs up, leave a comment below, and I will be back soon with more content from my Hawaii cruise. Tata for now. I booked this 11 night Vancouver to Hawaii cruise
aboard Celebrity Solstice via Cruises. It one big reason to book with them is that they have access to exclusive agency discounts directly from cruise lines that you wouldn't normally get. Plus, their cruise fair watch system tracks prices right up until your final payment. So, that means you are getting the best rate guaranteed. So, if you're thinking of cruising soon, be it to Hawaii or elsewhere, you can scan the QR code on the screen or check out the link in the description box.
