Lava hot thanks to all the Fodorites on this forum and beyond for their comments and wisdom which greatly contributed to the success of our trip last month. I've never written a TR, a bit nervous so please bear with me.

We spent 5 nights in Hilo and 3 in Keauhou south of Kona. We don't mind the rain, hence the title, we don't snorkel, surf nor dive. We didn't stay in high-end resorts and dine at fine establishments. Yet we had a fabulous time.

ARRIVAL/DEPARTURE: Aloha winter special 1/2 price tickets $398 per person tax & fee included were booked in October. From OAK there was 1.5 hours stopover in Honolulu where I called MelissaHI to wish her happy Luna new year. You get a warm croisant with egg snack on the plane. 2nd leg of flight to Hilo was only 45 minutes, the rental car desks were right across the street from the small airport.

Return trip from Kona to OAK was non-stop with a small italian salumi cold cut sandwich and fruit bar. We took carryons only but one of them was over the 20 lb limit on the return trip so it had to be checked, and was misplaced when we got to OAK. Somehow it went to Honolulu and was rerouted and delivered to our home the 2nd day.

WEATHER & DRIVING: Daytime was 80 degrees and nighttime was 10-12 degrees cooler. It rained daily, the pattern was an hour in the morning, an hour or 2 at night, and 2-3 around 15 minute showeres in between. The sun comes out and dries everything including us very fast os it was no bother at all.

Big Island IS big, don't be fooled by the distances in miles even on the highways, the speed is around 35-45 so plan twice the driving time even if it's only a few miles.

LODGING: We pack light/simple and live out of our bags so didn't mind moving around.

The Bay House -- This is the only ocean front B&B in Hilo, 5 minutes walk across the Singing Bridge to downtown. $125/night reserved in Oct, so popular we couldn't get 2 more nights. Believe the rates have gone up this year. The 3 rooms were spacious, spotless, comfy king beds,large sofa, new teak and bamboo furniture and lovely decor with the owners special touches. Regular size bathroom with toiletries and hairdryer, large, private lanai 25' from the water. Breakfast was coffee, tea and several kinds of fruit juices, cereal, yogurt, hard boiled eggs and banana bread. Fresh fruit was nicely presented, such as halved guava filled with pineapple cubes. Each guest had a tray with china, silver and linen you take back to the lanai.

The hosts were charming and delightful, eager to please yet non-intrusive. They gave tips and recommendations, helped everyone feel comfortable even providing flashlights, umbrellas and beach towels for guests use. Their thoughtfulness included earplugs in each room. We didn't mind the non-native frogs croaking all night, with the pounding of the surf, they sounded more like birds.

Since we couldn't tip, we gave them a small gift we had bought in Shanghai.

Hilo Hawaiin -- It's thought of as the best in Hilo, but it's really a stretch to call it a hotel, everything is dated but decent with nice grounds. $139 we got a full ocean front view room with no breakfast, except for sleeping, we spent our limited time there on the lanai or in the garden.

The Outrigger Keauhou Beach Resort -- Not lux yet lovely. You see the green sea turtles in the tide pools and on the lava rocks from the lounge. The grounds have gorgeous flowers and tiny mongooses dashing around. The beach next door has more turtles swimming or sunning themselves. $169 for a partial ocean room included a buffet with hot dishes. The best feature was lying in the hammocks in the garden gazing at the stars, tre romantic.

FOOD: Hilo --

Cafe Pesto in Hilo is casual with delicious food, get a window table facing the ocean. DH had raosted chicken with risotto, I had stromboli stuffed with ono and crispy calamari on the same plate, yum.

Hilo Bay Cafe is in a shopping center, nice food, lousy service; the few wait staff were tending to too many tables.
Emerald Orchid opened in January, food, service and ambience with live music was excellent. DH and I both had Ono (again) in ginger/blackbean sauce over parmesan risotto, unusual combo yet very tasty.

Coconut Grill was average. Don's Grill is in a residential area a few blocks from downtown where the locals go, very crowded but quick turnaround, had loco moco and apple lumpia with vanilla ice cream, cheap and good. You have to stop at Ken's Pancakes for the breakfast, the mac nut pancakes are one of a kind. O'Keefes Bakery has great bread and sandwiches to go, Bear's Coffee is strong according to DH, the place reminded him of Berkeley in the 60s.

Puna -- If you hike the lava fields at the end of #137, Vern's in Kalapana has sandwiches, rice plates and loco moco (I ate it again)

Na'alehu -- The southernmost bakery in the US Punalu'u Bake Shop is worth a stop, it has a deli and the sweetbread is truly the finest in Hawaii.

Keauhou -- Royal Thai Cafe is in the large shopping center on the hill, their signature dish pineapple fried rice in 1/2 a pineapple is the best we've ate. We also had the crispy duck, and prawns with pepper sauce, all nice. Next door is Peaberry & Galette, had an avacado/bacon/sour cream hot open face crepe, it was so good. DH liked his french salad too.

