Hey all The misses and I are planning a trip down there next year at some point and I have a few questions for you guys.Hopefully you guys can answer them....

What months are the best to go(meaning less rain and heat)?

What the best island to visit?

Why do you say it's the best?

Well mainly those questions for now but If you have anything you'd like to add or some usefull links even please feel free to add them here..And believe me if your more than helpfull I'll treat you to a beer or even a dinner when I get down there....

It depends on what you want to do. If you want to party hard and like the rat race and concrete jungle of Waikiki, you need to spend your time on Oahu. If you want laid back so far you fall over backwards and want to see the most beautiful parts of Hawaii, go to Maui, Big Island, Molokai or Kauai. I'll gladly supply you with any info I can if you tell me what your interests might be.
Aloha
Chaney
A.K.A. XTONKA

Well we sorta want to see the beautiful places and do the whole sightseeing thing and some shopping of course.We'd also like to hit some Lu'au 's and some other things to that nature...

We'll go from there..

Recommendations are difficult. Everyone is so different in their desires and expectations. Try this research for a start:

http://www.visit.hawaii.org/

My wife and I are heading to Maui in late March. My Mother-In-Law has a time share, so free accommodations! WooHoo

We are planning on doing the "Road to Hana" road trip, a whale watching trip and taking a horse ride into the Volcano on Maui. If we can afford it maybe a trip to the Big Island and check out the Volcano there, my wife is a Geologist, and both of us want to see some Hot Molten Lava!

Any other cool sights or locales on Maui that maybe only a local might know?

I think the road to Hana is over-rated, but I realize it's something most tourists feel they have to do. Route 340 around the NW end of Maui is more interesting in my opinion, but not for the faint of heart.

http://www.bestofhawaii.com/maps/images/maui.jpg

If you make it to Volcano on the "Big Island",(a must see), you can stay at the Volcano's National Park cabins located next to the Namakani Paio campground for about $35 or $40 a night. Make reservations well in advance because the cabins are very popular. The cabins are reserved through the Volcano House Hotel. 1-808-967-7321

http://www.nps.gov/havo/visitor/camping.htm
Aloha

I'm going to the Big Island in November. Really looking forward to seeing the volcano!

If you ever drop your keys into a river of molten lava, let'em go, because, man, they're gone.
- Jack Handey

If it were up to me ( and I know its not) I would say screw the Road to Hana before it or some of the Hana residents who are crazy drivers screw you. Its a 50 plus mile drive with more turns than you can shake a stick at and several one lane bridges. The residents of Hana who drive it frequently drive it as fast as they possibly can and they don't like slow driving tourists getting in their way. Once you get to Hana the main attraction is called (I think) 7 pools. Pretty but not worth the drive as far as I'm concerned. If you really want some beautiful scenery, go to Haleakala Crater. It is a long up hill ride also with many turns but not as bad as Hana Hwy. Bring warm clothes because once you get to the top, you'll swear you are no longer in Hawaii. If you're in to SCUBA Diving, Molokini is a must, (back wall) if you are a good enough diver. Also Cathedrals of of Lanai is another excellent dive. I could go on and on with must sees but I'll shut up for now.

Months to come here, less rain, less heat? Those are mutually exclusive. Winter is slightly cooler, but more rainy... roughly Nov - March. The windward sides (genarally eastern) of all the islands are rainier/cooler than the leeward sides (generally western).

Which island is the best? Hard to say. My preference is the Big Island... Here's some general vibes.

Oahu: urban, busy, commercial, lots of "tourist attractions". Lots of gorgeous white sandy beaches. The beach babes spend a lot of time on the tread mill. Good for cultural exploration, museums, and a variety of cuisines.

The Big: Big, down to earth, slow pace, lava. Don't expect the locals to do anything real quick like. It's the least densely populated island. Not so many tourist attractions outside of natural type things. Kona sucks, but there's some "good" luau's on that side. Beaches are more rugged (they're younger), not so many white sandy ones. The beach babes wear their Kalua Pork with pride.

Maui: Small, spendy, exclusive, stunning natural beauty, suburban. Great for surfing. The road to Hana is trecherous. Fill the tank before you go!

Kauai: Very small, pretty down to earth, small town feel. Great hikes, kayaking. Good traditional beaches.

Lanai, molokai: Very small, exclusive.

Ni'ihau: Forbidden. Go above the high tide line and... pau.

I hope that helps you get some idea for where you would like to go.

Enjoy, aloha,
mikeT

Deffinetly some good tips guys...

I've only been to the Big Island, Kona side. My wife and I have travelled all over the world and Kona is our favorite place by far. We hope to move there at some point in our life.

The locals were very embracing. Not sure if its because we are in the surf/skate/snow crowd but regardless, everyone was cool with us. Some places (in general) really don't like the tourists coming through, I felt none of that from the locals on the Big Island.

We rented this house for 2 weeks:
http://www.skylarkmedia.com/onionhouse

The house is awesome. Only 1 mile from Ali'i drive and the beachfront.

