Journey to Hawaii....The Big Island...Day 6: Cabana Day and a Romantic Sunset Dinner

Cabana Day

On Tuesday February 25th we planned a relaxing day at the Hilton Waikoloa Village.  We decided to rent a cabana for the day.  There are several types of cabanas available....we decided since this was our splurge day we would go for the deluxe cabana!  We had taken a look around the resort before choosing our cabana and decided that #80 was the perfect location.  It was close to the Kona pool and had a beautiful view overlooking the ocean.  Rentals are done through Ocean Sports and can be reserved days in advance.  Ocean Sports has several locations on the resort....and the employees were very friendly and helpful.  They had pointed out that the only drawback to this particular cabana is that is close to a walkway so there isn't as much privacy as others may have....we didn't mind this at all because the view was fantastic!!

We checked in at the Ocean Sports Kiosk at 9:00 AM and they told us to head on up to the cabana and they would send an attendant by with our free gift and ice water.  The cabana was ours for the entire day......service was available between 9 AM and 5:00 PM but we were welcome to stay as long as we wanted.  

The comforts of our cabana

The Deluxe Cabana offered a romantic setting for a relaxing day!

We settled into our cabana and got ready to spend a day.  We had packed up our iPads to bring along. There is free WiFi available in all public areas at the Hilton Waikoloa so whether you want to surf the web or read a book on your e-reader it's all possible!  

Once we had settled in, our cabana attendant arrived and brought us some ice water and our gift as well as a few snacks.  We were told they would check on us during the day to see if we needed anything.  They also said that we could order lunch or drinks from a different attendant who would be around shortly.

The view from our cabana was just amazing and it was hard to stop looking to do anything else!

View of the Ocean from our Cabana

The view from our Cabana...we were right on the edge of the Ocean

View of the Ocean Tower from our Cabana

The view of the ocean from our Cabana

It wasn't long after we had settled in that I asked my husband if he thought we would be able to see the whales from where we were....the words weren't out of my mouth when my question was answered!  YES!  We had a perfect view of the whales.  We watched them all day long.  It was just amazing....of course we weren't as close as we had been on the whale cruise but it was a terrific view. Next time I am definitely packing my binoculars!

Where else can you go and sit in a beautiful cabana and see amazing sights like this?  

We ordered lunch and drinks in the afternoon.  Our attendants came and checked on us and refilled our water and brought us a fruit plate.  It was the ultimate in luxury!  I highly recommend that you do this if you possibly can.  The cost was about 250.00 for the day in the cabana....not a cheap activity but certainly one that won't be forgotten any time soon!

We packed up about 4:00 PM so we could head back to our room and get ready for dinner at the Kamuela Provision Company or KPC as it is better known.  Just a tip, make sure that you track down your attendant and server before they get crazy busy.  The pool area fills up in the afternoon so it gets harder to track them down to get your final bill.

Sunset Dinner

We arrived for our dinner just before sunset.  If you would like to be seated on the cliff overlooking the ocean for sunset there are a couple of things that you need to do.  Book your dinner reservation for the Kamuela Provision Company (KPC) either before you leave or as soon as you arrive at the resort.  We chose to book it at the concierge desk the first full day we were there.  You can book yourself through open table.  The concierge also uses open table to book. She put a note in the reservation that we were requesting outdoor seating for the sunset.   It was no problem when we arrived.  Our table was right where we were hoping it would be!  The other thing you need to do is check what time sunset is on the evening that you are looking for a reservation...that way you can arrive before and enjoy the time even after.  It seemed that the restaurant had two seatings...one for sunset and a later seating so make sure that you request the one for sunset if that is what you want (and believe me you do!)

View from our table at KPC

View from our table at KPC

Once we were seated, we had time to check out the area before sunset settled in.  We were able to order our meals and get ready for a great view.  Just before sunset the tiki torches were lit.

The Lighting of the Tiki Torches at KPC

And then all of a sudden it was time.....

Sunset at KPC

Sunset at KPC

Sunset at KPC

Our dinner was excellent...the service and view couldn't be beat.  This is definitely a great way to wind down.  Romantic and Relaxing at the same time.  The perfect ending to the perfect day.

