Thread: BIG ISLAND of Hawaii - What's fun to do there??

Julie, We stayed at the Volcano House. In VNP. It is great. Do the drive of the park. The lava covered roads make for good pictures. The road signs make good pictures too(the date when the lava flowed). We visited the Lava Tube(tunnel like tube). We also did a rain forest as well. Very interesting. We did an airplane ride over the volcano, saw the lone house that was missed(the guy rents his house out to people). And the Lava that hits the ocean in wonderful. We also went to a Black Sand Beach(PUNALU'U) with turtles everywhere. We did drive to some beautiful waterfalls. Not sure of the names though. We just followed signs along our drive. Enjoy your trip. We did. We also looked at some web sites for maps and such to help out before the morning came.

BTW. This was all done in a day and a half. We stayed on the Big Island for only one night. And the geishers(sp?) are great too.

We did see Akaka Falls. There's a parking lot and two staircases that go to the different falls. We just saw Akaka. It's about a half mile walk through a rain forest. One thing to really, really remember is don't touch the golden flowers. Our guide told us (and other people who didn't know) that they are very toxic.

I'm starting to get really excited about this trip!!!

And watch out for the centipedes...

OK, I'll avoid the gold flowers and the centipedes! LOL!

Who's been on the Captain Bean party boat?

I am wondering if it's worth doing. I read a few reviews online and they all seem a little different. Some people say it's awesome, but don't explain why. Some people say it's a wild and crazy party boat...but a couple of people said it's more family oriented than it used to be. That worries me a little.

I definitely don't want to go if it's overly family themed. I want to drink a bunch of mai tais, listen to live Hawaiian music, laugh and be entertained by the crew and fellow passengers (adult style, not Disney style!), and watch a beautiful sunset from the boat. To be honest, it's the live Hawaiian music that's the biggest draw for me...I just love it.

Can anybody tell me what it's really like on the Captain Bean boat?

I haven't done it, but I've watched it sail by our condo from time to time. It's a pretty big boat (not ship, boat...maybe 100 feet long or so) and looks like there's a lot of people on board.

Could you tell from that far away if they were enjoying it?

I didn't notice anyone jumping overboard to escape the experience. If you do it, I'll be interested in hearing how it was. We'll be in the Kona area for a week in Feb. 07 and if it's a lot of fun we might do it.

Originally Posted by daWoods

I didn't notice anyone jumping overboard to escape the experience. If you do it, I'll be interested in hearing how it was. We'll be in the Kona area for a week in Feb. 07 and if it's a lot of fun we might do it.

I am pretty tolerant, so if it has rum drinks and Hawaiian music while we're out on the water I'll be a happy camper. DH, on the other hand, still teases me about the Maui sunset sail we took a couple of years ago. It was such a huge flop. We never sailed out around the NaPali coast like we were supposed to...but instead the captain decided to sail the catamaran around and around our cruise ship anchored in the harbor like we were on some nautical merry-go-round. People on the cruise ship were laughing at us and waving! If Captain Beans is no good I'll never hear the end of it!!