Hawaii (Big Island) Travel Forum

Hello,

I am planning on spending a week on the Big Island in the end of January, and now I'm wondering what reservations I have to make. I thinking of flying in to Kona and out of Hilo, so I'm planning to start the journey on the Kona side and end up in Hilo for departure.
I'm traveling on my own and would not mind keeping a low budget, but from what I understand this is a typical rental car destination, am I right?

Kealakekua Bay
I want to go to Kealakekua Bay for vissiting the Cook monument, but also to do some snorkeling. I understand that it's a tricky trek to get to the monument by foot. So I see three options here.
1. go for an arranged horseride down the trial to the monument with an hour or so snorkeling and lunch include before heading back.
2. go for an arranged snorkeling-tour on a boat (but do they include shore breaks at the monument?) or
3. rent a kayak early in the morning and padle to the monument, perhaps meet some dolphins, do some snorkeling and return when i want to. (Does one need a car to transport the kayak from the rental location to the bay or are there kayak rentals by the waterfront?)

The manta rays
Is this an arranged tour thing only, or are there ways to do it on your own, perhaps with other people entering from the shore.

The south point
How do I get there if I'm not allowed by the rental company?

I'll propably be back with more questions later

Bjorn

Tropicdiver,

Thanks for the tips.

I have to get to the Capt. Cook Monument, and it looks like its a bit to padle from Honaunau Bay to Kealakekua bay. Am I right?

I have been thinking on how to keep the thieves inactive, but I will on some stages between accomodations have my large packpack with me, and it will be tricky taking it with me whenever i leave the car. Perhaps puting the backpack in the trunk and leaving the doors unlocked will fool them.

I am going up Manua Kea, and have considdered doing it in a rental car, but the 4wd's that are allowed up there are like $100 a day , compared to $30-40 for a regular wehicle, and driving alone and perhaps get altitude sickness or other kind of trouble is something I would like to avoid, so I'm thinking of doing this on an organised tour, perhaps by Arnott's Lodge. Where I can enjoy the views etc.

When it comes to the Volcano NP. I've thought about doing an arranged trek to the lavaflows (if there are any) arranged by Arnott's Lodge in Hilo and perhaps some kind of flyover, and have not though much about staying there, but perhaps I should.

Bjorn

You'll definitely want to arrange a night or two of acommodations on the Hilo-side of the island. Heck, stay at Arnott's Lodge. We used their "deluxe room" for $57/night and found it to be a nice place. And their tours to the lava and top of Mauna Kea are great. We loved them so much we used them again on our last trip. Be sure to request Ian at Arnott's as your hikeguide for the lava flows. He did both of our trips and does an outstanding job. Mr. Arnott himself did our tour to the top of Mauna Kea.....great job also.

I also hightly recommend seeing the volcano by helicopter. We did a tour with Tropical Helicopters that is made with the doors OFF the aircraft! What a ride! I have more in-depth descriptions and plenty of pics, too, on my pages.

Don't think that you'll be able to out-smart anybody by unlocking your car doors and having any valuables in the trunk. Remember, there is a trunk release inside the car for them to access your trunk anyway. If you don't carry it with you, leave it in your hotel room. However, I will say that we never had any trouble.

In the book that tropicdiver refers to (which I also highly recommend), if I remember correctly, he describes a spot that you can snorkel with the rays at night that is easily accessed by foot. I'll have to re-read it and see.

Most of the car-rental companies do not allow their vehicles on Saddle Road. So if you decide to drive to the top of Mauna Kea, you'll be breaking the contract. If you get into trouble, don't call the rental company. If you rent a 4WD (like we did...it was a Jeep), there are no restrictions for Saddle Road. The extra $$ for the 4WD is worth it! And if you get the 4WD, be sure to drive down into Waipi`o Valley on the north shore. Although this road is off-limits no matter what type vehicle you rent, it's worth it (see my pages on this area and heed my warnings) to break the contract here!

Get THE blue bible and have a great trip!

BCT

The advice you've already received is good, so I'll just add my experiences.

1) Rental Car: Be prepared to spend a fair amount of money on this. You can't drive the saddle road with most rentals, unless you get a 4WD--the contracts specifically restrict that road as well as some of the unpaved roads down at the southern end of the island.

2) Green sand beach: It is remote, but we had no trouble with parking or theivery. Maybe we were lucky. Don't expect to be able to carry a lot of stuff with you from the car to the beach since you have to descend a rather steep embankment quite a long way down to the beach. It's not a stroll. However, it *is* well worth the effort.

3) Mantas: this isn't a simple shore dive that you can do on your own. The best way is to go with a dive operator for a night dive. You go down with lights and just sit on the bottom. The rays come to feed on the food attracted by the light. I'm assuming you're a certified diver. The experience of seeing mantas is outstanding.

4) Captain Cook: When I went to the bay it was on a boat trip and we didn't go ashore. I do recall seeing kayakers, though.

5) One answer suggested doing a vocano trip. Yes, do that. The heli trip is v. nice, but my favorite was the up-close-and-personal-playing-with-fire visit I made to an active flow. I hiked across 3 miles of solidified lava to have a picnic "dinner" at the edge of the flowing lava in order to experience it in the dark. Wow. If you're thinking of hiking on lava--wear long trousers, take a long sleeved-shirt, and wear gloves. Do not wear flip-flops, sandals or any open shoes. It's easy and common to fall while hiking on lava, and it cuts exposed hands and knees. When you get close to the flow, the heat will singe the hair on your arms if you don't protect them. Take a compass or a GPS or make sure the person leading you has one so that you don't get lost on the way back. I did this twice, and it was thrilling both times. (Still gotta build those HI pages!)

