We just came back from the Big Island, Hawaii. It's been a long time since we take a long vacation trip (more than two days weekend trip) together. It was such a refreshing trip. No wonder Michael Hyatt wrote, "Vacations are essential for your spiritual, emotional, relational, and physical health."
I strained my neck the week before and could barely move my head. The neck pain accompanied by headaches almost made us cancel our trip. Thankfully, after a lot of prayers, visits to doctor, chiropractor (my first time ever to experience dry needling), and taking medicines; I felt much better on Saturday and we're able to go. Yayyyy.... He hears our prayers indeed.
To avoid paying for luggage, each one of us bring one bag and one personal item:
Waiting for Papa to get car from car rental:
Greeted by the humidity, palm trees, and ocean view. It's time to change to shorts and flip flops.
First thing first: get the Hawaiian Shave Ice. We went to One Aloha Shave Ice thanks to Yelp's recommendation.
We requested Kona ice cream at the bottom of Shave Ice. It taste so good.
Followed by Hawaiian style lunch.
Originally, we planned to drive 2.5 hours straight to the East part of the Island, where we stayed the next three nights but the kids couldn't wait any longer to snorkel so we stopped by at a nearby beach: Kahalu'u Beach
Ahhhh enjoying the sands between my toes
The kids were so excited when they saw who was swimming with them: green sea turtle
Sunset at the beach
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They were hungry after swimming. Thankfully, we still have left over from lunch.
Even the bird is so pretty
Packing tips:
- Use one bag for swimming/ snorkeling gears
- Bring water shoes. I even use this for snorkeling instead of the duck feet. We bought ours from Amazon
- Don't forget mosquito repellent. We use this one and it works quite well.
- Pack Personal Medicine plus, sunburn lotion, and motion sickness medicine (if you plan to take a boat)
- Bring life vests for the kids and me for long snorkeling
- Wear rash guard while snorkeling or playing at the beach to avoid sun burn.
- Upon arrival we buy sun block (the spray kind), some water and food at local Walmart/ Costco/ local grocery since we stayed in a rental home. Some food we brought for snack/ breakfast/ lunch during hiking at volcano national park / snorkeling: bagels, local Punalu'u hawaiian breads, frozen edamame, eggs, banana, apples, oranges, peanuts for snacking.
- For kids, my friend highly recommended using full mask snorkel mask.
Related Posts:
Big Island Day 2: Kapoho Tidepools & Volcano National Park
Big Island Day 3: Akaka Falls, Hilo Farmer Market, & Richardson Beach
Big Island Day 4: Snorkeling & Swimming with Manta Rays
Big Island Day 5: Kayaking to Captain Cook Monument
Big Island Day 6: Pu'uhonua O Honaunau, Two Steps, and Ali'i Drive
Big Island Day 7: Going home, staying in a rental home, and One Week in Big Island Itinerary