KPC after dark

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 Next:  Journey to Hawaii....The Big Island...Day 7: Waterfalls, Gardens and Overlooks

Journey to Hawaii....The Big Island....Day 8: Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

On the 8th day of our journey we decided to head across the island once again to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.  This was one of the top day trips on our list when we arrived but we were trying to make sure the weather was as good as possible for our evening there so we pushed it back a little bit into the trip.  Needless to say we were excited to finally get there!

KILAUEA VISITOR'S CENTER

Our first stop was at the Kilauea Visitor's Center.  I would highly recommend that you begin your tour here.  There is lots of information available inside as well as maps, helpful rangers, a gift shop and restrooms.  I would plan on about a 15 minute stop minimum but it will help you get oriented for the rest of the time you are in the park.

CHAIN OF CRATERS ROAD

From the Visitor's Center, we headed down the Chain of Craters Road.  It doesn't take long to figure out why it was named that way....

Believe me this photo doesn't do this crater justice....it was HUGE and amazing to see.  All along the roadway there are large piles of lava and many interesting lava formations.

The most amazing thing was for the longest time there was nothing but lava to see.  Everywhere you looked.....lava.  And then......

View along Chain of Craters Road
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

It is truly amazing to see how the plant life grows up through the lava...you would think nothing would grow but that just isn't the case.

Once you get to the end of Chain of Craters Road, the payoff is huge.  There is parking along the roadway.  Stop and pull over and follow the crowd of people headed toward the ocean.  There is a small path that will take you directly to the edge of a cliff where you can see the Sea Arch.  

Sea Arch at the end of Chain of Craters Road
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

The rest of the road is blocked by a lava flow from a previous eruption.  You can walk down the roadway.  We walked a little ways but decided to turn back.  The ocean views on one side and the volcano on the other is really an interesting contrast.

We then headed back up the Chain of Craters Road and headed toward our next stop

The Thurston Lava Tube

This was really a cool thing to do.  There was a little bit of a walk from the parking area and some steps to get down to the Lava Tube but nothing strenuous.  We took about 20 minutes to make the walk and check things out in the lava tube.  It is a popular stop for bus tours but things move along pretty quickly...walkways are wide so many people can fit at one time.  

Outside of Thurston Lava Tube
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

We were behind an older lady who was terrified to go through the tube.  In fact at one point she flat out refused to move forward because she couldn't see the end of it.  It is not that long of a tube.  There are lights inside and the pathways are very easy to navigate.  Once you are about a third of the way through, you can see the light at the end of the tunnel (literally!) so it really isn't a scary trip at all.  For smaller children you may want to warn them what's ahead but people of any age should do just fine.

Inside the Thurston Lava Tube
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

Make sure you take your time through the lava tube...it's really a cool experience!

Crater Rim Drive

Once we left the Lava Tube Area we continued back past the Visitor's Center and onto Crater Rim Drive.  Again the scenery changed and now we were surrounded by steam vents just arising out of the ground

If you have ever visited Yellowstone National Park this will remind you of that park!

Ever where you looked you were surrounded by reminders that you were standing on top of an active volcano!

Finally in the distance you could see the caldera of Kilauea.

Caldera of Kilauea

After a quick walk around the area we hopped back into the car and headed to the Jagger Museum

THOMAS A. JAGGER MUSEUM

This is the area that you can best see the caldera of the volcano.  If there is lava flowing you can see it here.  Unfortunately there was no lava flow the day that we were there.  We were really hoping to see the lava flowing into the ocean but that was not to be.  However, the sights from the museum were still pretty amazing.

Caldera of Kilauea from Thomas A. Jagger Museum

Give yourself plenty of time to take a look around this area.  There is a very nice museum with lots of information and a gift shop.  There are also very nice restrooms in this area.  There are ramps from the parking lot to the museum so this area is very accessible.  

Tip:  Make sure that you go during the day to see the sights from the Thomas A. Jagger Museum but also stick around for the night time show!  If you time your visit properly you can wait around for nightfall.  

The night time is when this area really shines.  However you have to give it time to come into view.  The day that we were there it was very overcast with low cloud cover.  We were waiting to see the glow from the molten lava inside the caldera and for quite a time we couldn't even see the caldera!!  Plus it is REALLy cold here once the sun goes down.  Luckily one of the rangers encouraged everyone to stick around that the night sky usually clears up nicely and we would still be able to get views.  

