Hawaii – 10 Days in the Aloha State

For my dad’s 50th birthday, he wanted to participate in an olympic distance triathlon and I agreed to do one with him. After that first one, we were hooked and had our sights set on doing a half ironman (which consists of a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike ride and a 13.1 mile run). What better place than in Hawaii.

We decided to combine the race with a family vacation. The race (which takes place in early June) kicked off the trip. We spent 5 nights near Kona on the Big Island and then 5 nights on the south coast of Kauai.

DAY 1: FLIGHT TO KONA, HAWAII

We had a 10 hour flight from the east coast of the U.S. to Honolulu. In Honolulu we wandered around our arrival gate for a few minutes before realizing that we had to take a bus to get to the terminal for our flight to Kona.

Once in Kona (which is a primarily outdoor airport), we took the shuttle to the Alamo rental car to pick up our car. We then had a 30 minute drive along the coast from there to our hotel. By the time we arrived it was late afternoon, so we checked in, ate dinner by the beach and watched the sunset before going to bed.

DAY 2: PRE-RACE PREP

My dad and I took it easy today as it was the day before our race. We ate breakfast at the hotel and then we went to the mandatory athletes’ meeting at 11. Following the meeting we rode our bikes 5-6 miles to Hapuna Beach State Park to drop them off at the transition area. We did a quick swim to test out the water and then relaxed for the rest of the day.

Before the Ironman 70.3 Hawaii

If we didn’t have a race to prepare for, this would have been a great day to explore the big island (see below for other recommendations of places to go).

DAY 3: RACE DAY (IRONMAN 70.3 HAWAII)

We woke up bright and early to eat before the race. At 5 we took the race bus from the hotel to the course start. The race kicked off at 6:30 with a beautiful 1.2 mile swim from Hapuna Beach. The water was very clear and I even saw a turtle. Following the swim, we had a 56 mile bike ride up the north coast of the island, including a “lovely” 5 mile hill before the turnaround. It was a beautiful ride with some nice views of the ocean. The race ended with a 13.1 mile, very hot run.

After the race I cleaned up, nursed my very bad sunburns and then enjoyed the post-race celebration at the hotel.

DAY 4: RELAXING MORNING AT THE HOTEL AND EVENING TRIP TO MAUNA KEA

Massages at the hotel

In the morning we treated ourselves to some much needed massages at the hotel. We also enjoyed pool and beach until the early afternoon when we had to meet our tour to Mauna Kea.

Sunset & Stargazing Tour on Mauna Kea

The tour left from a shopping area nearby, so we headed over there at 2:30 to look around before meeting the group at 3:45. We went on the Sunset & Stargazing Tour to Mauna Kea through Mauna Kea Summit Adventures.

We were in a very comfortable van that seated 14 people. It was an hour and half drive to the Mauna Kea Visitor Information Station (which is at around 9,000 feet elevation).We stopped there to eat dinner (provided by the tour company) for 40-50 minutes. We then continued up the mountain another 45 minutes to reach the summit. We arrived 30 minutes before the sunset. Luckily the tour company provided us with parkas to stay warm at 14,000 feet. We enjoyed a beautiful sunset and watched the observatories open before heading back down to 10,000 feet to stargaze. Our guide set up two telescopes and pointed out various stars and planets. It was a beautiful night for stargazing but also very cold! We got back to our hotel around 11:30.

Sunset on Mauna Kea

Note: To drive past the Information Station, 4WD is required.

DAY 5: HAWAI’I VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK

Hiking around Kilauea Iki Crater

After breakfast we headed to Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park. It was about a 3 hour drive, which we broke up by stopping for lunch at Punalu’u Black Sand Beach along the way. When we arrived at the park, we first stopped at the ranger station to get more information.

Our first stop was at the Jaggar Museum to see the lava at the Halema’uma’u Crater. We then drove to the Kilauea Iki Trailhead for a 4 mile hike around the Kilauea Iki Crater. It was a really neat hike that went around the edge of the crater and then across it. After the hike, we checked out the Thurston Lava Tube before getting a quick bite to eat at Volcano House and then heading back.

Hiking the Kilauea Iki Trail

DAY 6: FLIGHT TO KAUAI

We left the hotel in the morning to head back to the Kona airport. We had a quick flight over to Kauai and arrived there at 11. We picked up our rental car and drove 30 minutes to our hotel near Koloa on the southern part of the island.

After checking in, we booked a few activities through the concierge before grabbing some lunch at Keoki’s Paradise. We spent the afternoon relaxing and then had a delicious dinner at Merriman’s Fish House.

DAY 7: EXPLORING SOUTHERN KAUAI

Skydiving

Today was a day of adventure exploring Kauai. We kicked off the morning by driving 30 minutes to Port Allen Airport to go skydiving with Skydive Kauai. We had beautiful views of the sea and the canyons from the plane before jumping out. If you want to go skydiving, I highly recommend going in Hawaii!

After skydiving we went back to the hotel for lunch.

Hiking the Canyon Trail in Waimea Canyon

Once we were done eating, we drove an hour to Waimea Canyon. We stopped along the way for a few pictures. Eventually we made it to Pu’u Hinahina where we took the Canyon Trail for a 2.5 hour hike along the canyon. It was a beautiful hike with some incredible views.

Hiking the Canyon Trail in Waimea Canyon

After the hike, we relaxed at the hotel and ate dinner at Bennecke’s.

DAY 8: EXPLORING KAUAI AND EVENING LUAU

Hiking Sleeping Giant

After cooking breakfast at the hotel, we drove 45 minutes to the eastern part of the island to hike the Sleeping Giant Trail. It was a 3-mile hike. There are two different paths to the top; a shorter, steeper one and a longer, less intense one. Google maps brought us to the steeper trail, so it was a good workout to get to the top. We ate a picnic lunch and enjoyed the views before driving back to the hotel.

Aulii Luau

At 5 we walked over to the Sheraton where the beachfront Aulii Luau was. The luau started at 5:30. It was a 3 hour dinner with a traditional Hawaiian buffet, drinks, music and traditional dancers. We even saw a beautiful full rainbow.

Rainbow during the Aulii Luau

DAY 9: KAYAKING TOUR DOWN THE WAILUA RIVER

We spent the morning relaxing at the hotel and walking along the beach nearby. We also grabbed coffee at Lappert’s, a coffee shop in town.

At 11:50 we headed out to drive to Kapaa for a Wailua River kayaking tour with Ancient River Kayaks. At 1, our guide drove us to the marina to start our tour. The tour started with 2 miles of kayaking up the river. We reached a point where we got out of the kayaks and hiked 1 mile into the rainforest to Secret Falls. We relaxed at the falls for a bit and had lunch (provided by the tour). We then hiked back to the kayaks and kayaked back to the marina.

Secret Falls

We got back to the hotel around 7/7:30 and order pizza from Pizzetta.

DAY 10: NA PALI COAST CATAMARAN TOUR

We had a relaxing morning before leaving at 11:30 to drive to Port Allen Marina Center to meet our catamaran to cruise along the Na Pali Coast. The tour was through Kauai Sea Tours. We left the dock at 2 for our 5.5 hour trip. After an hour and a half of cruising, we stopped to snorkel. We then continued along the Na Pali Coast, which is beautiful and unique. We had dinner on the boat and then watched a beautiful sunset before heading back to the dock.