hello from hawaii we are spending one full week on the big island of hawaii
i'll be sharing our complete travel guide to the best things to do eat and see on the big island
so this trip is a pretty pretty big deal
because we have officially now been to all four of the main hawaiian islands so we have been to oahu
maui kauai and now the big island we're here for seven full days
so if you're wanting to see what we do an entire week here on the big island then follow along
okay you ready to go cruise the big island all right we have already left the resort this
morning we went and had breakfast and we went to walmart because there's a walmart right next door
and we just picked up some snacks um some beer and wine and some of those things our
resort is in kona which has access to a lot of great shopping and dining we started our
day by driving north to a beautiful lookout and a small hike to the scenic pololu lookout
area so first before i get too deep into this vlog just know i'm not good with hawaiian words
so when i'm trying to pronounce something don't get on me about so i always put it on the screen
we decided to hike to the bottom of the valley which is a steep hike and i highly recommend
some good tennis shoes because it can get very slippery if it rains you'll have beautiful views
of the pololu valley all the way down as well as the gorgeous sea cliffs the hike took us about 20
to 25 minutes to get to the beautiful black sand beach at the valley floor this is definitely a
must-do hike on the big island as it is short sweet and gorgeous when you're hiking in hawaii
make sure you know that there's going to be mud because everything is moist and humid and wet
hey guys so it is lunch time we found this cute little stand off the road here from after our
hike called off the grid one thing you have to have in hawaii is poke so we plan on eating a lot
of this because it's amazing so this is a poke bowl and then vince got the poke nachos we've
not had nachos in this farm and this is like a passion fruit i don't know something juice
and we bought a tangerine for 22 cents we spent the afternoon at hapuna state recreation
area it is one of the many beautiful white sand beaches on the big island
we made it a little chilly ocean you know but we did it
we have an oceanfront room at our resort and this was our sunset from our patio
morning it is day two here on the big island starting our day off with some coffee we
are going south now on the island i got a mocha latte we got a blueberry muffin and that's got a
mocha latte too we are spending our day in the captain cook area and starting our day at the
Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau national historic park since it's part of the national park service we brought
our america the beautiful pass with so we had free entry to the park so we are spending our morning
here and i don't know we might just spend a lot of time here today we have deemed this park one
of the best areas on the big island the grounds of this park are an important part of the ancient
hawaiian history and one of the best places to immerse yourself into the culture although the
park is really small it is definitely one of those areas you have to add to your big island itinerary
this is a must stop place um if you're on the big island wow it is so beautiful here and it's
quiet there's like nobody around just so peaceful and beautiful like i can't
express how beautiful it is here these palm trees everywhere and everything it's just
you gotta do it so we just finished up scoping out the historic side here which was
so amazing like i said you need to come here so right next to this is two-step beach which is
considered the best snorkeling on the big island so we're gonna go there next we're just staying
parked here at the historic site and just gonna walk to the beach area since the best beaches on
the big island are so rocky i highly recommend you bring a pair of water shoes with you to
help protect your feet from getting cut on rocks and coral let's go snorkeling i highly recommend
bringing your own snorkel gear if you are planning to go snorkeling in the hawaiian islands there are
areas where you can rent gear however there'll be time limits on it and if you have your own
it's a great way to be able to just bounce around and circle when and wherever you want
all right hows your snorkeling here at two step beach. excellente
oh wait we're not mexico this is awesome you guys such pretty fish all over just finished
snorkeling it was amazing but we worked up an appetite and it's time for some tacos we both
got the same exact thing look at these tacos we got sliced avocado these are bombs that's good
so tonight we're not going up for dinner we're going to eat here in our room so we just went to
the safeway grocery store and we got some sushi and pokeballs because tonight we're so excited
we are going on a night snorkeling tour to see manta rays which is a very popular thing to do
here on the big island this is our dinner spot from our patio our tour was at 6:30 at night
before boarding our boat we were given a wetsuit and snorkel gear i definitely recommend bringing
some towels with you as well as some long sleeves to kind of keep you warm because it can get chilly
the boat right to the manta rays was roughly about 25 to 30 minutes once you jump in the
ocean you snorkel over to one of the flotation surfboards and hold on to it then they shine a
