Located across from the Ironman start/finish marker, at N 19° 38.371 W 155° 59.839 /…read more5Q E 185645 N 2174356 on Kailua Pier in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. Known as Plymouth Rock of Hawaii, this historical landmark has a placard commemorates the 195th anniversary of the arrival of the first missionaries in 1820. This is just a short walk from the oldest church on the island as is a must see religious as nd historical site for Christians.

This is a NPS managed site that protects the ancient fish traps and fish catch ponds. centuries old…read more, all by hand to catch fish that come in on the tides to feed. One Way traps. A marvel to imagine

Great location to visit not too many tourists and the beach is nice. The hike is not the easiest on…read moreunimproved path with a lot of lava rocks and it very exposed to the sun. Need to bring water and wear sturdy shoes. Came during the gov shut down so the parking lot, visitor center, and restrooms were all closed but at the turn around you can fit ~10 cars along the shoulder.

Yep, yep, this is a big one in every way. If you're on the big island, it goes without saying that…read moreyes, you should do whatever you can to make a trip up here. The first thing about coming here is knowing the rules. The below links from the University of Hawaii have all of them, and it is extensive. hilo.hawaii.edu/maunakea/stewardship/admin-rules hilo.hawaii.edu/maunakea/visitor-information/public-safety The below link shows the setup at the visitor's center. www.google.com/maps/place/Maunakea+Visitor+Information+Station/@19.7588885,-155.4562821,133m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x7953bf006cff862b:0x9590ce9b5623e0d1!8m2!3d19.7592729!4d-155.4561238!16s%2Fg%2F11msnjlp__?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDgyNi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D When you're coming up the access road, they want you to make the first right into the visitor center lot to stop for your 30-minute altitude acclimation period. I couldn't be bothered so we just went in one side and came out the other side at the checkpoint before going up to the summit. Yes, I was asked if we stopped for 30 minutes and I lied and said sure. The ranger knew I was full of crap, but he gave his safety talk and made sure I knew how to fully shift the Jeep into low gear and how to manually shift low gears as that is 100% needed on the way down. The road on the way up is a mix of decently paved road and unpaved rocks/gravel with some fairly large pothole/craters and the final hairpin S turn before the summit is a real doozy. If you have any kind of altitude sickness or vertigo...it's tight & sharp and it's a long ass way down. The main summit parking area has room for around...?? 25 cars. Once you get towards sunset, there were way more cars than parking spots. At the top you can get out and walk around. There is always a ranger presence there and there are a few port-o-pots up there if need be. During our ascent, we saw three or four different rainbows and had decent weather initially but most of the week it rained and eventually the clouds and rain found us up there and the visibility at the summit and on drive down was at the point where you could barely see the end of the hood. An obvious duh. When we left Hilo, it was almost 80. At the summit two hours later, it was 46 with a decent stiff breeze. As others have mentioned, the visitor center on the way down is the play as it's open daily until 9pm and you can stay on the grounds as long as you want. We didn't stay long or linger as it was pouring when we got down there. Very few people will ever get to the 9000-foot visitor center level let alone the 14000-foot summit. Plan ahead and do it if you can. Very unique and it's the type of thing you can't do anywhere.

Going to Mauna Kea was a must-do on our trip to the Big Island. We planned for our visit to line up…read moreperfectly with sunset. The visitor center is cool. Lots of good info. There's quite a bit of parking. It was super busy for a Sunday evening. We were in an all-wheel drive vehicle (Ford Edge) and the ranger gave us the green light to go up, even though all of the signs say 4-wheel drive only. They said they can no longer turn all wheel drive vehicles away. He recommended we stop every so often on the way down to let our brakes cool. The road is rough. Not paved. It's basically gravel and dirt the whole way. We only made it a mile of the 8 before turning around. The sun was so bright in our eyes we weren't able to see the road at some points and there is definitely some steep terrain going up. Our vehicle was already needing to have the gas all the way just to make it up. The thought of going down 8 miles of that sounded quite anxiety-inducing. So, we got back to the visitor center in time to hike the trail up the mountain across the road and catch the sunset. It's spectacular. The altitude change is no joke. I could feel how much harder it is to breathe with just a few steps into the hike. Be careful! The views are stunning though. So pretty. Definitely an experience worth checking out.

Believe everything people are saying about this hike! Beautiful experience, beautiful views, but…read moreit's a challenge getting back up even for a pretty athletic group. We stopped at the gas station to refill on water and snacks beforehand, trust me, you need to! The locals specifically said, we don't hike there, it's too tough to walk uphill, we swim across about 20 yards for an easier trip. My group was not swimming across, so we turned around after about an hour in the water. Downhill is easy (1 hour), uphill was strenuous (1.5 hours). Take plenty of shaded breaks and try to save your water until the end. It's rocky and good gripped shoes are requirement.

