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Packing Advice?

mentalbreak

mentalbreak

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Heading to the Big Island in 2 weeks and feeling overwhelmed with packing decisions.
Party of 5 - spouse and I, 2 college-age sons, and my senior father. Staying at HGVC Kings’ Land so we will have an in-unit washer/dryer.

Plan to spend most days away from resort including:
Surfing lessons
Visiting beaches, snorkel/boogie board
Volcano National Park (spending 1 night in their “cabins”)
Manta ray snorkel
Mauna Kea stargazing

Originally I was planning on bringing our own snorkels, masks and fins, but have now decided to just rent (any recommendations for a shop are welcome). Only 3 of us will snorkel.

One item I am really struggling with is towels. Do you bring your own beach towels, buy them in HI, or just use the provided resort towels when you head out?

A second struggle is warm outerwear for the Mauna Kea night. We were able to get reservations for the monthly stargazing event at the visitor center. Do we likely need winter hats, gloves, and jackets?

Any and all other advice and recommendations are welcome and appreciated. I am very underprepared to be leaving in just a few weeks.
 
Don't bring any kind of towels - the resort will provide them and wash them. Hawaii is very casual, and you have a washer and dryer, we go for 3 weeks and only take carry-ons. We just thrown in a load of laundry at night every few days. Easy-peasy.
 
We use Snorkle Bob's for snorkeling gear and beach chairs. Much easier than bringing from home.
 
You will definitely need layers (socks, long sleeved shirt, sweatshirt, closed toe shoes (sneakers) for the Mauna Kea Visitor center after sunset. It has been uncommonly warm this summer but the temperature drops at that elevation very quickly.
 
From my experience the biggest danger for a trip to Hawaii is overpacking. Like DeniseM, I prefer to just pack a few changes of casual clothes and wash every couple of days. For Mauna Kea after sunset hopefully some of your airplane clothes can do double duty. It sounds like you don't go to Hawaii (or anywhere tropical?) frequently so in that case I'd just rent snorkel equipment etc. Don't stress about it, if you find you need something you should be easily able to find it!
 
Like Denise, we go for weeks, once even stayed 3 months, with just carry-on bags for my wife and I. We'll take a roll-aboard bag for the overhead bin and a backpack that can go under the seat. We prefer to have our own mask and snorkels. We used to also bring diving fins and booties, but have since just started using full-foot fins. We go somewhere we can snorkel often so it is worth it to us to have good gear. It is better than most rental equipment. We don't always take fins anymore. I'm comfortable without them near shore and most excursions provide them when we go further out on the water.

Clothing for us is mostly T-shirts, shorts and bathing suits. Maybe one nice pair of pants and shirt if we want to go to a nicer restaurant. Everything is very laid back. Even at nice restaurants some people wear "dress" flip-flops with a nice Hawaiian dress or shirt. Some water entries on the big island are better with water shoes as they are rocky.

Definitely use the resort towels to go anywhere you'd need them.
 
For Hawaii, it depends on the Island as to how we pack. We usually do two to three weeks. I like to bring our snorkel gear without fins, long sleeve snorkel shirt, fishing gear, hat, sun screen, collapsible ice chest, flash light, binoculars, multi tool, beach chairs, wok and floatys. If we decide to snorkel further out we rent or buy cheap fins.

If we are packing light, we still take our binoculars, snorkel masks, long sleeve snorkel shirts, floatys , hats and sun screen.

For the Mauna Kea trip to watch sunset some light weight layers are good. We take wind breakers as the outer gear, fleece jacket for mid layer, regular long sleeve shirt, good jeans, long johns and a beanie that covers the ears. We arrived early enough to park at the Summit so we were able to sit in the car. It did cold. We should have brought gloves. For the star gazing there is an app with a star map that is fun. They had all kinds of telescopes set up when we were there. I had our binoculars. Seeing things in space kind of depends on the moon cycle. We had a full moon and it kind of washed out distant galaxies but we could really see the moon. Moon rise from the Summit was pretty good.

Bill
 
mentalbreak said:
snorkels, masks and fins
Click to expand...
Everyone is different, but I'd take your own snorkels & masks to save time and the hassle of rentals not feeling right. I'd probably take your fins too. If you have nice stuff, bring it, b/c as Denise said "It is Hawaii. You really don't need much, esp if you have a W&D to use." Heck, when I used to do hard-core cycling on Maui, I packed everything but the bike for that (helmet, shoes, clothing, lots of extra calories, etc), and I still had space, even when I didn't have a W&D.

