TRAVELOGUE
The Challenge of Hawaii:
Capturing the Aloha Spirit in 10 Days

Text and photographs by
Ralph Selitzer, Editor and Publisher

There is so much to do… to see… to savor that you could spend a lifetime of vacations and not experience all that the Hawaiian Islands have to offer. You will be torn between the lure of the beach and the many historical, cultural and natural sites. And you will be enchanted by the people—their friendliness and desire to share their islands with you—the aloha spirit that sets Hawaii apart from any other tropical getaway. You will meet the descendents of the peoples who settled in the islands: Polynesian, Chinese, Japanese, European, people of native ancestry and, most recently, people from the U.S. mainland who chose the Hawaiian way of life. All this is the magic of Hawaii.

Of all the splendor, my wife and I selected three islands that would provide a variety of experiences: the metropolis of Honolulu, the serenity of Maui and the violent beauty of an active volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii where the god Pele still spews lava down lava tubes to the ocean to create new land.

DAY 1 — Traveling To & Around Hawaii

Flying time to Hawaii from New York is about 12 hours with a stopover in a major city such as Los Angeles or Las Vegas. Continental Airlines (www.continental.com • 800-525-0280 • 212-319-9494) offers one nonstop daily that leaves Newark in the morning and arrives 10 ½ hours later in Honolulu. Hawaii is 6 hours earlier than New York and 3 hours earlier than Los Angeles. Most flights from the continental U.S. arrive in the afternoon or early evening Hawaii time. Chances are that you will have time to enjoy the beach and a relaxing dinner. Our flight, however, landed in Oahu at 11:00 p.m.

Island-hopping is like commuter travel. There are dozens of daily flights between the islands. We made our reservations with Aloha Airlines (www.alohaair.com • 800-367-5250) from New York, however, it was easy to change them once we were on the islands. Car rental was also simple. We negotiated a 10-day flat rate with Hertz (www.hertz.com • 800-654-3131) and arranged to return and pick up an exchange car on each island.

DAY 2 (first full day in Hawaii) — Oahu & Honolulu

Oahu means "gathering place." The name is apt since 80% of the population of all the Hawaiian Islands lives on Oahu. Honolulu, the state capital, has more than 800,000 residents.

We stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village (www.hilton.com/hotels/HNLHVHH • 808-949-4321), which is a quiet oasis in the midst of bustling Honolulu. The hotel is situated about eight miles from the landmark Diamond Head State Monument, the famous 760-foot volcanic cone and Honolulu’s most recognizable sight.

The Hilton is a 20-acre paradise in a magnificent tropical garden filled with palm trees, gardens of rare tropical flowers, and lava rock pools where black swans, penguins and pink flamingos play. You can swim in a 10,000-square-foot, two-tiered swimming pool (the largest in Waikiki) snorkel in the manmade lagoon, or play the 36-hole golf course. The Hilton’s 2,545 rooms are in four towers including the ultra-luxurious Ali’i tower where many celebrities have stayed including Ronald Reagan and Michael Jackson.

Within the village complex are about 100 shops of every description including Honolulu’s leading art galleries. Several of the 22 restaurants have earned top awards, including the Golden Dragon which is rated one of the best Chinese restaurants by Honolulu magazine.

We were fortunate to be at the Hilton on a Friday night when the pool area is the site of the complimentary "King’s Jubilee" pageant of Hawaii’s monarchy including hula and fire dancers, conch shell blowers and fireworks.

DAY 2 — How to See Honolulu

We spent our first morning sightseeing on Honolulu from the Waikiki Trolley (www.waikikitrolley.com • 808-596-2199). Running from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., the trolley is both transportation (on/off privileges) and a two-hour narrated tour taking you to the important sights including: Bishop Museum, Iolani Palace State Monument, Academy of Arts, Foster Botanical Gardens, the state capital and, of course, Diamond Head. It also transports you to Ala Moana Center which is Honolulu’s and the state’s largest shopping center, where you’ll find Sears and J.C. Penney plus upscale stores including Tiffany and Christian Dior. And be sure to visit Hilo Hattie for Aloha Wear, the famous flowered apparel. This is a very pleasant spot where you can choose from hundreds of items while sipping tropical drinks.

