We spent 7 days on the Big Island in October 2004. We stayed in Kona town but drove the entire island. Make sure you spend at least one day on the Hilo side, it takes about 2 hours to make the drive, but the scenery is beautiful.

Woke up at 5:00 AM and left for the airport. We flew to Kona on Aloha airlines out of Oakland, CA. We booked the trip last minute so we were able to secure some great rates. In fact the entire trip was a great deal. Airfare for two $675, car rental through Hotwire $165 , condo at the Kona Billfisher $650. This is $1,500 for two for a week in paradise! Well worth the dinero! 

We have used Hotwire for our car rentals and have received some really good deals. On our flight we started the morning with complimentary mai tai's. Then watched Spiderman II and later had warm cookies and milk. Aloha is a great airline!

Kona airport was easy to navigate. It is a very small "outdoor" airport. We picked up our cheapie car from Budget Rent a Car. We then made our way over to the Kona Billfisher in Kona.

But alas we couldn't check in until 3:00 PM. (It was about 12:30 PM) 

We walked around Kona town to kill some time. Stopped at Huggos on the Rocks and had a beer and chicken pizza. Very nice location but it is a little spendy.

Checked into the Billfisher at 3:00. Very interesting check-in. The Billfisher is a timeshare but we rented the unit through SunQuest. When you check in they charge an extra $1 a day tax and then add $5 a day on for the air conditioning. This was the first time we had stayed at a timeshare. The Billfisher was very nice, but I had to laugh because we have been pitched time shares before and the salesman never told us about extra air conditioning costs. He also said that these properties were "exclusive" and that "only other time share owners" are allowed. Well, we aren't time share owners and we rented the unit for $80 a night.

Once checked in we headed over to Costco for supplies. We bought 3 Hawaiian CDs, beer, wine, water, coffee and a dress. Then we stopped at Safeway and bought the rest of our groceries. We ate a Safeway salad in our room for dinner. We were fast asleep by 9:00 PM. 

(Which was midnight CA time)

We awoke early and headed to one of our favorite snorkeling spots, the Place of Refuge at Honaumau Bay.

We saw some beautiful coral and a few fish here and there. The coral is still in excellent condition. This is probably because the area is deep so people can't reach the coral and thus destroy it.

We snorkeled this spot in 2000 and we were the only ones there. This time, the place was quite busy. We arrived at around 9:00 AM and there were already quite a few people snorkeling about. We also saw some scuba divers.

The snorkeling location is across the bay from the Place of Refuge. The best entry is to the right of the boat launch. There is a nice little shelf on the point that allows for very easy access. We did not see any turtles here, but the water was pretty clear.

We then decided to drive on the lower road to Kealekeua Bay where you can see Captain Cook's Monument across the bay. This is a narrow one lane road but it is paved. We parked at the kayak launch which I think is called Manini Point Beach Park.

On the way back up to the main road we stopped at Ueshima Coffee Company. We took a short 15 minute tour and learned the Kona coffee process. We bought some coffee, expensive but delicious, and a coffee mug. After our salty morning we headed back to the condo for a quick shower.

We then went to the Keauhou Shopping Center for lunch. We ate at the Royal Thai Cafe. The Phad Thai was awesome and the Broccoli Beef was also very good. Service was excellent. We spent about $25 for lunch and 2 glasses of chardonnay. (including tip)

On our way back to Kona we stopped at the Alii Gardens Marketplace. We found a great little Honu wine stopper, but really didn't find much else there. We had salads in our condo for dinner. What a wonderful day!

After eating breakfast in our condo, we headed up the coast to Puako to do some snorkeling. Puako is located north of most of the major resorts. It is just south of the popular Hapuna Beach.

We stopped at a public access spot next to house #58. (It looks like their front driveway, but it is actually a public access parking area)

When we got down to the water's edge we immediately saw numerous turtles in the water. (Probably about 5 or 6)

As we entered the water, the turtles were very curious. We actually had to wait for the turtles to get out of our way before we entered the water. They were right at the shoreline. You could see them everywhere without even entering the water.

The turtles were not afraid of us at all. In fact, a few started following us around! The water near the shore was very murky. (Which is why the turtle love this area, lots of food)

If you kick out about 100 yards the water will become much clearer. There is a nice reef located off shore. We saw beautiful corals, yellow tangs, and a huge golden moray. This is a great snorkel spot!

We then headed over to Waialea Beach. (a.k.a. Beach 69) This is a great beach for relaxing. There is lots of shade. We did some more snorkeling on the north end of the beach. It was a little rough but we saw some interesting fish. The ocean kicks up in the afternoon, so do your snorkeling early.

We spent the rest of the day munching on deli meats, cheese and crackers.

We had dinner at Lulu's in Kona. We split some chicken wings and the 2 lb order of ribs. (The picture to the left is just HALF the order!) Their volcano fries were awesome. Dinner, drinks, and tip was about $50. Even though we split the ribs, we still couldn't eat it all. We took the leftovers back to the condo.

After much debate, we decided not to snorkel today. We drove up to Hawi for their Country Fair. On the way we stopped at "A" beach in Waikoloha. We took a few pictures of the beach and fish pond and then went over to the Kings Shops to browse. We bought a few souvenirs at the Whalers store.

We then headed north for more driving. W stopped at Lapakahi State Historical Park. We were originally going to snorkel here. The docent at the visitors center told us that only one trail was open due to "falling coconuts". We walked the trail down to the ocean. There we did see numerous people snorkeling. It looked like a nice snorkel spot.

Our next stop was Kapa'a Beach County Park. There was only one other couple there having a scenic lunch.

From here you can view Haleakala on Maui. This too appears to be a great snorkel spot if the seas are calm. The water looked very clear.

Our next destination was the King Kam statue. As we drove through Hawi, parking seemed chaotic. The fair really did bring out the crowd. We passed through and stopped and took pics at the statue.

We then headed to the Pololu Valley lookout. The parking lot was quite small and very busy. We took a few pictures and then headed back to Hawi for the fair.

As soon as we got to the fair we found a place to buy lunch and a soda. We split a plate lunch Teri Chicken, Rice and Dorito Salad. ($6) We sat and listened to music and ate our lunch. yum! 

After doing the faire thing we decided to explore Hawi. There is not much, a few trinket shops and a great ice cream store called Tropical Dreams. Carroll had the Kona coffee and Dave had the Chocolate Coconut Macadamia Nut. Both were creamy and yummy. ($5)

We returned home at around 2:00 pm and decided to go have a froo-froo drink somewhere. We stopped at Bubba Gumps and had a very strong Mai Tai ($12 for two). 

We then went to the farmer's market and bought another pound of Kona coffee ($12). We walked up the hill to Hilo Hatties and found nothing of interest.

For dinner we went to the Kona Brewing Company. We had a few beers, salad and Pele's Own Pizza. The pizza was very spicy, hence the name Pele, but it was delicious. It consisted of Cajun tomato sauce, andouille sausage, rock shrimp, and roasted red peppers. It was exceptional!

We decided to snorkel today since yesterday was a "snorkel-free" day. We drove over to the old airport and hiked to what was suppose to be a good spot. It was quite surgy so we abandoned the snorkel and drove to the state park up the road. 

(Note: If you go to the old Kona airport in the early morning you'll see mongoose eating their morning cat food!)

We then tried getting to Kona Coast State Park. When we got to the road we saw that it was dirt, but thought "what the heck, we will just drive slow". We actually drove most of the way but bailed out when we thought we might take out the bottom of our rental car!

Given two failed attempts, we went back to Beach 69. Beach 69 is a great place to spend the day and it has decent snorkeling to the right.

We munched on cheese, deli meats, and crackers and had a few beers. yum! 

We also both read some books on beach 69. Dave read "The Reef" and Carroll read "Deception Point".

We left the beach around 4:00 and went to Costco for some gas. (the cheapest place on the island) We bought some chicken salads and a few more music CDs. Once back at the Billfisher we did laundry, yuck, and had left over ribs and salad for dinner. Tomorrow we head to Hilo!

We headed over to Hilo for the day. It is about a 2 hour drive from Kona. We made the obligatory stop at Rainbow Falls. Alas we saw no rainbow. Hilo was very overcast and the rain was on its way.

It started to rain so we decided that the best course of action was shopping! We drove to Fabric Mart at the Kuhio Shopping Center. They had an abundance of great Hawaiian fabrics for good prices. Before we decided to purchase we went over to the Fabric Discount Warehouse. They also have a decent selection, but the prices were not as good! So we returned to Fabric Mart and purchased a bunch of fabric.

We drove down the hill to Hilo and had lunch at Cafe Pesto. Dave had the Thai Shrimp Salad and Carroll had the Crab Cake Salad. We were both very impressed. After walking around downtown, we found an Internet place for Dave to check his email. Beach Dog Computers was the name. It was only $2.50 for 20 minutes! (cheapest we found on the island)

After Hilo we decided to go to the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden. This was the most WOW for $30 per 2 people you'll get. It took us about 2 hours to see the entire place. 

They not only have an abundance of flowers and greenery, but also waterfalls, streams ocean vistas and some great parrots.

The flower to the left is called "Cat Whiskers".

One of the parrots greets you with "hello" when you arrived and a "good bye" when you leave.

We didn't stop at Akaka Falls this time as we had that 2 hour drive back to Kona. We ate dinner at Bubba's Burgers. We would not recommend the place. We spent $12 for two burgers and onion rings. The burgers were very non-eventful. Tomorrow is unfortunately our last full day. :>(

Today was to be a beach day. We went to "A" beach in Waikoloa. There was plenty of shade and the snorkeling was OK if you swam out about 100 yards.

We saw lots of turtles near the shore and we're surprised at the amount of coral further out.

Hanging with a Honu.

We left the beach around 2:30 and head back so we could do our last minute shopping. 

After taking a shower, we went downtown and watched the Ironman Parade.

Hawaii still has the kind of parades where people throw candy and stuff.

We ate dinner at Lulu's. Every other place was totally packed because of the parade. Oh well, so much for that really nice dinner we had planned at Huggo's.