Must see places on The Big Island, Hawaii

I originally went to the Big Island to scuba dive with the manta rays. It had been on my bucket list for a while and I was so excited to take my first night dive. I booked the trip through Kona Honu Divers and I had planned on taking a few warm-up dives on the day before but these huge swells came in and the US Coast Guard banned all small vessel charters. Eventually the manta dive had gotten pushed to the last night of my trip - which meant no warm up dives, just straight into the night dive when the water had been super intense with huge swells happening just the day before. The water was so rough that I ended up snorkeling super last minute - the guides were really nice about it - we saw 15 HUGE, beautiful mantas all feeding off the plankton. It was phenomenal. I highly recommend this adventure!

When the dives started getting cancelled I started looking up other cool things to d. There are so many cool ways to explore the island. I headed up to Mauna Kea Beach Hotel - there is a free, public beach at this hotel and it's awesome. You drive in past the guard and if you get there early enough there's 20 or so parking spots for the beach and then it's a short downhill walk to the ocean. It's one of those dreamy Hawaii sandy beaches - which are few and far between on the Big Island because it's made up of so much lava. [Cool fact: Mauna Kea is also the name of the dormant volcano on the island which last erupted 3500 years ago.]

From there I went over to Merriman's in Waimea and enjoyed a few of these delightful Mai Tai's during happy hour. This place is so great, Merriman's focuses on local food, it's very farm to table - and the drive back to Kona (which took a little over an hour or so) is so beautiful. The lava and the dried grasses gave everything this pre-historic feel and there's a great view of the ocean for a good portion of the drive.

The next day I met up with Heather - I saw through Facebook that she was on the island playing with dolphins in between studying for her medical boards so I asked if she wanted to hang out. "I'll pick you up at 8am tomorrow," was her response. I had rented a house from Heather 8 years ago in Telluride for a month - the only time I had ever met her in person was to get my security deposit back and she came to where I was working at the Med Center in Telluride, and I knew immediately that she was awesome. She wasn't living in Telluride at the time so we never got close, but the fates aligned and we were both on Hawaii at the same time and there's no other way to put it than we were meant to spend the day together.

Amazing adventures on the Big Island: SUP and snorkeling

Heather had been coming to Hawaii for 15 years so she had the inside scoop on where to go and what to do. She took me to Kealakekua Bay and we paddle boarded out to where a pod of dolphins were playing. This was by far the best activity I came across while I was there. The bay is so beautiful - off in the distance humpback whales were breaching. In the foreground we jumped off the paddleboards and swam with the dolphins, some of them coming within just a few feet of us. You can rent the paddleboards through Ehu and Kai Adventures. They also have kayaks, but I recommend the SUP because it's fun to snorkel and check out what's below in the bay. This place is truly magical. There are a few VRBO's right on the water in Kealakekua. If you're considering staying somewhere other than a resort this is the place. I'm counting the days til I get to go back.

We then drove up the road a little ways to Two Steps which is also known as Honaunau (another bay - which is actually located in Pu’uhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park. Two Steps isn't on a sandy beach - it's on lava rocks. I think it's best to hit this place up in the early morning hours. The water tends to be a little calmer and the crowds are non existent. This place is extremely popular. Kealakekua Bay isn't exactly set up for swimmers to lay about on beach so it makes it much less crowded out on the water - but Two Steps you could be actually waiting in line to go down the steps to get into the bay. Take a blanket and some snacks. It's nice to snorkel and swim for a while, take a break and then head back in the water. There are TONS of fish here, the reef is very healthy and the turtles are happy and abundant.

Sushi in Kona

Headed back up the hill we stopped at the original Kona Coffee Mill for some affordable gifts to take home (the coffee bean bags are only $10 and they make for cool, kind of funky wall hangings) and some amazing coffee ice cream. If you're hungry on the way back to Kona I recommend stopping at Kenichi Pacific for some of the best sushi imaginable. They have a good happy hour deal so if you've been down swimming and adventuring all day and want an early dinner, you can sit on their covered patio (which is more casual because it's not in their dining room) and have a really good meal.