School me on the big island: Hawaii

[Patarero]

Planning a trip for February (yes I know I'm a little behind on the planning). I used the google but want some mag opinions and it is not really snowing anywhere yet so give me some ideas. Items currently on the agenda:
Captain Cook
Volcanos NP
North Kahala coast
(I've done Mauna Kea)
What else?

[Toadman]

Go to Volcano NP. Go at night to check out lava flow. Way cool. Drink some Hawaii coffee. Go to the Kona brewery. Have a few beers, and eat some food. Hang out at the beaches on Kohala Coast. Hapuna, Waialea Beach very good too. Splurge and have dinner at Merriman's in Waimea. Use suntan lotion. Look at the stars. Relax.

[SkiLyft]

They have cracked down on renting kayaks at captain cooks so the hike might be the only way down (unless you take a boat trip there).

Go see the lava flow at Kalapana, it's a once in a lifetime thing and is only a 8ish mile hike. Rent bikes if the hike scares you, bring headlamps and go at dusk!

My parents live there and own a coffee plantation, dad also runs a diving boat. If you don't dive-- no worries he will take you out and let you swim with dolphins or snorkel; super reasonable in terms of cost, mainly does business with locals and not tourists.

2 step has great snorkeling and you will usually run into dolphins ...

Hapuna beach is the typical sandy Hawaii beach you think of but is a nice day trip.

Green sand beach if you rent a jeep

Black sand beach if you like walking on molten sand


Pm me if you want his contact info

[SkiLyft]

Make an appointment for the kona brewery tour... they have solid food options too!

Da Poke Shack...

[hatchgreenchile]

Went in April, here are the highlights

http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...land-of-Hawaii

Volcanos - make sure you see Kilauea at night, get there reasonably early for hiking and it will be very quiet, crowds are very concentrated. The recent flows don't look too impressive (excellent breakdown on the NPS HVNP site), but the summit lava lake is very close to the top of the crater, should be glowing pretty bright at night.

Kona - Kona Brewery has all sorts of goods! Kahalu'u beach has excellent snorkeling, but we really enjoyed the Kukio/ Kikaua Point area north of the airport, nice quieter beach, lots of sea turtles around.

[frosted flakes]

I highly recommend doing a night snorkel with manta rays. Really cool experience. I think you can scuba dive with them too if you'd rather do that.

[phatty]

I highly recommend doing a night snorkel with manta rays. Really cool experience. I think you can scuba dive with them too if you'd rather do that.

2nd this. My wife and I did the snorkel before we got certified. There were 28 rays the night we were there and it was one of the coolest things I've ever done.

[zeroforhire]

Go out on the snorkel tour with the guys from Jacks Dive Locker. Make sure you go with Keller. He is the best. There is a really good bakery down on the south end of the island. It's worth the drive from Kona. Awesome island.

[zeroforhire]

It's a massive place. Be prepared to spend a lot of time in the car.

[WTF is dat]

Captain cook is great !! If you are in that area though you should totally snorkel at 2 step. It's right by captain cook and offers equally fantastic snorkeling with the added benefit of spinner dolphins (sometimes.) & maybe less tourists?

Good cheap Japanese food at Tagawa near Kona. Very old school Hawaii.


Merrimans for an upscale evening... a little expensive, but DO IT!!

For an easy and short (2 miles round trip) hike, if you are on the west side of the island, hit the Pololu valley lookout trail. Beautiful scenery and leads to a nice black sand beach with rough surf. Also a great view of the valley from the top.

Bamboo in Hawi is good food if you do the pololu valley hike.



Also, check out the waipio valley... duh.


And rainbow / akkaka falls if you hit the Hilo side

[WTF is dat]

They have cracked down on renting kayaks at captain cooks so the hike might be the only way down (unless you take a boat trip there).

Go see the lava flow at Kalapana, it's a once in a lifetime thing and is only a 8ish mile hike. Rent bikes if the hike scares you, bring headlamps and go at dusk!

My parents live there and own a coffee plantation, dad also runs a diving boat. If you don't dive-- no worries he will take you out and let you swim with dolphins or snorkel; super reasonable in terms of cost, mainly does business with locals and not tourists.

2 step has great snorkeling and you will usually run into dolphins ...

Hapuna beach is the typical sandy Hawaii beach you think of but is a nice day trip.

Green sand beach if you rent a jeep

Black sand beach if you like walking on molten sand


Pm me if you want his contact info

X2 on this post... you hit pretty much everything I posted.


I should have read the thread first lol

[Bobby Stainless]

Manago Hotel Restaurant. Fish sliders.



