Last month my husband and I headed to the Big Island for a Hawaiian vacation! We had always had Hawaii on our destination list and when a good friend was getting married in California, we decided to make a big trip out of it. We planned a week on the big island and then 3 days in Los Angeles, followed by the wedding in Palm Springs. Today I’m recapping the the week we spent on the Big Island, Hawaii.
The hubs had planned this trip based off of a Hilton Rewards Gold Member off for a discounted room at the Waikoloa Resort on the Kohala Coast. We don’t typically do the whole resort thing since we tend to spend very little time in our room we couldn’t pass up this deal. And the resort was stunning- four pools, a brew pub, lots of restaurants, a lagoon, coastline access, and more. We were given an ocean view room in one of their towers and settled in. The timing of the first day worked out well because we were able to grab some lunch on the resort and then check into our room by 2:00- we changed into our suits and headed to the adults only pool. We headed to really are only fine dining dinner of the trip which was disappointing. The food was not amazing on the big island and I’m definitely a food snob but we were not impressed overall.
Our first full day on the island we headed out for an adventure- an ancient food trail hike! A free breakfast was included in our room fee so after fueling up we set off a mile or so to this land. I fit in a little run on our way to the spot (just doubled back) because after all that travel I needed some more intense movement. After a quick rinse and change we headed to the beaches!
The first beach was world ranked Hapuna Beach. It has soft white sand and beautiful clear water. One of my favorite things was there was shallow water really far out and you could see fish swimming without a snorkel. We must’ve hung out in the water almost an hour just relaxing. After a couple hours we went to check another nearby beach (in hindsight I would not have left as they were pretty similar). We went to Mauna Kea Beach and it was pretty much the same but the sand wasn’t as nice… there was a resort close by and after trying to sit on their lounge chairs and learning it was $400 for a day pass we grabbed a drink to sip on the beach and left. This was a disappointment- I would’ve loved to rent a beach chair and lounge all day but sitting in the sun that close to the equator without any shade is just not something I feel great about it. I did end up with some sunburn as it was and I try to be pretty safe about sun exposure. It would be nice if the lounge chair rental wasn’t insane (places I’ve visited in Europe it was 20-50 euro which is so much more reasonable). The $15 drinks were delicious though!
We headed back to shower and hit up happy hour nearby the resort. It was a Thursday and the Eagles (my husbands team was playing) so we thought it’d be cool to go chill a bar with the locals. Happy hour starts at 2:00pm and so did the game so it was excellent timing to enjoy some half price apps and drinks while watching the game. Service was slow at A Bays but the food was good, especially considering the cost. Once the game was winding down we went to Lava Lava Beach Club up the road for a nighttime drink and watching the sunset. The picture do not do this justice- I took about 50 photos and it was just gorgeous. We enjoyed a drink and played some one on one corn hole (I lost) before heading back to the resort. Pat and I loved the scene here and I would recommend going for dinner to have great views all night and saved seat for the sunset.
The next day we headed off to the eastern end of the island to the city of Hilo. BTW everything is spread apart so be ready to drive but it’s much nicer to make the drive in a mustang convertible which is what we were driving (top down of course). The drive to Hilo was almost 2 hours and we needed to arrive by 10am for our Helicopter tour! I was a bit wary of this as it sounded scary to me (sometimes the doors are off) and it was expensive (at least $250/person for a 1 hour flight), but it was great!!! Being in a chopper is similar to being in a small plane but everything is so open- it was pretty crazy but cool. During the 1 hour tour we saw the coast, local neighborhoods, several waterfalls, and of course the volcano crater. Again pics here just do not do justice but it was such an interesting and fun experience.
Post Chopper ride we checked a really short hike near by- Akaka Falls which are supposed to be the best waterfalls on the island. They were pretty but the views of other waterfalls were much cool and this hike was fine, nothing special. It is a quick stop and only $1 a person so worth checking out.
Helictopter rides and hikes are exhausting so we took a really long lunch break at an awesome restaurant- Conscious Culture Cafe has a mostly vegan menu and kombucha on tap. I had a bucha flight and a delicious salad. We used the wifi and caught up on the interwebs and just relaxed. I was still hungry so we left and went to grab an acai bowl. I also sampled ume (purple sweet potato) ice cream which was delicious.
Fueled up we headed to our next destination the summit of Mauna Kea to watch the sunset set and stargaze. We drove the 9000 ft up to the observatory station and planned to hang out there since our convertible would not be able to safely make the drive all the way up the volcano. Unfortunately as we were leaving Hilo it started raining and proceeded to be crappy out including lots of clouds and fog so our view was obstructed and the stargazing was canceled. This was the only disappointment from the trip and it was just bad timing/weather. We could have planned to go up another day but since it was far away we opted to stick with our plans the rest of the week and never ended up making it back. Regrets 🙁
The next day was the Ironman World Championships in Kona and as an avid triathlete I wanted to spectate! We made the 40 minute drive to Kona and found random parking right before the swim start. Unfortunately our views for the swim start weren’t great but the announcer let us know how everyone was doing. Fun fact: the female pro that went on to win actually got stung by a jelly fish during the swim, it slowed her down but she crushed her bike and run to make that time out. There were actually a ton of course PRs that day- apparently the weather was good. I personally found the 85 degree temps so close to the equator to be unbearable for that kind of exercise.