light down into the water and the manta rays come right up to you they are enormous creatures and so
beautiful to see we snorkeled with the manta rays for over an hour and they were just constantly
coming in and in they also swim up to us because they're eating plankton at night the wingspan of
a manta ray can get up to 18 feet and most of the manta rays we saw were between 10 to 12 feet the
tour was very well organized and the captain and its team did an amazing job swimming with manta
rays under you is unbelievable so highly recommend this if you're on the big island of hawaii
good morning it is day three here on the big island of hawaii and we are on the other side
of the island today um we are on the hilo side and this side of the island is considered the wet side
a lot more rain happens on this side the kona sides a little more dry and guess what's happening
today rain yeah it's uh pouring rain right now but you know what we're cool we're rolling with it
kind of doing a loop to see waterfalls so we are here at rainbow falls we gotta um get our umbrella
and i'm gonna change my shoes and yeah we're gonna just shirtless yeah he's gonna take a shirt
because he doesn't wanna get all wet which i don't blame them so uh yeah let's go see some waterfalls
today so this is how you do it guys if you don't have rain ponchos this way you're swimming i know
we're in hawaii it's nice and hot out it's just a lot of rain going on and there it is
all right next stop still raining vince's got his gear
akaka falls state park is a self-guided loop that brings you through some of the most lush
tropical vegetation i have ever seen in my life if you guys are plant lovers like me
like it's just blowing my mind all the plants where to paradise oh right there they're out
i have one of those at my house they're not like that and the leaves are so big and lush and green
and oh my gosh their loop is only 0.4 miles so nothing serious and it brings you around to three
different waterfalls the main attraction is akieca falls which plunges 442 feet into a gorge even
though it was raining it was so unbelievably beautiful and if you're on the hilo side
definitely go to this park rain finally stopped and it cleared a little which i'm thankful for
because this next spot we are at is a lookout the waipio valley is the largest valley on the island
this impressive overlook gives you amazing views of waterfalls off the sea cliffs as well as the
black sand beach blow if you have a 4x4 vehicle you can also drive down to the valley floor we
are back in a room no rain over here because it's the dry side of the island and we just ordered in
a pizza from domino's we were drove for over five hours today so we're like we don't want
to like go run around and look for restaurants or anything so we're dining in again because we have
oceanfront views right here in our room and we have our own wine and beer and stuff in our fridge
we got whales right out of here from our room
i'm trying to get him again here they were spouting there they are see it
wow we were just talking about how we haven't seen whales yet and this
is kind of the good beginning of whale season there they are two of them
good morning it is another beautiful day here in the big island so another big road trip adventure
day we are headed to volcanoes national park today which we're so excited about but one stop before
we get to the park is black sand beach and that is where we are right now black sand you guys
legit soft black sand it's beautiful so we're just enjoying the beach here for a little bit and then
after the volcanoes national park to check out the lava and the volcanoes and all the things so
let's go since we have our national park pass with we had free entry into the park
otherwise it was $30 per car volcano's national park is massive and the park is home to one of
the world's most active volcanoes we first drove the crater rim drive which is four miles around
the kilauea volcano which brings you through steam vents rainforest and to lava lake where we
saw real lava our next step was lava tube this was an underground passageway that was formed by lava
lava used to flow through this passageway from organic vents beneath the surface volcanoes is
wild i didn't expect this i mean i didn't really know what to expect i've never been here but
this is a must-do if you're in the big island you have to come check this out it's amazing
next we drove the chain of craters road which is 38 miles round trip and brings you through lava
fields and multiple crater views on each side of the road at the end of the road you'll reach the
coastline and you can take a short walk to the sea arch so we're just getting to the end of our
time here at volcanoes and it starts raining we have one thing we have to see it's an arch and
we're determined so we got our umbrella and we're we're gonna make the hike to the arch in the rain
so there's an arch here and if you can see it
oh my god this is so bad you're extremely wet yesterday we were over in hilo and
it was raining all day because that's right inside of the island volcanoes is very similar
because it's only like 20 or 30 miles from hilo which is the rainy side so
just come prepared when you're in the islands you never know when it's going to start to rain
all right we are back from our beautiful day in volcanoes national park and we are enjoying
a absolutely gorgeous sunset here from our patio but we're ready all dressed up and ready for
