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Posted
3 hours ago, texasdago said:

So I went ahead and booked a ticket flying into Honolulu and flying out of Kona. Right now I'm trying to figure out how much time we'll spend in Oahu with more time on the coast if possible. Leaning towards time on the east side of the island. 

If there's one thing I'm noticing about Hawaii is the absurd hotel and condo prices. I mean, seriously, you see one price and then you see the final price. With all the taxes and fees and garbage added on top. The first price is already overpriced and then it gets worse. Makes me reconsider a future trip to Switzerland.

if you haven't done Pearl Harbor, your first full day there is the best time to do it - your bodies will still be on mainland time so you'll be up early and can be first in line if you're not one of the few that get tickets for the ferry over to the USS Arizona.

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

OK... trip fully booked.  Here's what we've got - 7 nights in Oahu, 6 nights in the Big Island.  Will figure out the details later.  Have a Hawaiian friend giving me insight on Oahu and a friend who just sold her house in Waikoloa giving me insight on the Big Island...

 

Fly into Honolulu, Oahu

Waikiki (3 nights) - no car

car pickup

Punaluu (4 nights)

Honolulu to Hilo 

 

Big Island - Hawaii

pick up car at Hilo Airport 

Hilo, Hawaii (2 nights)

Volcano (1 night)

Kailua (3 nights)

Fly out of Kona 

Posted

I like Waikiki because I live on Maui and it’s a snooze fest over here, but as a tourist 3 nights there might be too many depending on what you’re looking for

Posted
9 hours ago, Hank_Hill said:

I like Waikiki because I live on Maui and it’s a snooze fest over here, but as a tourist 3 nights there might be too many depending on what you’re looking for

To be fair, I have no idea what we're looking for... I mean, maybe I can make our east side place on the east side 5 nights vs 4

Posted
29 minutes ago, Gil Bang said:

I found Hilo to be a bit of a shithole.  rainbow falls is OK I guess. 

I mean, it feels like a lot of Hawaii is pretty rural and just sleepy.  Am I wrong?  Aside from places like Waikiki?  Again, I won't know until I go there but it feels like Hawaii is kind of our US Costa Rica. No?  So is Hilo Tamarindo?

Posted

Hilo area is good to use as a base for visiting Volcanoes NP, but it sounds like you're already staying somewhere near VNP for a night.  VNP is a must-see, esp. now that it's apparently erupting again.

But there are enough sights in the Hilo area to fill up at least a day.  Rainbow Falls, Boiling Pots, and the area around Wailuku River, Akaka Falls, and the the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden are all worthwhile IMO.  I'm not a big botanical garden fan in general, but that one was definitely worth it.  The farmers market in Hilo is supposed to be pretty cool, but I don't think it was going on the days we were there.  I think 2 nights and a day in Hilo is about right.

A couple other must-sees for me on the Big Island would be Mauna Kea (make sure you acclimate for 1+ hours while at the Visitors Center before driving to the summit) and Waipi'o Valley.  We did the Waipio Valley Shuttle tour with the company that takes you down into the valley, and we found that to be very worthwhile.

 

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Posted
10 minutes ago, Carl Spackler said:

Hilo area is good to use as a base for visiting Volcanoes NP, but it sounds like you're already staying somewhere near VNP for a night.  VNP is a must-see, esp. now that it's apparently erupting again.

But there are enough sights in the Hilo area to fill up at least a day.  Rainbow Falls, Boiling Pots, and the area around Wailuku River, Akaka Falls, and the the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden are all worthwhile IMO.  I'm not a big botanical garden fan in general, but that one was definitely worth it.  The farmers market in Hilo is supposed to be pretty cool, but I don't think it was going on the days we were there.  I think 2 nights and a day in Hilo is about right.

A couple other must-sees for me on the Big Island would be Mauna Kea (make sure you acclimate for 1+ hours while at the Visitors Center before driving to the summit) and Waipi'o Valley.  We did the Waipio Valley Shuttle tour with the company that takes you down into the valley, and we found that to be very worthwhile.

