Big Island in Aug, what are "must see's"?
 

We will be in the Kona area for a week, and have reservations at the Volocano House for a couple of nights. What about the Black Sand Beach and the Green sand Beach, are they easy to get to and worth the drive?

We will be on the BI for two days during our upcoming Hawaii trip, and these are the activities we're looking at:

Volcano -- hike Kilauea Iki crater, Devastation Trail, and Thurston lava tube

Kona side -- kayak Kealakekua Bay, visit City of Refuge and snorkel at Two Step

We're also stopping at Waipio Valley overlook; if we had an extra day we would have hiked it.

Just a couple ideas to get you started. You might want to pick up a guidebook like Big Island Revealed (that book is a source of contention for some, but I liked that it was full of color pictures so I knew what looked 'worth the trip' to me).

Green sand beach is a long hike off the main road -- several miles -- so you have to REALLY want to see it.

Have fun! ((R))

Sea turtle sightings are pretty common at Black Sand Beach. Just *don't* try to get super close to them and flash a camera in their eyes!!

I really enjoyed Waipi'o valley. We had a 4 wheel drive and could get to the bottom of the very steep road to get into the valley. We were rewarded with the herd of wild horses wandering around the dirt roads. I had to get out and gently nudge them out of our path. Beautiful waterfalls and a gorgeous black sand beach.
You could also hike into the valley and i think you can go horseback riding too, I did neither.

Seconds on the volcano hike suggestions listed above and Kealakekua Bay (we took a boat trip and snorkeled)

Have a great trip.

have a great time, it's

We went to the Green Sand Beach by 4wd. It was very pretty though getting there and back wasn't so easy. My bf was the driver and had no prior experience driving offroad. For 2 and 1/4 miles, it took us 30 minutes to drive; however, there were trucks with bigger wheels speeding past us without troubles. The dirt road had lots of dips. I thought it was the worth the trouble. It took us about 1.5hr from Kona to South point. I would do it if you have the time.
I would also recommend driving up to Mauna Kea for the sunset viewing (it was breathtaking) and the stargazing at the visitor center. Driving up to the summit (on a nice gravel road) was much easier than driving through the dirty road to the green sand beach. From Kona, the drive to Mauna Kea visitor center took us 1.5hr (in the dark) and from visitor center to the summit took 30min.