Big island, Hawaii

[seagullsslimjim]

Pearl Harbour worth doing and the coastal drive along the east and up to the north shore. Went in a shark cage and saw a hefty tiger shark and then did a stunt glider flight at the small airport.

Stayed in Waikiki and went to the gun club there - shot 6 different firearms

Finally topped off with a light aircraft flight over 6 of the islands and each one different.

So plenty to do !

 

[Deleted User X18H]

Went Oahu in 93. Never made Big Island helicopter trip cancelled due to weather didn't re-book. Great experience went in March don't be fooled sunstroke 1st day.

 

[Ⓩ-Ⓐ-Ⓜ-Ⓞ-Ⓡ-Ⓐ]

I used to live in Honolulu, and have visited the big island a couple of times.

I'd recommend a visit to Waipi'o Valley and Waimanu Valley for spectacular scenery and also Pahoa for a fairly quant little Hawaiian town with some good restaurants. I'd also recommend heading up to Mauna Kea - it feels like you're driving along the moon. Not sure when you're visiting but there's snow up there from around October - April. You can snowboard and surf within hours!

 

[Ken Livingstone Seagull]

Thanks all for your replies. Yup, we are staying on the west side (Kona), looking forward to exploring the national park and volcano, and relaxing on the beach. How easy is inter island travel once we are there? I.e if we just fancy popping over to another island? Is it expensive? Also, want to do a luau, any recommendations?

Finally, we will have time to burn on the west coast USA (will be there for 3 months in total), any destinations recommended for a drive north from l.a. (We've done San Diego and Vegas before) We will deffo be going to the Bay Area, but wondering if other have any more must sees?

Only one major airline (Hawaiian) has jet service to the larger islands (BI, Maui, Oahu, Kauai). They are regular (about hourly) and 737s . Island Air is a prop jet airline with 50 or 60 seaters, less frequent. To get to Molokai or Lanai you'll need to fly Mokulele, scary planes, 10-12 pax. Most Hawaiian flights go through Oahu as the hub, but some direct flights from Kona to Maui. Fares are about $75 each way, usually no need to book much in advance but fares tend to go up the later you leave it if flights filling up. Hawaiian is an excellent airline, best service and planes to the W Coast (free meal, free wine, new planes, amusing/clever pre-flight instruction video).

Best Luau on Maui is the Old Lahaina Luau: authentic, award winning, great location etc. etc.

On Cali W. Coast drive up Route 1 (Pacific Coast Highway -- PCH to those in the know -- from LA (past Venice Beach, Santa Monica, north through Santa Barbara and Big Sur to San Fran.) Detours to Malibu, Getty Museum, Hearst Castle @ San Simeon, Monterey, Half Moon Bay. Stay the night at Big Sur (book ahead). Just a bit south of LA on PCH is Manhattan Beach. Well worth a look-see and I recommend The Kettle -- great beer list, good menu, close to beach, award winning.

From San Fran, be sure to drive up through Napa or Sonoma Valley, stop @ the wineries, then hot springs at Calistoga. Have fun and be sure to also sample the multitude of local craft beers all over the place. In Hawaii, Maui Brewing Company has some awesome brews.
KLS

 

[Ken Livingstone Seagull]

I used to live in Honolulu, and have visited the big island a couple of times.

I'd recommend a visit to Waipi'o Valley and Waimanu Valley for spectacular scenery and also Pahoa for a fairly quant little Hawaiian town with some good restaurants. I'd also recommend heading up to Mauna Kea - it feels like you're driving along the moon. Not sure when you're visiting but there's snow up there from around October - April. You can snowboard and surf within hours!

Expect you know this but last year Pahoa came within a few hundred yards of being incinerated by one of the many new lava flows from Kilauea. The coast road from Hilo to the SW was closed many years ago by lava flows heading south to the ocean

 

[Shuggie]

Thanks all for your replies. Yup, we are staying on the west side (Kona), looking forward to exploring the national park and volcano, and relaxing on the beach. How easy is inter island travel once we are there? I.e if we just fancy popping over to another island? Is it expensive? Also, want to do a luau, any recommendations?

Finally, we will have time to burn on the west coast USA (will be there for 3 months in total), any destinations recommended for a drive north from l.a. (We've done San Diego and Vegas before) We will deffo be going to the Bay Area, but wondering if other have any more must sees?