On our third day, Saturday, we drove 1 ½ hours to the Polynesian Cultural Center with a stopover at the Waimea Valley Adventure Park (www.atlantisadventures.com • 808-638-8511). This was our first opportunity to see the Oahu countryside and the many beaches along the Kamehameha Highway.

Waimea Valley Adventure Park is an 1,800-acre nature preserve. A narrated tram ride takes you around the park. The driver points out many of the native birds and endangered plants which are protected in the park. We took the narrated walking tour to the cliffs where we enjoyed a cliff diving performance, Hawaiian music and hula dancing. The thoroughly delightful morning was topped with a buffet lunch. Admission: $24/adult, $12/child 4-12.

About half an hour down the road is the Polynesian Cultural Center (www.polynesia.com • 800-367-7060), a major theme park that was one of the highlights of our vacation. Admission prices vary between $49 and $155 (adult). The Ambassador Package includes the luau and evening show ($95/adult, $63/child).

The 42-acre center comprises seven Polynesian villages depicting the culture of the Pacific Basin. Connected to each other by a waterway and winding paths, the villages feature entertaining and educational shows at intervals throughout the day. Guided canoe tours wind through the villages of Samoa, New Zealand, Tahiti, Tonga, Marquesas, Fiji and Hawaii. IMAX films are featured: Polynesia, The Living Sea and Everest. There are also tours of the adjacent Brigham Young University-Hawaii.

Every afternoon the myths and legends of the Hawaiian Islands are told in song and story by players in traditional, colorful costumes from a flotilla of canoes. The actors and most of the Center’s staff are BYU students.

The traditional luau and evening show are not to be missed. Our buffet consisted of Puaa (pig), poi (pounded taro root), and the standard buffet dishes. Each guest receives a traditional lei or garland of tropical flowers. The evening show is a spectacular production featuring hundreds of performers including fire-knife exhibitions and even a volcanic eruption. But it is the young student performers from the University that make the show a memorable experience. Here you will see the greatest variety of traditional Polynesian dances performed with tremendous skill and exuberance.

Our visit to the Memorial was an important and moving experience. The Memorial (www.nps.gov/usar • 808-422-0561) straddles the sunken hull of the battleship USS Arizona where 1,177 servicemen were drowned, and commemorates the December 7, 1941, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor… "the day that will live in infamy." After a 20-minute documentary film and a briefing, visitors board a National Park Service launch to the Memorial structure. Admission is free. Arrive early since the limited allotment of tickets goes quickly.

The adjacent USS Bowfin Submarine Museum and Park (www.bowfin.org/website/index.cfm • 808-423-1341) offers an extensive look at the fascinating history of submarines from the first daring attempt in 1776 to use a submersible in warfare to the feats of today’s nuclear submarines. Visitors can go below deck aboard the famous World War II submarine, nicknamed the "Pearl Harbor Avenger," on a self-guided tour aided by wireless radio receivers complete with sound effects. Admission: $8/adult, $6/senior & military personnel, $3/child 4-12.

The Battleship Missouri Memorial (www.ussmissouri.com • 1-877-MIGHTY-MO • 1-888-USS-MISSOURI) is accessible only by tour buses. It was aboard the USS Missouri, the most celebrated battleship of the United States Navy, that the surrender documents were signed bringing World War II to an end in 1945. Tickets are available at the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum and Park. Admission: $14/adult, $7child. Military and Kama’aina: $10/adult, $5/child.

DAY 5 — On to Maui

After an early flight to Kahului Airport we were on our way in our rented car by 9:00 a.m. On the way to the Ka'anapali resort area (about a 1 ½ hour drive) we stopped at the Maui Tropical Plantation (no website • 808-244-7643). You can get a real feel for Maui as you stroll the working farm. Take the worthwhile 45-minute narrated tram tour ($9.50/adult). You will learn about the cultivation of sugar cane, pineapples, bananas, macadamia nuts, coffee and tropical plants, all commercial grown for export. We enjoyed an early buffet lunch overlooking the Puu Kukui defunct volcano, a dramatic backdrop to the planting fields.

