Rick's Guide to the Hilton Waikoloa & The Big Island of Hawaii

Our second visit to the Waikoloa was just as amazing as our first, 12 years before. At our earlier visit, it was the HYATT Waikoloa, but has since been re-franchised as a Hilton. I think the ownership stayed the same. And to the credit of the owner, the place maintained its high standards over time.

Some think the Hilton Waikoloa is nothing more than a Hawaiian Disneyland. And if all you do is stay on the property, that's how it appears. Relaxed Boat and more rapid train transportation the length of the resort, or if you prefer, take the long walk through lovely displays of native art and artifacts.

The Hilton folks call the Waikoloa "The Most Spectacular Resort on Earth," and for my money they're right. My wife is a professional Horticulturist, and she was in AWE of the plantings throughout the resort.

But if you REALLY are into plants, you should hoof over to the Hilo side of the island to the Botanical Gardens.

We all enjoyed the Dolphin Quest activities, including feeding the dolphins at the shore, and swimming with the dolphins in the deep water.

Dinner at the Kamuela Provision Company was a nightly treat. Make sure to order the Macadamia-encrusted Mahi Mahi—it's the best we've ever taster.

Mornings brought the terrific breakfast buffet at the Palm Terrace. Great food, and surprisingly, great value.

But if you want the real flavor of The Big Island, rent a jeep and hit the road! We drove to the top of Mauna Kea, home of the amazing observatories. That day our son tried to SNOWBOARD at the top of the mountain in the morning (actually, there wasn't enough snow, so we settled for a snowball fight), and SURFBOARDED on the Kona Coast in the afternoon. I don't think you can pull that off anywhere else in the world! But watch the thin air at that altitude—you WILL get dizzy. And you may find that the rental car companies will not let you drive along the Saddle Road (up to Mauna Kea) without signing a special release (and paying extra, of course). You'll need a four wheel drive jeep.

We drove over to the Botanical Gardens, and came back by Akaka Falls. The next day we drove back to Hilo and hired a helicopter for a tour of the volcanoes, and an overhead view of lava hitting the water!

Finally, we drove up Kiluea to Volcanoes National Park, just about in the center of the island. Spent the day inhaling sulfur (!!!), exploring the vents, and walking inside the lava tubes.

Don't stay at your resort on The Big Island, whatever it is. Get out and see for yourself!

And please don't hesitate to drop me a line with your own observations about this journal/review. I like to see if my advice has value. email me at rickhowe@aol.com

When on the Big Island, you MUST leave your resort and drive up to Volcanoes National Park. For the truly brave, with REALLY TOUGH SHOES, you can walk on the cooling lava.

Everybody wants to get close to red lava, but the locations change every day (as the lava cools at one spot and bubbles to the surface at another). We found that the hotel staff was clueless about the eruptions (that's a big word for the relatively small hole that the lava comes out of). If you drive over to the park, the rangers at the entrances can give you information, but you might find you went into the west entrance, and the red lava is over on the east side.

The best idea is to go to the National Park Service website from the hotel's business office (yes, even in Hawaii the hotels have a place for guests to do business) and use this URL: http://www.nps.gov/havo/visitor/lava.htm.

That's a site with the latest lava flow information, updated daily (or more often if things are really rocking!).

We stayed at the top area, working our way around the Crater Rim road (it's about a 10-mile loop). That takes you around the top of the Kilauea volcano, through unworldly sulfur desert climates and tropical rain forests (where the plants have reclaimed the cooled lava in just a few years!), and directly across the caldera floor (actually IN the crater of Kilauea). Most of these pictures were taken on the caldera floor.

And please don't hesitate to drop me a line with your own observations about this journal/review. I like to see if my advice has value. Email me at rickhowe@aol.com.

We rented a Jeep and drove up the Saddle Road to the top of Mauna Kea. There is a shop about halfway up, and I strongly recommend you stop there, if only to catch your breath. The air gets REALLY thin at the top (13,796 feet). But the drive DOWN is even more terrifying than the drive up! Make SURE to put your vehicle in LOW GEAR, or you WILL burn out your brakes! Check out the attached pictures!

We purchased a bag of pretzels at the hotel before we left (somebody suggested this). Now, the pretzels were probably bagged somewhere in the world (probably Pennsylvania) close to sea level. I wonder what would happen to that bag at the top of Mauna Kea?

Mauna Kea is the tallest volcano in Hawaii, and it has snow somewhere on the top almost year-round. My son had wanted to SNOWBOARD on the top of Manua Kea and SURFBOARD at Waikoloa on the same day. But there wasn't enough snow to perform that little miracle (we were there in March), so we settled for a snowball fight in the morning, followed by surfing in the afternoon!

