Big Island : Top 5 Things to See – The good and the meh

The Big Island (aka Hawaii, aka the Orchid Isle) is the youngest island out of the whole Hawaiian chain. The island is also the biggest of all the other Hawaiian islands combined! The Big Island also has active volcanoes, so this is probably the island you want to hit up if seeing a volcano is on your bucket list. We came, we saw, we got battle wounds to prove it! Did we enjoy ourselves on the Big Island? What did we have fun doing? What recommendations do we have for our readers? 

We posted a few articles going into detail about some of the things we did. You can go check them out on our page, under Travel, or in the links I have added below. So here it goes…

Favorite things (in order):

1. Papakolea – Green Sand Beach – Difficult hike – We would recommend either hitching a ride with the locals or being in somewhat of a decent physical shape. See article here for more detail. 
2. Punalu’u – Black Sand Beach – You drive right up to the beach. If you already made up your mind to take the drive to Green Sand Beach, Punalu’u is on your way. I would probably do Punalu’u first, because after the hike to Papakolea, the only thing you will want is a chair and a cold beverage (and maybe some ointment to massage into those torn up feet). Additional details can be found here. 
3. Manta Ray Tour – Not for the timid or novice snorkeler. We would also not recommend it for people who get seasick easily. See our article here. 
4. Snorkeling at Kahaluʻu Bay – Terrific for first timers. Our six-year-old really enjoyed it and we saw SO MANY FISH. The bay is protected, so the area feels very safe and there is also a lifeguard stand. Rent your snorkel gear from Snorkel Bob’s , NOT from Boss Frog’s.
5. Helicopter Ride – The ride over the Kilauea Crater was definitely the highlight of the tour. Read more about our flight here. 

Meh things:

Meh means not so great, so you could skip them if you are short on time. 

1. Kiholo Bay – The waters are not clear enough for snorkeling. They do have a good amount of turtles and some locals saw sting rays in the bay while we were there, but other than that, not much here. We hiked quite a ways to get to the bay and were underwhelmed. 
2. Queen’s Bath (near Kiholo Bay) – Very short hike to the bath, but was unimpressed when compared to Kauai’s Queen’s Bath. No snorkeling to be had here (we didn’t see any fish). The cool water is very difficult to get in and out of, unless you do yoga on the reg. Bring a headlamp and go deeper into the cave if you are brave enough, or take some cool photos, but not much else to do.

Have you been to any of these places? What were your thoughts? Anything a must-see?

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Mahalo,

The Fabulous Life of an RV Wife

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