For this trip, our friends loaned us a fantastic guidebook for the Big Island. It was such an awesome book, that I bought the version for Kauai. The "Revealed" series, by Wizard Publishing , is a great guidebook for anyone going to the islands. It contains lots of "secret" local spots, as well as some great tips. There's no advertising at all, so it provides a very honest look at the various restaurants, sites, attractions, and tour companies that you will encounter. :-) Our trip wouldn't have been nearly as fun if we didn't have "the blue book" in our car.
Week 1 – Big Island (aka Hawaii)
The Big Island really is a very very big island, with lots to do! We stayed at the Outrigger Keauhou Beach Resort, which we highly recommend. It was a beautiful hotel with beautiful grounds, located right next to a popular snorkel sight. The locals there are extremely friendly and welcoming, the epitome of the “Aloha spirit”. There are a lot of different climates & landscapes on the island – in one day, we drove through lava fields, desert, forest, lush jungle, & farmland! We also got to see a lot of the historical sites, including a number of heiaus (Hawaiian sacred temples), such as the Place of Refuge, where people would go to escape punishment for breaking one of the “Kapu” (forbidden) laws.
We checked out a number of beaches, such as the famous white sands of Hapuna Beach, the black sand beach of Pololu Beach, and finally the green sand beach at South Point (one of two green sand beaches in the world!). Of course, the Big Island isn't know for it's beaches – instead, it's famous for it's volcano, which is the only active volcano in the US currently erupting. At the Volcano National Park, we did a bit of hiking and saw a bunch of sulfur pits, steam vents, and even got to walk on a small crater! It's an odd experience to to walk through a field of rock, and realize that it used to be a lake of lava!! We also explored some lava tubes, which are caves that are created and left behind after the lava has cooled. The largest tube we saw was the Thurston Lava Tube, which is partially lit. At one point, you can continue with your own personal flashlight (or in my case, phone light). You think you know what darkness is like, but trust me, you don't truly know, until you're 300ft into a cave, with no lights!!
Most of our activities were on the Kona side of the island, but after the volcano, we spent the night in Hilo. There were some nice, easy places to explore there, including a nice waterfall & some freshwater pools. Hubby tried cliff jumping for the first time at Boiling Pots, after watching some local boys try it. It took a bit of courage on his part, because it looks a LOT higher when you're standing on the cliff looking down! I on the other hand, just happily stayed drive, sat back, and took pictures instead. ;-)
The Big Island is the youngest island in Hawaii, so as a result they have a fantastic reef. We did a lot of snorkeling quite a bit near our hotel, at the Kahalu'u Beach Park. As we're both certified divers, we also checked out the sites underwater as well. We booked our dives through Big Island Divers, which is an awesome shop. They were extremely friendly and organized, and also very concerned with reef conservation. One of the most famous dives on the island is the Manta Ray night dive. If you've never had the chance to do it, it's an amazing experience, that every diver should have! A number of dive shops work together to drop a number of lights in a “campfire”, which light attracts plankton, which then attracts the manta rays. You can either experience the “show” from the surface, as a snorkeler, or underwater as a diver. The evening we went, there were ~18 manta rays swooping down around us, the largest being 16ft wide (wing-tip to wing-tip). Awe-inspiring!! The other memorable dive was at Two Step, near Honaunau. Hubby and I decided to try a shore-dive on our own (after renting gear from the awesome Big Island Divers). The reef seemed endless, which was already pretty cool. But then, I thought I saw something disappear into the deep waters. At first, I thought it was a shark, but after watching for a bit longer, a pod of 9 dolphins came out of the open water, and swam with us for 5-10 minutes!! Having never seen dolphins so close before, we just stopped and stared, mesmerized by the surprising gift.
We also went on a zodiac rafting trip. We were supposed to go snorkel at the Caption Cook monument, but they put us on the wrong boat, and we ended up going on a dolphin swim instead! It was pretty amazing seeing so many dolphins, so close! They were wild dolphins, so the closest we got was about 15-20ft, but it was quite an experience!
Overall, I think this was by far our favorite island, due to the diversity & friendly people!
Week 2 – Kauai
Kauai is the oldest island in Hawaii, and not at all tourist-y. We definitely got more “local flavor”, and were able to experience the island in a more authentic way. It's nicknamed the “Garden State”, and wow, no kidding – it's green, green, green!! It's a very quiet island though, because everything closes every early. Shops close around 5 or 6pm, and many restaurants close as early as 9pm! We stayed at the Aston Aloha Beach Hotel. It was a good location (on the east coast, mid-way on the island), and okay over all, but seemed to have a few issues with maintenance.