But from November to February, there can be 4-foot-deep snow (or more) on the summit, so be prepared!

You cannot look through the telescopes at the observatories, but you can visit the locations during fairly limited hours. The visitor center (just off the Saddle Road) has details, but you can usually get a summit tour on weekends, and stargaze (from portable telescopes, not the big guys!) almost every evening.

This website will give you visitation schedules and details:
http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/mko/visiting.htm.

Oh, what happened to the bag of pretzels? With the much lower air pressure at nearly 14,000 feet elevation, the air INSIDE the bag expanded, and the bag exploded! So if you want to amaze your kids with this little trick, keep the bag someplace where pretzel dust won't do any damage! DON'T put it in your video-camera bag like I did.

And please don't hesitate to drop me a line with your own observations about this journal/review. I like to see if my advice has value. Email me at rickhowe@aol.com.

Take an afternoon on the Hilo side of the Big Island and immerse yourself in tropical plants like nowhere else in the world. And take a drive inland to the Akaka Falls while you're over there.

The Gardens are about 10 miles north of Hilo, on a scenic drive at Onomea Bay. Plan on spending 2 or 3 hours here, starting with the Palm Jungle trail just inside the front gate. A couple hundred species of palms are there, towering over the path.

The path will continue down towards the rocky beach of Onomea Bay, where the waterfalls come down in three tiers. It's sort of amazing to see this water cascading down in the midst of what would only be called the most exotic plants and flowers in the world.

Then you'll get to the exotic flowers. My wife is the plant expert; my preference has been for the Bird of Paradise flowers you see at florists and in southern California. Needless to say, there were different varieties of Bird of Paradise flowers here and much more. There was too much to see, almost. While my wife was mentally cataloging everything she saw, I took the opportunity to relax on a bench surrounded by the amazing scents and colors of the flowers: orchids, bromeliads, epiphytes (air plants that depend on rainwater for nutrition), heliconias, lilies, ferns, cool pines, and some noisy macaws for entertainment!

And guard your wallet when you leave, because much of what you've seen is on sale at the gift shop!

After a morning at the Botanical Gardens, we took Route 19 North out of Hilo to Route 220 to Akaka Falls State Park (it's well marked). The park is about a 1/2-mile walking loop past a smaller waterfall, but the big attraction is the 440-foot Akaka Falls! Magnificent, and a great photo opportunity.

And please don't hesitate to drop me a line with your own observations about this journal/review. I like to see if my advice has value. Email me at rickhowe@aol.com.

If you have the time and the cash (the rates change with the seasons), find one of the many helicopter rides that take you right over the volcano area. They all leave from the Hilo side of the island. Pictures are attached.

We used Hawaii Air Tours, based in Hilo (the other side of the island from the Waikoloa). We drove towards Hilo and met the helicopter in a small airfield. For about $200 per person (!), the three of us had a 1-hour tour of the volcano lava areas (looking straight down on red lava working its way through a stand of trees). We hovered over the part of the coast where the lava pours into the ocean, and it was SPECTACULAR to see the red lava steaming into the water. And then it was a quick flyover on the northeastern end of the island (which is pretty inaccessible by car) to see the canyons created by the volcano over the years, now covered with lush foliage.

We were three: Mom, Dad and kid. And they put us all in a three-across seat in the copter (it held six people in total). I wish we had known to request the seats in the front, next to the driver. Those people could see straight ahead and out the sides. We were limited to two windows (albeit large) on the right and left of the aircraft, and our little boy had to lean over his parents on his right and left to see out the window.

So when you call for reservations, regardless of who you call (and there are about a dozen companies doing volcano flyovers), be SPECIFIC about how many people in your party, and NEGOTIATE for the seating arrangement that suits you best.

At $200 per person, you don't want anybody in your group to say afterwards, "I didn't get to see very much."

One other word about Helicopter travel: I tend to be an uncomfortable flyer—loop-de-loops tend to give ME loop-de-loops, if you know what I mean. I get queasy when a commercial aircraft hits an air pocket. But after helicopter rides in Hawaii (over the volcano) and in Australia (over the Great Barrier Reef), I can tell you that I didn't have a problem. The helicopter is not subject to the ups and downs of small planes, or maybe it's just so NOISY that you don't notice.

But don't let your fear of flying (or decorating the inside of the ship) stop you from enjoying this amazing adventure.

And please don't hesitate to drop me a line with your own observations about this journal/review. I like to see if my advice has value. Email me at rickhowe@aol.com