Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Big Island of Hawaii in February

DH and I have been to the BI 14 times in the last 10 years and here are some suggestions.

A good source for information about the island. www.konaweb.com

Hope you have your car rental already--this year they are very expensive. If you don't, you might try http://www.hawaiicarrental.com/ I usually make a reservation somewhere else and then see if they can beat it. Sometimes they can. Also any reservation they make is cancellable.

Things to do

1. Volcano National Park http://www.nps.gov/havo/ if you want to do an interesting, hike across the Kilauea Iki crater—takes two hours at the most. We’ve done it in the sun – take water- and in the misty rain.

2. Place of Refuge National Historical Park (Pu’uhonua o Honaunau) http://www.nps.gov/archive/puho/home.htm —there is great snorkeling right there on Honaunau Bay—the area is called Two-Step (directions—after turning into the Park and before you get to the parking lot and where you pay to enter, turn right, follow the road through some houses, park where you can find a place and enter the water over some lava)

3. Information about North Kohala— http://www.gokohala.com/pages/about.html
Hawi (pronounced Ha-vee), Pololu Valley—one of our favorite day trips is to drive up highwy 270 from Kawaihae to Hawi (we like Bamboo Restaurant http://www.bamboorestaurant.info/ or Sushi Rock for lunch in Hawi) then on to the Pololu Valley overlook. Then return via the Kohala Mountain Road (highway 250) from Hawi to just west of Waimea)Also zipline in North Kohala http://www.bigislandecoadventures.com/

4. Whale watching Captain Dan’s life’s work is studying whales and he always finds them http://www.ilovewhales.com/

5. seahorse raising facility--http://www.seahorse.com/

6. They grow the vanilla orchids in Hawaii http://www.hawaiianvanilla.com/

7. Parker Ranch—all kinds of activities http://www.parkerranch.com/

8. Waipio Valley near Honoka’a—deep green valley with a black sand beach fronting the ocean
http://www.waipiovalleywagontours.com/ http://www.waipioridgestables.com/

9. Helicopter tours of Big Island

http://www.bluehawaiian.com/bigisland/tours/

10. ATV tours
http://www.ridetherim.com/

http://www.atvoutfittershawaii.com/Press.html

11. Mauna Kea summit tours

http://www.hawaii-forest.com/adv-maunakea.html

12. Hilo Farmers Market on Saturday and Wednesday there are more vendors on Saturday - wonderful produce veggies and tropical fruit http://www.hilofarmersmarket.com/

13. Greenwell Farms http://www.greenwellfarms.com/ one of the many Kona coffee farms

14. Some of our favorite beaches

a. Kekaha Kai – this is the beach you get to by driving over a lava road—though you can make it in a rental sedan—just go slowly. The road is closed on Wednesday. Take water. We've been there during the week when no one else was there.

b. Hapuna—the traditional Hawaiian beach—wide with white sand

c. Anaeho’omalu Bay (i.e., A Bay) --long beach, ancient Hawaiian fish ponds behind the beach

d. Kahaluu Beach in Kailua off Ali’i Drive—changing room, lifeguards, behind a breakwater-so calm—good snorkeling--turtles

15. Restaurants we like

Merrimans http://www.merrimanshawaii.com/

Thiebaults http://www.igougo.com/dining-reviews...estaurant.html

Kona Brewing Company http://www.konabrewingco.com/

Hilo Bay Café http://www.hilobaycafe.com/

Paolo’s Bistro-- http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restauran...aolo_s_Bistro-
Pahoa_Island_of_Hawaii_Hawaii.html reviews on trip advisor

Tex Drive In http://dutchhawaii.com/default.aspx though I don’t know what’s Dutch about it—malasadas are Portuguese

Ke’ei Café cash only http://hawaii.kulshan.com/Hawaii/Haw.../Keei_Cafe.htm

Coffee Shack- http://www.coffeeshack.com/

Kenichi Pacific- http://www.restauranteur.com/kenichi/