Tell me about Hawaii

We did a sunset whale watching cruise and a snorkeling cruise with these guys: https://sailtrilogy.com/

I would struggle to pick one over the other but the two of them were definitely the high point of our really fun Maui trip.

Bumping this up to the top for more ideas.

Submarine tour looks cool, there's even some sort of underwater scooter things too

Not sure how long it has been going on, but there are pretty bad issues at Oahu right now.  Apparently the Navy has damaged the groundwater and there are severe restrictions on water usage?  As of right now all I've seen have been rumblings on various social media, might be nothing, might be the start of a large groundswell of angry Hawaiians.

If you want to look, Red Hill fuel spill should help the search.

Sorry if thats a Debbie Downer kind of post.

In reply to Antihero :

My experiance may be too old to matter but As nice as Hawaii is ( and it's fantastic) it gets old real fast. Is insanely expensive, and you're on a relatively small island.  That driven normally would take an hour or so to see everything  but because of traffic it can take 3-5 hours.   There is a lot more than the big island  but boat or plane is involved.  Then rent another car and spend more time in traffic. Repeat.  
    The ship spent 10 days in Hawaii while the flight crews spent  14.  Even with the carrier gone the traffic wasn't better. 
    

Mr_Asa said:

Not sure how long it has been going on, but there are pretty bad issues at Oahu right now.  Apparently the Navy has damaged the groundwater and there are severe restrictions on water usage?  As of right now all I've seen have been rumblings on various social media, might be nothing, might be the start of a large groundswell of angry Hawaiians.

If you want to look, Red Hill fuel spill should help the search.

 

Sorry if thats a Debbie Downer kind of post.

This is info I need, thank you 

Take a look at the Big Island.  It's (obviously) way bigger, and way less populated.  Much more variation in things to see and far less "touristy".   Of note:  North of Kona has most of the resorts, but it's also the dry side of the island, so it's not as green.  Just stay out of Kona when the cruise ship arrives.

I have been there a few times, and I like it a lot more then Oahu.  There is even a reasonably good car (hot rod and such) scene there.

frenchyd said:

My experiance may be too old to matter but As nice as Hawaii is ( and it's fantastic) it gets old real fast. Is insanely expensive, and you're on a relatively small island.  

This. All of this. Wife and I spent a week in Maui, pre-pandemic. She was in love and immediately wanted to move there. Within 4 days I had done almost every activity on the island and had really bad island fever. If you don't possess the innate ability to chill out and do nothing, don't pick a smaller island.

Hawaii is what happens when Mother Nature gives you just the tip.

Sorry, I'll leave now. 

calteg said:

frenchyd said:

My experiance may be too old to matter but As nice as Hawaii is ( and it's fantastic) it gets old real fast. Is insanely expensive, and you're on a relatively small island.  

This. All of this. Wife and I spent a week in Maui, pre-pandemic. She was in love and immediately wanted to move there. Within 4 days I had done almost every activity on the island and had really bad island fever. If you don't possess the innate ability to chill out and do nothing, don't pick a smaller island.

Actually this is a plus, I'm planning on going there for a week only, so if that's all there is to do it'll work ok.

And my friends are planning on trying to fly in to see me for the first time in years. Our plan is to sit around, drink and do nothing for awhile 

I've only been to the big island, so that's all I can speak about.  If you want to hang out and drink with friends, Kailua-Kona has plenty of bars, and if you get a hotel within a few blocks of the ocean, everything is walkable.  As stated earlier, Hilo is more rain forest, and there are a ton of waterfalls up that way.  The volcano is active right now, and I wouldn't be surprised if it still is in January.  We lucked into going there when it was active at both the peak and along the shore.  The island itself is just amazing for seeing different climates in such a small area.  One day, I rented a scooter, and rode most of the western side of the island, it was amazing to see the variety.

One thing that was most shocking and sad was the number of homeless (but not jobless as far as I could tell), who tended to live in their cars at state parks.  It's terrible that housing is so expensive that it has gotten this way.