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Jesus christ you people are terrible, there's plenty to do in Hawaii if you've never been there and are willing to island hop. As someone who hates the beach but does like snorkeling and has been to Hawaii quite a bit on family vacations and just got back last week from Big Island and Oahu, and has also been to Maui a few times, here is my recommendation list with no idea of budget, origin, how loving fat or old or lazy you are, or what the weather will be like for you (because it was loving dire last week): You will likely fly into Honolulu airport regardless of which islands you want to go, but I would not suggest Oahu for a vacation. We spent two full days there and saw everything we wanted to with time to spare, including Pearl Harbor and hiking Diamond Head. What you should try to do is get an early-ish flight in on a weekday (if you're in PST the clocks rewind 3 hours so getting in around noon should be doable) and before you hop to your destination island grab a cab from the airport and do the Pearl Harbor USS Arizona memorial. You can reserve tickets in advance for this, and it's only a few miles from the airport and lasts 3 hours max. Go back to the airport and leave Oahu. Pick Maui or Big Island. Maui is a nicer, more compact island but a bit more reliant on beach/snorkel and may I think is more expensive. Big Island has much more non-beach (because it's big) but also requires a fuckload more driving (because it's big). IMO you should try to do both if you have a full 8 days, maybe a 5-3 split, starting with Big Island (you will relax more on Maui). Big Island tourist activities of varying $$$ : Manta ray evening snorkel - this is in Kona. You pay ~$90 to float on the surface off a boat 100 yards from a rock shore, and it's really loving cool. I think I'm pretty cynical towards touristy poo poo and I spent a ferocious amount of time and effort wrangling 20+ family members of all ages to come along so I was not in a good mood when it started and this was a really amazing experience assuming you get what I got, which is about 4 manta rays swimming around, going at your face, getting really close, etc. We even bought the $20 trip DVD which sits on some shelf. There is also a scuba and/or snorkel version that goes off the airport which supposedly has more mantas BUT runs a 50/50 chance of a no-show, whereas the one I did apparently has a 95% of mantas (they also had a guarantee of sorts), just not as many. Volcanos National Park - this is closer to Hilo, and I would suggest splitting your stay on the island on both halves. Yeah this means changing hotels and whatnot but otherwise I think the drive from the Kona area to Volcanos is 3-4 hours each way. Do you really want to do that? Anyway, national park, has hiking, lava tubes, visitor center, etc. Assume lava will not be flowing out because it never seems to be for me. Mauna Kea - kinda in the middle. The other huge loving mountain. Pay $200+/person for an evening where they feed you at the visitor station (this is where you acclimate to the altitude) and then drive you up to the top where all the observatories are. If you're sweating down below you'll be in a parka at the top regardless of how cold you like things because I love the cold and this was loving freezing. You can see Maui from the top. You don't get to go into the observatories because they're worth more than you, although maybe other tours exist. Our tour stopped partway down and had their own higher-end backyard telescope and you could look at planets or whatever, it's super-clear up top. Do you like beer? Kona Brewing is in Kona (the on-site brewery beer is better than the garbage they bottle) and Big Island Brewing, which is better and has dirt cheap food, is about an hour or so from there in Waimea. Fun to drive around I guess. Snorkeling - you can pay for a tour that takes you to Cpt. Cook Bay or just investigate on your own in advance. The Kona side has various places to snorkel, dunno how much quality vs effort you want but Cook is a safe bet and the boats tend to stop somewhere else on the way too. Alternatively IIRC drive to Beach 69, it was fine. Do not try to not pay for a Cook tour or get there by kayak, read up on this. There's other hiking, tours, etc. I'm blacking out on the name of the big valley/falls on the NE side, it's pretty. Maybe explore around. Do a coffee plantation tour and tell me if it's as boring as it looks. Don't go to the greensand beach, it sucks. There, that's Big Island for about 5 days. Maui: Check out Hana, go to the 7 Sacred Pools, snorkel again, do whatever hike there is in the volcano crater, relax for a couple days, go home.
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Aug 22, 2015 03:36
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TheEye posted:Now there are the posts I was hoping for. Extremely helpful, thanks guys. Definitely enough info to plan a good trip, guess I know what I'm doing most of the day tomorrow. Rain would have been a blessing, it was high 80s with high humidity and low wind where I was, basically a week+ of "feels like 97". But if you come from somewhere like Florida it's probably normal. quote:The big island has a lot going on. If you're on the Kona side they have a farmers market in Kona with all the goofy fruit you can stand. Most of it is a lot less tasty than it looks, but the mangostein is good if you like eating what looks like a gooey testicle that tastes like a pleasant grape (don't eat the rind/husk/purple zone it's awful). Wherever you go ask around for the best shave ice and get it with ice cream. Hawaiians love their sugar. Also malasadas. If you don't mind forking out a bit of cash for something pretty touristy there is always a luau. We went to the Waikaloa Marriott one, my wife was pleased. If you are going to Maui they supposedly have the best one, the name has something like "old" or "classic" in it. Dig around on yelp.
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Aug 26, 2015 03:49
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Without knowing just how much partying you want to do I would say Maui. I never got the impression that big island has a lot of nightlife and the size does impact population density. Maybe Oahu, it's where the majority of the population is?
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Aug 27, 2015 16:01
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