dinner so tonight we made reservations for sushi at sushi cocoro it's a really really tiny sushi
place pretty much you have to make reservations or you're not going to get a seat there
when you're in hawaii you're going to see signs everywhere for shaved ice
you got to get it it's so good i got raspberries peach and pineapple
we're going kayaking today oh this would be so fun you guys it's a beautiful day here look at this
we are back in the captain cook area near manini beach and this is where you can get
kayak rentals from bayside adventures we rented a tandem kayak and they only do full day kayak
rentals which was $60 for the both of us the area that we are kayaking is the Kealakekua bay
this is a protected area and is home to the famous captain cook monument this is also a
very popular place for snorkeling and many tour boats bring you to this bay so pretty so nice
oh my gosh we got a beautiful day for kayaking we brought our snorkel gear
with because this is a really really popular for snorkeling there aren't really any beaches here
as you can see it's pretty um large cliffy like here so you can't like dock the kayak
so basically we are jumping out of the kayak here and we're gonna snorkel from
our kayak so uh we've never done that before so uh this will be interesting
all right you're on
you're quick though
i almost went
all right your turn don't tip the clock
nice got it got it
hello it's good i made it back in the boat
so getting back into the kayak from the water was interesting of course he had
no problem because he's you know muscular in the arms i'm the super weak in the arms
um but the key is take your life jacket off because um it kind of holds you back from trying
to get back in the kayak so once i took my life jacket off i was able to get myself in no problem
pull myself up but um it was interesting we didn't tip the kayak so it was good cheers
after our day of kayaking and snorkeling we went
and got more poke for lunch and then we hit up the kona brewery
good morning we are getting close to the end of our trip so we have all day today and then
pretty much all day tomorrow tomorrow we fly out but not till 10:30 at night because all flights
out of hawaii are red eyes and merry christmas eve it's christmas eve today and we're doing a
beach day we drove to the spencer beach park to park our car and then we took a nine minute hike
through the forest to get to the Mau'umae Beach this is a delightful little gem with a small soft
sand beach and it's very calm water it's great if you're looking for a more private uncrowded
beach experience so we just finished having poke and it was the best poke i think we've had yet
on the island and it was really really good like the ahi was like butter like melted in her mouth
it was so good that afternoon we did some beach hopping over to the mauna kea beach
which is another beautiful white sand beach with no rock the parking lot for this beach is actually
owned by the mauna kea beach hotel so parking is very limited as there's only 40 spots available
and you have to get a pass in order to enter we got very lucky as they had two passes left
when we came so if you're looking for another dreamy white hawaiian beach this is a good one
we made reservations and had sushi again for christmas eve this was the best sushi yet
hello you guys it is our last day here on the big island we fly out tonight at 10:30. it's actually
already almost three o'clock in the afternoon we are in our airport close and like ready to get to
the airport but we still have a lot of time till we fly out so um we are doing one last thing that
is very popular on the island to do and that is to drive to the top of a volcano there's a summit
it's just under 14,000 feet in order to get to the top of the top like the summit you have to have a
4x4 and we don't have that we have a convertible so we're going to just go all the way up until we
get to the visitor center um and then we'll just see what it looks like from the visitor center
we already said the next time we come back to the island we're going to get a jeep
so that we can get to a few other areas on the island that you can get with the convertible we
love having a convertible but it does limit you a bit if there's some off-roading you want to do the
mauna loa volcano is the largest active volcano on the planet once you reach the visitor center
if you don't have 4x4 in order to get to the summit there are some hiking trails across from
the visitor center that you can take to get some really pretty aerial views of the volcanic area
make sure you bring warm clothes since you're up almost 14,000 feet above sea level it's going to
be chilly it was about 50 degrees when we got to the top we're in the clouds you guys it's so crazy
they're rolling down there pretty cool all right you guys that is a wrap here on our full week here
on the big island of hawaii if you are planning a trip here i hope you found this video interesting
just sharing all the best things to do eat and see here on the big island if you guys have any
questions let me know down in the comments and we're already starting to plan our next trip back
to the hawaiian islands so we're debating where we should go next oahu maui it's gonna be one of
those because we just did kauai like before this island so um we'll see probably maui we'll see but
stay tuned so thank you guys so much for watching we'll see you guys in the next vlog bye guys