We paddled from the Old Wharf to the Captain Cook monument and brought our scuba gear with us. These were my favorite dives in Hawaii. There are many kayak rental places around the Kona district, and they will most likely give you a map of Kealakekua. We rented kayaks from the guest house where we were staying and strapping the kayaks to the roof of the rental car was very easy.

The paddle from the Old Wharf to the monument was only about 30 minutes. There was a gentleman at the wharf who helped us get our boats and gear into the water and I understand from others that he is usually there - just being nice, not looking to get anything out of you. I managed to get my boat in and out the second time all by myself, so it's not hard.

The snorkeling is wonderful by the monument; The diving is even better. There are pinnacles, an arch, a respectable drop-off, and an anchor at about 150 feet. But the best sights are between 20 and 30 feet deep. So many fish! We were told that dolphins frequent the area in the morning, but we were only there in the afternoons.

See this url for information about how to get to the Old Wharf:
http://www.shorediving.com/Earth/Hawaii/TBI/Kealakekua/index.htm

We had no trouble with thieves. We did quite a bit of shore diving on the Big Island and left all kinds of things locked up in the car while we were diving. No problems!

Thanks for all tips so far,

I've gotten the "Big Island Revealed" and think it is great, appart form their accomodation section wich I think could be better, but I also have the LP Big Island and think the one fills out what the other may be missing.

Getting to see the Big Island in a week will be tight.
So I think i will have to make a few plans on what to do.
I'm renting a regular car, so I won't be doing the saddle road.

I'm thinking of staying at Pateys Place in Kona for a few days to drive north to Waipi'o Valley and back again. Is this a good idea, or should I spend a night in Waimea before heading south?

Then I'm thinking of staying two nights near by Kealakekua, perhaps at Hotel Manago in Captain Cook, to be able to paddle out in the bay in the morning and hopefully meet some of the dolphins and snorelling at the Coock Monument.
Then continue down to South Point and perhaps a night at Volcano. Where I hope to se something special in the evening, unless the lavaflows are gone when I'm there.
Then continue to Arnott's Lodge in Hilo and do the Manua Kea summit tour and lava trek with them.

Any suggestions, things i've missed out or distances misunderstood?

You will be pressed for time with only one week on the Big Island. However, I think your plan sounds good.

Driving to Waipi`o Valley from Kona is about an hour and a half to two hours. So I suggest you stay in Kona since there is more nightlife there. If you have time, try driving to Pololu Valley and hiking down to the blacksand beach there. The views as you descend the switchbacks are breath-taking.

When you go on the lava hike, definitely wear some good denim jeans. If you fall, the lava rock is sharp as glass (some looks like it, too), the denim will keep the cuts to a minimum. Wear sturdy, good quality shoes, too. On one of our hikes, while walking over the still-hot hardened lava, one of the girls in our group had shoes that came apart from the heat. When you walk over some sections, the lava is still molten below you. The heat is hard to describe but you can try by turning your oven up to it's highest setting and let it heat up. Then open the door and bend over the opening. That is slightly what you'll feel.

Don't be scared just because the cracks in the rock are still glowing red as you cross. Your guide will go first so you can rest assured that it's safe. Just don't stand in one place very long. Your shoes may melt. It's truly an amazing hike.

If you do stay in Volcano, drive down to the end of Chain of Craters Road before dawn to view the lava flowing down the hill to the ocean (provided there are surface flows). You won't be disappointed.

I hope you have a great trip!

Captain Cook is a good place to stay if you want to get away from it all. It's a very small town. I don't remember seeing Hotel Manago, but we stayed at Mara's Dive, which is just about 5 minutes up the hill from Honaunau (Place of Refuge) - another nice snorkel spot. Mara makes a great breakfast - she grows her own fruit and coffee, and the view you get from the lanai is truly awesome! Here's the link to her web site if you're interested:
http://www.marasdive.com/
You don't have to be a scuba diver to feel comfortable there - plus she rents kayaks too.
But BlueCollar is right if you want to be where the action is, then stay in Kailua-Kona.

We did a day trip to Waipi'o from Captain Cook, but it was very late and we were very tired when we got back!

I don't think there's any danger of not seeing something special at the volcano at night. You will! And yes, good advice about wearing jeans. I can attest that the rocks are sharp when you slip! You might even want to wear bike gloves because if you slip and fall on your hands, you can get slivers of glass lodged in your skin. At least, that happened to me....

Have a wonderful time!

Malaho Max,

I will be flying in to Kona Friday Jan 23, and was planning to sample the Kona nightlife Friday and Saturday, so Huggos is now added to the list. When do they go on stage?
I'm planning to stay at Pateys place in Kona, is their location ok for walking back after experienced the nightlife downtown. Is it easy to get a cabs at night?

I have decided to not go for a cruise to Kealakekua Bay as I understand they only stay there for a few hours, not that i would not enjoy having been sailing while there, but I would like to spend most of the day while there. That's why I'm thinking of staying at Manago, to be close by and able to get up and out early enough to be able to be paddling with the dolphins early in the morning and to do alot of magnificent snorkeling. I will also pay my respect to the greatest haloe/palangi/pakeha explorer of the pacific.

Aloha and big mahalo to everyone who helped me out with answering my questions for my trip to the Big Island. I had a great time and many good memories.

Bjoern