This was our 3rd trip to Hawaii-first to Oahu and second to the BI.
Part 1
Arrived in HNL after a LONG day of flying from Portland, Maine. Took a cab (25.00 + tip) to the Outrigger Waikiki-we loved everything about this hotel!! Had an OV room on the 15th floor-next to the last room out over the beach-great view from the lanai. Nice room, good size bathroom with separate changing area and small refrigerator.

Loved Duke's-generally not a fan of buffets (for sanitation and caloric reasons) but we enjoyed both the breakfast and lunch buffets. The food was fresh and tastey, there was a good variety of choices and sanitation was as good as it could be in an open air environment-staff very friendly and attentive. Also ate and drank at The Barefoot bar-lots of fun with great views.

We climbed Diamond Head-I was surprised at how uneven and rough the trail was-guess with so many tourists going up, I expected more of an "even pathway". We didn't have any trouble-had on good sneakers and brought water and a flashlight-views were great. Took the bus and it was our only attempt to do so. The waits were long and the drivers didn't announce the stops so it was hard to know when to get off. Because we were staying only 3 days and didn't want to rent a car or waste time trying to take the bus-we opted for a van service (VIP I think) for $6-8 PP we used them to go to Pearl Harbor, the Swap Meet and back to the airport. They were prompt and reliable.

We went to the Don Ho Show and were very glad we did. It was really a lot of fun. He was a very gracious man-took the time to have his picture taken with anyone in the audience who wanted to (they did sell the photos but the staff also took one with your camera so you didn't have to buy if you didn't want). And, after the show, he signed autographs for free and chatted with folks. We had brought 2 old album covers and he spent quite a bit of time talking with us about them and signing them.

Did not get out of the Waikiki area but had lots of fun-hope to do more exploring next visit. Now on to the BI...

Part 2
Arrived in Hilo and stayed at Hale Kai Hawaii B & B for 3 nights.
Accomodations were OK-everything seemed damp and musty but I think that is just Hilo. We had a bedroom/small bath/livingroom-kitchenette combo. Breakfasts were great!!

Took 2 tours with Arnott's Lodge and I would recommend these. Did the lava hike and were able to safely get up close to the flowing lava-very cool!!Could certainly have done the hike without a guide but we appreciated that we had one and he scouted up ahead for breakouts that we probably would have missed on our own. The hike was about 3 hours and very hot but well worth it (total tour about 7 hours). Currently, there is no visible ocean entry for the lava (we were lucky enough to see that last year)-all the flowing lava is on the hillside.

We also took their tour to the top of Mauna Kea for sunset-again, a really neat experience that we probably wouldn't have done on our own. It was nice that we could both relax and enjoy the sights and not have to worry about driving. (They provided heavy jackets and had oxygen available.)

Both tours were 75.00/PP-less than most other tour operations. If you are interested, see their website for specific details-they are very explicit about what you do get and what you don't get with their tours. They also have lots of pictures.

We spoke with people staying at The Lodge and all were happy with their budget accomodations-they have a wide variety, again, well explained on their website. We went over the night before our first tour to be sure where it was and were invited to stay for pizza and beer that they had just ordered for the guests-we had other plans but thought that was such a friendly gesture!

Part 3

Drove over to Kona for a week at Kanaloa at Kona. Took the southern route-a must stop for lunch is at the Na'alehu Bakery/Fruit stand-great sub sandwiches, homemade baked goods (love the mac nut shortbread) and fruit-we got the most delicious, sweet white pineapple along with papayas and apple bananas.

Stopped at the black sand beach and saw lots of turtles.

Enjoyed our OV condo-1 bedroom/2 bathroom with laundry machines in the unit. The complex included 3 pools and a tennis court-no swimmable beach.

We spent most of this week doing water activites. Went to Mauna Kea beach-beautiful with decent snorkeling around the rocks on the left hand side of the beach. We got there about 9:15 and took one of the last parking spots so get there early.

Took the AM Fairwinds tour to the Capt Cook monument (our second time). Had another wonderful trip-great snorkeling.

Went kayaking with Ocean Safaris Kayak-left from Keahou Bay and went down along the coast-explored some sea caves, more great snorkeling, and paddled alongside spinner dolphins.

One of the highlights of our trip was a night manta ray snorkel. We were supposed to go out with Manta Ray Dives but their boat blew an engine so they arranged for us to go with Kona Honu Divers. We left at 4:00 from the harbor (7 snorkelers and 3 divers). We went up by the airport and did some snorkeling before it got dark-not as good as the southern coast but still intersting. Had a light supper on the boat, watched the sunset and waited anxiously for it to get dark. We all donned wet suits, grabbed flashlights and jumped in. It was a little eerie at first but with lots of people around (there were 7 other boats) it felt OK. The divers were on the bottom with lights shining up and the snorkelers were on top with lights shining down attracting a column of plankton. We were so lucky that 6 or more huge mantas showed up to feed. They are so large (wing spans 8 to 15 feet) but so graceful-it was just mesmerizing!!! This trip was only 49.00 and some of the best money we spent!!

Ate most meals in on the BI but did enjoy Cafe Pesto in Hilo, Kona Brew Pub, and surpisingly, had a good meal at the Hard Rock (my husband wanted to go..). Great homemade candy at Kailua candy co and shave ice at Scandinavian shave ice. We also enjoyed the wine from the Volcano winery.