In the afternoon we visited the fascinating Maui Ocean Center (www.mauioceancenter.com • 808-270-7000), an aquarium featuring an acrylic tunnel through a 750,000-gallon pool, giving the illusion of being under the sea. Admission: $18/adult, $12.50/child 3-12, senior rate available.

About 45 minutes from the Maui Ocean Center in the Ka’anapali beach resort area on several acres of Maui’s most beautiful landscape is Marriott’s Maui Ocean Club (1-808.662.8888 • www.marriottsmauioceanclub.com). While the hotel itself is a self-contained resort with pools, shops and activities, its location is equally important. The Marriott is situated on stretch of beach—one of the most beautiful in Maui—shared by several luxury hotels and the upscale Whalers Village shopping area. Families will love the 3.5-acre super-pool which offers slides, spa and kids “shipwreck” play area. After an afternoon of swimming and relaxation, we dined at the Marriott’s fabulous buffet luau on the beach, a lavish party with an open bar and a troupe of excellent professional dancers.

DAY 6 — The Road to Hana

Limited time precluded our driving across Maui to Hana or taking a day to thoroughly explore Haleakala National Park (www.nps.gov/hale • (800) 469-3000). We opted to take the Hana Grand Adventure tour offered by Sunshine Helicopters (www.sunshinehelicopters.com • 808-871-0722). For about $200 per person we were picked up at our hotel at 6 a.m., driven to Kahulu airport for breakfast and then taken on a combined half-day narrated tour to Hana, and returned via helicopter to enjoy the remaining afternoon at our leisure.

The Hana Highway winds through breathtaking scenery: rainforests with plunging waterfalls and gorges, ravines and bamboo forests, fishing settlements and views of the coastline. The 30-mile road twists over hundreds of curves and numerous one-lane bridges. The tour gives plenty of time to explore black sand beaches, botanical gardens and underground pools of crystal clear water created in beds of lava rock. The buffet lunch served at Homoa Beach in Hana is followed by the helicopter ride with marvelous views of the coast, Haleakala and the lush farmlands of Maui.

DAY 7 — Hawaii, The Big Island

We flew into Hilo in the morning and drove 30 miles southwest to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (www.nps.gov/havo • General information & eruption messages 808-985-6000). The park is home to two volcanoes, Kilauea and Mauna Loa, which is the world’s tallest at 13,677 feet above sea level. We chose to explore Kilauea, closest to the Park Headquarters Visitor Center, Volcano Art Center Park (www.nps.gov/havo • 808-967-8222) and lodging. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is open 24 hours a day all year round and requires a $10 entrance fee (seven-day permit) per vehicle or $5 for pedestrians or bicyclists.

The most advantageous viewing posts are easily accessible by car: stark, black terrain… molten lava, steam rising from the earth. We drove the 24-mile "Chain of Craters Road" to the 4.077-foot Kilauea summit and down to the coast where ancient petroglyphs can be found along with abandoned villages and recent lava flows. The 11-mile "Crater Rim Drive" circles around Kilauaea Caldera, passing lava flows, rainforests and craters. The half-mile "Devastation Trail" leads through cinder- and ash-covered landscape created when the Ohia forest was destroyed. The "Thurston Lava Tube," a defunct carrier of molten lava, is a tunnel that can be explored to a depth of 500 feet.

At dusk, take your flashlight and drive up to the active lava flow—most brilliant at night. Those who are agile enough can climb the lava rocks to within yards of the molten lava, however, most settle for a convenient midway point.

That evening we stayed at Kilauea Lodge (www.kilauealodge.com • 808-967-7366) located in the rainforest village of Volcano. This is a deluxe "bed & breakfast" with fireplaces in several of its buildings and cottages. The Lodge features gourmet dinners and breakfasts highlighted by local fruit and, of course, Kona coffee.