Towels? No way. They have them. Don't be shy about using them.
Winter clothes? Nope. As others said, use layers. Use multiple layers of the stuff you will bring anyway. Just be sure to have long sleeve stuff, also good to protect against sun.
now ... SHOES. The thing I always have to be sure about going to HI is how many pairs of shoes to bring. Running? Yes. Walking? Yes. Water? Yes. Beach sandals? Yes. When cycling? Yes. I bring 2 pairs of sandals and running. 1 in the carry-on. 1 checked-in. If they ever lost my check-in going to HI, my carry-on could keep me happy for most of the trip. Motto: wear your heaviest shoes on the plane and pack extras.

Really, if you're going to HAWAII & you're going in the OCEAN, which is more important, good, well-fitting ocean-stuff (snorkels, masks) or over-dressing for a cold night? Just remembered, I swim in the ocean. I bring 2 or 3 pairs of goggles. Having comfortable goggles is important. My swim goggles are smaller than snorkel & mask, but the point is to focus on the highlights of the trip ... OCEAN. Stargazing is fun. Layers and hot chocolate beat the heck out of a bulky parka.
 
Our Masks are vision corrected. We always take them in our carryon. Snorkel, short fins, Snorkel Skin, and walking Sticks in the checked bag.
 
For quite a few years when we were doing a lot of snorkeling on the Big Island we brought our own masks and snorkels. No towels, those were always provided.
 
Somewhere on this bbs I've posted about my airplane travel pillow, the kind that goes around your neck and clips onto your carry-on. I removed the stuffing it came with and instead stuff it with a down jacket, very comfy as a long-flight pillow. Voila, pair it with a lightweight windbreaker and you have a nice warm jacket, which takes up no space in your luggage. I might pack my snorkel mask if I find it hard to rent one that fits well, is all. Buy a few cheap souvenir T-shirts when you get there, Hawaii is one place you can pack really light and easily avoid checked bags if you prefer.
 
Keeping it simple.. 3 Days Max of clothes, spice kit, snorkle kit, water shoes (should have been brought), flip flops, rash guard, large hat, small backpack, lots of sunscreen...

If it can't carry-on it doesn't go!

Main thing is have fun. A soft sided cooler was purchased and made it easy to take snacks and lunch.
 
well, I learned a new term: "rash guard". I have 2 of them. Never thought of rashes re: them, but it all works
I'll double down on these: spice kit, snorkle kit, water shoes, flip flops, rash guard & really all of that.
 
It's pretty rare that we don't check a bag. I have just gone the carry on route on a few short work trips though. I don't think there is much difference either way. In our decades of travel we never had trouble with our bags. Maybe we have just been lucky but I wouldn't let an issue ruin my vacation either.

Don't take towels, there will be some there and take your snorkel gear if renting makes you uncomfortable. Either way things will be fine.

Enjoy your trip.🤙🏻
 
Don't forget Thrift Stores to pick up things you decide you need. Then donate it back tax write off.
 
We did carry on to Maui once. It was before all of the regulations about liquids in your carry on luggage. These days we have so many medications that those take up all of the carry on space, lol. Also for our Maui trips we spend two nights in San Francisco coming and going, so we need a whole different set of clothes for that. At least it's better these days than when we traveled with young kids and had a stroller, fold up bed, diaper bag, and all of that. Then when they got older we had the snorkel gear and a boogie board that traveled with us. :D
 
I used to be carry-on only, but now have a strong preference towards checked bags. We live in a market with very few direct flight options, and I have had to be an aisle stormer somewhat frequently. (And I will not book with less than 90 minutes for a layover - just so many variables to cause delays.) Only having backpacks stored at our feet has saved us to run and catch our next flight.

Definitely a bummer when you have purchased Early Bird on SWA and have to take the 4 middle seats left on the full flight as they close the door behind you, but at that point we are just grateful that we made it. 3 out of 4 times this happened, our checked luggage actually made it too.
 
WaikikiFirst said:
well, I learned a new term: "rash guard". I have 2 of them. Never thought of rashes re: them, but it all works
I'll double down on these: spice kit, snorkle kit, water shoes, flip flops, rash guard & really all of that.
Click to expand...

I have heard people say rash guard more for scuba because it adds a layer of protection between the body, gear and ocean coodies. Mines saved me from sea lice and fire coral a few times.

Bill
 
As all have said don't bring towels. They will be at the resort. Snorkel equipment is your preference. We bring ours because i got tired of renting them and dealing with any issues with them. We go to Hawaii 1-2 times a year so the cost starts to add up so we purchased our equipment. I put masks, fins, snorkels, and rash/sun shirts in the checked bag. We have used Boss Frog and Snorkel Bob's and had equal experiences at both.
 
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