Here’s the whole deal, it was cheaper (for real) to fly into LAX and stay there for a couple nights, then fly to Hawaii and stay for the week, then fly from Hawaii into Las Vegas and stay there for 3 nights, then fly home to Richmond. I don’t know how logistically that worked out, but that’s what’s going down.
So we’ll be going to Disneyland – we got our Magic Bands and we got the Photo Pass, and we got tickets to the World of Color Dessert Party!! This was paid for in part by points that I’ve accumulated for *years* on the Disney Rewards Mastercard. I think I had something like a thousand dollars saved up there. Just sitting there. Waiting. And finally I get to use them!!!!
Then there’s the Hawaii leg of the trip, which you’ll see the Jamboard down below.
Then Las Vegas. We’re going on this whole thing with my in-laws, who I love, and we’re so excited to take them to see the Cirque Show – O – for real, it’s just one letter, just O. And then we’ll go to the Mayfair Supper Club for dinner and a freaking awesome show, and then the next day we’re renting Slingshots to drive through Red Rock Canyon courtesy of Vegas Trike Adventures.
I’m happy to share this fantastic Jamboard that my family all put together that outlines our Hawaii activities, check it out:
The original plan was to do the Manta Snorkel on Sunday, to celebrate my wife’s birthday, but unfortunately they don’t offer those dives on Sundays. So we had to flip that to Friday, and I’m not seeing this till just now that we had also planned to snorkel that afternoon. Wonder how that’s going to work out. Looks like we’re just going to sleep all day before we leave, nothing planned! I think that’s open so that we can do something that we saw on the island that we didn’t plan for.
Before I get started with what actually happened in Hawaii, let me just say – it was a lot of driving. A LOT. 800+ miles in fact. We stayed on the west side of the island (in Kona), which is the dry side, meaning it doesn’t typically get a lot of rain. We must have been super lucky, because it rained SO MUCH. We drove in the rain SO MUCH. Below you’ll find exactly what we ended up doing.
We went to Carlsmith Beach, but the weather was not nice enough for us to get into the water, we never made it to Makaieo Walking Path or the Kailua Kona Royal Footsteps, and the Luau was cancelled due to “weather” even though it ended up not raining.
Manta Snorkel
The Manta Snorkel was definitely an amazing once in a lifetime event. We took some time to research what company to use and found that Anelakai Adventures is an eco friendly option and we really appreciated that. We met up at the boat slip, which was an adventure to get to in itself, it’s down some twisty roads, and of course it’s night time, nothing is well lit, and the parking is mainly all along the road leading up to the boat slip along the side of the road. So we parked to the side, which is flanked with vegetation, so your passenger side might find it a little difficult to get in and out of the car – keep this in mind!
We met with our guides and they got us into the canoes pretty quickly. We had a dry bag with us, so we were ok with bringing a nicer camera and keeping our cell phones in that. Didn’t need that camera, though, it was obviously dark, and I don’t even think we used it. I also brought my underwater camera, which I used to take some lovely video, which these still images were pulled from. We also brought our own snorkeling gear, but I think they will provide that for you if you didn’t bring any.
The paddling went by pretty quickly, and we made it to where the mantas hang out. We hopped out of the canoe wearing a life jacket and a wetsuit jacket that were provided to us by the company. Let me tell you. That water was freezing cold, even with the wetsuit. I was shivering the whole time. There’s no sun to keep you even a little warm in that cold cold water.
We had a couple of more commercial boats pretty close to us, and their lights were attracting the mantas maybe a little more than our lights did, but once they left, the mantas came over to us to check us out. We were balancing on two pvc bars that are attached between the two canoes. At first I was holding onto it with one hand and using the camera with the other, but then I got smart and pulled my body over top of the bar and could use two hands on the camera – way better.
We liked this company because they offered a small group – there were only 6 of us total -the four in our party and another couple. I feel like I heard that one of them didn’t know how to swim. Like, why would you sign up for this if you can’t swim?! And I think they were petrified of the mantas. Even though my head was underwater, I could hear someone either screeching from freaking out, or they were just overjoyed. My money’s on the former. I don’t really blame them, these creatures are huge. But so gentle. I don’t see what the big deal was. And the water was very shallow. Maybe… 15 feet? I guess I thought we were going to the depths of the ocean, but it wasn’t that at all.
Overall, I thought it was a great experience and I’m very glad we did it, freezing water not withstanding.
Kealakekua Bay
Have I mentioned yet how much driving we did? Everything on the island is so spread out, and I’d estimate that it took us about an hour at least to get to any of the things we saw and did. It took us an hour to get here from the resort and it was about to rain by the time we left, so I’m glad we made it in time to catch the end of a beautiful sunset. There were some locals who were selling poke, but we never made it back there to get any from them.
In the first picture there, you can see the Captain Cook Monument in the distance. That was pretty zoomed in, though haha. It’s about a mile from where we were. Apparently there’s great snorkeling to be had out by the monument, but there isn’t a great place to park your car over there, so I understand that folks park over where we were and then get a canoe or kayak to get over there. There was a dock, boat slip? thing where we were, but we were in no mood to go snorkeling at the time we went, as it was almost dark.