82-6155 Mamalahoa Hwy, Captain Cook, HI 96704

[Marshall Tucker]

Merrimans for an upscale evening...
the waipio valley

in 1990(!) my wife was raging in sales at her co, won president's club, spent three nights at the then Mana-lani (ritz, spelling). We were from the Southeast, pre-inner-net, we dint know shit. By sheer dumb luck we spent two nights at the Waipio Rim B&B with dinner at merrimans (they had just left the mani-lani or how ever it's spelled).

For a view, I've seen a few things in the 25+ years sense, but the view outside that B&B...by far...deserted black sand beach, canyon, google earth does a pretty good job, take a look, gives you the view from the valley floor as well. The owner/operator back then, guy greeted us with a massive dube. Bingo the wonder dog.

you'll need a 4wd jeep.

[irul&ublo]

Buy this:

[half-fast]

Mauna Kea. Check out the observatories. Last time I was there you could schedule tours at the welcome center at 9600'.

[fatnslow]

Check out this previous thread. http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...ig+island+beta
Makalauena was awesome( my favorite part of the trip along with capt cook) but bring some shade and go early.
We hiked down to Captain Cooks and had a late lunch at Rebel's Kitchen , pretty awesome local place about 10 minutes away, right next to a candy store called Donkey Balls. http://www.rebelkitchen.com/

If you need a cheap rental car and don't mind a 10- year old car these guys are awesome. They pick you up at the airport with the car(both Kona and Hilo) then you drop the car off in the airport parking lot when you head home and text them the location.
http://www.hiloautosalesandrentals.com/


My wife wants to live by the Big Island Guide book butin my opinion it has about 75% fail rate due to most places that are starred on their get freaking packed with fanny pack wearing tourists.

[fatnslow]

Love that place! Attachment 192774

If they tell you the beach parking lot is full tell the guard you're dropping off the family and head down. You'll probably get lucky and spot someone leaving.

[MakersTeleMark]

If they tell you the beach parking lot is full tell the guard you're dropping off the family and head down. You'll probably get lucky and spot someone leaving.

A-basin tactics.

[Platinum Pete]

Buy this:

This book is necessary - it's the go-to for everybody.

A couple highlights from my trip last year:
- a tiny snorkeling spot about 40 minutes north of Kona called Kapa'a, it's just a little park with an easy rocky entry into the water but the snorkelling was unreal. So many more fish than any other snorkel spot we visited, a few big turtles that were very chill, and only 2 other humans in the vicinity.
- Da Poke Shack is a must. Another great locals spot is Broke da Mouf Gridz, more Filipino influenced but very good and close to Kona Brewing.
- Night diving with manta rays was really rad. I did the 2 dive trip, one daylight dive down to ~80 feet in nice warm water and a second dive at night with a bunch of humongous gorgeous mantas. We used Kona Dive Co and they were very good, they will take beginners and will do a snorkel experience for folks not diving.

We stayed across the street from Kahaluu beach park and enjoyed daily snorkels there with the turtles. We didn't spend much time in town, but every time we tried we found it to be super touristy and not very interesting.

[PNWbrit]

Search function.

http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...tions-for-June

http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...a-shot-at-fish

http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...-minded-people

http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...ecommendations

Basically just stay away from the resorts.

Have fun

[TAFKALVS]

Go to Hawi. Hike the Pololu Valley. Go to Sushi Rock afterwards. Order the Bombay Sunset roll.

[Rip'nStick]

It's a massive place. Be prepared to spend a lot of time in the car.

Tons of good suggestions so I just want to reiterate this. If you have been to Maui, Oahu, Kauai you may be used to just popping over to the other side of the island for a day trip then heading back. Depending on your time, I would recommend the dry side for typical Hawaiian Island experience, but book some time on wet side with a hotel or B&B. Much more pleasant and real experience then driving back over the Saddle Road. You can do day trips up and down East side from Kona and likewise from Hilo but you can't experience the other side in a day.

Regarding vehicle, I liked having soft top jeep because driving and bouldering to better beaches is part of the fun but leave the top off and take everything with you. If you want to relax and leave stuff in the car another vehicle maybe better. I only got stink eye at one village, South East side, don't remember name, but no big deal, just load up and go somewhere else. It will be obvious. Don't take offense.

B&Bs can be great fro local knowledge and culture. Near Hilo I found a place rented out by a woman who was in her 80s I think, been there since the 1950s before commercial aircraft were really a thing for the masses, married to some cattle baron, talked every night about old Hawaii. She seemed like she had led an interesting life. Her Chinese friend survived one of the Hilo tsunamis by running, but lost many friends and family. He would come over every night and on third day offered to take us around for the day. Many cool sights, places and insights I am not sure I am at liberty to say.

You'll have a blast.

[fatnslow]

A-basin tactics.

old ski instructor running late to work daily trick. even better when get old and have kids.

[Patarero]

Alright, which one of you mags put the skibowl sticker here?

[Patarero]

Alright, which one of you mags put the skibowl sticker here?

Better image