Big Island of Hawaii 2026: Days 1-2

For our 20th anniversary and the kids' spring break, we took a family trip to Hawaii. Oscar's parents were leaving for their mission in Peru a couple weeks later, so they asked if they could join us for part of the trip to spend some time with us before they left. Their flight arrived on time, and they walked out into pouring rain and had a 2 hour wait for their rental car. Our flight was over 2 hours delayed leaving Denver, but we walked out into clear weather. Martha had warned us about the long wait for the rental car, so Tyler and I stayed behind to get our checked bags while Oscar and Allison went to grab the rental car. There were only 6 people in front of him, and it still took about 30 minutes. By the time Tyler and I arrived with everyone else who'd grabbed their luggage, the line was out the door. We're so glad for that warning since it would have likely been at least a 2 hour line for our car too.  

The next morning we spent some time hanging out on our extra large lanai. The boys went to get a few groceries  and brought back yummy Hawaiian pastries.

There were so many goats all over the island. These photos were just at our resort. Apparently they were brought as gifts of livestock by Capt Kirk in the late 1700's. With no natural predators they multiplied quickly. They are an invasive species, but efforts to contain and remove them are challenging since they can live and thrive on Hawaii's rough volcanic terrain. I'm surprised not to see goat on the local menu more since the local hunting community is allowed to hunt as many of them as they want to.

We started off our first full day on the island driving up to the Pololu valley. There wasn't any rain on our way there, but it rained plenty when we were within a few miles of the valley. 

We took some photos, but either Oscar and Tyler are looking at the wrong camera or our bodies are blocking the lookout.

Allison and Oscar did a silly dance and Oscar and Tyler planked.

Since it was rainy we didn't stay too long. Within a few minutes of driving away from the valley, the rain stopped again and it was just overcast.

We drove around and took a hike down to the beach at Kohala Kai. Several of us got sunburned since the the sun came out periodically while we hiked.

It was more of a walk than we were expecting, and the terrain was pretty rough, but we made it down to the beach. The waves were fun to watch!

From there we went down to Puʻukoholā Heiau National Historic Site. The main trail was closed due to storm damage, but we could still see the heiau. The "heiau" is a temple built by Kamehameha and his people in his attempt to win the war and unify the Hawaiian islands. He was told by a priest that in order to win the war he needed to build a temple made of rocks from his birthpace and then had to make a human sacrifice of the highest kind to the God of War. He was born in the Pololu Valley, the area 27 miles away where we'd been that same morning! All of the rocks on that temple were brought there by hand! It was interesting to learn the history, though Kamehameha was a VERY bloody man. He ambushed his cousin and many of his men with an invitation to "see the temple." Through European traders Kamehameha also got access to cannons to finish the war. 

Here are the kids getting sworn in as Jr Rangers and posing with the national historic site sign.

After that the grandparents took the kids back to the hotel for lunch while Oscar and I went out for some Chinese food. Heavy rain fell for a few hours but it cleared up later. The kids and grandpa went swimming, Oscar and I went for a walk around the resort, and Martha got dinner ready. It was pretty nice to have a home cooked meal each evening. 

This was the set up for the kids' sleeping arrangements. Tyler doesn't like sharing a bed with Allison, and they often fight when they have to share a bed at hotels. Even in different beds, they still woke us up several mornings fighting...

The next day we took a scenic drive to Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park . I drove with Martha while the kids went with Oscar and Marcus. We saw free roaming chickens and lots of interesting foliage. We also stopped at this lovely lookout.

Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau was close to the ocean where we were surprised to see people swimming and snorkeling. All the beaches had been closed the previous day for cleanup after the big weekend storms. 

This area is a sacred place where ancient Hawaiians could go if they'd broken the rules of "Kapu." The penalty was death, but if they swam there before being killed, a priest could absolve them of their crime and they could reenter the community without fear of retribution.

Here we saw several statues of various Hawaiian gods.

We strolled along the path taking in all the sites. The kids are sitting on a rock where one of the wives of Kamehameha hid from him during a quarrel. We also saw these natural fish ponds. The tide brings the fish in but they get stuck in the pools when the tide goes back out.

We then saw ancient canoes and several pieces of royal head ware.

I got a picture of me with the head ware of a Hawaiian chief. My wearing it would have assuredly been considered Kapu!

We saw a lizard with beautiful markings and the kids got sworn in as Jr Rangers before we drove back north. I picked up some yummy, authentic Hawaiian food and we grabbed some more groceries at Safeway on the way back.

We chilled at the hotel for a few hours then drove over to the Hilton Hawaiian Village. They have an ocean fed Lagoon there where you can swim and snorkel, and there are various boats that can be rented out. Marcus rented us a paddle board and a water trike.

At first Oscar went out on the water trike while Marcus tried the paddle board. The kids and I snorkeled. Tyler tried joining grandpa on the paddleboard but realized he needed to figure out how to use it on his own first. Tyler snorkeled for a bit until he lost the mouthpiece on his tube, so he hopped up with Oscar on the water trike.

After a while Marcus asked if I wanted to try the paddle board. It took me a bit to get my bearings, but I really enjoyed it. I like paddle boards a lot more than canoes and kayaking though steering isn't always the easiest. I stayed on it for about 20 minutes and even saw 2 Sea turtles until Tyler asked if he could try the paddle board.

Later Martha and Marcus rode out on the water trike. Tyler helped push them out of the shallow area to where their pedals would work.

Allison also took a turn on the paddle board after Tyler was done.

She started getting upset struggling with steering, so I got up and joined her on the board. We did pretty well together. Her extra weight helped balance the board so that I could steer better. Once she hopped off and our hour rental was over, it took me a few minutes just to get turned around and bring the paddle board back in to shore.

The Lagoon was right next to an open ocean area that feeds it.

We saw an Indian Mongoose from the beach chairs. Apparently they were brought to Hawaii to help control the rodent population, but now the Indian Mongoose population is out of control...

Marcus got some good shots from his underwater camera, but he couldn't see what they looked like well from the camera itself. This one of Tyler is adorable. If you're in water constantly, an underwater camera is better. But if you're in and out, like at a water park, having a waterproof pouch for your phone works well enough.

I enjoyed the paddle boarding, but the snorkeling was fun too. The water was a little murky, and I only saw a few sea turtles. I remember seeing a bunch more on our trip here in 2007. 

As we were leaving the lagoon, Marcus decided to swim his way out. We could see him as we walked behind the waterfall.

We also saw a large sea turtle in the water as we were walking out. We tried motioning Marcus over to it (he's across the water in all the photos on the right), and he swam over to our side, but the turtle went below the waterfall and he never saw it. In all fairness to him, it is harder to see them when you're in the water. The two others I saw were while I was paddle boarding, and even though people out of the water pointed a big one out to me while I was snorkeling in this same area, I never saw it either. It could very well have been the same turtle.

Back at the hotel we had a yummy dinner, Oscar did a bunch of silly dancing, and he found another lizard.