brief trip report + a few shots

8/31 My wife and I arrived Kona on United from Portland OR via SFO, no delays. Picked up car, checked into Holua - incredible value, huge room, great spot to stay if you are planning to day trip everywhere like we did.

9/1 AM Malama petroglyph trail %26amp; swim at Hapuna, which was very crowded on Labor Day. Most of PM was spent exchanging cars twice with National due to roaches in the first 2. This was a bummer, but they seemed genuinely concerned about it and ended up voluntarily offering us a big upgrade at no charge to a (bug-free) Cadillac STS, and what amounted to $90+ free gas, so it worked out.

9/2 AM Walked on to Fairwind - only 40 people so lots of elbow room, great weather, perfect trip. PM spent about 2 hours touring Place of Refuge.

9/3 Day trip to National Park, hitting most of the shorter trails - Thurston, Devastation, Pu%26#39;u Loa petroglyphs, end of Chain of Craters road etc + short stop at Punalu%26#39;u.

9/4 Me- Hawaii Forest %26amp; Trail Rainforest Dryforest birdwatching trip, while my non-birding wife took the free shuttle into downtown Kailua to shop, which worked out great. Saw both target birds - Palila and %26#39;Aki on the trip.

9/5 AM Spent exploring Kohala resorts. PM boogie boarding at Magic/White Sands with big south swell just starting to kick up (not much beach left the next day).

9/6 AM Had planned to snorkle at Kahalu%26#39;u, but it looked a little choppy for us with big waves crashing over the reef. Assumed 2-Step was probably also rough, so we decided to head north and walk into Beach Club beach (Mauna Lani). Great spot because it%26#39;s so sheltered, but no match for Kealakekua of course. PM spent exploring around the Honokohua harbor.

9/7 Island full circle sightseeing daytrip, including major stops for Kilauea Iki loop trail, and at Hawaii Tropical Botanical Gardens. Long, but great day.

9/8 AM explored Kiholo Bay (hiked from Hwy pullout). PM took shuttle into Kailua for last-minute shopping. Then at dark finally had the end-of-day energy to walk to the Sheraton to see the Mantas.

9/9 depart. We made the tough decision to bypass seeing the Ocean entry because it would have been very tough logistically, but otherwise got to do and see everything planned with no troubles. Great trip!

Malama Trail petroglyphs

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Kealakekua

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Pu%26#39;u Loa

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HF%26amp;T start of the Pu%26#39;u %26#39;O%26#39;o trail on Saddle Road

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A-Bay

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Wheel of Fortune Set going up at Hilton

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surf at White/Magic sands

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approaching Kilauea Caldera on Hwy 11

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Kilauea Iki

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Days end from Hwy 190

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Kiholo Bay

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Sea Paradise Manta night snorkle from Sheraton

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Holua

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we%26#39;ll be back!

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brief trip report + a few shots

my web hosting provider went down about 3 minutes after i posted this, so sorry if links aren%26#39;t working : )

brief trip report + a few shots

links working

Thanks for the report. I had to laugh when you mentioned roaches in the car. We had the same experience last October... I had completely forgotten about it. I wish Alamo gave us half the response you recieved. They thought we were crazy! Its nice to hear the boogie boarding at Magic Sands was good for you. I hope the sand returns for when we get there.

national even sent both cars out via tow truck for the exchange when we called them like it was standard procedure. we didn%26#39;t even have to leave the resort. disappointing initially, but pretty amazing service to make up for it. they definitely lost money on our rental.

Thank you for sharing your trip and the photos. Some of your shots were postcard perfect!

Great photos and report--thanks!!!