We went to Hawaii for 9 days in June.
With our teenage grandkids.
Everyone had a grand time.

Really.

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To be honest, we spent a lot of our time just kicking back, enjoying our nice digs and the beach(es). The two brothers engaged in endless horseplay any time the water was above their ankles. Plenty of fun, but rest assured, these are the only photos that I’m going to show you.

So I’m not writing this post as any kind of comprehensive “this is what Hawaii is like”; in fact, this is only a spot-commentary, a smattering of my impressions of Hawaii’s largest island.

Firstly, I think I have to say that the scenery, while very pleasant, did not knock my socks off. Maybe my expectations were high, or maybe I’ve just seen so much of the really spectacular scenery of the world, I’m not sure. Pretty coastlines, vast lava flows, some nice waterfalls (that were more trickles in June).

Unfortunately, there were no active lava flows on-going, which is something I’d really like to see someday, in person.

Settling for a few nice sunsets was a decent consolation prize.

Secondly, there is a LOT of tourism in Hawaii, and there are simply train-loads of activities, souvenirs, food, and lodgings to be had. There’s never an excuse to be idle — other than simply wanting to chill.

Lastly, the weather alone is worth time spent in Hawaii. Although it can get oppressive at midday in direct sun, in general there’s a feeling of not-hot, not-cold, balmy tropical pleasantness. Shorts and sandals work well, 24/7.

The weather is, in fact, so consistently benign that Kona airport terminal has virtually no walls — it’s all open-air.

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The ISLAND LAYOUT

The Big Island is the largest island, but not huge. It’s around 100+ road miles from either north-to-south or east-to-west, and less than 300 miles to drive all the way around without side trips. It sports three major volcanoes: Mauna Kea in the north, Mauna Loa in the south (both inactive), and Kilauea in the southeast (the active one).

The presence, even dominance in many areas, of massive (old) lava flows is something that shouldn’t be surprising, but it is. I think this is because all of my previous lava experience has been in the desert southwest, and I have come to unconsciously associate lava flows with the desert. But in Hawaii? Well, duh, of course. But the juxtaposition of the huge flows (many miles long) with great expanses of tropical foliage? It’s unique in my experience, and was one of my “takeaways” from the visit.

In this part of the world, the prevailing winds are from the east. This makes the eastern coast tend to be the rougher shoreline, and the western coast is where many of the more expensive tourist resorts are situated.

There’s an international airport on the east side (Hilo) and the west side (Kona). We flew into Kona and stayed in the Waikoloa area, about 20 miles north of the airport. We chose this setup because it seemed to offer the closest “bunching” of the airport, lodging, and activities we wanted.

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The RESORTS

You can get a place to stay for less than $100/night, and you can find them for more than $1000. We opted for a rental condo in the Waikoloa area, wanting a “nice” place but not wanting a horrendous price. For the four of us, we definitely needed two bedrooms, and by the time we calculated the cost of two hotel rooms, the condo (with kitchen, deck, and BBQ) was a clear winner.

In fact, it was especially advantageous at Waikoloa, because the condo rental also included access to the Marriot and Hilton hotel facilities. This gave us pretty much the best of all worlds. For example here’s the lagoon at the Hilton — pretty spiffy, huh?

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CHOPPER RIDE

No, not a Harley ride (but that’s next), a helicopter flight.

Before we arrived, we arranged for a helicopter tour around the island, hoping to be able to see active lava flows that we knew would likely not be visible from any roads that we could drive.

Alas, absolutely no lava was flowing during our visit. And I was surprised to learn from our pilot that he preferred it that way. Apparently, the smoke and fumes from an eruption are such that visibility and air quality plummet for weeks or months at a time. In fact, previous eruptions have caused many individuals to leave otherwise safe areas, simply due to noxious air.

So, our ride provided grand views — of cold lava, and clear, crisp air. We definitely got a fabulous overview of the island, and many sights unachievable from the ground (with any reasonable effort). And I have to say, Paradise Helicopters has an impressive fleet of pristine Jet Rangers — as a private pilot myself, I felt totally comfortable in their care.

