Big Island: 10 Days Wasn't Enough Time to Do Everything!
yay4films
Big Island vacation 7/6/08 - 7/16/08
18 Jul 2008
based on 8 votes
Brief reviews of popular recreational activities on the Big Island, and where we did them
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Explore locations featured in this Traveler List:
Keauhou, Kailua-Kona, Island of Hawaii, Kamuela
- Category: Recent trip
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Traveler type: Sightseeing, Active/Outdoors
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Appeals to: Couples/romantics, Families with small children, Families with teenagers, Active/adventure, Tourists
- Seasons: Summer
- Tags: Hawaii, Big Island, Big Island snorkeling, Big Island Sea Quest, Big Island volcano, Big Island snorkeling, Big Island hiking
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| Not the best snorkeling we did but something everyone should see at least once! One of the most popular snorkeling destinations because it's easy to enter the water, shallow and full of huge variety of fish, and especially, seaturtles. Being popular has its downsides like seeing more legs than fish mid-day!. Be sure to move out to the middle and far end (near the rock break) of the cove where the best coral is and less crowded. Best time to snorkel is between 6 and 7 a.m. More fish and turtles are feeding, and you might have the place to yourself! I went 3 mornings at that hour and once I was all alone. Definitely plan on the morning because afternoons, the vog (volcanic eruption steam mixed with air/fog) and rainclouds can obscure visibility or cause choppiness. Another suggestion -- plan your trip around high tides. When the tide is high, go btw 6 and 7 and see many turtles eating algae off the rocks around the shore. You don't even have to get wet, just stand on the shore and look carefully. One morning I went and counted 8 - 10! Please be kind and don't touch or chase anything if you go. Mahalo! |
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2. Sea Quest Snorkel Tours: Including Honaunau and Captain Cook Monument snorkeling
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I did a LOT of research before choosing a snorkel tour company. Sea Quest was highly recommended on this site as well as the Big Island Revealed book. I can unequivocally add myself to the list of Sea Quest fans!
Be sure to take the 4-hour morning trip. You snorkel two primo sites that way. Our guides were Captain Chuck and Annie, both very accommodating, thoughtful and friendly. Not at all jaded. They were exctied as we were about a surprise we had during our trip --- more on that later. We had 11 customers on our boat. The Sea Quest boats are inflatables, extremely steady and can go up to 50 mph. I get seasick fairly easy and I had NO problems on this boat (one of the reasons I chose Sea Quest).
Captain Chuck showed us a "secret" snorkeling area which turned out to be great. (See Milepost 4 ion my list) He took us on a high-speed tour of the coast between Honaunau and Captain Cook Monument area, stopping to look at some interesting caves and coves on the way. Snorkeling at Honaunau was our favorite place to snorkel. Huge gorgeous coral and some of the best visibility I've ever experienced with many unique sights like huge red crab, several spotted eels, fish galore, and a turtle swam by underwater. Another one was floating by our boat, as casual as could be. Captain Chuck could hardly manuveuer around him!
Then we headed to the Captain Cook monument for snorkeling. Again, one of the best snorkeling places in the world for good reason. Would be a lot better without dozens of people but what can you do? It's actually only about a 200-yard area where the fish are. (see Captain Cook separate item for more details) This bay is known for spinner dolphins and we did see some jumping from a distance. As we were getting ready to go back, Chuck got an alert from another boat that was 3 miles out from shore. We sped out there to join a pod of pilot whales! We literally floated or boated quietly alongside this group of whales for a good 10 - 15 minutes. You couldn't help but be greatly moved, it was so spectacular. Captain Chuck made the decision to go out the extra 6 miles r.t. which cut into his lunch period for this special experience. That's going beyond the call of duty.
While there is no lunch included, Sea Quest provided great snacks: fresh pineapple and apples, Famous Amos cookies, Maui chips, water and Hawaiian juices, ice-cold. I'd recommend this trip without reservation. Enjoyable from beginning to end. |
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3. Volcano Activities on Big Island
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If you have the time, plan on spending at least 2 days exploring the Volcano National Park area. Stop first at the visitors center. Be sure to shell out the $1 donation for the Kilauea Iki hike self-guided tour. While there you can take in a short hike to view and SMELL a sulphur bank, hike a little further to see steam vents on the rim. You can also continue walking to the Jagger Museum for more cool views with a very high-powered telescope (look into the mouth of the crater!). It's another 1.8 miles that isn't very interesting so if you are short on time, drive up to Jagger instead. Also, check out the view from Volcano House on your way out or back.
