Welcome to the first Hawaii travel post! I have so much to share that I decided to do things differently than I did with my Italy posts. For each of the three islands we visited, I’m sharing where we stayed and what we did, followed by a separate post about where we ate. I hope you enjoy!
The first stop on our Hawaii adventure was the Island of Hawaii, known as the Big Island. It’s the largest island, hence the name, but also the youngest. Two of the world’s most active volcanoes are on this island, and you can travel between all but four of the world’s different climate zones. There’s so much to see and to do, so we made sure to explore the wonders of nature from air, land and sea.
We flew into Kona and stayed on the west side of the island in an area called Waikoloa, at the Waikoloa Beach Marriott and Spa. It has a large main building with hotel-style rooms, restaurants and shops, and a two-story beachfront building with larger rooms called “hales” (above). We stayed in a hale with a balcony, and it had an absolutely breathtaking sunset view. The room was large and well-updated, and we definitely appreciated being removed from the hustle and bustle of the larger part of the hotel.
There was a pool right in front of the hotel, and a small strip of beach just across a short wooden bridge. We enjoyed spending time at both, but it’s worth noting that the beach is managed by a separate company, so you can’t order food and drinks or reserve chairs through the hotel.
The hotel has one restaurant that is open for all meals, and a coffee shop that’s open in the morning. We grabbed a quick bite to eat and a coffee most mornings, and had breakfast at the restaurant one day. The food was good, but mostly just convenient.
A couple of other notes: Within walking distance of the hotel are two shopping centers, called Kings and Queens, which have quite a few restaurants and shops. Also, if you’re planning to spend time on different parts of the island, I recommend renting a car. We sprung for a convertible on this leg of the trip, and it was totally worth it! One downside was that our hotel charged extra for parking, but we were glad to have the car anyway.
Although we made sure to reserve some time for relaxation, we knew we wanted to see as much of the island as possible. One of the best ways to do this is to take a helicopter tour. I know that the idea of riding in a helicopter is scary for some people (especially considering recent events), but we felt totally safe. After a lot of research, we chose to fly with Paradise Helicopters. They were very good about communicating with us beforehand, and we felt well-taken care of on the day of our tour.
We got lucky with a beautiful, clear day for flying and had very little turbulence. Our helicopter had four other passengers, plus the pilot. Soaring above the island was incredible, and we saw so many examples of nature’s brilliance. We saw lava flows from past volcano eruptions, and flew right around an inactive crater, and through a valley past mountainside waterfalls. Our pilot Matt talked just enough to keep us informed, but not too much that it took away from the experience. We really enjoyed it.
Another day, we went on a snorkeling excursion with a company called Kona Ocean Experience, which I believe I found on TripAdvisor. They offered a morning snorkel with dolphins, which sounded great, so we decided it would be worth the early wake up. Our boat was small, and there were four other passengers. The dolphins are very particular about their routine, and we were trying to be as unobtrusive as possible. So, the first part of the excursion was a little intense. We were already in our wetsuits with our gear on, and we had to jump in at a moment’s notice. Our guide kept yelling at us to keep up withe dolphins’ movements. It was very cool…but it was a lot. After we saw as much of the dolphins as we could, we motored over to Kealakekua Bay to snorkel in the reef there. It was beautiful, but we were pretty exhausted at that point. I would definitely snorkel on Big Island again, but I might opt for something with a bigger boat and a little less time pressure.
After snorkeling, we were already down by Kona, so we decided to check out that area. Kona is a major coffee-producing region and there are quite a few coffee farms that are open to the public. We visited Holualoa Kona Coffee Company to see what the process was like and sample some coffee. We also walked around downtown Kona a bit, had a snack, and popped into a few shops before heading back to our hotel.
Stay tuned for a separate post about where to eat on Big Island, and pin this post for later with the image below!