Here’s one of the least-accessible sights in the hinterlands: a WW2 bomber crashed airframe. It’s been almost completely recaptured by the jungle, but you can still make out the outline and the wing ribs.

There are waterfalls on the eastern shore or canyons that drop over 2000 vertical feet. Most of these cannot be seen in their entirety from any ground vantage, but our airborne platform allowed us the eagle-eye view (literally).

— close-up of one of the “steps” in the waterfall, a cliff-side pool.

The helicopter dropped us off in a jungle clearing, and we went for a guided hike to some waterfalls. Even in the jungle shade, the hike combined with temperature and humidity to generate a good sweat on everyone.

I was able to coax Bryce to go pose behind the waterfall. It looks benign, but the water is falling 20 feet and has a bit of an impact. Brave lad.

After the jungle hike and swim, we had a picnic lunch, rode out of the jungle along dusty dirt roads in an old military personnel carrier, and then relaxed in an air-conditioned van back to the airport (where we’d left our car).

It was a pretty fine day, and we got to see a whole bunch of island, both from afar and from very close. Like many aviation experiences, we got a grand perspective that would be difficult to achieve any other way.

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MOTORCYCLING

As you might know from earlier posts, I am an avid motorcyclist. However, I had no thoughts at all about riding in Hawaii, until I happened to drive by a motorcycle rental spot, right near our condo. The Big Island Motorcycle Company was just off the access road, and an irresistible temptation.

Being a Japanese-bike rider, I was at first tempted to try out the model(s) that I’ve not had experience with. But I have to confess, I’ve always been curious about Harley’s, had never owned or ridden one of any model, and the shop had several up for rent. I opted for the Sportster, a lightweight and more-nimble mount than the big cruisers which were also available.

The kids were having a fine time commuting between the condo and the beach, and I sneaked away for a half-day to ride the Harley across the island to Hilo and back (about 150 miles total). Since I’d had no plans to ride, I had to borrow all of my protective gear. Ill-fitting at best, but still better than no gear.

[I was astounded at the lassez-faire attitude of most of Hawaii’s bikers, who routinely scoot about in T-shirts, shorts, and even slaps, with no helmet or even eye protection. To each his own, but Sheesh…]

It was an interesting experience, for sure. The Harley was (in my opinion) no match for my own larger, smoother, and more sophisticated adventure bike, a Yamaha Super Tenere. (Harley riders, please spare me the scathing comments <grin>.) But I could definitely appreciate the Harley’s low-end torque, the unique engine sounds, and the tractor-like solidity. And let’s face it, almost any ride on two wheels is a good one.

The ride across the island was an excellent way to see more of the land. It was also a way to get very chilly; the “saddle road” (between the peaks) got down into the 60F range, much cooler than the mid-80’s at the beach, and downright goose-pimply at 60mph with a mesh riding jacket. It made me appreciate what a ride to the Observatory might be like (shiver).

I had a chance to snap a quick shot of a few of the many feral goats that roam here. Two things are surprising: First, they’re seemingly smart enough to dodge traffic; we never saw any goat road-kill. Second, they’re extremely skittish, and quickly ran off when I stopped for a photo. They would not stop running for 100-200 yards. In most locales (in my experience), this means that they get shot at. Don’t know for sure — just sayin’.

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SNORKELING and DIVING

The waters of Hawaii, like most tropical waters, are just superb for snorkeling and diving. There is a vast variety of undersea terrain to be seen, with sandy bottoms interspersed with coral, lava ridges and tubes. At almost any calm beach, visibility is good enough (30’+) for a pleasant view of the local marine life.

I didn’t do more than a casual survey, and I saw maybe a half-dozen diving shops or excursion providers, just in our immediate area.

If you don’t have a diver’s certificate, but have some interest, there are two ways to experience diving as a novice. You can simply go diving — with a certified divemaster — and “see what it’s like”; or you actually take a course and get certified, and thereby earn your own “C-card” to enjoy diving on future days and trips. As a lifetime diver, I don’t have an un-biased opinion about this: Scuba Diving is fabulous, and it’s hard for me to imagine anybody not enjoying it immensely.

