Visiting the Big Island to see an active volcano was high on everyone’s wish list for the time we spent in Hawaii last fall. Our original plan was to island hop between the Big Island and Maui over Thanksgiving, but after we got bogged down in the logistics, we decided to just focus on the Big Island and I’m so glad we did! There is plenty to do, and I feel like we really got to appreciate the unique beauty of this island.

When We Visited: November 22-28, 2017

Ages of Kids: 12, 10, 7

We received plenty of recommendations from friends, and in the end decided to fly in and out of Kona International Airport on the west side of the island. We rented a car through Turo – which is a peer to peer rental network.

The vehicle ended up being smaller than we imagined (our fault, not theirs) but luckily Sam is a Tetris whiz and was able to cram everything in. I’m just glad we didn’t bring that extra suitcase.  It was really nice to have the owner drop the car curbside at the airport and pick it up there as well. No waiting in a car rental line!

Where We Stayed

We started our adventure on the west side of the island in Kona. There’s plenty of condo rentals available in the area, and ours was just okay so I won’t link to it here. Kona was definitely not our favorite place – its definitely touristy and felt rather crowded.

The second half of our trip we stayed in the cutest AirBnb in Volcano near the national park. As soon as I saw it, I knew we wanted to stay there! Only 15-20 minutes away from the entrance, it was the perfect home base for exploring the park. I loved that we weren’t camping in the rain (it rained a lot and was COLD), we had a full kitchen, a hammock, and a hot tub. Doesn’t get much better than that!

 

New to AirBnB? Use our link to sign up and get $40 of credit towards your first trip!

——-Day 1: Wednesday——-

Our flight was around noon, so we arrived in plenty of time to have a little adventure before checking in to our accommodations. We grabbed our car and then stopped for a quick lunch at at Annie’s Island Fresh Burgers. It was late for lunch so the restaurant was pretty empty, but the burgers were good and the onion rings were even better!

Afterwards we headed a little farther south to visit Pu’uhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park, or the Place of Refuge. It was a sacred place for Polynesians and a safe place for those who were basically running from the law.

There’s a self-guided tour, and both Cara & Andrew enjoyed earning their Jr. Ranger Badges. It was definitely a lot hotter than we expected and our short walk was plenty!

 

Afterwards we drove up to our condo rental, took showers and prepped for family photos! I had this crazy idea long time ago to have or family photos taken in Hawaii and when our friend Joe Hendricks found out we were headed to the Big Island he recommend Jim Dierking as a family photographer. After a few back and forth emails, we arranged to meet up at Waialea  Bay.

The light was perfect and Jim did a fabulous job capturing the spirit of our adventurous family!

——-Day 2: Thursday——-

Thanksgiving Day! The last two years we’ve been backpacking over Thanksgiving, and although that was a possibility this year, we did want to do something adventurous. After throwing a ham in the crockpot to cook while we were gone, we packed a lunch and headed south!

Kayaking & Snorkeling at James Cook National Monument

 

We had heard amazing things about snorkeling in Kealakekua Bay, and after I found a place where we could rent kayaks and paddled out to the bay ourselves we were sold! We rented 2 kayaks from Ehu & Kai Kayaks who are located right on the bay. After parking, we loaded up our gear and pushed off right from the dock! We were immediately greeted by a sweet, little turtle.

It was about a 20 minute paddle over to the James Cook National Monument, and since it was a brilliantly blue day we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

There’s no place to dock boats at the monument, and technically you aren’t allowed on land unless you are with an official tour & guide. We mostly just took turns snorkeling and keeping an eye on the boats. The current wasn’t strong so they mostly stayed put. I’ve mentioned before that Cara loves shallow water snorkeling where she can see everything up close, and Rachel loves deep water snorkeling because otherwise she gets claustrophobic. This spot had both! There’s a large reef that drops off fairly steeply, but also places where the water was fairly shallow.

 

After an hour or so of snorkeling we pulled out our picnic lunch and ate on the boats while floating in the bay. We couldn’t have asked for a more picture perfect location! Once we were done, it was a fairly easy paddle back to the dock.

Back at the condo, we swam in the pool (cause not enough swimming yet!), enjoyed our Thanksgiving meal and watched the sun set over the ocean.

——-Day 3: Friday——–

One thing that Rachel really wanted to do while on the Kona side of the island was to attend the LDS temple. She’s old enough now to participate in some of the ordinances, so we drove her over and spent a few hours in service. Perfect way to start the day!

Afterward, we packed up and started our drive over to the west side of the island. We planned to take all day and stop at various places along our route and it was perfect!

South Point

Quick stop at the southernmost point in the United States. It was pretty blustery and cold, but that didn’t stop the cliff jumpers we saw! There is a green sand beach you can hike out to, but we opted to pass this time around.

Punalu’u Bakery

ALL the malasadas. We bought round one and then went back for more. They weren’t hot – but still pretty dang good.

Punalu’u Black Sand Beach

I’ve never seen anything like it! The kids were fascinated with the small, volcanic black pebbles that make up this beach. There’s also a group of sea turtles that relax in the sun on a daily basis. We ate our picnic lunch, wandered around and stuck our toes in the surf.

 

On our way through Volcanoes National Park, we swung by the visitor center to grab our Jr. Ranger books and scout out the hiking and exploring possibilities before checking in to our AirBnB accommodations.

That evening we drove back into the park to see the Kilauea Caldera at night – which was super awesome. We spent all of Saturday & Sunday exploring the National Park before heading back over to the Kona side on Monday morning.

For more information about our visit into Volcanoes National Park  see our post here.

——-Day 6: Monday——-

We woke up to rain Monday morning which was fine, since it was a driving day. The east side of the island is more jungle-ly and it is incredibly beautiful. I had hoped to do some snorkeling on this side of the island before we left Hilo, but it was not to be.

ʻAkaka Falls State Park

We did make a brief stop at ‘Akaka Falls State Park. We paid a small fee for parking and then sloshed down the pathway to the falls overlook. Despite the fog, clouds, and rain the 442 falls were still quite impressive! Even with rain jackets and umbrellas we still were drenched by the time we made it back to the car.

Pu’ukohola Heiau National Historic Site

As we drove across the north shore of the island the weather became increasingly better. So crazy how one side of the island can be pouring rain, and by the time we get to the west shore we are pulling on our shorts again.

We did find more malasadas – hot from a food truck this time – which we counted as lunch. Probably not the healthiest option but it worked.

Andrew was in full on Jr. Ranger mode so we spent some time exploring the Pu’ukohola Heiau National Historic Site. The park is dedicated to the history of the early Hawaiian kingdom and we enjoyed walking around on the property to stretch our legs.

Despite the terrible weather, we knew this was our only chance to visit the Mauna Kea observatory. As we climbed the road up the mountain the weather became increasingly overcast until it was once again, a downpour. Turns out all of the star watching that evening was cancelled. 🙂

We brought our own hot chocolate (which was good because it was freezing up there!), and watched the video in the small visitor center.  Kind of a let down because we had heard amazing things, but we also can’t control the weather.

Costco was on our route home, so we grabbed a pizza for dinner and some muffins for breakfast in the morning before settling in to another AirBnb condo in Kona.

——-Day 7: Tuesday——-

Our flight wasn’t until noon, so after packing up we attempted one more national historic site near the airport. Unfortunately to earn the badge we needed to visit more sites than we had time for, so we just strolled along the ocean instead.

This was our first legitimate vacation in years. Sam left the laptop at home and we acted like tourists. It was a blast! Although there is much more to see and do (we left Hilo relatively unexplored) we accomplished our goal of seeing lava and everyone went home happy!