Altho the buffet at the Outrigger Keauhou was fine, the dinner at the Terrace was our worst experience. The soup and entree came at the same time with no soup spoon. When asked, the spoon came after 10 minutes and it was filthy. I called the manager over and she took another 10 minutes to find a clean spoon. By this time the soup and entree were both cold and she did not offer a kind word. Worst was the soup tasted like canned, and the black cod had no flavor.

Most enjoyable was our last dinner at Kai in the Sheraton, everything was first class. Linguini with prawns and lobster scampi ($29) could rival any big city high-end restaurant, and the white choc & lilikoi mousse cake sent us to heaven.

Great report Shanghainese!

The Bay House sounds wonderful! Did you get to see the lava flow?

One of these days!!!!

Sistalou: Thanks for the encouragement, you are always kind. Had a busy day, will continue later with the activities. Stay tuned and sweet dreams!

Shang,
Great trip report! Thanks for reviews of the Outrigger. Sounds like a good deal. Next year maybe? Mahalo!
Bill

I'm enjoying your report too and am relieved to hear about the weather.

Great report so far, love the details! Hmmmmm 2 loco mocos so far....glad you walked a lot!

Shang, we're waiting for more. Sounds like you did some pretty fine dining to me. Lilikoi and white chocolate would send me right to heaven too!

Kal mentioned photos the other day on some thread. You have some to show us?

i'2

April: That was for 5 days, I can't vouch for the other 300 days!I didn't bother us becuase it was warm, don't know if we'd be singing if it was cold.

Mel: Ok, 3 loco moco's in 8 days, the last one was at breakfast. I don't believe it's worse than a 3-egg omlette with portuguese sausage and hash browns which I saw many people eat.

iceeu2: I sent a couple of pix as an e-mail attachment to Fodorites I have gtg'd. I'm tech-illiterate, I'll ask Kal how to show and tell.

Kal: I meant you're much better looking than Pitt, DH agrees too.

K9 Konfession: I've never had a loco moco, not that I havent found one or two vedy attractive.

sistahloulou,

K9 kompany for your konfession. Me neither. It is a "yet".

pila

SIGHTS & SITES: We decided to be like turtles and take our time enjoying the sights/sites and talk to locals.

The Hawaii Volcanoes National Park -- 45 minutes from Hilo, it's huge and can take a week. After the visitor center, we walked across the street in the rain to the Volcano House. Go past the kitchen to the back patio and there is a panoramic view of the enormous Kilauea Caldera, felt like looking into the Grand Canyon. We drove clock-wise and the Thurston Lava Tube was only 4 miles away in a rain forest. Very cool to walk thru the lit part. Then drove the 36-mile round trip Chain of Craters Road from 3,700 feet high to sea level, DH stops at every crater and lookout so it took us much longer to reach the end of the road, where more than 150 cars were parked. We did not plan to hike to see the lava flow at night, came back up to the crater and finished the Rim Drive. The vastness and diversity are truly mind boggling.

Waipio Valley -- Also known as the Valley of the Kings is 1.5 hours north of Hilo. We booked the mule drawn wagon tour which runs 4 times a day for 1.5 hours each. Our driver Bright Eyes (Aka Maka) is 1 of 50 who live in the valley, built the wagon, and was so knowledgable and animated about the valley. She picked us up in an old front-wheel drive van for the mile-long one-lane dirt road drive down into the valley, and we switched to the wagon. Had front row seats as we were the only passengers in the rain. The wagon forded several streams, passed verdant fields of taro with new discoveries of flowers, birds and animals at every turn. We ran into a group of wild horses, smaller than the ones on the mainland. We also saw the waterfall which only appears when it rains. Maka Aka lead us to a grove of mac trees and showed us how to crack open the double shells and get to the flesh. Raw mac nut meat tastes like coconut. She also gave us a pomello to celebrate the luna new year. On the 30 degree way up, we saw young people splayed by the road side out of breath so evaluate oneself before hiking down.

RANT: We booked thru Dave at Hawaii-Fun who has a $10 discount, we asked for a confirmation. Called daily, talked to him in person for a week and didn't get one. Called the wagon tour directly, they honored the discount. Dave's confirmation arrived after we left for HI with the trip time wrong and no mention of the rate. No good.

Waterfalls -- Rainbow, Pepe are Boiling Pots a few miles from downtown Hilo, quite pretty. Onomea in the botanical garden was a surprise to see. The multi-level Umauma is in the World Gardens. On #19 if you peak mountain side in the rain you can spot many falls. The grandest is Akaka, walk counterclock wise so you view the smaller Kahuna before you get to Akaka. We were so lucky to see a rainbow there.

Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden -- 7 miles north of Hilo, it's a gorgeous and fascinating place, we spent over 2 hours there in the rain, they provide umbrellas at the ticket desk. An elevated boardwalk and trails take you downhill amid different environments, from towering ferns and palms, exotic flowers to rare and endangered species. All the 2,000 species are labeled.

Downtown Hilo -- Farmers market on Tuesday and Saturday was eye opening, produce is so inexpensive. We tried for the 1st time rambutan, tasted like lychee. Tsunami Museum is extremely well set up, you learn that the media usually doesn't know what they are talking about due to lack of scientific knowledge. Coconut Island was closed for renovations, Liluokalani Gardens is japanese style next to the ocean, pretty and serene. Banyan Drive is HIlo's living hall of fame, there are 50 trees planted by Franklin Roosevelt, Babe Ruth, Amelia Earhart and others. Big Island Candies is a fun place for adults and children, we;ve only had plain short bread before, here there are more than 2 dozen types with nuts and choc-dipped.

Pana-Ewa Rainforest Zoo - 15 minutes from Hilo on #11 to the Volcano, it's free and in a rain forest. The peacocks stoll around on the grounds. There is a white Bengal tiger that looks at home in Hawaii.

matnistym and Puna: We drove #130 to the cute town of Pahoa to meet fellow Fodorite matnistym. He was born in the California city we live in now, and has been in HI for 15 years. He likes it there, visits the mainland and treks in Africa annually. A really nice guy in every way. Since he was busy at work, he helped us with more tips and we went on our way hoping to gtg again soon. We drove down #130 past the painted church to the end of the road, which is at the other side of the end of Chain of Craters Road. We were hesitant to hike on private property so went 1/2 mile to where Kalapana was buried from the previous lava flow and had lunch at Vern's. We hiked a mile over the lava to the black sand Kahena Beach. Locals gave us coconuts to plant in the sand, the surf was pounding and the verocious hot winds almost blew us over. It was a stunning area and unforgettable experience. Locals also told us if we stayed till dark, we will see the same lava flow coming down into the ocean. A guy offered to take us out in his fishing boat at night, no thanks. Then we drove the up/down wavy #137 along the ocean, the scenery was beautiful. Somehow missed the hot pools, made a turn before Kapoho onto #132 and visited the Lava Tree park.

Panalu'u Black Sand Beach -- We took the southern route #11 and the pretty beach is right at the turnoff, no hiking needed. Green sea turtles were everywhere, in the water and on the sand. It is good luck to see them, bad luck to let your shadow fall on them. A $10,000 if you touch them since they have no immune system.

Place of Refuge -- There are 2 parts of Pu'uhonua o Honaunau. You enter into the royal grounds first in a sheltered bay which was the former home of Kona royalty. They choose the right place with more turtles in sight. Beyond the big stone wall is the former sanctuary for defeated warriors and the disadvantaged. The picnic section to the south is amazing, black lava over white sand all the way to the blue ocean.

Seahorse Farm: Last exit towards the ocean south of the Kona airport. It is the only seahorse farm in the US and 1st in the world, only a year old. Did you know seahorses mate for life and the male carry the babies? We scrubbed our hands/arms, fed and held the seahorses, they think your fingers are coral and curl their tails around them. It was magical!

We sighted whales on thea horizon from our Outrigger Keauhou hotel grounds. Also saw manta rays frolicking in the waves at night from the large terrace of the Sheraton Hotel.

Town of Kona was not our cup of coffee, very commercial and crowded with thousands of cruise ship passengers rushing around, glad we didn't stay at the hotels there. We didn't get to explore Waimea, Hawi, Pololu Valley and the Kohala area. Next time we hope.

Mahalo for reading and Aloha!

Shangy.... Tutto bene!!!!

As for Loco Mocos Mels and I may have had enuff for all of you LoMo Virgins.

Super report, so well organized! Thanks.

That's our gal!

Your report on downtown Hilo is very accurate, it's probably what I would have said if I had ever thought to write it down! Did you get to try the huge avocados, passion fruit, or the strawberry papayas from the farmer's market? I am a big fan of rambutan, too!

OK three loco mocos....hmmmm....actually, you are right, it's probably in the same league as the portuguese sausage and eggs with fried rice!!! Another breakfast of champions.

How much did it cost to visit the seahorse farm? I've seen it on TV but never thought to visit.

Mels...you BETTER start writing deez 'tings down, yah? ;-)

hahahaaaaaa......you know me, Kal, I don't journal Hawaii stuff! That's for you all to discover.........

Mels,
I just take pix now. Can't read my notes when I come to...I mean wake up, anymore.

My first LoMo was made with Buffalo meat.

Reading reports like Shangy's ALMOST makes we wanna NOT go to Kauai for the whole HI vacation.8-)