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Trisha and I at the Sheraton Kona
2017 - the year of 'Why Not' trips!!  And why did I pick Kona on the Big Island?  Well, United flies there direct, there is a Sheraton hotel, and while still working in Los Angeles - I wanted to hit my 4th of the Hawaiian islands.    

For another mostly unplanned weekend, this trip ended up exceeding expectations!  In fact Trisha and I were enjoying the island so much we decided to stay an extra day at the last minute.  Read below for some of the highlights from our time on the Big Island.  

Trip Highlights

PictureUnited Million Miler Congrats Card
Celebrate a Million Miles flown!
  • 8 years and 1,000,000 miles on United Airlines!  
  • Yes, it signifies a ridiculous amount of time on a plane and spent away from home, but it also represents how lucky I am to live this crazy lifestyle - racking up miles to travel to some of the most amazing places around the world, and getting to meet other ridiculously-crazy-spontaneous wandering souls like myself along the way who are willing to hop on a plane and celebrate for a weekend in Kona!  Thanks Trisha!!  
  • Ok and yes - the best perk is that it means Star Alliance Gold Status for life!!  Wohoo.  :)
  • The United crew in Los Angeles was so amazing.  They stopped me as I was boarding the plane to present a card and say congrats.  Awesome way to start my vacation!
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EJ and Trisha on the boat
I never would have considered a Night-time Manta Ray snorkel, but the concierge recommended it for our first night on the island and we were sold!
  • Right after sunset we boarded these small boats and sailed out about 5 mins from the dock.  With snorkel gear on, we jumped in the water and hung onto this 'surf board' with a bright light to attract the mantas.  
  • By the end of our time in the water these guys definitely put on a show for us.  So cool!  Check out the video of the barrel-rolls they were doing inches from me.  Whoa!!  ​
Visit Papakolea Green Sands Beach, one of only 3 green sand beaches in the world!
  • I highly recommend taking advantage of the trucks that will drive you out to the beach for a small fee.  Make sure to enjoy the changing scenery along the way while holding on for dear life in the back of the truck!
  • We had about 45 minutes to walk around the beautiful beach and enjoy the views of the surrounding cliffs and lava rock before the truck took us back to our car.  
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Off-roading out to green sands beach
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Green Sands Beach view from the cliffs
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EJ on Green Sands Beach
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Standing on Green Sands Beach
Check out the Southern-most point in the United States
  • After parking, take a look at the Cliff Diving area - that coast line is spectacular!
  • Keep walking past the cliff diving and with google maps open head towards the most southern point you can find.  Make sure to sit down on a rock and enjoy the waves crashing along the coast line for a few minutes.  It's beautiful!
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View from South Point Cliff Dive
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Trish and I at the Cliff Diving Spot
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Trish at the Southern-most spot in the US
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Feet - waves crashing
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EJ at the Southern-most spot in the US
Go Snorkeling in Honaunau Bay at Pae'a (aka "Two Step")
  • On our drive back from the beach we stopped at this beautiful spot to go snorkeling.  (We rented gear for the day from the hotel).  
  • At first we were unsure how to jump in the water, but thanks to a local we learned why it is nick-named "two step", because there is one spot out on the rocks where you can safely get in and out of the water. Ta-da!  
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Snorkeling at Honaunau Bay
One of my favorite things ever - a beautiful sunset!
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Kona Sunset
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Friends, Wine and Sunset - what more do you need!
Visit Rainbow Falls in Hilo
  • We lucked out - this wasn't on our itinerary, but on our volcano hike day we arrived in Hilo early, so our guide took us by for a quick stop.  We didn't see a rainbow - but it was still beautiful!
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Rainbow Falls in Hilo
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Trish and I at Rainbow Falls
Hike across the Kilauea Iki Volcano Crater
  • What a neat experience - definitely a highlight of the trip!!  We spent a few hours hiking down to the crater, walking all the way across to the other side, and finally coming back up the switch backs on the other side.  
  • The views were spectacular and the crater floor was phenomenal to walk across.  The little pops of color with plant life constantly amazed me amongst the dark black lava rock cracking and crumbling all around.   
  • Trisha and I had way too much fun as we were always at the back of the pack goofing around and taking tons of pictures!
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View of Kilauea Iki crater from our hike down
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Hapu'u pulu - these things look like wire yard ornaments before turning into ferns - we were fascinated by them!
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Hiking down into the Kilauea Iki crater
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Selfie of a selfie
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Feet - Kilauea Iki crater
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Beautiful flowers that come from the volcanic soil
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Testing out my balancing skills
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Kilauea Iki crater
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On no...we're losing Trisha!
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My national geographic byline picture. ;)
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Amazing walk through the crater
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EJ and Trisha in the crater
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Walking up and out the other side
Check out the Thurston Lava Tube
  • As part of our tour we walked through the Thurston Lava Tube.  It was interesting, but to be honest - after just having walked across the amazing crater...it really wasn't that exciting!  :-/
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Thurston Lava Tube
Be awed by the active Kilauea Volcano Halemaumau crater
  • We had the good fortune of getting to visit the Jaggar Museum & Overlook both before sunset and after, which really helped put into perspective the lava glow we saw in the evening.  
  • Supposedly there has only been visible magma 7% of the nights since 2008 - and we saw it!!  WOW - beyond amazing and an experience I will never forget.  I think I took a hundred photos...here are a few of my favorites. 
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Kilauea Volcano with the Halemaumau crater (1 mile away)
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Kilauea Volcano Halemaumau crater magma
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Behind the scenes feet
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Kilauea Volcano Halemaumau crater
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EJ and Trisha at Kilauea Volcano Halemaumau crater
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Kilauea Volcano Halemaumau crater magma
Be Spontaneous!
  • We decided to extend our vacation by a day, so we could have one full R&R day on Monday (Memorial Day holiday) after our 14 hour volcano adventure tour the day before.  Best decision ever!!  
  • Thank goodness for airline and hotel status - we got everything shifted without a problem. And also thankful for our flexible jobs, where we could wake up at 5am Tuesday to work from the hotel, dial into our conference calls, etc - and still have a couple hours to relax on our final day before heading to the airport.  
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When your office can be anywhere in the world!

Slideshow of more Big Island photos - use right/left control arrows or scroll and click to view

Accomodations

  • We stayed at the  Sheraton Kona  for our 4 nights on the Big Island.  I had used some of my upgrades (as part of Starwood status) to get a suite, but when we checked in the room was in a very weird location.  So we decided to casually mention it to the front desk.  We couldn't believe our luck, but the best Front Desk guy ever - Marvin - got us moved to the Deluxe Suite for our stay!  The room was huge, but seriously...check out our Lanai (Patio).  WOW!   
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Sheraton Kona - Big Island
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Ocean front view
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Our gigantic lanai (patio), in the deluxe suite!
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Sunset over Kailua-Kona, from the hotel front drive
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