Tip:  Pack your winter coat (which you have from visiting Mauna Kea!) or bring a blanket when visiting the park at night.  You will be very happy that you did!

All of a sudden after about an hour or so of waiting we were lucky enough to get this amazing view of the caldera!

Kilauea Caldera at Twilight

 The views just kept getting better as the night closed in.

Kilauea Caldera at Night

Kilauea Caldera at night

It really was an astounding thing to see and definitely worth the wait.  If you make one day trip during your stay on the Big Island this would be the one that I would suggest!

After viewing the lava we headed back across the Island for the night.  If you are going to do this day trip, plan on spending an entire day with the travel time.  We left our resort by about 10:00 AM, stopped in Hilo for lunch and then headed to the park.  This allowed us to be there for day and night time views.  We left the park around 8:00 PM and it is about a 2 hour drive back to the resort so figure a good 12 hours and that was without any major hiking.  We did stop at overlooks and pullovers and the lava tube for short periods of time but there really wasn't a lot of extra time.  It is so worth the time and effort to get to the park though.....you will NOT regret it!

Coming Next:  Journey to Hawaii...The Big Island...Days 9&10:  Relaxing and Dreading the return to the Mainland

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Journey to Hawaii...The Big Island....Day 5: A Glimpse of Heaven

A Relaxing Morning

On Monday February 24th we decided that since we had been running around the Island for a few days and it was time to take a little relaxing morning to ourselves at the resort.  Here is a little tour around the Hilton Waikoloa Villiage.  Again I can't say enough about how beautiful it was!

The Cantina Near the Ocean Tower

The tram that is available to take you around the resort

Some of the fish in the the pond

There are waterfalls everywhere!

Artwork is around every corner

You never know what you will find around the corner

It was fun to walk under the waterfall by the lagoon!

The Dolphins were so cool to see!

The Lagoon near where the Big Island Breakfast is served.

The property was just beautiful

The birds were beautiful!

What is it about birds that make people talk funny?

It was so nice to see flowers in February!

We just loved walking around this resort....it took us the whole week to totally explore it!  Just an amazing property!

An Amazing Evening (Mauna Kea)

About 3:00 we got ready to depart the resort for our evening adventure.  We had decided to head to the Mauna Kea Visitor's Center to do some star gazing.

We had done some research about this before leaving home.  There are basically two ways to get to the summit of Mauna Kea.  1.  You can take an organized tour that lasts about 8 hours and costs about $200.00 per person on average or 2.  You can rent a 4 wheel drive vehicle from Harper Rentals and drive yourself to the summit.  It is not recommended that you drive a vehicle other than a 4 wheel drive vehicle because of the unpaved roadways and steep grades.  Other than Harper, the other rental car companies will void your contract if you drive to the summit and have an accident.  

So.....we checked a little further into both options and decided that neither one really fit our time frame or were easily accomplished for us.  This is NOT to say that either option is not good.  They just didn't work for us this time.  My husband and I are pretty much do-it-yourselfers and like to have control of our time so the 8 hour tour just didn't feel like "us" and we had already rented a vehicle so with the hours of Harper Rental we would have had to leave our initial rental car somewhere until we were able to go back and switch it....we were even willing to pay for the additional rental but the logistics just didn't work well for us.  We talked about trying to make it to the summit in the car we rented....after all we have driven up to the summit of Pike's Peak which is about the same altitude, several times in a normal rental vehicle.  The warnings of the locals though deterred us and even though we saw other's making the trek in normal vehicles we decided it wasn't worth the risk.  

I always like to have reasons to return to a place I love so this is my reason....next time we will rent from Harper and drive to the summit!

However.....we also learned that anyone can drive to the Mauna Kea Visitor's Center which is just over 9,000 feet altitude.  We also learned that this is actually the area that the guided tours come back to to set up for their stargazing anyway.  While there are many observatories on the summit....these are owned by many countries and are not open to the public. 

So all that being said, we left our Resort around 3:00 PM and headed to the grocery store in Waimea to pick up some sandwiches and snacks to take on our way.  Tip:  There isn't any food at the visitor's center or along the way so be sure to pack something up to eat during your drive and visit.

