The trip that almost wasn't
Early in the year I found a great deal to use my hotel points at the Hilton Waikoloa Village on the Big Island of Hawaii and jumped at the chance to reserve it. Then when I looked a little more closely at the calendar and considered other travel and work commitments, I wasn't sure we would be able to go but I had until a month out to cancel it. Once we realized we didn't have any other holiday plans and work was flexible, I reserved the flights and knew we definitely wanted a sunny getaway - even if we were traveling so far for only four full days in Hawaii, and even if it did require getting up at 2:30 a.m. to catch at 5 a.m. flight! But American Airlines had other ideas and at 10:30 p.m. the night before our 5 a.m. flight, our flight was cancelled. They rebooked us on new flights 2 days later. Ummm, we can't lose two days of a four day vacation! After talking to their agents and not finding an acceptable solution (i.e. they wouldn't book us on any partner airlines - only American Airlines flights), we took matters into our own hands and booked new flights on United. We lost the night of sleep but only about 5 hours of vacation time since United got us in 3 hours later than the original itinerary and we came home 2 hours earlier.
The Resort
The Hilton Waikoloa is a giant resort that features three towers of guest rooms, two pool areas, and a saltwater lagoon that is connected to the ocean and its non-swimmable (lava rock covered) beach. In June 2017, we stayed at the Marriott resort next door and had visited the hotel to see the the trained dolphins that live in the lagoon, so I knew we would enjoy spending time there.
Lagoon
Turns out we spent all of our resort time at the lagoon. The pools were cold and the hot tubs overcrowded, and we didn't have a rental car to otherwise explore the island. But we loved the lagoon! For three straight days we rented water toys and enjoyed the warm(ish) water and abundant sunshine while we played among green sea turtles and flying fish. Day 1 and 3 were stand up paddleboards - made much easier by being in a protected lagoon instead of open ocean water - and day 2 was kayaks (one for William and John and I sharing a second). I'd like to say that with three days of those activities plus three yoga classes at the fitness center that it completely offset all the tropical drinks I had at the luau but the scale says otherwise.
I don't seem to have any photos of William paddling himself, which he did do a great deal of the time. On the first day, he mostly paddled the two of us around and on the third day he and I had our own boards, so no camera during those times. I did snap a few photos of John's first attempt. I believe William is along as his navigator and guide since he was such a pro on all the nooks and crannies of the lagoon at that point!
Luau
Friday night we had reserved the on site luau. None of us had been to a luau previously, so this was a must do. We were seated near the front and the servers were very quick with the unlimited cocktails and mocktails. The traditional buffet was abundant if not amazing food. They did have a separate kids buffet of chicken strips and cookies for which William was thankful. He managed to barely stay awake through the fire dancing finale.
Whale Watching
Since we didn't have a rental car (they were sold out on the island, and even before being sold out, the prices were too ridiculous for us to consider getting one), we only considered excursions which were near enough to affordably Uber or that included hotel pick up. The first one we did was an afternoon catamaran for whale watching. Humpback whales come from Alaska from around December 15 - March 15 to have their babies and mate in the shallow, warm waters around Hawaii where there are few predators.
We had a lot of fun relaxing on the boat but didn't see any super close by or any breeches - many spouts and tails though, so no getting a refund! John and I saw whales on our babymoon in Cabo so knew it could have been better, but William was thrilled with what we saw! So it's all perspective! Personally, I enjoyed seeing all of the volcanoes from the ocean. Mauna Kea had snow on it this week.
Dolphin Snorkel
After three full days of lagoon, we decided to stop by the activities desk on our way to dinner to see if any tours were available for our fourth and last day. We weren't sure what might be available at such short notice and with our time restrictions (can't miss that flight!) and possible age restrictions (several things were for age 10+). While waiting to talk to the activities desk we overheard the family ahead of us booking a dolphin snorkel and it sounded cool (and the right time/availability/age) so we booked it, too. It ended up being the best adventure ever!
We were in a close to the water pontoon-type boat with a dozen other people, and since the weather was good (clear, low wind), we were able to head north instead of south on our search for the dolphins. That meant we were going into whale territory, as well, and we got to see 4 breeches! Yes, we saw more whales on our dolphin tour than our whale watching tour! After that amazing detour, we motored toward a great beach area that is very hard to access by land. We were rewarded with seeing over a hundred spinner dolphins playing around us while we snorkeled. I didn't take many pictures because the amazing views were in and under the water. But it was truly amazing. We snorkeled there for 30 minutes or so and then went to a second reef area for more traditional snorkeling. Yellow striped fish aren't as cool after swimming above, under and next to wild dolphin pods!
There was one other kid on the boat - an 8 year old with his grandparents. The boys enjoyed sitting on the edge as we drove! We were glad we all rented the optional wet suits. They gave a little more warmth and buoyancy in the water while we were snorkeling. The other boy didn't have one and wasn't able to stay in the water as long as William.