The best hike was the Kilauea Iki which I recommend you do as early in the day as possible. (The park is open 24 hours a day.) Go counterclockwise!!! (Trust me.) Use the guide you bought at the Visitors Center to learn about what you're seeing. You walk through a rainforest section, then go down to the crater floor and walk across the floor through probably 6 different iterations of lava. It's amazing. I also recommend the Thurston Lava Tube walk but only if you bring headlamps or flashlights and do the optional 1,000-feet at the end. If you saw the movie, The Descent, extra creepy!!!! (that's a great horror movie, by the way.) We also did Devastation Trail but it wasn't as impressive, quite possibly because we had already hiked like 8 miles by then.
The very best thing you can do in the area is go see the lava flowing into the ocean at night. There is a viewing spot set aside a safe distance away. Get directions from the visitors center. You will drive through the town of Pahoa, then on a road through the lava fields. At the end of that road, you join the crowd walking across a designated path to the viewing site. Bring a flashlight, a light rain jacket or non-cotton long sleeved shirt and cameras. Night falls about 7:10. I'd recommend getting there about 6 in order to grab a good spot. I met a lady whose family got there at 3 but I was standing right next to her and I had arrived about 6:30!
When you arrive, you'll look and see only huge clouds of steam rising from where the lava is hitting the surf. As it gets darker, the show becomes more red, more like fireworks and more amazing! About 8 p.m. the sparks and flames blowing up were so enormous, they caused 4 lightning strikes to appear behind them. Astounding! |
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4. Manini'owali Beach (Kua Bay)
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| This was by far the best place we boogie boarded. We use inflatable Surfsters when we are home in Oregon and paid to have them in HI. I'm not sure if I would do it again, White Sands was way "over our heads" literally, and Hapuna and Muarna Kea were underwhelmimg. Manini'owali was just right! The waves were about 4 - 5 feet high and very powerful. Although you don't get an extra- long ride here, it will be a strong one and really fun. The beach is very nice, water turquoise, and there is a good surf. Get here early to avoid fighting the crowds in the relatively tight amount of space at this beach. We were having so much fun, we had to force ourselves out of the water and we got very sunburnt in the process. I probably boogie boarded for at least 4 hours that day. On the way down, you can stop at Pine Tree Cafe along the freeway and pick up a beach bento box for lunch with Spam musabi, fried chicken wings and some pickled cabbage. Yum! |
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5. Milepost 4 in Kona
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| At Milepost 4, there is a little known snorkeling spot, a small cove surrounded by rocks that is directly left of Magic Sands or White Sands beach. You can park in the White Sands parking lot or along the street. If the surf looks high, don't get in. However, it it is fairly calm and you can enter the water without getting completely bowled over by a wave, do it. The current and waves can get very strong here, so beware if you aren't a strong swimmer. The snorkeling here is superb. The best thing I saw besides a couple of seaturtles was a fairly good sized octopus who looked just like a rock! Fascinating to watch. You will see a huge quanitity of fish in a more pristine environment than Kahalu'u, and probably NO other people. BEWARE of the surf!!! If you don't believe me, just go next door to White Sands and watch the boogie boarders. I normally boogie board but I couldn't handle those huge waves. |
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| This is a beautiful swimming beach with powder sand and turquoise water that rivaled Trunk Bay,on St. John, great swimming and pretty good snorkeling to the left of the beach. It gets excruciatingly hot here, be sure to wear sandals, and bring a beach umbrella or get there early enough to nab some shade under a tree. Great facilities because this is a top-notch resort. All beaches in Hawaii are public so even resorts have to share their beaches with the general public. There is a rumor that there is boogie boarding here, forget it. At least the day we were here, there wasn't even a surf to speak of. Ideal for swimming for that reason. |
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| Another gorgeous beach which is also a state park. Again, rumored to be a great boogie boarding spot. We tried it but the waves were breaking in about knee-deep water so we don't call that ideal!!! To add insult to injury, I got about 2 pounds of sand in my suit from having to board in such shallow conditions! Having said that, it is a fun swimming and people-watching beach. Great facilities with showers. Snorkeling is supposed to be good to the left but we didn't bring our snorkeling gear down when we were there. We were really hoping for boogie boarding. |
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