Our first full day there was the day of our 5 year anniversary, so we took decided to treat ourselves to a beach-side couples massage. I've never had a massage by the beach before – it was sooooo relaxing to just lay in the breeze, listening to the sounds of the ocean. Very romantic, and very relaxing after our whirlwind trip on the Big Island!
We did quite a bit of hiking on Kauai. We went on the Nounou Mountain trail, and realized that wow, we are out of shape!! It was a killer hike due to the heat and humidity, but had a nice view of the east coast of the island though! We also went down to the Waimea Canyon, and did some of the hikes at the end of the road. On the Pihae Vista, we ended up on an extremely wet and muddy trail. Hubby and I persevered though, and made it to the vista point, and were treated to a stunning view of the canyon. The view was breath-taking, and we couldn't help but agree with the guide book – it was truly one of the “most stunning views in the Pacific”. We also did some hikes to “secret” areas (using our handy dandy guide book), including Queen's Bath, which is a nice secluded pool area. Then, we saw the Secret Lava Pools, which weren't as impressive, but there was also a Secret Waterfall behind the pools, that was awesome! We got to stand underneath the waterfall, experiencing the cool freshwater, pretty cool! We hiked to another “secret” freshwater pool, Kipu Falls, and Hubby got to try some more cliff jumping, as well as a rope swing. :-p I did try the rope swing a bit later, at another swimming hole (a much SHORTER rope swing), but still no cliff jumping for me!!
Kauai has one of the few navigable rivers, so we spent an afternoon kayaking up the river. Afterward, we explored a bit more of the east coast, including a waterfall & some scenic outlooks. We also checked out a little ancient Hawaiian village that was restored by a local family. There, we were able to see a lot of traditional huts and Hawaiian flora, and got an interesting look at what it must have been like living on the islands long ago.
We didn't do as much snorkeling on this island, but we did get to try some diving. We booked with Seasport Divers, and I completed my 100th dive! Their boat was extremely organized, and safety-conscious. The diving isn't as good on Kauai as Big Island, but we still saw some awesome things, such as a number of large green turtles! Since I've been trying to see turtles while diving for years, this was a very nice way to end the diving portion of our trip!!
One thing that was extremely memorable about Kauai was the people. At first, since it's not as touristy, we felt that the locals weren't as friendly. However, the more we explored some of the areas, the more we ran into some awesome people. At one beach, a group of older Hawaiian men thought we were so cute & romantic, that they gave us an authentic lei out of the blue. At another location, we ran into a nice couple that explained to us in detail how they harvested sea salt from their clay ponds, and even gave us some to take home! We also happened to be there during the Kauai county fair, so we really got to see how locals live when they're not catering to pushy tourists. :-p I was disappointed that there weren't more Hawaiian shirts, but there's definitely an awesome “island attitude” that we loved.
The last night of our vacation, we had just finished packing, and closed the trunk, only to realize that we'd accidentally locked the keys in as well. Cue lots of frantic phone calls and running around, trying to figure out how we could get to the airport (preferably with all our luggage!!) before our flight closed, and we had to spend an extra day in Hawaii. Thankfully, we had lots of friendly people willing to help! Rose, our fantastic travel agent from Travel Guide to Hawaii, answered my late-night phone call at her home number, and calmed me down enough to work though what needed to be done. Our roadside assistance through USAA rushed the tow truck to us, and the service man quickly got our car unlocked. The airline employees helped rush us through check in, and got our luggage checked in. And then of course, there was security. Ooooh, security. Between a souvenir tiki, scuba regulators, and a bag full of sea-salt, we had to get our carry-on suitcase scanned 3 times, and chemically tested for bombs twice. On the up point, the security employees were very apologetic and friendly about it! After an incredibly hectic and panic'ed 2 hours, we finally ran down the hall, making it to the gate a mere 8 minutes before it was scheduled to close!! So, we were sad to leave Hawaii, but soooo happy to be going home!!
Overall, it was a fantastic, amazing, relaxing two weeks in Hawaii. Hubby and I banned all work email (and actually, we ignore most email, facebook, etc), and just had a lot of fun together. :-)
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