Hawai'i Island: The lay of the land

Geography

Map from: Hawaii The Big Island Revealed. The Ultimate Guidebook.

Hawai'i Island is usually called The Big Island - avoids confusion with that other island called O'ahu where Honolulu and Waikiki are located.

The Hawaiian islands are a chain of islands formed by a hot-spot or magna fountain in the earth's crust. As the pacific plate moves north-west, it moves over the hot-spot popping up a new island every few million years. So the western islands of Ni'ihau and Kaua'i are the oldest of the major islands; their volcanoes are long extinct and the islands are heavily eroded into deep valleys. Hawaii is the newest island, still sitting over the hot spot which feeds several active volcanoes continually building the island on its south-east corner.

Several miles to the south of Hawaii Island the next Hawaiian island Lo’ihi is being constructed under the sea - now within 3000 feet of the surface emerging in about 10,000 years time. As the pacific plate moves further west, Hawaii Island will move away from the hot-spot, the volcanos will dry up and the island will gradually erode back into the sea.

Travel Planning

There are three main areas on Hawaii Island with a selection of tourist accommodation, each with it’s own appeal:

Map adapted from: Hawaii The Big Island Revealed. The Ultimate Guidebook.

Kailua on the dry Western Kona coast has the older mid-range resorts.  Kailua is an actual town with shopping malls and real residents, and resort hotels along the black lava rock shoreline. There are a number of interesting things to do in the immediate area – coffee farm visits, kayaking, snorkeling cruises. The volcanic park sights are a 2-hour drive away.

Kohala on the dry Northwest coast has most of the mega resorts – apparently very luxurious. (I did not stay there.)  The North Kohala scenery is reputed to be the most beautiful on the island. The disadvantage of staying in a Kohala resort would be longer drives to visit the attractions on the rest of the island. It’s probably the sort of place where you leave the resort in a helicopter for a whirl around the volcano, watch the lava running, swoop through a northern rainforest valley and then back in time for cocktails by the pool.

Hilo on the rainy windward Eastern coast is the main town on the big island. It makes a convenient base with most of the main sights within an easy drive: Volcano, Lava, the lush Hamakua coast and Mauna Kea Mountain. The accommodation in Hilo, while offering less selection than Kohala and Kailua, is much cheaper.  

How many days?

I had only 6 days on Hawaii; barely enough time to see the main sights. I could easily have filled in another week to visit the northern Kohala region and to complete several more hikes including climbing Mauna Loa. I recommend staying at least a full week on Hawaii Island. The itineraries below assume that you would prefer to get out sight-seeing and hiking rather than stay in a resort.

Hilo Bay

If you have one week or more then a suggested itinerary is:

• 2 nights in Kailua on the Kona coast
• 1-2 nights in the Kohala/Waimea area
• At least 4 nights in Hilo close to the more interesting Volcano, Puna and Hamakua coast areas.

• 1-2 nights in Kailua
• The rest of your time in Hilo.
• If you have a Kona/Kohala resort package covering more than 2-3 nights, then consider discarding the extra nights in the package and pay extra for accommodation in Hilo so you get the most out of your visit.

How to get there?

Both Hawaiian and Aloha Airlines have several flights a day from Honolulu to Kailua on the west Kona coast and Hilo on the east coast. Hawaiian and Aloha are merging so the situation may change. The Aloha flight is something like a bus service; there is no assigned seating and beverage service only for the 50-minute flight.

I paid US$153 for Honolulu-Hilo return direct from Aloha and it should be possible to get better deals by booking together with the international flight or by purchasing flight coupons from a local travel agent in Honolulu.