Depending on how old your travel guide book is or what website you read, you may see how the road to Mauna Kea (Saddle Road) is very dangerous and rental cars do not allow you to take vehicles on this roadway.  This is outdated.  A new, improved Saddle Road has recently been opened.  It is much less windy and very well lined with reflectors in the roadway itself.  It is a very safe roadway so please do not let the warnings deter you from making the trip to Mauna Kea.  We did end up on a section of the old Saddle Road on our way to the mountain (we tend to get lost at times LOL) and I can certainly see why the warnings existed.  I would not have wanted to be anywhere near that road in the total darkness!

We arrived at the Visitor's Center before sunset (make sure you check the internet for sunset times during your visit).  The center itself isn't large.  They do offer a movie all during the day and then they have a different movie that they show before sunset.  Tip:  There is not much seating for the movie so get there early if you want to get a seat!  The standing room is also limited and groups from the tours come for the movie also.

This is a rough idea of the schedule at the visitor's center.  

About an hour and a half before sunset the shuttles from all of the tours (and there are a lot!) arrive at the visitor's center.  Parking is at a premium.  Be sure to get there early to get a good parking spot.  The tour busses will move out eventually but they take up a lot of space while they are there.  Once the tours arrive they will park, pass out Parka's to the guests and then head to the picnic areas to set up their dinners (dinners are pre made and reviews are not necessarily flattering) they also get hot cocoa at the visitor's center and use the restrooms available there so during that time, it may be hard to move around the area.  We staying in our vehicle and just waited till they all moved out to the summit.  

Once they were headed on their way, we went back into the visitor's center for the evening movie.  We didn't get in there early enough however and had to stand.  It is an hour long movie and explains the sacredness of the mountain to the native Hawaiians.  We stayed for about 45 minutes before our legs gave out and we decided to head outside.

Now be aware it gets COLD on this mountain even at the Visitor's Center altitude.  We had packed our winter coats, layers of clothes, jeans, gloves, hats, ear muffs and we were very happy that we had each and every piece of clothing that we brought.  

Once the movie is done, you can head out to the patio area where the employees have set up several telescopes that are focused on different heavenly bodies.  This is when the fun begins!  One of the things that the tours really push is that they have their own telescope and you don't have to share with so many people like you do at the visitor's center.   While there were lines for the telescopes, we didn't find that they took that long to maneuver.  People were very polite and looked and moved along.  There is so much to see with the naked eye that you don't want to be looking through a telescope the whole time!

The first thing that we got to see was Jupiter and 4 of it's moons.  It was absolutely amazing.  As the sky got darker and darker the stars just began to pop!  I have NEVER seen so many stars in one place in my entire life!  We had taken the trip up Haleakala on Maui for sunrise last year and there were lots of stars there....this was even more amazing!  I can't even put into words how totally awe inspiring this was.  

It was too dark to take photos of the stars but they did have one telescope connected to a monitor which showed an image of what it was focused on.....this particular one was focused on the nebula that is inside Orion's Belt.  How amazing to see a star nursery!!!

Nebula inside Orion's Belt

The even cooler thing was that much of the heavenly bodies you could see with the naked eye.  The narrators suggested bringing a pair of binoculars and you could see even more!  Next time I will definitely pack my binoculars!  

After a short time, they begin a "star tour".  They use laser pointers to show you where constellations and stars are located.  It is very educational and fun as well.  Again, just be sure to dress appropriately because if you don't you will get cold rather quickly.....believe me you want to stay outside as long as possible to see the sky!

Just a note of interest: We noticed as soon as we landed in Kona on our first night on the Island that the street lights were yellow.  This is because they do not want any light of certain frequencies to be emitted on the island to ensure that viewing from the observatories is the best it can be.  This area is THE place to star gaze as it is known as the best place on earth to view the stars.  This is why so many countries have built high powered observatories at the summit!

This is a "MUST DO" when you visit the Big Island.  Whether you decide that a tour is the right way to make the trek or if you just want to drive yourself....whether you decide to go to the summit or just the visitor's center.....make this a part of your plans.  You will NOT be sorry!

We left the area about 9:00 PM or so and made the hour plus drive back to the resort.  It was an evening that will not be forgotten and so worth the effort to get there!

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Next up:  Journey to Hawaii....The Big Island.....Day 6:  Cabana Day!