Kauai & Big Island Trip Report - 3 of 4
Jun 24th, 2004, 02:16 PM
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Kauai & Big Island Trip Report - 3 of 4
May 24th
Since we were on the wrong side of the island, we were up at 5am to do the 2.5 hour drive over to Kona. The boat is the Reel Action and is a 25 footer captained by Del Dykes. The 4-hr charter is $312 and only takes 2 people (3 max). We were there early and since we?re the only customers, we left from Honokohau Harbour at 8:40am. The weather was great and the fish were biting. The big thing for my husband is to catch fresh fish we can then eat for dinner. It seems that all the fish (and small shark) we caught off the reef are somewhat toxic and Captain Del advised that we don?t keep them. He was trolling for bigger game to and from the reef and this fish we could share. It turned out we didn?t catch anything to keep but we had a fun time anyway returning to the harbour at 1pm. Captain Del also told us about a great place to get coffee so we went there for free samples and bought a couple of pounds. He also told us to snorkel at Mauna Kea versus Hupana but it required getting there early as there are only 30 beach passes available. We then headed through town via Alii Drive and ended up snorkelling at Kahalu'u. This was great. Not much beach. Pebbles versus sand but it was a great place to snorkel.
Then we headed north to check out Costco. As per the blue book, they had the cheapest gas on the island?and they did! We lined up 10min for gas @ $2.13 /gallon versus $2.53 nearby. We also bought a BBQ chicken for $4.99 which was huge and lasted for 3 dinners. We also got a great lunch for about $7. It was then a two and a half hour drive home and we hit pouring rain once we arrived on the east coast.
May 25th
Today was our day to visit Volcanoes National Park. We had planned to hike Kilauea Iki followed by the trek out to see the lava but our host (who does personalized trips to the volcano) said that we had planned too much for one day. So acting on his advice, we drove around Crater Rim Road stopping at lookouts and then drove down Craters Road and hiked to lava . It was 3 miles total and not so bad. It was also too early to hang around another 3 hours to see the lava flow at night, which I?m told is a must. Next time we?ll arrive around only an hour or so before sunset. We finished off the day with touring the rest of Crater Rim Road and visiting Thurston Lava Tube.
It was then a short drive home for an early night since we were heading back to the sunny side again in the morning.
May 26th
It was another early morning as we drove to Kohala to reach the Mauna Kea Hotel by 9:30am. We got one of the 30 beach passes and settled in at the beach. It?s beautiful and there was lots of shade. The snorkelling was amazing with our first (and 2nd and 3rd and 4th) turtle sighting. It?s a little scary though if you follow a turtle and end up further out than you want to be. We decided to turn back and even though we?re both strong swimmers, it took a lot of strong kicking to beat the current/tide and get back into a safer part of the bay. I even tried boogie boarding here and since the waves were much smaller than the ones on Kauai, I actually caught a few waves and had a blast! We actually stayed for awhile to just enjoy the beach but had to leave when we got hungry about lunch time. (We do visit Hapunu beach later) but this is definitely the better of the two since I found no shade at all at Hapunu. All in all it was great morning.
We then visited Hapuna Beach, Paoka, and Spencer beach, which we thought was more for the locals, especially with all the camping. We ended up in Hawaii to have lunch at Bamboo Restaurant as recommended in the blue book but it never mentioned that it closes at 2:30 so we ended up at a local restaurant called Auntie?s. The food was good but the place was empty except for two locals drinking beer at the bar. We then drove to Pololu Valley lookout at the end of Highway #270, which was great. I wish we had time to hike down to the beach for a different view of the rugged coast line. It was then a long drive home and an evening watching American Idol final.
May 27th
Today we slept in and then after a leisure breakfast, we headed off to Volcanoes National Park to hike Kilauea Iki. As recommended in the blue book, we parked at parked @ Kilauea Iki lookout and went counter-clockwise. We totally agree this was the route to go, even though everyone seemed to be going the opposite. The reason? Steep stairs with railing going down & a slow, easy ascent. It was a 4 mile roundtrip with beautiful rainforest at the beginning & end. It was 3955 ft at the top (27c) and 3636 ft at the bottom (25c). This is definitely a hike worth recommending! When we started out we thought it would be very quiet due to the rain but it was discouraging to look down into the crater after about half a mile only to see a bus load of people walking over the crater floor. We even ran into a group (20+) of school kids doing the walk. Wow, busy place! After this walk, we decided that our host was wrong. We could have easily done this hike plus the walk out to the lava in one day.
Staying close to home, we spent the afternoon checking out the south east corner of the Big Island. We did a loop down #137 and around #132 to #137 snorkelling @ Kapoho Tide pools, which was fun. There wasn?t as many fish as we?ve seen elsewhere, but there is much more coral. We also swam in the geothermal pool ? Ahalanui which was fun. Problem is that once you?re warm you don?t want to get out! We also drove along the coast visiting Isaac Hale Park and McKenzie Park. We ended up at the end of #137 and was thinking about walking over the lava to see the new black beach but it started to rain. I guess we?d try that another day, if possible.
We then went into Hilo for sushi dinner at Ocean Sushi Deli, which was highly recommended here on the forum. Whoever said it was ?Not fancy. Make that plain. But oh boy? was right. It seems to be mostly for locals but the prices were good. Selection was not as good as we are use to in Toronto but the prices were good and we ate a lot.