DAY 8-9 — To the Kona Coast

The next morning we drove 2 ½ hours to the Kona Coast enjoying lush scenery and majestic views of the coastline. Just beyond Hilo is Akaka Falls State Park, a rainforest featuring the 420-foot Akaka Falls.

The Hawaii Tropical Botanical Gardens, further up the road, is an exotic nature preserve that borders the rugged coastline (www.hawaiigarden.com • 800-964-5233). A self-guided tour takes you through a 40-acre tract that is home to approximately 2,000 species of plants as well as giant sea turtles and rare birds that find refuge in the garden valley amidst waterfalls and lily pond orchards, heliconia and flowers of fantastic variety. Admission: $15/adult.

The Four Seasons Resort

We stayed at the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai at Historic Ka’upulehi (www.fourseasons.com • 888-340-5662/888-332-3442), about eight miles from Kona International Airport. About 12 miles down the road is the resort village with shops and art galleries on Ali’i Drive. Cafés offer many varieties of the world famous Kona coffee.

Perhaps another 30 miles takes you to Pu’uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park (www.nps.gov/puho • 808-328-2326). Formerly known as the City of Refuge, it is where the weak, criminals and vanquished warriors of Hawaii were given sanctuary. The park features restored temples and other archeological sites.

The main feature of the Kona Coast is its rainless skies, pristine blue ocean and white sand beaches that are in stark contrast to the black lava landscape. The palm trees, gardens and lush foliage are largely imports to an area that otherwise would be a tropical desert.

The Four Seasons Report, opened September 1996, is setting the standard for luxury-hotel construction in Hawaii with its low-rise oceanfront villages nestled between the sea and the greens of a new, private Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course. It looks more like a luxury townhouse development clustered around five seaside swimming pools. The rooms are furnished in Pacific tropical style (rattan, bamboo, raffia rugs, etc.). In addition to tennis courts, sports club, etc. the resort maintains a cultural interpretive center of Hawaiian history and nature.

You can snorkel for free with supplied equipment in the ocean lagoon created out of lava rock, or in the King’s pond where tropical fish are stocked for your view. Here you can join in the hand-feeding of manta rays every afternoon.

Who could leave such a utopian setting? We didn’t! We had a casual dinner nightly on the beach enjoying Pacific Rim cuisine. The Beach Bar & Grill also featured a trio that played Hawaiian and light standard tunes to the occasional accompaniment of hula dancers. If you love sashimi and fish, Hawaii is the place for you. We have never tasted more tender, sweeter sashimi and cooked fish than throughout our entire Hawaiian trip.

DAY 10 — Snorkeling Cruise

On our final morning in Hawaii we went on a snorkeling cruise aboard the 60-foot catamaran, Fair Wind II (www.fair-wind.com • 800-677-9461). The 4 ½ hour cruise included a tropical breakfast, lunch, garden buffet and unlimited beverages and snacks. We sailed to Kealakekua Bay (site of Captain Cook’s monument), a secluded sanctuary abundant with marine life, coral reefs and calm water with visibility to 100 feet. A generous 2 ½ hours was allotted for snorkeling. All gear was provided including prescription lens masks, view boxes and inner tubes, and other flotation devices for non-swimmers. Fee: $75/adult, $42/child.

We returned to The Four Seasons in time for late afternoon swimming, body surfing and final dinner on the beach. Conveniently, the hotel was only 15 minutes from the airport and we had a 9:00 p.m. flight back to Honolulu and New York.

And so we said "Aloha" (farewell) and "Mahalo" (thank you) to Hawaii promising to visit again.

For more information on Hawaii contact the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau (www.gohawaii.com • 808-245-3971). We found several books to be of value including the Automobile Club of America Tourbook, Gayot’s The Best of Hawaii, Frommer’s Hawaii, and Sunset Hawaii: A Guide To All The Islands.