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 This Week's Featured Offers
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Big Island |
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Big Island
How big is Hawaii’s Big Island? Big enough to swallow the state of Connecticut. Big enough for 11 of the world’s 13 climate zones. And big enough that unless you’re traveling with a polar bear (sorry; no arctic tundra), there’s something for everyone in your party. Shopping, golfing, hiking, diving, dancing, tanning…the Big Island has every active and not-so-active pursuit a luxury traveler could wish for.
Activities and Attractions:
For many, the Big Island and golf are nearly synonymous. Twenty world-class courses give you a lot of links options. Try the sun-kissed, Robert Trent Jones-designed Mauna Kea Golf Course, where you’ll feel like you fell into the pages of a coffee-table book devoted to the worlds’ most beautiful golf holes. Or play it a little safer at the nearly mile-high Volcano Golf And Country Club near Hilo, where thin air will add nearly 25 yards to your shot.
If there’s one thing more popular than golf on the Big Island, it’s the beaches. If you’d like a glimpse of the ocean’s pure pulverizing power, visit the island’s rocky, spray-soaked eastern shores. For a more tranquil experience, try the sheltered Kona and Kohala coasts. On the Big Island’s western side, arid lavascapes give way to miles and miles of golden, sun-splashed beaches. The waters on this leeward side are calm, clear, and full of vibrant reefs. For some of the best snorkeling in the world, be sure to book a catamaran expedition to isolated Kealakekua Bay, where sea turtles, eels, octopi, starfish, and of course, schools of Technicolor fish are a common sight.
While you’re on the Kona side of the island, explore the Kings Shops in Waikoloa. Here you can purchase everything from chic beachwear (think fine Parisian leather sandals) to Tahitian artifacts and the best handicrafts Hawaiian artisans have to offer.
Drive south through coffee plantations to Ka Lae, the southernmost point in the United States. Dramatic wind-blown cliffs offer brilliant ocean vistas, including the unusual green-sand beach far below.
Continue up the east coast of the island until you get to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Forget the tame attractions you might find in a mainland park. This unusual sanctuary boasts an honest-to-goodness active volcano. After dark, you can watch the Big Island literally get bigger as eerie glowing lava from Kilauea spills into the hissing sea and hardens into new land.
Ready to return to civilization? Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, for all its otherworldly beauty, is only about an hour from the pleasant Victorian city of Hilo. Consider yourself lucky, indeed, if you’ll be in town the week after Easter. That’s when Hilo hosts the annual Merrie Monarch hula festival, which attracts fiercely competitive dance teams from all over the state. More than simply a dance competition, the annual event celebrates all aspects of Hawaiian culture, including music, food, and everything that makes Hawaii such an exotic and fascinating place to visit.
Insider Tip:
Any shirt you purchase in Hawaii is a Hawaiian shirt, but a true aloha shirt is something special. The very best aloha shirts are made of rayon, which is surprisingly breathable in tropical conditions. Look for two details that will show your aloha shirt to be a cut above the rest: real coconut shell buttons, and a pattern on the pocket that is a perfect continuation of the pattern on the rest of the shirt.
-Exclusively for Perfect Escapes by Nicole Clausing |
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