Since we were on the wrong side of the island, we were up at 5am to do the 2.5 hour drive over to Kona. The boat is the Reel Action and is a 25 footer captained by Del Dykes. The 4-hr charter is $312 and only takes 2 people (3 max). We were there early and since we?re the only customers, we left from Honokohau Harbour at 8:40am. The weather was great and the fish were biting. The big thing for my husband is to catch fresh fish we can then eat for dinner. It seems that all the fish (and small shark) we caught off the reef are somewhat toxic and Captain Del advised that we don?t keep them. He was trolling for bigger game to and from the reef and this fish we could share. It turned out we didn?t catch anything to keep but we had a fun time anyway returning to the harbour at 1pm. Captain Del also told us about a great place to get coffee so we went there for free samples and bought a couple of pounds. He also told us to snorkel at Mauna Kea versus Hupana but it required getting there early as there are only 30 beach passes available. We then headed through town via Alii Drive and ended up snorkelling at Kahalu'u. This was great. Not much beach. Pebbles versus sand but it was a great place to snorkel.
Then we headed north to check out Costco. As per the blue book, they had the cheapest gas on the island?and they did! We lined up 10min for gas @ $2.13 /gallon versus $2.53 nearby. We also bought a BBQ chicken for $4.99 which was huge and lasted for 3 dinners. We also got a great lunch for about $7. It was then a two and a half hour drive home and we hit pouring rain once we arrived on the east coast.
May 25th
Today was our day to visit Volcanoes National Park. We had planned to hike Kilauea Iki followed by the trek out to see the lava but our host (who does personalized trips to the volcano) said that we had planned too much for one day. So acting on his advice, we drove around Crater Rim Road stopping at lookouts and then drove down Craters Road and hiked to lava . It was 3 miles total and not so bad. It was also too early to hang around another 3 hours to see the lava flow at night, which I?m told is a must. Next time we?ll arrive around only an hour or so before sunset. We finished off the day with touring the rest of Crater Rim Road and visiting Thurston Lava Tube.
It was then a short drive home for an early night since we were heading back to the sunny side again in the morning.
May 26th
It was another early morning as we drove to Kohala to reach the Mauna Kea Hotel by 9:30am. We got one of the 30 beach passes and settled in at the beach. It?s beautiful and there was lots of shade. The snorkelling was amazing with our first (and 2nd and 3rd and 4th) turtle sighting. It?s a little scary though if you follow a turtle and end up further out than you want to be. We decided to turn back and even though we?re both strong swimmers, it took a lot of strong kicking to beat the current/tide and get back into a safer part of the bay. I even tried boogie boarding here and since the waves were much smaller than the ones on Kauai, I actually caught a few waves and had a blast! We actually stayed for awhile to just enjoy the beach but had to leave when we got hungry about lunch time. (We do visit Hapunu beach later) but this is definitely the better of the two since I found no shade at all at Hapunu. All in all it was great morning.
We then visited Hapuna Beach, Paoka, and Spencer beach, which we thought was more for the locals, especially with all the camping. We ended up in Hawaii to have lunch at Bamboo Restaurant as recommended in the blue book but it never mentioned that it closes at 2:30 so we ended up at a local restaurant called Auntie?s. The food was good but the place was empty except for two locals drinking beer at the bar. We then drove to Pololu Valley lookout at the end of Highway #270, which was great. I wish we had time to hike down to the beach for a different view of the rugged coast line. It was then a long drive home and an evening watching American Idol final.
May 27th
Today we slept in and then after a leisure breakfast, we headed off to Volcanoes National Park to hike Kilauea Iki. As recommended in the blue book, we parked at parked @ Kilauea Iki lookout and went counter-clockwise. We totally agree this was the route to go, even though everyone seemed to be going the opposite. The reason? Steep stairs with railing going down & a slow, easy ascent. It was a 4 mile roundtrip with beautiful rainforest at the beginning & end. It was 3955 ft at the top (27c) and 3636 ft at the bottom (25c). This is definitely a hike worth recommending! When we started out we thought it would be very quiet due to the rain but it was discouraging to look down into the crater after about half a mile only to see a bus load of people walking over the crater floor. We even ran into a group (20+) of school kids doing the walk. Wow, busy place! After this walk, we decided that our host was wrong. We could have easily done this hike plus the walk out to the lava in one day.
Staying close to home, we spent the afternoon checking out the south east corner of the Big Island. We did a loop down #137 and around #132 to #137 snorkelling @ Kapoho Tide pools, which was fun. There wasn?t as many fish as we?ve seen elsewhere, but there is much more coral. We also swam in the geothermal pool ? Ahalanui which was fun. Problem is that once you?re warm you don?t want to get out! We also drove along the coast visiting Isaac Hale Park and McKenzie Park. We ended up at the end of #137 and was thinking about walking over the lava to see the new black beach but it started to rain. I guess we?d try that another day, if possible.
We then went into Hilo for sushi dinner at Ocean Sushi Deli, which was highly recommended here on the forum. Whoever said it was ?Not fancy. Make that plain. But oh boy? was right. It seems to be mostly for locals but the prices were good. Selection was not as good as we are use to in Toronto but the prices were good and we ate a lot.
Jun 29th, 2004, 06:25 AM
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Betty - great report.
May I respectfully suggest that it would be easier for everyone to follow your journey if the parts were posted in order as replies to your original post (even if there were comments in between).
May I respectfully suggest that it would be easier for everyone to follow your journey if the parts were posted in order as replies to your original post (even if there were comments in between).
Jun 29th, 2004, 02:46 PM
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Ms Betts,
See my reply on 1 of 4...or was it 3 of 4 or was....
Oh nevermind...cut and paste them all on one message. It will drive you crazy doing it this way and trying to top them all the time.
I'm living proof!
See my reply on 1 of 4...or was it 3 of 4 or was....
Oh nevermind...cut and paste them all on one message. It will drive you crazy doing it this way and trying to top them all the time.
I'm living proof!
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