Volcanoes National Park
We were so lucky to get to go here. We arrived right in time for a tour over to the lookout over the volcano. The pictures do not do justice to the vastness of the volcano and the surrounding area. Keep in mind we went in April and this was before the eruption that happened in June. The below photos are of Kīlauea. We had a wonderful tour guide, and if you click here, you can watch a TikTok of her explaining about the volcano.
Snorkeling at Two Step
Two Step is a must visit if you like snorkeling. We’ve been to Mexico a couple of times and snorkeled there, but that’s nothing compared to the number of different fish you’re going to see here.
On this trip, my wife and I came with her parents. I was a little worried about getting in and out of the water with them because there’s no man made ladder that’s going to help you in and out of the water, but they’re nimble and got in and out just fine. I did have some trouble with getting back out of the water because it was pretty rough with the water crashing up into the area where you enter and exit.
Yes, the water was choppy, and it was pretty difficult for me to film the fish. I don’t think that’s typical for an experience here. We had a lot of rain during the whole trip, so I think the ocean was extra angry.
It was very peaceful otherwise, and I did take some pictures while in the water of our surrounding area, but, stupid me, I had the lens cover on!
The area is just lava rock, sometimes smooth, other times you really have to watch your step. I’m not afraid to say I’m pretty out of shape, so I was exhausted when I came out of the water and just about passed out by the time I made it back to our little spot to get some food before getting back in. I had to be very thoughtful about how I was waling on those rocks, I was wet, it was kind of slippery, I didn’t want to fall or twist my ankle, so it took a lot of concentration.
If you’re anything like me, you might like to watch videos of other people’s experiences before trying it on your own. I don’t remember anyone mentioning how tricky it can be to get in and out of that water – we had all our snorkel gear on and with your fins in your hand, trying to get them on before you hop in, it’s not easy. But we survived and I’d do it all over again.
Hala Tree Coffee
Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures of Hala Tree Coffee. But I sure have a story to tell.
You know it’s been rainy. It’s wet. We turn off the road into a street next to a church parking lot. It’s still pavement, but it’s narrow and very steep. I really wish I had video of this because I thought for sure we weren’t going to make it. We have to make a right hand turn and onto a road that takes you behind the church and to the right you see what’s maybe the church daycare area behind a chain link fence with a little patch of grass and there’s a car parked there. Thinking nothing of it, we see a sign for Hala Tree Coffee and continue up another steep hill. We make it all the way up, and there are three cars in parking spaces, an no other parking, so we had to reverse it back down the hill and literally slide into the parking space by the daycare. I thought we were going to hit the fence and crash right in.
We walked up to the shop and bought some coffee to take back with us as gifts. Kona coffee is not cheap. Do not be stunned by the sticker shock! Be prepared to drop that cash for what’s probably the world’s best coffee. The best part was the welcoming committee of a few dogs that hang out there. They’re very very sweet babies!
Surf Lesson
So I actually surfed in Waikiki! I chose to have a private lesson with Hans Hedemann Surf School and I couldn’t have been more pleased. My instructor was Niko and he was simply a joy to work with. Let me tell you, I have so much respect for the physicality required for this sport. I said earlier I’m out of shape, and this lesson confirmed it. I even ended up going to the ortho after getting back home to check out my wobbly knee situation. But that didn’t stop me from successfully standing up on the board and surfing almost all the way to shore maybe a total of 4 times. The private lesson was 2 hours, but I was so tired that I just couldn’t go the last half hour, so Niko went out and caught some waves by himself.
The water was great, it wasn’t as col as the Manta snorkel, and just gorgeous. Be aware, though, that this entire area (on the South side of the island of Maui) is a reef. So they have you wear water shoes because when you fall off the board, which you will, it’s all reef underneath. Luckily I didn’t get hurt at all, just exhausted.
I chose them because they have a professional drone photographer/videographer that watches everyone’s lesson and films it. There was at least one other instructor out with us with a group of maybe 4 or 5 other people, and even still I got great photos and video. You can check that out on TikTok if you’re interested.
The first thing we did was watch some instructional videos in the shop, and then we helped carry out all the surfboards to the beach. Once on the beach, Niko had me demonstrate the skills I had just learned: paddling, getting into position, and popping up. Once I had the motions down, we went out into the water. He put his foot on the nose of my board and helped pull me out way far past the breakers, and then, it was time to go. The first wave I tried wasn’t so great, I think I fell off immediately, then I paddled back out to him. We saw a good wave, I was flat on the board, he pushed me into it, I took my time, got into position, and stood up. I was thrilled! It was a nice long ride, I looked down into the water and it was so clear, I could see the reef underneath me, then just like that, I lost my balance and fell off. It’s too bad the drone wasn’t watching that, it was my best ride.
Eventually we went to the other side of the rocks that separated the sections of the beach and met up with the other group that was out. By that time I was starting to get tired, so we took a break and sat on the boards, then I tried again a few times, got another couple good rides, then I said I was done.
It takes a lot of upper body strength more than anything, with all the paddling you do. I’m sure that my balance could use some improvement, and my leg strength might have help me back from getting better rides, but maybe by the next time I try, I’ll be in better shape and can have an easier time.
‘Akaka Falls + Waipio Bay
Food + Shopping
Hawaiian Airlines
