Water Fun on the Kona Coast

Our plan for our last day in Kona was to take advantage of the island's best snorkeling spots. Originally we were going to go from land, but all the guide books suggest that it's really better to snorkel from a boat because of the lava's impact on the shores and reefs. After such an amazing experience the day before, we were more open to doing another tour and opted to call Seaquest because John's (our guide from the day before) wife works there. Plus when we called they directed me to their ad in the tourist magazine which had a $20 off coupon. We'd looked into doing a trip like this while still in Seattle, but weren't sold on it at all. And this company in particular has such a horrendous website that we'd dismissed them (seriously, if you are going to follow the link, consider muting the sound first). But in the end, we went for it as they were leaving right when we wanted to, they were going to the location we wanted to go: Kealakekua Bay, and they'd made a good impression on me between John and the phone discount offer that we were down to tour with them. The tour we went on set out from Keauhou Bay, which was a cool place to check out. It was an important spot for King Kamehameha III and there is an interesting cliff side path that has some family history. Plus we saw a new bird here, the yellow-beaked cardinal.

I am so glad we did! This was another incredible day and really so much cooler than they describe on their website. The boat you go on is a high speed motorized inflatable dinghy, the sensation of touring around on it is somewhere between river rafting and banana boating. It's wild. And so fun. We were having a great time just riding around for high speed sightseeing on the boat, when out of the blue a flying fish came up beside Charlie and I and soared along with us. It was one of the more amazing things I have ever seen. This is not a picture of the one we saw, I was too busy holding on to the boat to take a picture, but wow. It was with us for a few minutes. I couldn't believe it. A flying fish!

We went closer to shore to check out some sea caves, lava tubes and other blow holes. Our guide was an expert dare devil and took us into quite a few of them. In some cases, he could time it so we would motor in and get washed out with the waves. It was pretty exciting, plus each cave seemed to be formed by a different set of conditions so the lava rock features were totally unique. We continued alternating between high speed banana boating and lava river rafting down the coast to the Place of Refuge (more on this tomorrow), where we went in for our first snorkel. Wow. The conditions were so perfect. Never have I had such clear water and such a diverse array of fish. It was amazing. I took a ton of pictures with our underwater camera - see fish photo album - I was really impressed. We had about 30 minutes here, when our guide called us back for Maui Onion Chips, fresh pineapple, and some POG. We jetted up to our highlighted destination - Kealakekua Bay to snorkel at the Captain Cook monument, which marks where he was killed. If you can believe it, the snorkeling here was ten times better! Plus we got our first glimpse of the White Tailed Tropic Bird (more on this later). What a day. Sadly on the way back in, our underwater camera died while I was trying to photograph a lava tube. You are supposed to wash it with freshwater before letting it dry. So sad. But I was cheered up with a Ti leaf Angelfish from our guide when we returned to shore. What an adventure.

Charlie and I were shocked to discover that it was only noon when we finished with this. And we were equally shocked to discover that sunblock just doesn't last. You have to reapply it like every five minutes. My suggestion to anyone going to Hawaii soon: buy the spray on sun screen. You will spend a fortune because one spray bottle only lasts one day between two people, but you can reapply really effortlessly and that is just what you have to do. You have to spray yourself with sunscreen constantly. Charlie and I were both badly burned (despite our best efforts) after this boating excursion and then had to avoid sun for the rest of the day. Difficult to do in Hawaii! After much debate about what to do next, we decided to go back into Kailua-Kona town to the Kona Brewery. Two days earlier, we'd had sandwiches, but word on the street is the pizza is where its at. We decided we better find out if that is true or not. It's true. We got half wild mushroom (more like cremini with other vegetables) and half puna pie (which we affectionately now refer to as the fettuccini alfredo of pizzas). Both were decadent and covered with roasted garlic. Wow. And filling. We got this pizza at lunch and it fed us for dinner as well. After we walked around town again buying souvenirs until it was time for sunset on the lanai. Another perfect day. The rest of our pictures from this day are here.

Volcano Day

We are lucky to be staying so close by the volcano that we can spend a full day here. There are a ton of cool hikes, views, and even a winery. Oddly enough, the actual best lava viewing is outside the park right now and may make our day a little tricky since the best time to see that is at dusk. Note to self: bring headlamps and water. Lots of water. Maybe NUUN too. The lava viewing site is a conundrum actually because there is a lot to see near that lava viewing site that I had thought we would do on a different day. Hmm. More on that later.

Inside the park, there are two main areas to see – the Kilauea Caldera and the Chain of Craters Road. There is also a 30 mile round trip drive to a very high lookout on Mauna Loa, which could be cool especially since on route there is a hike that is supposed to be good birding.

Everyone recommends we start at the Visitor’s Center to get the scoop on conditions and watch a video, which really I could skip in favor of seeing the real thing. It’s a 30 minute drive from our hotel to the center. It opens as early as 7:45 am. It’s on Crater Rim Drive, where everything seems to be. Adjacent to the Visitor’s center are a number of trailheads and the Volcano Arts Center. I am thinking we will prefer more short hikes over one long one, in which case there is one trailhead here that could be cool, but isn’t my highest priority. It’s the Iliahi or Sandalwood Trail, a shady 1.5 mile loop with a view of the caldera.



Crater Rim Drive West of the Visitors Center boasts the most active volcanic overlooks. There are three and the closest to the steam vent is at the Jaggar Museum (no admission fee).

Crater Rim Drive East has two overlooks of an older crater, the Thurston Lava Tube, and the trailhead for the Devastation Trail, a 1 mile roundtrip out and back that I think we will want to go on because the nene (Hawaiian Geese) like it. I know we freaked out in that lava tube in Oregon, but I figure we will at least check this one out. I think headlamps will be better than a lantern.

Chain of Craters Drive – The old site of the lava flow. We could still drive down this, just to see and we might see some, and then stop at the Pu’u Loa Petroglyphs Trail, a 1.5 mile round trip out and back to a particularly good petroglyph viewing area. At the end of the road, we can still hike the 1 mile to the old lava viewing site. I’m not as sure about this though because I want to see the new site and there are other petroglyph fields and it’s a 40 mile roundtrip and would take at least 2 hours to do everything. There is a cool sea arch to see too though.



Mauna Loa Road – I’m not sure about the long drive up to the lookout. I think it is mainly for people who are going to backpack to the summit. I suppose if it’s clear it could be great? Two things on the road though that I do want to do: Kipukapuaula Bird Park Trail – a lovely shady 1 mile loop for birding. People have said “dress in khaki like a ranger and the pheasant walk right up to you.” Also cool sounding is the tree mold exhibit, where lava burnt a tree, but the hole is there. Nearish to here is the Volcano Winery, which of course we have to go to. It’s open from 10-5:30.


If we do prefer a longer hike, the 4 mile Kilauea Iki Trail through the crater sounds like a winner.

South Point

The next place we stay is in the South Point area. Sea Mountain is adjacent to the black sand beach of Punaluu. More exciting than the black sand is that this is a favored spot for the area sea turtles, who enjoy sunning themselves on the super warm sand.

Apparently, South Point is pretty remote, but there are a few other things that we may want to check out in addition to the Volcanoes National Park:

Kula Kai Caverns

Pahala Plantation Store

Green Sand Beach - this would be awesome, but I fear the off roading and crazy hike.

Wood Valley Temple and Retreat Center

I think there are actually only two places to eat in the area, but they both sound good, still we will probably need to cook some when we stay here:
Shaka restaurant - famous for plate lunch
Punaluu Bake Shop - famous for baked goods

Water Fun on the Kona Coast

Kona has a few great options for water fun - tiny White Sands Beach for boogie boarding or snorkeling at Kahaluu Beach Park, which is very popular and may require an early start to get a spot. If we opt for these DIY adventures, we might want to pick up Banh Mi in town at Ba-Le Sandwich Shop, before we hit the beach. Another from land option is further south near the place of refuge, called two-step beach.

From what I've read, there are quite few more snorkel options if you boat to the snorkel location. The Kealakekua Bay is supposedly awesome and full of fish, but only one company seems to go there daily and the boat is motorized and their website annoys me. Plus I don't know that we will want to go on another tour. The plus side to touring though is we don't have to pack our own gear, BYOGear would likely mean no carry-on luggage option for the flight.

Kayaking also seems like a super fun option. Aloha Kayak offers tours of Keahou Bay or the City of Refuge. These include lava tubes and caves as well as snorkel stops. Again this is another tour, but perhaps a bit more independent and no gear required.

Also intriguing are the night time Manta Ray snorkels. Hmm. That sounds rather unique, but how do you see at night and how close do the rays come? I know they aren't sting rays, but I worry a little since the death of the crocodile hunter. Yet, I don't want to pass up an opportunity to see something cool. It seems like several companies offer the night time snorkels at varying prices, but I can't tell if in the end you are going with the same dive shop on all of them. Kona Honu Divers is currently offering a package that you can use at different times, which includes both an evening manta ray snorkel and a morning dolphin snorkel. But this package doesn't time out as well as I'd like with our time in Kona.