Big Island Activities

Some of the best water adventures on the Kona coast are with Analakai Adventures. And the most amazing of the adventures that the company offers is what they call the Manta Ray Night Snorkel, and what we call insanely cool. Once it’s dark out, a guide paddles you out in a double-hull canoe and uses a light to draw in the manta rays. The creatures are extraordinary—like graceful aliens (aliens that can grow to have a fifteen-foot wingspan.) Then it’s up to you: Slip into the water and snorkel among the rays or enjoy them from the canoe. Either way, it’s probably the most serene experience you can have before going back to your hotel and going to sleep for the night. Impressively, the company uses no motors and is completely harmless to the environment.

If it’s Tuesday, it’s luau night at the Mauna Kea. Starting at 5:30, walk down to the cliffs of the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel (whether or not you’re staying there), grab dinner from the endless buffet tables, and settle in for the show. The evening’s program includes a dynamic history of the kings of Hawaii, theatrical reenactments of the islands’ legends, and plenty of hula dancing. The highlight for the kids is a toss-up between getting up on stage to learn how to hula dance and watching the fire dancers at the end of the night.

The Mauna Lani Beach Club is an Auberge Resort property, which is to say it’s incredibly luxurious and beautiful. And if you come with kids, you’ll want to head straight to the beach. This is where you’ll meet your guide, jump into a canoe, paddle out to the ocean, and take in a view of Hawaii you can get only from the water. These guided tours are also an opportunity to learn about the history of the island. And perhaps most important of all, learn about all the ways visitors can help the island’s sustainable initiatives.

Hawaii might be the only place where it’s cool to do a manta ray night dive—and this outfit is a good choice, as they do a variety of public tours as well as private charters. The best option is taking a boat out at sunset and then snorkeling (or scuba diving, if you’re certified). Even if you know how big manta rays are (average wingspan here is five feet eight inches, and up to to a whopping 20 feet), it’s wild to see them swimming right alongside you.

There are a lot of awesome beaches on the Big Island; those on the Kona side can be tougher, as they tend to be rocky. That said, if you're willing to walk a bit of rocky stretch to get down to Manini'owali Beach—locally known as Kua Bay—the beach itself is spectacular. The sand here is soft and white, and the water is the clear, aquamarine color that you want to find in Hawaii. The tide is generally calmest at Kua Bay in the summer, when it's perfect for swimming and snorkeling. The waves are stronger in the winter—better suited for surfing. Kua Bay is no longer a secret, but it’s still somewhat remote—on that note, remember to pack a picnic lunch.

Two of the world’s most active volcanoes sit on the Big Island: Kīlauea and Mauna Loa. And they are both encompassed in the national park in the southern half of the island, which you can visit by car. Check before you go to see what the latest is, but recently, Kīlauea has been erupting in two places. One of the vents (within Halema'uma'u Crater) can be seen from an overlook at Jaggar Museum—best view is in the evening, on a clear night, when the fire from the crater lights up the sky. If you want to spend more time in the park, there are a number of trails that you can explore on foot; the park has a pretty cool landscape in part because it spans from the summit of Mauna Loa at 13,677 feet down to sea level, and therefore a diverse range of ecosystems.