This was supposed to be the year I finally finished Hawaii, with my fourth trip to the islands. There are only five counties in the state and I needed three more: Maui County, Hawaii County, and Kalawao County. I should be able to capture that small remaining set for my County Counting list. This should be easy, right?
What Happened In Kalawao?
Well, no, let’s get right to the point. I never set foot in Kalawao County. It’s a famously tough catch with highly restricted access. County Counters and National Park Counters both need to visit this smallest county in the United States or its coterminous Kalaupapa National Historic Site, and few people make it there.
This was the former leper colony where Father Damien became a saint. It didn’t close until 1969, long after the discovery of antibiotics. However, former patients can remain as long as they like, even decades later, and the government restricts public access for their privacy.
It is still possible to visit. Or it was. Only current residents can sponsor tours and only a tiny handful of people can visit at a time. Tours stopped during the pandemic but returned in time for summer 2025. Subsequently, the next round of visits started in summer 2026, a single small planeload of eight passengers per day, and I booked a flight with the only authorized tour company.
Unfortunately, the sponsor, Meli Watanuki, passed away at the advanced age of 91 or 92 (news reports varied) and suddenly nobody could visit. This happened about 3 weeks before my trip.
Now I have to resort to Plan B: wait for the passage of time because I doubt I’ll go back to Hawaii solely to capture the final county. Legally, “one year after the last patient dies, Kalaupapa, which currently constitutes its own county, will become part of Maui County.” And apparently there are only 2 former patients remaining. Therefore, it’s entirely realistic that I will automatically capture all Hawaiian counties when the town of Kalaupapa and county of Kalawao transition to Maui County someday. Even so, I hope the two final residents live a long, long, time.
Other Things to Count
This is possibly the most Hawaiian picture I took during the trip. It doesn’t relate to anything else in the article but it sure looks nice. Enjoy!
Anyway, I knew about our little county setback ahead of time and I planned around it. I failed to capture Kalawao but I still needed Maui and Hawaii Counties. It required island hopping over a two-week period:
- Mainland USA to Kahului Airport (OGG) on Maui
- OGG to Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport (KOA) on the island of Hawaii
- Hilo International Airport (ITO) on the Island of Hawaii to Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL) on Oahu
- HNL to Mainland USA
Notice that we used two different airports on the Big Island, one for arrival and another for departure. It worked with our schedule, let us cover more territory, and the rental car company didn’t charge us a drop-off fee. So I call that a win. Plus, it pushed my lifetime number of airports above 100, because of course, I count those too.
I also increased totals for Breweries, Lighthouses, and Waterfalls. I’ll get to all of that later.
Weather
The old joke goes that being a weather forecaster in Hawaii is the easiest job in the world. It’s always 82° Fahrenheit and sunny.
Well, it’s not true.
I mean, yes, there is a lot of that but there is a surprising amount of variation in multiple micro-climates. Lots of rainbows too.
First, about the temperature. Minor seasonality exists and it cools down a little in the winter; not a lot but measurably. However, the real differentiator is altitude, which we experienced on Maui and the Island of Hawaii. Haleakala on Maui tops 10,000 feet (3,000 metres). Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa on the Big Island both top 13,000 feet (4,000 metres).
We summited Mauna Kea and Haleakala. I wore a parka and gloves on Mauna Kea because it was barely above freezing. Haleakala wasn’t much better and featured a biting wind that made my bare hands ache from the cold as I photographed scenery.
Next, about the sun or lack thereof. There were stark differences between the leeward sides of the islands (south and west) and windward sides (north and east): leeward sunny and dry; windward cloudy and wet. Huge mountains block prevailing trade winds so moisture dumps right there and doesn’t make it to the other side of the island.
The Big Island provided the starkest experience. Terrain changed from tropical rainforest to arid scrubland in the space of a few miles on the main road through Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Literally from windshield wipers to blinding sunlight in a few minutes. Hilo averages 126.72 inches (3,220 mm) of rain per year; Kailua-Kona just 18.93 inches (481 mm).
Driving
Bring patience. Logically, none of the islands covers that much space so everything is close together as the crow flies. The Big Island, by far the largest in the chain, covers roughly the same area as the state of Connecticut. And I drove the heck out of Connecticut in a single day a number of years ago.
Unfortunately that theory utterly fails here. The roads follow topography, whether coastal shoreline or mountainous interior. So they twist and they turn, and they have 35 mph (56 kph) speed limits, and lots of people actually drive below the speed limit, and opportunities to pass don’t come around often. Just relax, enjoy the scenery, and understand this will impact plans.
Oahu offers an additional challenge. There are actual Interstate highways (H-1, H-2, H-3, and H-201) that largely conform to Interstate construction standards, although naturally, they don’t actually serve interstate destinations. I think the highest speed limit I saw was 60 mph (96 kph) and sometimes I actually hit that during the middle of the day. However, much of the time, everyone was either entering or leaving Honolulu depending on time of day, causing epic gridlock. Something about a million people clinging to the rim of a mountainous island, all working in the same city.
Shoreline
The shoreline was never far away, whether Maui, Oahu, or the Big Island. Even so the scenery varied, sometimes dramatically and always magnificently. A lot of the variation depended on when a volcano last erupted and poured lava into the sea.
The beaches attract a lot of tourists and we saw plenty of that. The famous ones have a typical sand as one would expect, with much of it created by parrotfish munching on coral and such. But Hawaii has a few black sand beaches formed from volcanic basalt churned by waves. It also includes a single green sand beach on the Big Island composed of Olivine that formed as magma cooled. I’ll talk all about that one later.
Much of the coastline is considerably more rugged. Lava flowed to the sea, spawning new land, and sandy beaches haven’t formed yet. They’re too young. Sometimes it took the form of spectacular cliffs where pounding waves crashed into sheer walls. They are visually stunning but not really for sunbathing or swimming. Even so, plenty of other options exist if that’s the goal, never far away.
Additional Thoughts
The Big Island of Hawaii was my favorite of the trip. I liked the variety of climates, nature, space, and outdoor adventures. Maui and Oahu were fine too. Maui seemed like a classic beach destination and I’m not much of a sit on the beach and relax kind of guy. But many people are, and I can see why it’s so popular. Oahu is mostly a big city with a beautiful backdrop; too crowded for me and I’ve already been there multiple times. I did get up to the North Shore but even that attracted hordes and traffic along its single road. I went to Kauai a long time ago and I loved it there. So maybe the Big Island and Kauai sit atop the list until I can check out Molokai and Lanai someday?
Well, this turned out to be a much longer introduction than I intended but get ready for a bunch of in-depth articles.
See Also: The Complete Photo Album on Flickr.
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