Like some others have said, the beaches in Kona are rocky. If you go in the water be careful of rips and rocks (and tiger sharks). I got knocked out my second day there surfing at Magic Sands. Wave took me head first into the ocean floor. haha, I was just glad I hit in one of the few spots with no rocks

We spent about 70% of our time in the waters off Ali'i drive swimming, snorkeling and surfing, but also checked out the Volcano Park, Southpointe and many of the restaurants outside of Kona. Everything we did there was awesome.

If you decide to go to Kona, be sure to checkout the Aloha Angel cafe. The food is damn good there. Its about 15 miles south of Kona on your right hand side. Its pretty hard to miss. Looks like an old playhouse (which it is).

We would like to get to the other islands some time as well, but from what I hear and read, Kona seems to be a perfect fit for us.

Just my 2cents.......

The onion house is pretty cool...Is that one or two properties??

Yea, the house is pretty sweet. It is one property. Its a 3 bedroom house with the masterbedroom split off from the rest of the structure. We went with one other couple (our friends), and fortunately, we got the master bedroom. The other rooms are pretty nice too, but they are small. The master bedroom is more private, has its own full bath (shower is built into an outside wall) and patio area.

We booked the place a year in advance. My friend saw it on TLC and called to book it right away. I think they have a calendar of availability on their site. It may be a bit much for just one couple, space-wise I mean. You may want to look at some oceanfront properties on Ali'i drive. There are a lot for rent, and some of them are really damn nice.

The onion house is very private even though it is right off the main road. You pull into an overgrow of trees and there is a big stone wall with a gated entry. You walk up the stairs and enter the pool deck. Very cool.

Here are some pics I took there:

Entrance by the pool:



You can see how the masterbedroom is disconnected, there is a walkway and lillypond between the two buildings:



You'll be seeing lots of these guys there:



The road to Southpoint (fun)



and a sunset from the onion house pool deck:



Enjoy.......

also checkout:
http://www.avacationrental.com
http://konaweb.com

My wife and I and another couple went back in May. We started off in Oahu, I wanted to go to Pearl Harbor, and just see some of the "tourist" areas. Honolulu/Waikiki area is crowded but the North and East shores off the island are beautiful.
We also went to the Big Island for a few days. We stayed in the Waikaloa area, very nice hotels, but very expensive, and the best beaches were a drive from there. Kona is nice but a bit rocky, Hilo is on the "rainy" side of the island but is the home to many breath taking waterfalls. Be sure to visit Volcanoes National park to see how Hawaii makes new property. Check out the Volcano House while your there for a great buffet meal.<--Mahalo Lopaka
On Maui, we stayed on Kaanapali Beach, at the Sheraton. The views are incredible from the hotel. Visit Haleakala for sunrise, we did the bike tour down, 10,000 feet to sea level, 38 miles down NO pedaling, the views are great on the way down. Oh yes, Old Lahaina Luau! not to be missed.
The only thing we'd do different next time, yes we are going again, is fly out to LA, stay a night or two and leave from there, it will break up the trip from the east coast and make the flight out seem shorter.
I'm not too far from you, I live in Fall River, and the whole area is nothing like our New Engalnd, it's tough not to act like a tourist there with all the beauty, but Hawaii is like nothing you've seen here, shut off the cell phone, relax, and "Hang Loose"

Sweet excellent pics and descriptions.....Space isn't a problem for the misses and I..

And while my wife was looking at the pics she noticed the little grin I got when I saw the little lizard picture and she said "oh geez here we go"...The reason she says this is whenever I go to Florida I have a habit of chasing the little lizards around...Why I don't know they are just cool....

I'm deffinetly gonna check out the volcano national park and a few other things you mentioned...Thanks for the tips..

But yeah I'm like 5-10 minutes from Fall River..Nice to see other locals on here...

thanks...

yea, there are geckos everywhere at the house, inside and out. they are pretty mellow too. they'll come right up to you and sit with you and let you pick them up.

you might see a few scorpions too. small ones. one of them lived in our bathroom sink and every morning when i was brushing my teeth or whatever, he would creep up out of the drain walk around for a few minutes then go back in. i named him hank. i only saw them in the sinks, none outside. you might not want to tell your wife that

ps: the geckos like cheerios

Oh man I tell my wife that she won't wanna go....

eh, they cant do any harm. heard it feels like a bee sting.

i think the millipedes or centipedes they have in hawaii are much more dangerous, supposedly they pack a pretty big punch of a bite. i didnt see any at the house.

Where are there some great spots for photos and what not? I love taking pictures both digital and 35MM,so I'd like to check out some awesome scenery....On the photo note I was interested in a Helicopter tour does anyone have any that they preffer??

Also this green flash that I've been reading about can someone tell me about this?

Also beaches,what do you think are the better of all that Hawaii has to offer?

I shot a lot of photos at the house..plenty of wild life ops. Southpointe has some cool spots. The Volcano is good at night (during the day it looks like the moon). You can get some cool shots at the black sand beach (about 35 minutes south of Kona)...cool sunsets offest with the black sand.

