We know we know.  It's been an eternity since we blogged anything.  We're making a concerted effort to get better about work/life balance.

We thought we'd post trip notes from our 2007 trip to the Big Island of Hawaii.  We've had enough people ask us for these that we thought we should post them somewhere, and we're very grateful for everyone who has shared their Italy notes with us.

If all you want to see are the photos, click here, otherwise check out the notes below.  Enjoy!

--------------------------------------------------- 

In Oct 2007 we visited the big island for a week.  We did two parts to the trip: 5 days of exploring the island counterclockwise starting from Kona, and 3 days of relaxing and snorkeling while staying in Kona area.

This is the book we used as a guide for the entire trip.  Highly recommended, and it's well worth the money: Hawaii The Big Island Revealed: The Ultimate Guidebook

The first night we got in after dark and stayed in a random cheap hotel on the north part of Alii Drive.  Nothing to write home about.

Day 2 we spent the entire day driving Highway 11 from Alii Drive to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and exploring multiple places along the way.  Things worth seeing:

South Kona Fruit Stand (photo1, photo2, photo3, photo4)

84-4770 Mamalahoa Hwy., Captain Cook, 808/328-8547

Approximate map location

Superb place to have lunch and pick up a bunch of snacks for the rest of the day.  So good that we came back here at the end of the trip.

South Point (photo1, photo2)

Approximate map location

Note: this is one part of the trip where we wish we had a 4-wheel drive.  If you're willing to pay the $$$ and are comfortable driving a 4-wheel, it will allow you to see more cool stuff here (like a green sand beach that we never got to see).

Punaluu Black Sand Beach Park (photo1, photo2, photo3)

Map Location

We got in to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park at sunset at stayed at The Inn at Volcano, managed by Chalet Kilauea.  It was a nice B&B that we'd likely stay at again if we visited the area again.

Note: in the city of Volcano, I think there's a restaurant called Sombats Thai.  It's not worth it.

All of day 3 was spent visiting all of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (photo1, photo2, photo3, photo4, photo5, photo6, photo7, photo8).  If you keep yourself to short- and medium-length explorations from the road, you can see all the major parts of the park in a day.  If you want to do some longer hikes, you may want to spend a second day here.  Our strategy was to reserve two nights at The Inn at Volcano so for day 4 we had the option of spending another day at the volcano or exploring the area between the volcano and Hilo.

The first part of day 4 was spent exploring the area between the volcano and Hilo.  We drove up Highway 11, then down highway 130.  If you look at a map you'll see that Highways 130, 132, and 137 form a triangle.  I can't remember how much of the triangle we did, but here's what we saw:

We visited Lava Tree State Monument, which wasn’t as interesting as it sounded.  If you end up near it it's worth a few minutes, but it's not worth a trip on its own. (photo)

What is worth a trip is the point where 130 and 137 meet and end due to lava flow.  You can walk over a cooled lava field, and at the end is a nice black sand beach (photo1, photo2, photo3, photo4).   Approximate map location.

After visiting the black sand beach I think we drove some of 137 along the coast.  There are no specific destinations to see here, except we did find some really pretty turnouts along the way where we just sat and watched the water crash against the shore (photo).

After all this we drove to Hilo, and I think we stayed two nights at the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel.  The hotel was exactly what we were looking for: great location, average quality, and great price.

Note: when exploring the entire area around Hilo, bring lots of mosquito spray.  I think Robin and I each got bit over a dozen times (and that was with bug spray).  Not cool.

Day 5 was spent exploring Hilo and the area north of Hilo on Highway 19.

Worth seeing:  the lookout point of The Waipio Valley (photo1, photo2).  Approximate map location.  Note: there is a road that goes from the lookout point down to the valley.  It looked way too steep for us to drive it (and too narrow to walk it while sharing the road with cars), and we would have paid to ride down in the tour bus, except it was Sunday and the bus wasn't operating.

Worth seeing: Akaka Falls State Park.  Map location.  (photo1, photo2, photo3)

Candidate for the best restaurant we ate at on the entire island: Hilo Bay Café.

Great place to have lunch: What's Shakin (photo)

Not really worth seeing: Hawaiian Vanilla Company.

Worth seeing:  just walk along Banyan Drive in Hilo.  All the Banyan trees are very cool.  (photo)

Day 6 was spent driving up Highway 19, then at Waimea, going north on 250 and then down the coast on 270.  We stopped at some various lookouts, and honestly most of them were forgettable, except one: Lapakahi State Historical Park.  Map location.  (photo1, photo2, photo3)

The rest of our time (3 days) was spent on the Kona coast snorkeling and relaxing.  We stayed at the Sheraton Keauhou.  It was a fine hotel, but which hotel you'll want to stay at depends on what you're looking for (a cheap place to sleep vs. a resort hotel).

Candidate for the best restaurant we ate at on the entire island: Kenichi.  So good we went back there twice during the trip, specifically for the vegetarian sushi.  To this day we still talk about how good it was.

Snorkeling:  we rented gear from Snorkel Bob's, which is located at the north end of Alii Drive.  We'd rent from there again.

Snorkel Bob's

75-5831 Kahakai St

Kailua-Kona Hawaii

Snorkeling spots:  We tried a bunch of snorkeling spots.  Here's what I recall:

Total bust: Anaeho’omalu Bay.  Maybe it was the weather, but it was horrible for snorkeling, and we saw zero fish.

Above average: Kahaluu Beach Park.  Superb for snorkeling (beautiful fish, turtles, easy swimming, etc.).  Only downside is that it's crowded, and parking can be tough (it's on the south part of Alii drive).

Mind-blowing hidden gem: we found an incredible snorkeling spot on the Kona coast.  It's good enough (and small enough) that we don't want to post the details on the web and have it overrun.  So, if you're a friend send us e-mail and we'll provide the details.