Head North out of San Francisco across Golden Gate bridge
- through the wine areas (Napa/Sonoma etc)
- keep going North up the coast (Mendocino)
- definitely do the Avenue of the Giants (Giant Redwoods ... amazing place)
- keep going up the coast into Oregon
- stop at Ashland if you like theatre (Oregon Shakespeare festival is quite a thing and runs for several months)
- Great Crater Lake national park
- Reno / Lake Tahoe
- back down towards Sacramento (gold rush country)
- San Francisco
About 1,200 miles.

Possible extension
- keep going North from Ashland (see above)
- up Oregon Coast
- along Colombia river gorge
- up past Mount Hood into high desert
- white water rafting for softies on Deschutes river
- up to Seattle (Boeing plant, Puget Sound, Orca watching)
- back down to Portland
- through the Cascades
- pick up above at Great Crater Lake
about 1,200 mile additional

If you're at a bit of a loose end for another two or three weeks:
- picking up from Bryce Canyon ..
- keep going into UTAH taking in Arches and Zion national parks
- Salt Lake City (try and take in Tabernacle Choir)
- up through Idaho
- Yellowstone (the bears, buffalo and geysers really are amazing. If Yosemite is your sort of thing you really will fall in love with Yellowstone)
- leave over Beartooth Pass into Montana
- across prairies taking in Little Bighorn
- more prairies to South Dakota / Mount Rushmore
- down through Nebraska to pick up Oregon trail around Scotts Bluff (think wagon trains)
- head West to Cheyenne/Fort Laramie
- down into Colorado via Fort Collins, Denver
- back over the Rockies towards SLC or West Coast
say 1,500 miles

The mileages exclude pottering which tends to add about 20% to the total distance
You haven't mentioned Death Valley - I'd say it's a must if you haven't got it on your schedule
Agree with your decision to stay away from this part of the world ... not much apart from beaches, sunshine and traffic

The West Coast is a fabulous part of the world. IMHO it gets better the further North you get from LA, Big Sur, San Francisco etc.

I've put those together off the top of my head but feel free to PM me if you want to explore any of them in more detail.

Have a great time!

 

[elninobonito]

Expect you know this but last year Pahoa came within a few hundred yards of being incinerated by one of the many new lava flows from Kilauea. The coast road from Hilo to the SW was closed many years ago by lava flows heading south to the ocean

I thought id use the thread for some own knowledge...

Heading out to the Islands 7th May (yes, I know) for work so do you have recommendations for bars in Kauai and Hawaii Island for the playoff semis please If we are in the playoffs)

 

[Ken Livingstone Seagull]

I thought id use the thread for some own knowledge...

Heading out to the Islands 7th May (yes, I know) for work so do you have recommendations for bars in Kauai and Hawaii Island for the playoff semis please If we are in the playoffs)

Maui, yes; also Honolulu, but rarely feel the urge to leave Maui it's that awesome. Also there's something about hammocks and mai tais that cause a certain degree of inertia. So I'm no help for Kauai or BI I'm afraid.

 

[the slow norris]

Picking up on this thread...

Have now been in the states for 2.5 weeks, in which time we have been to the Grand Canyon (jaw dropping and terrifying at the same time), Zion (picture perfect) and Bryce Canyon. Now on the big island (Hawaii) and have today taken a helicopter over the lava flows out of Hilo. What a place this is, the island is amazing, sunsets, waterfalls, mai taus, mountains, I'm struggling to comprehend the beauty and power of what I've seen in the last few weeks! Thanks everyone for all the advice, I'm having a ball, off up Mauna Kea tomorrow evening to see the Milky Way (as long as the red car and the blue car don't cause a nuisance). Mahalo and aloha.

 

[GloryDays]

Ex-Brighton Maui lad here, reporting from the humble hammock outside the grass hut.

You can see our volcano (Haleakala) from the Big Island (BI as we locals call it) but ours isn't as big as yours. BI is well named cuz its huge compared to all the other Hawaii islands.

