Hawaii Big Island (March 10-18, 2025)

After cancelling our trip to Australia, I started checking possible flights to use our Air New Zealand credit, during the time we already had planned for vacation.

Prices to New Zealand were higher than normal and going to Fiji, Samoa, or the Cook Islands cost more than I wanted to spend. 

In the process of searching, I found that Southwest had a great deal on flights to Hawaii (less than $500/person), so we decided to go to the Big Island, since neither of us had been to that island before.

We were able to book the trip for March 10-18, so we didn't need to rearrange work or dog sitter schedules, other than losing a few days at the front end. 

We also didn't need to alter our packing list much, since we were still going to have beach/snorkel days and time in the tropics/rainforest.

This is an overview of where we went each day:

Day 1: Travel and arrive in Kona

Day 2: Visit beaches on Kona Coast

Day 3: Chocolate tour and visit South Kohala area

Day 4: Drive along Kona coast area, across Ka'u (south), through Hawaii Volcanoes NP on way to Hilo

Day 5: Visit waterfalls and parks in Hilo area

Day 6: Visit the Puna region

Day 7:  Drive along East coast / Hamakua region and north / Kohala region on way to Kona

Day 8: Visit beaches on South Kona coast.

Day 9: Travel home

Day 1: Travel and arrive in Kona, HI

March 10 - flight

After boarding the plane, we had a bit of a delay due to mechanical issues. Everyone had to get off the plane and reboard a new plane that didn't have a fuel leak. After a two hour delay, we were on a new plane and on our way. Good thing our original flight had a 3 hour layover in Honolulu before flying to Kona, so we didn't have to worry about missing that flight.

We mostly napped on the 6- hour flight to Honolulu.

We were greeted with a rainbow as we picked up the rental car in Kona.

After checking in to the time share/condo we rented, we went out to dinner and split two appetizers - mango shrimp and an order of ahi poke nachos.

Day 2: Visit Kailua-Kona Area Beaches

March 11 

Today we decided to explore Kona beaches in the area shown on this map. 

We stopped at the Old Kona Airport State Recreational Area. This was a great place to see tide pools in the morning as the tide was going out.

We saw an assortment of sea life in the tide pools, including sea cucumbers

and lots of black sea urchins.

Steve couldn't resist climbing on the rocks.

View of the beach from a distance.

Obligatory selfie with tide pools behind me.

After leaving there, we drove further north to Kekaha Kai State Beach to swim and snorkel. We left the phones behind and tried using the GoPro and my old underwater camera.

Here area a few pictures from my old underwater camera before it died. Ironically, the last time I used this camera was my last trip to HI and it died near the end of the trip. I was excited to get it working again for this trip.

And here are a few more pictures from the GoPro

We then had a late lunch at Ola Brewery. 

My hard dragon fruit lemon aid really hit the spot. 

We did a bit of grocery shopping, then went back to the condo to relax before dinner.

We caught this beautiful sunset tonight.