Rented a car from Alamo (as we have done the last 2 times as well). No problems at all-we were signed up for an economy car but got upgraded to a new Dodge Stratus with a CD player and only a few thousand miles-had a great time driving around-except when it was time to fill up the gas tank...
Let me know if I can answer any questions-we had a great time!!

Mahalo for your impressive BI trip report!

Were you with the snorkelers or the divers on the Manta ray excursion? Could the snorkeler's get a good view of the rays, or was diving the only way to go? Was the ocean rough for snorkeling? Also, did anyone make a video available of your underwater Manta ray expedition, like they do on Fairwind II? Did you see any sharks?
Thanks in advance for your response!

I'm curious about which condo you stayed in. A few years back, we stayed at the White Sands, across from the small beach. Last year, we were up the hill near the Waikaloa(sp?)golf course, and they were nice aznd quiet, just a fifteen minute drive down the hill to beautiful Hapuna Beach. We are cosidering a ten day trip for next spring, half in Kona, half on the resort side. This seems to work for snorkel trips, shopping and dining on the one side, then access to the volcano via the beautiful drive from the other end. One thing we haven't seen in our four trips is the lava at night, so we're hoping the fifth time is the lucky one! Good report too.

Oops, I was reading your reports too quickly, but Kanaloa at Kona is the one I was considering. Any special tips on the bldg. location? We have two kids, 14 and 9, so we do the two bedroom thing. Thanks again!

Hi JohnD,
We were snorkelers. We did get a good view of the rays-a couple "came up to swim with us" for quite a while which was a real treat! We could also see the ones that stayed closer to the botttom because there was so much light. With that said, I do think the divers had a better view-more of the rays stayed closer to the bottom and swam very close to them-they all raved about the experience. The ocean was not rough at all. Unfortunately, our boat did not video-not sure if any of the others did. We tried using our underwater camera, hoping there was enough light but they did not come out . We did not see any sharks this trip at all (lots of cool fish, more turtles than usual-forgot to mention we also snorkeled at Place of Refuge and saw 5 turtles all in a group-quite a few eels and, of course, the rays). The only place we have seen sharks is when we took the Holoholo trip up the Na Pali coast in Kauai last year and saw both sharks and a huge monk seal swimming with us.

Hi Jay4me,
We enjoyed our time at Kanaloa-the complex was quite quiet considering it's size-it never seemed noisey or crowded. We stayed in 3502-a ground floor unit-no air conditioning. There were signs posted around the complex about the increase in crime (in general). We felt compelled to close/lock the sliding glass doors whenever we went out and at night which really decreased the air flow. It wasn't intolerably hot but if we'd had air conditioning we would have used it. I would try to get an upper floor unit ( I think most of the building are 2 or 3 stories high) and you wouldn't have to worry so much about break-ins or get AC. With that said, there is a "guard" at the entrance, checking the cars in and out and we always felt very safe. I guess the only other question is whether or not an ocean view is important to you-we really enjoyed sitting in the lanai, looking out at the ocean. We could see boats and kayaks heading out of the bay. We rented from an owner directly but then Outrigger handled the payment details and checking in/out. We even got housekeeping service every 3 days which was a surprise. You may want to check out this website: http://www.kanaloaownerdirect.com/pages/unitinfo.htm for owners renting directly.

Hi,

I'm currently looking into booking a night manta ray dive. I know you liked the dive, but, did you like the company you used. I see that they were not your 1st choice.


Thanks

Hi scott s,
When I was planning the trip, I read mostly about Manta Ray Dives and Jacks Diving Locker as 2 good companies that also took snorkelers. It was a toss up and I chose Manta Ray Dives. Their engine would not be fixed before we had to leave so they hooked us up with Kona Honu Divers-I had never heard of them.

I would go with them again-we were the first boat to the spot and got to do an afternoon snorkel too (most of the other boats just come for the manta ray snorkel). The boat was nice and the crew was fun and friendly.

We were snorkelers, though, with our own snorkel stuff. We were low maintenance and easy to please-really just needing transportation and a wetsuit and flashlight. If you are a diver, you may have other concerns I can't address. Also, I don't know how much the divers paid-for us, this trip was actually 10.00 less than we had planned to pay with Manta Ray dives.

Did you pre-reserve the tours and snorkeling trips or did you book them once you were in Hawaii?

scott s we went diving last November with jacks diving locker we did a padi manta ray speciality certification. Jacks are the only place in the worl that PADI allow to do this cert.the night dive guide Keller is a founder of the pacific Manta ray organisation a charity set up to protect the Mantas www.pacificmanta.org (i Think)
Jacks is an excellent dive company with a strong empasis on safety and enviromental awareness.
when we return to Hawaii this year we will not hesitate to use them again.
check out www.jacksdivinglocker.com loo on the daily logs to see how many mantas the night B4 and there names.

Hi MileKing,
I did reserve the Arnott's Lodge tours before we left (about 2 weeks) because they don't do each tour everyday and we only had 3 days to work with in Hilo.

I also prebooked the Manta snorkel because I really had my heart set on doing it and didn't want to be disappointed!!

I booked the kayak trip and Fairwind tour after we got on the BI.