Beautiful hike in the big island! This hike has it all, including wildlife, views, nature, and so…read moremuch more. You start on a rocky dirt path that's surrounded by trees and tall grass. After a mile or so it really opens up and you get amazing views of the ocean and surrounding hillsides. It is around here that you can see a lot of mountain goats. Once you reach the bottom, you get to the main attraction, the snorkeling. I found that snorkeling very close to the rocks had a lot more fish. Lots of people go out to the deeper waters, but most of the fish are clustered in the rocky areas that are about 3 feet deep. You can also view the captain cook monument, which has surrounding plaques that describe his legacy. Bring lots of water, the hike back up is all uphill and can be very hot!

My friends, family and I went night snorkeling to see the manta rays. What a great experience! The…read morecrew is very helpful and gave clear instructions on what to do and what is prohibited (to not touch the sea creatures for example). If you need assistance to get to the structure, someone will help you! Just let them know. Highly recommend!

We did a Captain Cook snorkeling tour with Sea Quest Hawaii today and were very impressed. Erin,…read morethe phone representative, was friendly, patient, and answered all my questions, which made me choose this company. Captain Natalie and Assistant Anna were fantastic, knowledgeable, funny, and very attentive throughout the trip. Captain Natalie shared interesting stories about Captain Cook and the surrounding lava caves, and she even helped me with my snorkeling gear and inflating the vest. The snorkeling spot near Captain Cook Monument was incredible, and we saw so many fish. They also provided fresh fruit, chips, cookies, and soft drinks. Thanks to Captain Natalie and Anna, all six of us had a great time and would highly recommend this company.

This is a sacred place just down the road (to the right) from where you go at Kaleakua Bay to…read morekayak. Don't miss it. It is an old Hawaiian sacred place, kept sacred (please do not trespass onto the platform!) and clean by the locals. There are showers here on the park side for you to use after snorkeling Captain Cook's and kayaking back. There are also covered picnic tables and a nice basketball court (on grass!) to enjoy. Beautiful, local and cool to the max. Great place to relax after a busy day, and there was a barbecue available to boot.

Hikiau Heiau at Kealakekua Bay is a nice state park we went to for snorkeling. I saw a few big…read morecrabs but not a whole lot of other creatures. Once you get in the water at the rocks, the ground becomes a gray sand and it was relaxing swimming there. There are a few areas at Kealakekua Bay to snorkel around.

Absolutely a must visit to see, feel and understand Hawaiian history…read more It was sad that the volunteers were not even faintly familiar with anything. Names, events and even basic royal history questions were not answered...only empty smiles with oh- there is so much history here...sadly they didn't know hardly any of it. I even asked about the hula group that teaches there, again no idea. They need to train the volunteers to actually know something about the place where they are volunteering.

Hulihe'e Palace is a beautiful piece of Hawaii history museum that sits in downtown Kailua-Kona…read more This palace was built in 1838 for Hawaiian royalty stayed here, in 1973 it was place on the national register of historic places, it was originally built out of lava rocks, the lava rocks fance today still secure the palace. The museum has lot's of priceless artifacts like furiture photos quilts and other cultural Items. I was sad because it was close on the day we dock there, a good reason to come back to Kona.

I first found this sweet little Catholic Church six years ago. My sister just got married in it a…read morefew weeks ago. It is very small and only has 12 pews. The pews hold 2 to 3 people. Saint Peters Catholic Church is located right on the beach. There is one beautiful etched glass window located in the front of the church which describes the story of Peter walking on the water toward Jesus. When Peter's faith starts to wane, and he starts to sink in the water. It's a beautiful church for a wedding! Personally I thought the church was very special and very memorable. What a little gem!!

This tiny church, also known as The Little Blue Church, sits right on the ocean. It has only 12…read morepews, making it perhaps the smallest church in the world. It was built in 1889. There is a beautiful stained glass window at the back of the church overlooking the ocean. I believe that services are still held in the church. It can also be rented for small wedding parties. There is no parking lo the church. Parking is available on the street. Drive slowly or you will certainly miss is, because it's tiny size is easy to overlook. To view pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/10750818@N04/sets/72157601105069102/

We had an amazing time and our tour guide Mia was fantastic, informative, friendly and being a…read morenative she gave intimate tales about history and growing up there. We also had a really nice group of people with us. Really converted so much of the island!

Felix was an excellent tour guide. Great fun on tour. Very informative. Volcano site was amazing…read more Ther stars were absolutely amazing to see. It was like you could reach out and touch them. I will never again see a site like that again.