Sounds better than what Hank Hill experienced.
+1 for any “extended” trip you might take. Would suggest having “day 3” as one of these flex days. The other being day 5, 6, or 7.
A small addendum to my swim with dolphins story…
For comparison, I have been to the Grand Cayman twice and each time we did a swim with stingray experience. That was 100 times better and I highly recommend it if you ever get to the Caymans. They take you out in the ocean where a shallow sandbar is, and the wild stingrays hang out there because they know they’ll get fed. They seem to genuinely enjoy interacting with people, or at least enjoy getting hand fed fish.
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Wife and I would drive all over and would stop at every scenic overlook.
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Do you mean that this is what you would do if you ever visited Hawaii?
…or do you mean this is what you did do when you visited one of the Hawaiian islands?
Is there a nice map/source of “every scenic overlook” in HI?
Yeah…wife and I will probably only pack carry-ons & given the restrictions on “liquids” are planning on buying sunscreen in HI.
I also spent around a week in Kauai and had a great time.
It’s not the size of the island
Would you recommend booking that early? …as in right now? …or wait until we get there & perhaps the nice people at Hilton will gladly over charge us for their referral? Do you have any suggestions as to specifically which sunset dinner cruise?
Always good advice.
I’m making a first, quick trip to Hawaii this summer, staying in a generic chain hotel, not a resort.
Is it safe to assume that sunscreen is trivially easy to come by (i.e., probably for sale among the sundries at the hotel)? While I have sourced TSA-compliant-sized bottles of sunscreen, and I’d prefer not to have to go shopping (maximize my limited free time, and minimizing stress of finding something in an unfamiliar area)…I wouldn’t hate having one less thing to transport.
Also, is the reef-safeness of sunscreen only a concern if going in the water (I won’t be)?
Yes, sunscreen is widely available but at a higher cost
We did, but it was more of a random, “Oh, look a sign” type thing
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Nope. You’re already overthinking it.
I don’t know what’s available, but there should be loads of options. Personally, I don’t like to be too scheduled before I go, because I’m more spontaneous and I like to get away from “the best of the best” that everyone else is going to. It feels more authentic if I ask the dude in the bodega where’s a good hiking spot than if I find the same Google Page 1 article about “ten best hiking spots” that’s actually the start of a sales funnel for a tour company.
We didn’t do anything quite like this on the big island, but we went to Maui twice and booked everything the day before or same day. We did a boat ride for snorkeling, a private plane, submarine, the ocean center (aquarium), maybe some other stuff. Now that I think about it, we may have needed more like two days’ notice for the private plane ride.
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Reminds me of something: @serena, you still have that video of your snorkel trip in Maui? I’d like to pass it on to my nephew, as well as anyone else in my family who’d like to see it.
My wife enjoyed the snorkeling. Wasn’t for me, but enjoyed just laying out on the boat and reading
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Yes.
And yes, it’s available everywhere.
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That would mean I’d have to talk to someone. I hate talking to people #thatshowIacutary
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Oh, I just looked and Atlantis Submarines has one in Kona. It’s $134ea for a 45 minute ride. We went to a depth of 126’ I think, and touched down on the sea bed. Would recommend if you’re not too claustrophobic. It’s not super cramped but it’s a bit tight and, you know, you can’t leave.
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Never done the Big Island (been on Waikiki for a couple days, been on Kauai for a week 2x).
On Kauai one of my favorite things was just to just pick a random beach for the day and drive there and chill for a few hours.
I love to go to local hole in the wall places to eat (mainly for lunch, but sometimes dinners).
For the dinner cruise, I would book that early in your trip incase the sea is angry that day and it gets cancelled (happened 2 times our last trip to Kauai) then you can rebook later in the week.
I would take a few hours and browse the Big Island Trip Advisor board. You can find good recommendations and answers to a lot of questions you may have there.
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If you like hiking, I recommend the hike from the visitor center to the summit of Mauna Kea. It’s a 6 mile hike with 4,600 feet elevation gain. If you time it right you can be on the summit at sunset, which is worth it. You can then hitch a ride back down to the visitor center as there are plenty of people up there for the sunset (I’ve hitchhiked back down on two different occasions). It does get cold up there, so bring warm clothes. Also you should arrive at the visitor center an hour before you start to get used to the altitude.
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