 

The farmers market is awesome. Avocados the size is butternut squash. Fresh mango,  papaya,  leechi, dragon fruit...among others

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Posted (edited)
On 12/27/2024 at 1:37 PM, Carl Spackler said:

Think it's a reservation-only thing now that is held on certain dates.  https://hilo.hawaii.edu/maunakea/kuene/stargazing.php

The wife and I went up to Mauna Kea this past May during daylight hours, and we both agreed it was definitely worth it.  Doing a nightime stargazing trip would be an awesome experience.

Definitely try to acclimate at the visitors center before attempting to drive up to the summit.  I've hiked and backpacked at high elevation on numerous occasions in the past with no effects, but going up to Mauna Kea summit sure gave me the dizzies, and that was after spending 1-2 hours down at the visitors center.  

The stargazing is indeed amazing given the extremely low levels of light and actual pollution.  One tip if you plan to go - check the lunar phase.  Even a crescent moon will be extremely bright and limit some of what you can view

On 12/27/2024 at 1:37 PM, Carl Spackler said:
Edited by texasfight2025
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Posted
On 1/14/2025 at 4:12 PM, Butch Had Not said:

The farmers market is awesome. Avocados the size is butternut squash. Fresh mango,  papaya,  leechi, dragon fruit...among others

the lychee are great too

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  • 2 weeks later...
Posted
On 1/26/2024 at 6:34 PM, Gil Bang said:

???

Is it gone? 

Tots are back on the menu!  Though it is a side option and don’t think loaded.  I went for the ahi on tortillas instead.

Posted

@Sundodger Nice bump brah. We flew out here on a whim a few days ago. No car, just thought we would meander around Kailua-Kona for 4 days. The rec on Huggo's nailed it. My lunch every day has been whatever looks good at the farmers market (mangos you can peel like a banana, papaya, and the previously mentioned avocado usually). Ola brew is better than kona brew, but I will stumble back from either.

  • 1 month later...
Posted

Half way through our trip.

Left Love Field at 8 am and arrived in Kona at 2:45 pm… switched planes in LV. Harry Reid Airport sucks for a layover. After landing in Kona, we grabbed our rental convertible, stopped at Costco, then headed across the island. Dinner was at Pineapples in Hilo - sat at the bar and had a great first night dinner and drinks. The drive from Hilo to our cabin in Volcano was about 30 minutes. The cabin itself was extremely nice and private, located in the forest, and only 10 minutes from the park entrance. A breakfast was stocked in the refrigerator to be heated in the microwave. Lots of fresh fruit and Kona coffee.

First morning in the park, Kilauea was issuing a lot of gas and the ranger said all indications were pointing to an eruption. We drove the Crater Rim Drive to the coast, visiting the pullouts and petroglyphs. At the sea arch, a family informed us the eruption had begun. We drove back to the steaming vents parking lot and watched the north vent erupt for about an hour or so. About every 10 minutes there was a fountain followed by substantial lava flow. We went back to our cabin for some rest before heading back into the park for night viewing. The Vocano House area was a mad-house at 5:30, so we parked at the steaming vents and hiked the .5 mile on the Crater Rim trail up to the lodge. The lounge is open seating but a hour and forty-wait that night for a table - no problem because we had great views of the eruption with which to spend our time. By this time there was significant flow from the south vent in addition to the north. The waiter must have had to have dealt with some real assholes that night because when he found us smiling and being nice he comped our cocktails. We hiked back to our car by head lamps, avoiding falling to our deaths off the crater wall.

The second day we arrived in the park early and got in about 7 miles of hiking. The views from the Byron Ledge were spectacular. The north vent had shut down but the south vent was a 700 foot fountain. From our vantage point on the ledge, the fountain extended higher than the crater rim. We left the park at 1 pm and drove past the hundreds of cars lined up to get into the park. Back at the cabin we heard the report that the eruption shut down at 1:45… sucked for all the people arriving late. We had great dinner with the locals in the Lava Rock Cafe in Volcano then went back into the park for a drink and one last viewing of the glowing lava field. We repeated our night-time hike for the fun of it.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Posted
On 3/22/2025 at 4:13 PM, Woland said:

Half way through our trip.

