- Joined
- Jul 8, 2012
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- Location
- Living Aloha in Kaneohe, HI
- Resorts Owned
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Marriott G. Château
HVC Sedona Summit
VVR The Colonies
Since interisland travel opened up, we decided to take a weekend trip to the Big Island. We stayed at Volcanoes National Park. We arrived Friday evening and left Sunday.
Here's what we did on our short trip.
Saturday:
Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park aka Place of Rufuge
Snorkled Two Step
Kona Walkabout and Lunch
Huehue lava tube
Sunday:
Punalu'u Bakery
Green Sand Beach
Black Sand Beach
On the way out of the park, we stopped to admire the steamy fields. When we first arrived at the Place of Refuge, we thought it was closed. The parking lot is closed, but they had signs on the gates stated that the visitor's center was closed, but the park was otherwise open. We were there for a bit and saw 5 other people in the park during our time there. It really felt like we had the entire area to ourselves. Afterward, we walked to Two Step. Snorkeling was great. Lots of fish, and some in our party saw an eel and turtle.
We then headed to Kona for lunch. A couple of places were open. We settled on Fish Hopper. Nice lunch. We found a few stores open, but most were closed.
After lunch we headed to Huehue lava tube. Much to our disappointment, we found out it was closed. Barriers are up on the side of the road to prevent parking and a sign is up stating it's closed. Very disappointing for those that hadn't seen it before. We then took Saddle road to get back to the park. We stopped at the Mauna Kea visitor's center (which was closed) and admired the view above the clouds. The road to the top is closed at the visitor's center.
On Sunday, we drove to Punalu'u Bakery before heading to Green Sand Beach trailhead and hiked in. While we had a Jeep, we hiked in since we read it may be illegal to drive (although not enforced). Enjoyed the trip. When we departed, there were 8-10 vehicles at the beach. We've been once before, but there were only 1-2 vehicles then. On the way out we stopped at the southernmost point in the US and several jumped from the nearby cliff.
Even though the reviews weren't the best, we decided on lunch at Shaka Restaurant billed as the Sounthernmost Bar in US. The reviews matched our experience. After lunch, we headed back to the airport.
We leave Saturday for a week on Kauai. I'll start a separate thread when we get there.
Here's what we did on our short trip.
Saturday:
Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park aka Place of Rufuge
Snorkled Two Step
Kona Walkabout and Lunch
Huehue lava tube
Sunday:
Punalu'u Bakery
Green Sand Beach
Black Sand Beach
On the way out of the park, we stopped to admire the steamy fields. When we first arrived at the Place of Refuge, we thought it was closed. The parking lot is closed, but they had signs on the gates stated that the visitor's center was closed, but the park was otherwise open. We were there for a bit and saw 5 other people in the park during our time there. It really felt like we had the entire area to ourselves. Afterward, we walked to Two Step. Snorkeling was great. Lots of fish, and some in our party saw an eel and turtle.
We then headed to Kona for lunch. A couple of places were open. We settled on Fish Hopper. Nice lunch. We found a few stores open, but most were closed.
After lunch we headed to Huehue lava tube. Much to our disappointment, we found out it was closed. Barriers are up on the side of the road to prevent parking and a sign is up stating it's closed. Very disappointing for those that hadn't seen it before. We then took Saddle road to get back to the park. We stopped at the Mauna Kea visitor's center (which was closed) and admired the view above the clouds. The road to the top is closed at the visitor's center.
On Sunday, we drove to Punalu'u Bakery before heading to Green Sand Beach trailhead and hiked in. While we had a Jeep, we hiked in since we read it may be illegal to drive (although not enforced). Enjoyed the trip. When we departed, there were 8-10 vehicles at the beach. We've been once before, but there were only 1-2 vehicles then. On the way out we stopped at the southernmost point in the US and several jumped from the nearby cliff.
Even though the reviews weren't the best, we decided on lunch at Shaka Restaurant billed as the Sounthernmost Bar in US. The reviews matched our experience. After lunch, we headed back to the airport.
We leave Saturday for a week on Kauai. I'll start a separate thread when we get there.
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