DOLPHINS and MANTAS

The height of snorkeling is often achieved by guided expeditions, and our Dolphin-swim and Manta-swim were excellent examples of this. Taking a boat out to the haunts of the animals sought, the guides anchor and let the tourists swim about the area. All with appropriate advisories and precautions of course.

The boys went without us on the Dolphin swim, and we got these pix from the Hawaii Oceanic gallery.

Then later, we all went together on the Manta Dive. It can be booked for snorkelers and/or divers (we did the snorkel trip), and is specifically a night dive. At night, the special lights of the excursion boats attract plankton and krill, and the big manta rays swoop endlessly about, scooping up the bounty.

It’s dark, a little difficult to get perspective, and you MUST stay holding onto the boat’s light platform. Notwithstanding these caveats, it’s an absolutely amazing experience. These giants have 10-14′ wingspans, and will loop through the black water, close enough to brush up against the divers. Not to be missed.

In this shot, the ray is about a foot away from me. The tiny flecks are the krill upon which the massive ray feeds.

Some shots from the divemaster give a better perspective on these giant, magical beasts. Here, you can see the swimmers, right and left, holding onto the light-board. The ray is swimming toward the camera, inches away from the spectators.

The huge mandibles wave, fold, and curl at the whim of the owner…

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MY SHORE DIVE

Hawaii is definitely one of the world’s premier destinations for divers. Fabulous visibility, underwater lava tubes and reefs, an abundance of tropical marine life. Shore dives, boat dives, dive excursions, are all widely available.

But here again, I had not any concrete plans to go diving, because the kids had no interest in it whatsoever (go figure that one). But as the week unfolded, and the kids showed perfect comfort in doing the condo/beach thing, Karin and I stole away for a half-day to to a shore dive with a local divemaster. It had been about 30 years since either of us had mouthed a regulator, and we spent a little time reviewing the basics before venturing out.

 

I was pleased at how comfortable I still found myself in the underwater environment. My breathing and buoyancy control were still spot-on, and my air-consumption still low enough to keep pace with the seasoned divemaster. We swam around the reefs just offshore near Puako, and had a grand time.

Technology has come quite a ways since my previous diving activity. No more Navy dive tables; the new wrist-computers take care of calculating decompression times. And I took all these shots with an inexpensive off-the-shelf Nikon W300 waterproof point-and-shoot camera, good for 100′ depths.

In fact, I’m going to get some more diving done in the near future. Life is too short to put off the great experiences. And I’m going to have to get an underwater light for better colors in my photos. And I’m also going to have to do something about the way my thinning hairline looks totally bald when it’s wet. <Heavy sigh>

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OTHER STUFF

Ziplining — Several providers offer zipline “tours” through various spots. After reviewing the reviews, we opted for the one (Kohala) that had the most forest. It was a good choice, because zooming in between the trees really gave a great sense of both the forest itself, and the speed of zipline motion.

They get you set up really well with safety gear. (I’m the one with the beard.)

This is one of Kohala’s signature runs, two parallel lines going (I think) 800 feet, maybe more. Beautiful run. They had many, many more lines, and it took us well over an hour to traverse the course.

Shopping, Music, etc. — Suffice it to say that where we stayed (Waikoloa), tourism is king, and the amenities are appropriate. Live music in many venues, shops of all ilk, souvenirs, hair and nail care, spas. Grocery stores for us condo types and decent restaurants for the rest.

Kayaking — We had originally reserved a “flume ride”, an excursion which involves kayaking down a historic irrigation ditch. However, as our week progressed, we found ourselves a bit over-booked, and we canceled it. So no first-hand experience to relate, but it did look like an easy, fun ride.

The Observatory — Sorry, didn’t get up there. It’s reputed to be like “another planet” with barren terrain, cold temperatures, and grand views. Gotta go there someday.

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So that’s my scatter-shot view of this Hawaiian island. Lots to see, lots to do, we got to touch some of the high points.

I’ve traveled to a lot of places in the world, but all of my several previous experiences with Hawaii have been on Maui, plus a single dive-day at Molokini — so I cannot present myself as an experienced visitor.

But my sense of the big archipelago at this time is that — in the future — I’ll go visit other islands that I haven’t been to, before I re-visit Maui or the Big Island. That way, eventually I am sure to come up with a favorite.

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