Sights in Hawai'i (The Big Island)
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Mau'umae Beach
Just north of Mauna Kea Beach is delightful Mau'umae Beach, with soft white sand, shady trees and protected waters. Locals are proprietary about this beach, so don't overstep your welcome. To get here, go toward the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, turn right on Kamahoi and cross two wooden bridges. Look for telephone pole 22 on the left and park. Walk down the trail to the Ala Kahakai sign and turn left toward the beach.
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Mahai'ula Beach
Mahai'ula Beach has salt-and-pepper sand, along with coral rubble, and the inshore waters are shallow. Snorkeling and swimming are usually good, but, during periods of high surf, which are frequent in winter, surfing is the sport of choice. There are picnic tables and portable toilets. The road to Mahai'ula Beach is unpaved and barely passable in a 2WD. From the first parking area, take a five-minute walk north.
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Kailua Pier
Kailua Pier, built in 1915, was once a major cattle-shipping area. Cattle driven down from hillside ranches were stampeded into the water and forced to swim out to waiting steamers, where they were hoisted aboard by sling and shipped to Honolulu slaughterhouses. Kailua Pier is now mainly used by dive boats and cruise ships, though its hoist and scales are still used for weigh-ins during billfish tournaments.
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Ethnobotanical Garden
For a look at the Hawaiian landscape before Western contact, wander through this small ethnobotanical garden that houses three categories of plants: endemic (native and exclusive), indigenous (native but found elsewhere) and Polynesian (introduced by the islands' original settlers). Plaques explain what plants were used for, but take a tour to get the most out of your visit. Bring insect repellant.
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Crater Rim Drive
The incredible 11-mile Crater Rim Drive loop road skirts the rim of Kilauea Caldera. It passes the visitor center, a museum, a lava tube, steam vents, rifts, hiking trails and views of the smoking crater that'll knock your socks off. Don't miss it. Also, since it's relatively level, it's the park's best road for cyclists. This description starts at the visitor center and goes counterclockwise.
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Kilauea Visitor Center
The Kilauea Visitor Center is an excellent place to start. On the hour (from 09:00 to 16:00), a small theater shows a free 20-minute film on Kilauea, with spectacular eruption footage. Attractive new exhibits, listening stations and life-size dioramas introduce the area's geology, flora, fauna and conservation issues. Out front, rangers give regular talks around the scale model of Hawaii.
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Kilauea Iki Crater
The overlook provides an awesome view of the mile-wide Kilauea Iki Crater, and the hike across its hardened surface is the park's most popular. One good strategy for visiting this often crowded, but scenic portion of Crater Rim Dr is to park at the Kilauea Iki Overlook and walk the Crater Rim Trail to Thurston Lava Tube and back; it's about a mile all told and easy as pie.
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Astronaut Ellison S Onizuka Space Center
Astronaut Ellison S Onizuka Space Center pays tribute to the Big Island native who perished in the 1986 Challenger space-shuttle disaster. The little museum sits between the departure and arrival buildings and features exhibits and educational films about space and astronauts. Items on display include a moon rock, a NASA space suit and scale models of spacecraft.
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Wood Valley Temple & Retreat Center
If you're into temples, this Tibetan Buddhist Temple outside of Pahala is worthy of a detour. It is decoratively painted in colorful detail and is striking against the backdrop of the center's lush, 25-acre property. Peacocks roam freely through the grounds and the relaxing property of the valley's silence is enhanced by the constant sounds of birds and humming insects.
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Mauna Loa's Observatory Trail
At the end of Mauna Loa Observatory Rd is the Mauna Loa Observatory Trail. This is an all-day adventure, but few 13,000ft mountains exist that are so accessible to the average hiker. This is a rare and unforgettable experience. Day hikers do not need a permit, but if you would like to overnight at Mauna Loa Cabin, register the day before at the Kilauea Visitor Centre.
