Our 14-passenger Mercedes van is packed and we’re sitting shoulder-to-shoulder, as our Hawaii Forest & Trail tour guide, Joe, drives us up Saddle Road, bisecting the island between two volcanoes. We’re on our way to the summit of Mauna Kea to see the sunset and stars. “I remember the first time I saw the stars […]
As the helicopter rises from the tarmac with a whir of chopper blades on a voggy Kona morning, I watch the airport pavement’s fine details transition from a chunky rock conglomeration to a distant grey strip. Instead of navigating over the familiar island-bisecting Saddle Road that connects Kona and Hilo, our cheerful Paradise Helicopters pilot,
Valentine’s Day is only a week away, so here are a few suggestions for restaurants with a romantic atmosphere and special prix fixe menus. Reservations are recommended though—and soon—if you want to snag a table for two at any of these places. Merriman’s Kapalua (Maui) Culinary pioneer Peter Merriman’s restaurant has a stunning view overlooking Kapalua Bay
People really need to cool it with getting so dangerously close to the ocean entry of the Kilauea lava flow. This week, a powerful open lava stream, like most have never seen before, began pouring out of a lava tube high atop a Hawaii Island sea cliff. Videos from and images using a high-magnification lens
A new Priority Mail stamp to get your hands on if you love Hawaii. The Liliuokalani Park and Gardens in Hilo, a more than 24-acre park site gifted by Queen Liliuokalani just southeast of Downtown Hilo, gets the United States Postal Service treatment this year with a brand new commemorative stamp. Queen Liliuokalani Park and
Now you see it, now you don’t. Such is the powerful display of raw nature that occurred at Kamokuna on the Island of Hawaii where visitors have been able to observe the formation of a lava delta as the 61g lava flow tumbled over sea cliffs into the Pacific since last summer. Now in the
1. Hike and overnight in Waimanu Valley Waimanu Valley, one of Hawaii Island’s northern valleys.Photo: EyeTunes/Flickr There’s no point in trying to explain the sense of solitude and majesty you feel when enveloped by the lush valley of Waimanu on the Big Island, but we’ll try anyway. To get there, you’ll need to pack your
A large section of the 26-acre lava delta created at the Kamokuna ocean entry from the 61g lava flow has collapsed into the ocean. It occurred on New Year’s Eve, December 31, 2016 at 2:45 p.m. The intense spectacle, located within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, propelled rain showers of volcanic rock debris into the air
Waimanu Valley’s ancient green amphitheater streams with white water falling from impossibly high heights. Its star, Waihilau Falls, rains down a series of drops totaling an improbable 2,600 feet. Coveted oceanside campsites in this remote and pristine region—the largest of Hawaii Island’s northern valleys—offer a chance to sleep under a blanket of stars, laze away
Binoculars in hand, I trudge through the steeply sloping, coastal sandbanks of Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park just north of Kailua-Kona. Enroute to the inland Aimakapa Fishpond, one of the island’s last intact wetland areas, I pass opalescent ocean waters alive with early-morning activity. Tiny silvery fish agitate the otherwise flat surface and black spidery crabs, camouflaged
A historic Hilo Bay property, two miles from the Hilo airport, has been renovated in partnership with Hilton Hotels and Resorts and officially open for business. The Grand Naniloa Hotel Hilo debuts as a DoubleTree by Hilton, a first for Hawaii Island. The 70-acre oceanfront hotel on the Waiakea Peninsula, formerly the Hilo Naniloa Hotel,
A cosmos of plankton swirls near my face as I breathe through my snorkel, making sounds not unlike Darth Vader. Tiny orange shrimp, just-hatched, staple-sized translucent larval fish and green algal blobs dance in front of my mask, all driven by internal instinct to the surface by a spotlight facing the seafloor. Beyond, blackness is