Kemp is correct about Molokai -- the essence of "old time" Hawaii, no traffic lights, pace of life delightfully slow. But they're mules, not ponies, and (pedant alert) lepers not lepas, and although the former sufferers of Hansens Disease (as leprosy has since been rebranded) are no more, the colony still has a population of about 85. It's in an isolated and totally stunning location on a promontory below the highest sea cliffs in the world.

Maui also worth a couple of days at least -- Road to Hana, Haleakala, historic Lahaina (former whaling capital of the world) and beaches galore.

On the BI, Hilo side (East) is wet as a very wet wetness, and Kona side (West) is dry but polluted by the volcanic haze that is really thick and been going on since the 80s. (The volcano nearby is still slowly erupting). If you have any respiratory probs, stay to the east. Waimea is a cowboy town (Parker Ranch is the 3rd largest in the USA). Volcano Nat Park is a must, beaches on Kona side, Kohala up north.

Finally: hope you like mai tais. They are the lifeblood and a must. But be warned, you may never return. Ping me when there if you need further suggestions. Have fun.

I was just on Maui for a week with work. Interesting place. Haleakala was pretty special, especially for sun rise. Make sure you fill up on petrol though before you start driving up. One of the div's in the video team didn't do that with hilarious consequences (for everyone else except him).

Is it true that Happy Valley is really dangerous or was that some kind of in-joke we missed?

 

[Triggaaar]

No tips, but I'd like to call you a lucky ****er.

Lucky ****er.

Surely you just mean ****?

He's a ****ing ****.

Fair enough asking for advice, but no need to rub our noses in it.

 

[Shuggie]

Surely you just mean ****?

He's a ****ing ****.

Fair enough asking for advice, but no need to rub our noses in it.

I'd like to call you a jealous ****

Surely I just mean **** ?

 

[Triggaaar]

I'd like to call you a jealous ****

Definitely.

Surely I just mean **** ?

Maybe.

 

[Rambo]

I loved Hawaii, we stayed on Oahu but visited the Big Island. The volcano tour is great, and the scenery quite spectacular. Like was said earlier, take your rain coat as it rains a LOT on the Big Island, but its nice and warm.

Check out some of the black beaches on the eastern side, and the Macadamia nut factory is worth a visit too, just for the ice cream.

Have fun, I am well jealous too!

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

Haven't been to Big Island, but Molokai is well worth a visit !
Pony trek down the highest sea cliffs in the world into an old lepa colony !

Yup, you're really selling this!

 

[Raphael Meade]

Lovely spot, have a great time!

As people have said, west side is very hot and sunny, east side is pretty wet. Stayed recently at the Four Seasons on the west side and didn't want to leave to do anything as it was so sunny and perfect.

Would definitely suggest though -

Go up the volcano
Hike in the Waipi'o Valley (or drive to the edge and look at waterfall from the lookout point)
Beach 69 - west of the island, great (and quite secluded/quiet) beach
If you're in Waimea, the innovatively named 'Hawaiian Style Cafe' is a great breakfast spot
If you play golf, the course at the Four Seasons (Hualalai) is Jack Nicklaus designed/very highly ranked and a lot of fun

Otherwise i'd sit on the beach/at the pool and do absolutely nothing!

 

[Ken Livingstone Seagull]

I was just on Maui for a week with work. Interesting place. Haleakala was pretty special, especially for sun rise. Make sure you fill up on petrol though before you start driving up. One of the div's in the video team didn't do that with hilarious consequences (for everyone else except him).

Is it true that Happy Valley is really dangerous or was that some kind of in-joke we missed?

Happy Valley is what we like to euphemistically call "local". That's code for "dodgy". But I wouldn't say really dangerous. Just potentially dangerous if you have the wrong attitude or start slagging off the place or the locals in the street. There is a strong sense of brotherhood (braddah-hood) and change/any attempt at gentrification is not exactly embraced.

 

[GloryDays]

Happy Valley is what we like to euphemistically call "local". That's code for "dodgy". But I wouldn't say really dangerous. Just potentially dangerous if you have the wrong attitude or start slagging off the place or the locals in the street. There is a strong sense of brotherhood (braddah-hood) and change/any attempt at gentrification is not exactly embraced.

I see. So might have been worth a visit. The guide book said that "if you find yourself there in error then don't panic and turn around at the earliest opportunity"...haha. What a ridiculous thing to say. Anyway, thanks for the info. Nice avatar!