Left Love Field at 8 am and arrived in Kona at 2:45 pm… switched planes in LV. Harry Reid Airport sucks for a layover. After landing in Kona, we grabbed our rental convertible, stopped at Costco, then headed across the island. Dinner was at Pineapples in Hilo - sat at the bar and had a great first night dinner and drinks. The drive from Hilo to our cabin in Volcano was about 30 minutes. The cabin itself was extremely nice and private, located in the forest, and only 10 minutes from the park entrance. A breakfast was stocked in the refrigerator to be heated in the microwave. Lots of fresh fruit and Kona coffee.

First morning in the park, Kilauea was issuing a lot of gas and the ranger said all indications were pointing to an eruption. We drove the Crater Rim Drive to the coast, visiting the pullouts and petroglyphs. At the sea arch, a family informed us the eruption had begun. We drove back to the steaming vents parking lot and watched the north vent erupt for about an hour or so. About every 10 minutes there was a fountain followed by substantial lava flow. We went back to our cabin for some rest before heading back into the park for night viewing. The Vocano House area was a mad-house at 5:30, so we parked at the steaming vents and hiked the .5 mile on the Crater Rim trail up to the lodge. The lounge is open seating but a hour and forty-wait that night for a table - no problem because we had great views of the eruption with which to spend our time. By this time there was significant flow from the south vent in addition to the north. The waiter must have had to have dealt with some real assholes that night because when he found us smiling and being nice he comped our cocktails. We hiked back to our car by head lamps, avoiding falling to our deaths off the crater wall.

The second day we arrived in the park early and got in about 7 miles of hiking. The views from the Byron Ledge were spectacular. The north vent had shut down but the south vent was a 700 foot fountain. From our vantage point on the ledge, the fountain extended higher than the crater rim. We left the park at 1 pm and drove past the hundreds of cars lined up to get into the park. Back at the cabin we heard the report that the eruption shut down at 1:45… sucked for all the people arriving late. We had great dinner with the locals in the Lava Rock Cafe in Volcano then went back into the park for a drink and one last viewing of the glowing lava field. We repeated our night-time hike for the fun of it.

Damn.  Sure wish Kilauea had been erupting when we were there last year.  I bet that's a sight to behold.

  • 2 months later...
Posted

just got back from 10 nights (2 near Volcanos Nat. Park) and 8 near Mauna Kea.  volcano side was at https://volcanovillageestates.com/bungalows-volcano-hawaii which was super close to park entrance.  got in late Tuesday and then went to park on Wed morning.  our bags were delayed so left park to receive those and got word that a big fountain (300+m) had started around noon.  So we rushed back to the park and hiked around all day and took it in from different sides of the rim.  Us and kids were pretty worn out and we left around 5:15pm or so.  Probably should have just stayed to view it at night, but we were worn out.  The line to get into park was near 2mi long when we left.

Huge arc at the beginning of the fountain and it slowly got a little shorter and wider as the day went on

image.thumb.png.40ec1eefb1a1ebd97cd619988386982f.png

 

you could feel the heat from the train at this point

image.thumb.png.59877a368e2b218fc75fc93ee05077cd.png

 

Really cool and got lucky to hit the fountain on one of the 2 days we were on this side of the island.  Then we drove over the dry side and rented a house in the Hapuna Mauna Kea resort (https://www.maunakearesort.com/stay/mauna-kea-residences/bluffs)

Place was fantastic. huge space and killer views with access to Mauna Kea and Hupuna Westin hotel and beaches.  Manua Kea was going through a renovation so half the hotel was shut down and the beaches were never crowded. 

image.thumb.png.ed690fb067b728e0240b61ea8bf1ffb9.png  

Played a little golf with a family deal for 9 holes at waikoloa beach golf.  pretty good deal for 2 adult and 2 kids clubrentals, carts and 9 holes for ~$250 all in.

Also did the manta ray experience at the Mauna Kea beach.  thought it was pretty good.  it was expensive and if you already knew what you were doing and had an underwater light, you could basically go to the same spot for free.  But the guide just positions everyone and the light to attract the rays so all we had to do is float.  the rays came and looped right at us for ~30 mins or so.  tons of closeup loops inches from our masks.

all in all a fantastic trip highlighted by the volcano.  it fountained again on the 20th and they said that could happen in a ~10ish day cycle.

 

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