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Kealakekua Bay State Historical Park
Kealakekua Bay State Historical Park encompasses a wide, calm bay shouldered by a low lava point to the north, tall reddish pali (cliffs) in the center and miles of green mountain slopes to the south. The bay, which is both a state park and a marine-life conservation district, has a wide variety of life in its pristine waters, including spinner dolphins.
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Pua Mau Place
Lose yourself in a hibiscus-flower maze and ogle bizarre bronze sculptures of animals and giant insects at Pua Mau Place, a botanic and sculpture gardens. Its 15 acres of native and exotic plants (and peacocks!) are a splash of color in a landscape stripped of much of its original vegetation. Ala Kahua Dr intersects the highway just north of the 6-mile marker.
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Donkey Mill Art Center
Rustic and unpretentious, the Holualoa Foundation for Arts & Culture's Donkey Mill Art Center displays impressive collections and offers workshops taught by recognized artists in a variety of mediums. The center's building, built in 1953, was once a coffee mill with a donkey painted on its roof, hence the name. It's 3 miles south of the village center.
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Original Hawaiian Chocolate Factory
The tiny Original Hawaiian Chocolate Factory on the slopes of Mt Hualalai, Bob and Pam Cooper's mom-and-pop company is unique in that they grow, harvest, process and package only Big Island cocoa. On a free tour of their operation you'll see cocoa fruit in lovely shades of yellow, gold and fuchsia, and learn about how they process their estate chocolate.
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Punalu'u Beach Park
Punalu'u Beach Park provides easy access to a pretty little bay with a black-sand beach famous for basking green sea turtles. The turtles are both endangered and very sensitive to human disturbance - don't approach them. Punalu'u is one of the few beaches where rare hawksbill turtles lay their eggs, so take caution not to disturb their sandy nests.
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Kona Historical Society
The Kona Historical Society has turned the old stone-and-mortar Greenwell General Store into a museum version of what it was in 1890. They've meticulously filled it with authentic period goods such as farm equipment and cans. The Greenwell General Store is immediately south of Greenwell Farms and the society's headquarters are behind it.
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Chain of Craters Road
Chain of Craters Road gets shorter all the time (most recently in 2003). It currently winds about 18 miles down the southern slopes of Kilauea Volcano, ending abruptly at the latest East Rift Zone lava flow on the Puna Coast. It's paved but curvaceous; allow 45 minutes to an hour one way without stops.
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Kauna'oa Bay (aka Mauna Kea Beach)
Kauna'oa Bay (aka 'Mauna Kea Beach') might be the most visually stunning beach on the Big Island. The crescent-shaped cove has fine white sand and a gradual slope that fosters excellent swimming conditions most of the year. On the north end, snorkeling conditions are good during calm waters.
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Volcano Winery
The friendly, attractive Volcano Winery offers free tastings of its six vintages. Two mix in jaboticaba berries and another uses guava for sweet, unusual variations. A rich honey wine is almost like mead. Who knew Hawai'i had a wine country?
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Volcano Garden Arts
You see artist Ira Ono's voluptuous masks everywhere. His gallery, Volcano Garden Arts - packed with other artists and including a small 'café' - is central to the recent upswing in the Volcano art scene.
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2400° Fahrenheit
Come early to glass-blowing studio 2400° Fahrenheit and watch artists Michael and Misato Mortara create their mind-boggling glass bowls and vases. A tiny gallery displays finished pieces.
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Pahoa Community Aquatic Center
For swimming, don't miss the gorgeous outdoor Olympic-size pool at Pahoa Community Aquatic Center, behind the Pahoa Neighborhood Facility; it's got nice showers and a separate kids' pool.
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Huliheʻe Palace
Currently closed for renovations, Huliheʻe Palace was a vacation spot for Hawaiian royalty and is packed with amazing Hawaiian artifacts.
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Onizuka Center for International Astronomy
The Onizuka Center for International Astronomy offers displays, free astronomy presentations, awesome stargazing and summit tours (BYO 4WD).
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Pacific Tsunami Museum
Hilo has survived several major tsunamis and this dramatic museum brings these chilling events to life, with multimedia exhibits including documentary film footage.
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