Our two weeks in Hawaii we regarded as a “vacation in the vacation”. Although we did some camping, hiking and sightseeing on the Big Island we have spent many days just hanging around the hotel, pool or beach without doing much at all. It has been great since the weather has been perfect with tropical temperatures without being too hot. The water is also warm enough for me to swim in without any larger issues (I really do not like cold water).
The pool at the Sheraton Waikiki. If you do decide to go to Waikiki we can really recommend this hotel. On the more expensive side but well worth it.
About a week we have been hanging in Waikiki which might be the most famous place in Hawaii with a nice beach, an abundance of restaurants and bars and hotels. The first two days before we went to the Big Island we actually got two nights in a luxury hotel free of charge from the travel agency where we booked our flights. That was really a treat and we hardly left the hotel for the entire time. They had a very pool by the beach and nice restaurants.
On the Big Island the main theme was volcanoes but we managed to spend some time on the coast as well. Kailua-Kona, on the west coast, turned out to be a very cosy little town with nice sunsets. If you want to escape the crowds in Waikiki this might be an alternative. Only thing is they don’t have a lot of nice, long, sandy beaches on the Big Island which might be what you are looking for in Hawaii.
Sunset in Kailua-Kona.
Unfortunately the volcanoes were not very active at this point. There was no place we could see lava which we were hoping for. We did have a pretty cool outing to the top of Mauna Loa, one of the two high volcanoes on the island. It is higher than 42oo m and we camped on the summit. It was hard carrying everything up there. Obviously we are not used to the altitude anymore after spending more than 2 months on sea level… We made it eventually and it was a lot more windy than we thought. But the views were nice and worth the effort.
Pinching the tent at the summit at sunset.
At the summit with the crater in the background. It is always cold above 4000 m, even in Hawaii.
For the last 5 days at Waikiki we had decided to treat ourselves a nicer hotel with a balcony for lazy mornings and the afternoon glas of wine or beer. We booked a balcony with pool view to avoid facing a street with lots of traffic. We were upgraded and ended up a bit higher so that we could also see the sea from our room. Nice.
The pool from our balcony at night.
The view from the balcony in the afternoon.
Tomorrow we leave for New Zealand where it is spring and probably about the same temperatures as in California. But summer is coming, again… 🙂
Here you can see more images from Hawaii:
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