I didn't make it over to Hilo, but thats where the waterfalls are.

Supposedly you can see the Green Flash from the pool area at the Onion house, but we didnt see it. We were only at the house for a few sunsets. Most of the time we were out driving around looking for stuff to do.

The beaches along the Kona coast are very rocky. White Sands beach is actually very nice though. Small, but nice. The sand is like powder. They also call this place Magic Sands because the beach disappears every fall/winter. Happened the last day we were there. One day it was sandy, the next day it was all rocks. We were there in November.

A mile up the road from White Sands there is a great snorkel spot. I forget the name of it. We dove in and saw green sea turtles and just about every fish you can think of. I was swimming with a bunch of puffers....pretty cool. They were actually big. I thought they would be tiny.

I am sure you will find plenty of photo ops on any of the islands.

Hope this helps some....

It sure does help out..And thanks..

Have you drivin around the island entirely?

how long of a drive would that be?

Actually, we didn't drive all the way around. We were going to and just never did. Not sure why.

I think it takes 4 or 5 hours to drive around it, maybe more. Or you can cut straight thru the middle of the island via Saddle Rd. Most of the rental companies don't want you taking a car up there though. I guess its pretty rough. Saddle road is where the military bases are and some other stuff (the telescope maybe). We didnt go up there. We will next time though.

I took the Jeep we rented off roading by Southpointe. I was actually looking for the Green Sand beach, but ended up on some trails that I think were for Motox or 4 wheelers, but I "jeeped" it. My wife filmed from the cabin, its hilarious. I was just waiting for some locals to come out and beat my ass for being there, so I turned around after a few minutes

If you go there during the winter you might even be able to sneak in some Skiing or Snowboarding time, if you're into that. My plan was to skate, surf, and snowboard all in one day...but it doesn't snow there until January now. Maybe next time

Just a few comments.
Miket explains it the best. He pretty much hit the nail right on the head for all of the Islands. Geckos love cheerios and roaches too. They do however shit like mules and all over the place. I hate the f,ing scorpions and centipedes as well. They both hurt like hell, they both but especially the centipedes are aggressive and will chase you. I once had a scorpion show up on the inside of my Xterra and caused me to make skid marks on the road and in my pants too. I jumped ship while sitting at a busy intersection because of the little bastard. He then disappeared into the headliner of my X. I drove my X back to my warehose and set off 3 roach bombs inside and parked it for the weekend. Thanks for mentioning the little bastards as I am sure to have night mares tonight. Now I will

XTONKA - yea, the geckos do shit a lot...but oh well. i didnt get any on me.

I heard the centipedes are known to crawl into childrens mouths while they sleep. they are attracted to the warmth. thats pretty scary. imagine waking up with one of things crawling around in your mouth.

that should add to the nightmares....

I was more worried about the huge tiger shark population kona has. i spent most of my time in the water. i love sharks, but man, they scare the shit out of me. i dont know if you surf or not, but i heard there is an old tiger shark that lives at Banyans...never bothered anybody and can be seen swimming around from time to time.

lol,,,man XTONKA sorry to hear about your mishap....But maybe I should stick to the whole hotel thing...Is there less of a chance seeing scorps and cents(especially crawling in my mouth)at a hotel??

Shark Head first off, for the mouth comment. I used to spend every possible spare moment of time SCUBA diving but now that my back is screwed along with some other health issues I pretty much have to keep my head above water. I have seen many a shark while diving including a few tigers. The only sharks that have caused a mess in my wetsuit were a huge ass 12-14 foot hammerhead and a big tiger. No estimate on how big because I got back out of the water quicker than I got into it. Kaneohe Bay is the Hammerhead breeding ground of the pacific so they are quite plentiful. Other shark breeds are found hear and there if they aren't already in somebodies bowl of soup. Sorry, kinda drifting off the topic. I haven't spent much time in Kona so I don't know of an old tiger at Banyans. Probably just a bunch of huhu to keep the Haole Boys out of local surf spots.

oh, i thought you lived in Kailua-Kona, my bad. I take it you are on Oahu?

Yea, I don't know if its a Haole scare tactic or not. I've heard the story from a few people though. None of the locals gave me any beef when I was riding at White sands. I was pretty surprised. They were actually very nice. Hell, everyone I met there was cool.

RI - i have no idea if you are better off in a hotel (bug issue). i didnt see any centipedes at the house though. and the only scorpions i saw were in the bathroom sinks. that house is booked year round, so i dont think its an issue. i would definitely stay there again.

I say embrace the bugs, cuz. You'll be in the tropics. Bugs live here. A lot.

Consider that any hotel that doesn't have any bugs is LOADED with poison. I think you're better off to find something more down to earth. Scorpions are rather rare and the centipedes prefer to stay buried in the dirt.

I guess this is going on a divergence... but isn't that status quo? Back in the old days of XOC...

-miket