Advice on Big Island and Volcano Nat'l Park

[samsarmy Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close samsarmy]

My wife and I stayed at Fairfield Kona Hawaiian Village for a week a couple of years ago. It was a well-situated spot to get out and around by airport rental car to the rest of the Island. We went to Volcano one day. The daytime view of the caldera from the Lodge was awesome. We did that in the morning when we first got there, checked on our dinner reservations that we had made weeks before, then went on into the park. We got to walk a couple of miles across a dormant crater that had active steam venting all around us. Did the lava walk, parking an hour before sunset. Came back to the lodge for dinner, and then drove back to the resort, getting back around 11pm. A tiring and long and very fun day.

Read up on the do's & don'ts if you're going on a lava walk at night. Bring not-heavy bright flashlights (or buy them on the island - they're pricey right in the park). Walking a mile on hardened sharp lava is work, and takes at least twice as long as walking a mile on flat ground. You need good closed shoes.

The paperback book "The Big Island Revealed" was a big help for us first-timers.

Mike

[falmouth3 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close falmouth3]

Thanks everyone for such wonderful tips. Now all I need is the exchange week to come through for me.

Sue