After watching everyone take off on the bike we headed to a locals bar to check out the scene. Yes it was 9am and the bars were open (and Penn State was playing). We made friends with locals and asked about living in Hawaii and all that stuff (this is actually one of my favorite parts of travel- just having a drink and chatting with people). Once it got close to lunch we set off in search of food along the course. We had our second poke nachos of the trip and some clam chowder. We walked along the course where the runners would be starting in just a couple of hours. Pat and I did some shopping, eating, drinking, bar hopping- just a chill day in Kona spectating. We missed the pro finishers and did not stay til the end to see everyone but it was so cool to watch at the finish line before heading back to the resort for another epic sunset! PS I also had my first and only shaved ice- nothing to write home about.
The next day was Sunday and we kept it pretty causal at the resort in the morning. I ended up going for a short run outside and then watching the some of the Steelers game at the room (which started at 7am). We ate a huge brunch (nothing special) and then headed back down to Kona to check out a coffee plantation. We opted to go with Greenwell Farms after a recommendation from a local. The tour itself actually ended up talking more about how the family bought the plant and their personal story which (while interesting) was not what we came for- we wanted to know about the coffee! Luckily the master brewer was still there so she ended up answering a lot of questions about the different blends and made some recommendations. There were unlimited samples so I took it easy and only had a couple of small pours but I’m pretty sure Pat tasted each of them twice. We bought a couple of bags and grabbed some poke finally!! Pro tip- go early because they run out as the day goes and don’t have more fish or make more sides. It was tasty but not out of this world- I’ve had poke just as good in PA, which is weird. Anyways…
After another spectacular sunset (I will seriously never get sick of those gorgeous views), we headed to our excursion for the evening- snorkeling with wild mantarays. I just want to say these experience was awesome (Pat said it was cooler than the chopper ride). You take a short boat ride out to the water in the dark and you hold onto a surf board with 2 other couples and shine a light into the sea. The light attracts plankton which attracts 8-10 foot wild manta rays. They swim just inches underneath you (pool noodles are used to keep your body floating parallel with the water. A couple of times they touched you but mostly they are just eating. We ended up seeing about 5 in total which we were told is a really good night. They have names for all the manta rays and the guides state the animals know them as well. Pictures here are pretty much useless but I did buy a underwater pouch so I could snap a few.
The next day we had more fun adventures planned- checking out the Green Sands Beach. After a 2 hour drive south, you hike 2-3 miles along the coast, reach a cove which has the most beautiful blue water carving out into a mountain. This hike was a bit of a beast, especially on the walk on the way back since it was so hot. It was very stunning and you really can’t tell how steep of a cliff this is or how green the sand is but the views were fantastic- highly recommend this hike. Originally we had planned on going in the water but decided to just hang out and watch the waves before heading back to the car. Definitely start as early in the morning as you can so on the way back it’s not 12:30 and sweltering without any shade. You are at about 20 degrees latitude and only a few minutes from the equator so we are talking serious heat.
Completely exhausted and running low on water we immediately headed to the Punaluu Bake Shop to refuel. We shared a couple malasada (fancy donut) and they were amazing- maybe one the best freshest donuts I’d ever had. I did want to leave the delicious baked goods and shade but we put the top up on the convertible and blasted the air to get to the next location.
Our next stop was kayaking and snorkeling at the Captain Cook Monument. It has coral, lots of different fish, and super clear water. Again I tried to use my camera pouch bag but wanted to spend more time exploring than recording so I just have a couple of shots that kind suck overall but this was some of the next snorkeling I’ve ever done. We rented a kayak and snorkels from a company located right on the water and headed out. The kayaking was difficult- almost rival to kayaking in the Venice canals. The water was choppy but beautiful (although I was sore from this workout the next day). We used a rope to pull along the kayak as we snorkeled. We had the area almost to ourselves besides a couple kayaks for the first 20 minutes or so. But then a boat dropped off about 20 people so it became a little more crowded but not bad. Overall we really enjoyed this experience and lucked out by going in the afternoon and mostly avoiding crowds.
After finishing up we ended the day with more poke and then checked out Kona Brewing Co. We were just up the street so we figured we’d grab a beer before heading back to the resort- we were pretty tired from all the activity so we decided to come back the next night for dinner (the food looked really good) and more booze, obvi. Our last day in Hawaii I got up for a solo walk/run to enjoy the beautiful coastline. It is just stunning to have the water on your right and volcano on your left, so gorgeous.
We planned on hanging out at the resort most of the day so we hit up the adult only pool for some reading and relaxing. We had to check out by 2:00pm (thanks for the late check out Hilton!) so we went back to the room by 1:00pm to shower and pack. Luckily our flight didn’t leave until 10pm so we had the whole day. Once we left the resort we did some shopping at the local stores and headed down to Kona (near airport) to do more. I had one final acai bowl as we walked around and go some souvenirs. We ended up back at the brewery for dinner and shared the most delicious Hawaiian pizza I’ve ever had (it had goat cheese). I also decided to indulge in a flight to get a buzz going for the flight back to LA- the coconut brown ale is one of my all time favorite beers and it’s so hard to find in PA so I also had one f those as well. We also checked out another brewery- Ola Brew Co. They had trivia going on so we stayed and shared a flight and a beer (they were good!) until we had to leave for the airport.
I was pretty sad to leave Hawaii and head back to the airport but I did still of the rest of our trip to look forward to- recaps for those coming soon! Have you ever been to Hawaii? Which island would you visit?? I think we will go back in the next 5-10 years and visit Oahu and Maui.
