Everyone who comes to Hawaii has at least one cherished memory that is indelible. In this post, we would like your favorite memory of the Big Island. Click on the number to the left side of this post to enter your comment/memory. It can be short or long, a feeling, meal, or actual experience that you had. We would even like those thoughts of persons who have never visited here, but may have had memories shared with them by others, or dreams of coming to Hawaii in the future.

For example, my father, Paul Watts, was a marine stationed in Waimea (“Camp Tarawa”) for two years prior to and following the invasion of Iwo Jima. For the first forty years of my life, my Big Island “memories”, were those shared with me by my father. He loved to describe the wonderful, cool weather; the warm, friendly Hawaiians; the unbelievable scenery; and the preparations for the invasion.

One of the memories he related most often was hiking up to the top of Mauna Kea on Christmas Day, 1945. He and a group of fellow Marines, drove up Mauna Kea until their Jeep would no longer go (about 10,000 feet)–purportedly stopped by “the thin air at that altitude”. He spent the rest of the day hiking the final 3,000+ feet , and was the only one of the group who made it to the very top. Sixty-two years later we attempted the same feat. We discovered that our Jeep actually became bogged down due to a vapor lock in the fuel line. By untwisting the gas cap, we were able to continue to the top without any problem. We really got a chuckle realizing that my father could have done the same and avoided the strenuous (and dangerous!) hike up to the peak alone. Sadly, he passed away a three years ago. At least we didn’t ruin his memory by informing him of this fact!

Attached are a few images from the top of Mauna Kea: