Switched from Waikablowa to Kona

[buzglyd]

We are making our Big Island trip once again at the end of Sept. We always stay at Kingsland but decided to switch it up this time. I booked the Courtyard right in town and we will live Kona style for four days.

The last two trips the wind blew non stop in Waikaloa and we ended up driving toward Kona almost every day. I'm even going to cancel the car rental and we will just walk or pedal bikes everywhere. Perhaps one day we will get a car to drive south to swim in front of the church where we got married.

 

[SmithOp]

We were lucky in May, only had 3 days out of the 14 where it howled. We were in phase 2, the lanais were protected from the wind in the 2 br. I sure did notice the difference from the phase 1 2br in size and furniture. Building 22 was nice and convenient to the clubhouse/pool.



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[buzglyd]

It's interesting that all the hotels have stickies on their websites explaining that the Island is totally safe and the lava is far away. It's understandable why people are concerned given the hysterical news reports. I won't be taking any boat trips to the lava though!

 

[klpca]

I would have loved to have some wind when I was there in June. We had as much vog as Kona. We couldn't see the mountains at all for 5 out of 7 days. We spent a good amount of time on the east side of the island. The upside is that we had time to explore places that we normally just drive through. Have fun in Kona. I love it's funky vibe.

 

[Sandy VDH]

It's interesting that all the hotels have stickies on their websites explaining that the Island is totally safe and the lava is far away. It's understandable why people are concerned given the hysterical news reports. I won't be taking any boat trips to the lava though!

I have the lava boat trip booked for this coming friday.

 

[dsmrp]

I have the lava boat trip booked for this coming friday.

You'll likely see much more than I did from cruise ship...we only saw the red glow in the night with occasional hints of yellow from afar. Lava flow itself was hidden by topography. The ship didn't go round the point to be in direct line of sight of the flow. Just being cautious I guess cause a big ship can't maneuver very quickly if stuff happens.

If you go in the evening, bring a rain jacket and towel. It was clear when we left Hilo but raining as we traveled south. I think it was a typical weather pattern for Hilo area.

The park ranger at the Mokupapapa discovery center in downtown Hilo, had good info and display maps of volcano areas. He advised for land viewing to drive to Pahoa at dusk for night viewing.

Does your lava boat provide binoculars? I'd definitely rent/buy some if they don't. I brought a smaller pair with me.

I'll try to post some pix after I get home. In transit now.

Happy viewing!

 

[1Kflyerguy]

We are making our Big Island trip once again at the end of Sept. We always stay at Kingsland but decided to switch it up this time. I booked the Courtyard right in town and we will live Kona style for four days.

The last two trips the wind blew non stop in Waikaloa and we ended up driving toward Kona almost every day. I'm even going to cancel the car rental and we will just walk or pedal bikes everywhere. Perhaps one day we will get a car to drive south to swim in front of the church where we got married.

Sounds great. We have been lucky and never had more than a day or two of high winds during our trips to Waikaloa. But every time we walk around Kona, I think how fun it looks. So many great places to eat and drink right by the water..

Enjoy!

 

[DianeG]

You may want to rent a car anyway for the whole time, if the vog is still being pumped out by the eruption in September. If you get bad days in Kona, you could at least head elsewhere up the coast to see some blue skies.

 

[dsmrp]

Here are some pix of the lava I saw last week from cruise ship. It was much brighter than camera captured.
With binoculars i saw yellow fiery patches in the brightest areas. The lava stream glow stretched much farther than
pix shows..all the way down to the water, even tho' we couldn't see where land ended and water began.

There was a professional photographer pix for sale on ship taken when lava was flowing more vigorously. In that picture I could see more yellow hot lava fingers in air. I should have taken a pix of that pix LOL.

 

[dsmrp]

Here's an example of the VOG in Kona the day we were there, last week Wed July 18.
Could barely make out the upslopes of Mauna Loa.

There was no wind in Kona at all, very hot. But no problems breathing.