10 nights in Hawaii, which Islands???
We are in need of some assistance with our 10 night Hawaii itinerary!
Help! Please...
First a little background, we are a family of three, mom, dad, and 12 year old son.
We are fairly active and have a sense of adventure.
We will be going to Hawaii for ten nights in August 2008, that is confirmed, however what we do with those ten nights is totally up in the air!
What we want to do is relax at the pools (great pools are VERY important) as well as explore the islands. (a good mixture of both)
Our interests include:
Checking out the volcano's, I have heard you can take a bike tour down one?
Are there any lava flows active?
Trying Scuba diving, we are not certified but understand you can do a resort dive of less than 40 feet without the certification. We would all be interested in this, which island would be best?
We like to rent a car, and explore on our own, go for a hike, check out caves etc...
We are also interested in trying zip lining...
Star watching might be cool as well.
My original thought was to visit three islands.
3 nights on the Big island at the Hilton Waikoloa Village.
Then 3 nights on Kauai, at the Grand Hyatt Kauai.
Finishing with 4 nights on Maui at the Grand Wailea Resort.
After a lot of reading, we started wondering if this might be too rushed of an itinerary?
We are caught between this possibly being our one and only trip to the islands ever, and wanting to see as much as we can, and doing too much as to have no time to relax and enjoy!
We could really use some advice.
Should we consider doing only TWO islands for 5 nights each?
We were thinking possibly only doing Kauai and Maui.
Would we regret not seeing the Big Island? And what about Oahu? We are not really "beach" people, we love to walk on the beach for sure, but can't spend a day lying on one, and prefer to swim in pools.
We like to spend a day or two at the resort but also want things to do and explore on our own.
Would we be bored on Kauai for 5 nights, and wish we had moved along?
I guess what we really want to know is with 10 nights available, which islands and for how long... LOL
I know that is the million dollar question, and different for everyone.
I have tried to give as much info as possible about what we like to do, any suggestions or advice is appreciated.
Specifically differences between the islands, and activities available.
Thanks in advance for any help.