Frog Blog

OK, I know this is a Maui Blog, but this review of the Big Island of Hawaii is really great and should be shared.  One of our Maui editors island-hopped to the Big Island for a day with some powerful photos and exciting experiences.  We hope you enjoy Kristine’s review below!

“My husband and I had attended the Big Island Grand Volcano Tour with Discover Hawaii Tours last weekend [Booked at the best price with Boss Frog’s at (808) 661-3333.] We wanted to express how much fun we had on this tour.

Upon arriving in Hilo, we headed to the designated location to meet up with our tour guide John.  All 11 of us were put on a mini coach bus. I loved the fact that it was a smaller bus and a small crowd.

Our first stop was at Big Island Candy Factory. I don’t think it was part of the Itinery, but the driver wanted to make sure we started the day off right.  Inside, we got to try numerous samples of candies and cookies; along with a glass viewing section of how the chocolate is made. 

We made our way down through Banyan Drive and Liliuokalani Gardens. You’ll find bridges, fishponds, a lovely gazebo and beautiful statues throughout Liliuokalani Gardens.

We then headed to see Historic Hilo Town. This is when the rain started. It didn’t bother us one bit. We kind of expected it to rain in Hilo. We enjoyed walking around town and going to the Farmers Market. At the Farmers Market, you can get almost any type of fresh fruit, vegetable, or flowers for very reasonable prices. We stopped at a local stand and tried a few sweet rolls.

After seeing the Historic Town of Hilo, we headed to Rainbow Falls. This was an amazing waterfall. We spent about 15 minutes at the waterfall taking pictures and enjoying the view.

We continued on to Volcano National Park. Inside the park we made numerous stops. We viewed the Kilauea Iki Crater , Thurston Lava Tube (one of my favorite spots), Kilauea Caldera & Halemaumau Pit Crater, Jagger Museum, and rainforests. Throughout the drive we could see numerous blowing steam vents. We did pull over to check one out. Very cool.

Afterwards, we headed to lunch. We ate at a restaurant called “Legends Bar & Grill”. They have awesome burgers. Service was great and the people are very friendly.

We continued our drive towards the viewing of active lava flows. Along the way, we stopped off at a black sand beach. Most of the beach area is covered with lava.  We hiked on a designated trial about 5 minutes through the existing lava fields to get to the Black Sand Beach. It’s quite the sight to see. We wanted to explore more, but it decided to rain during the time we had just made it to the beach.

Back on the bus and ready to see some active lava flows. We waited a few minutes on the bus to let the rain pass. Only because our next stop was in the same direction the rain was headed. 

After leaving the Black Sand Beach, we drove a few minutes to the entrance of where the vehicles can proceed down the road to see the lava flows. We were in a Mini Coach bus and that was too big to take on the road. So we all transferred into a Mini Van that they had waiting for us. It was a about a 5 minute ride in the van to get to the drop off spot. The roads are narrow and bumpy.

We had about an hour to walk around before meeting back at the van. We proceeded down one of the two paths. We first chose to walk the path that led towards the ocean. We were not able to make it all the way down to the ocean. They had a section roped off for viewing & picture taking.  All we could see was the big plume of smoke about 3/4 mile away. It was behind some rock/cliff formations. We were too far way to see any active lava.  We then took the other path that led down a road. I was hoping to get a better view. We walked about 5 minutes down the road and we came to a dead end.

The dead end was a recent lava flow that had happened 4 weeks prior to our visit and had covered the road. We were able to walk on the lava in certain sections. Some sections of the lava were still soft and too dangerous to walk on. I wasn’t able to see that plume of smoke that we saw from the other location. There were tons of tall trees blocking our view. Even though we didn’t get to see any active lava, seeing the recent lava and walking on it was pretty neat.

This was the last activity on the tour. We got back on the Mini Coach Bus and headed to the airport.  We had a short 30-minute bus ride back to the airport.

We thanked our tour guide for showing us a wonderful time around the Island. He did a great job! Very friendly and knowledgeable with everything. We had a great time with Discover Hawaii Tours and we will definitely be back!”

To book the most discounted rates with Discover Hawaii Tours, call (808) 661-3333.