Dumb question re: volcanoes, but just making sure.....

[squirk]

IMO, you'd want a rental car both on Oahu and the Big Island. How much is the Aulani excursion per person? What exactly does it include? Doing it on your own can be cheaper and gives you more flexibility, but I can understand the convenience of doing the Aulani excursion. We did a few guided tours from our Waikiki hotel just for the ease of it. We chalked the price up to the cost of convenience.

Looks like it's about $450-$500 pp, and lasts about 14 hours. Wow.

On this adventure you will…

• Pore over the fascinating exhibits at Thomas A. Jaggar Museum, learning about the nature of lava and the field of Volcanology.
• Explore Thurston Lava Tube, a natural conduit created by low-viscosity lava.
• Hike over the lava flow that covered the black sand beach at Kaimu Black Sand Beach and Kālapana in the 1980s.
• Take a ride through the historically significant Banyan Tree Drive, which has trees that were planted by numerous luminaries, as well as Native Hawaiians, dating back to 1933.
• Keep your camera ready for Rainbow Falls, located at Wailuku River State Park. Aptly named, the gorgeous 80-foot waterfall is known for reflecting rainbows on sunny mornings. It flows over a natural lava cave into a large, freshwater pool surrounded by dense tropical fauna.
• Enjoy the tour's star attraction, Kīlauea Volcano, which has been steadily erupting for more than 30 years. Your guide will entertain and educate you with a narrated tour on the way.
• Get a look at natural steam vents, and an orchid nursery in Hilo town in the excursion's other highlights.

Lunch is included, and given the high price, I have to assume airfare is included as well. I just don't know if my younger kids are up for a 14-hour excursion.

 

[Midoria]

Looks like it's about $450-$500 pp, and lasts about 14 hours. Wow.

On this adventure you will…

• Pore over the fascinating exhibits at Thomas A. Jaggar Museum, learning about the nature of lava and the field of Volcanology.
• Explore Thurston Lava Tube, a natural conduit created by low-viscosity lava.
• Hike over the lava flow that covered the black sand beach at Kaimu Black Sand Beach and Kālapana in the 1980s.
• Take a ride through the historically significant Banyan Tree Drive, which has trees that were planted by numerous luminaries, as well as Native Hawaiians, dating back to 1933.
• Keep your camera ready for Rainbow Falls, located at Wailuku River State Park. Aptly named, the gorgeous 80-foot waterfall is known for reflecting rainbows on sunny mornings. It flows over a natural lava cave into a large, freshwater pool surrounded by dense tropical fauna.
• Enjoy the tour's star attraction, Kīlauea Volcano, which has been steadily erupting for more than 30 years. Your guide will entertain and educate you with a narrated tour on the way.
• Get a look at natural steam vents, and an orchid nursery in Hilo town in the excursion's other highlights.

Lunch is included, and given the high price, I have to assume airfare is included as well. I just don't know if my younger kids are up for a 14-hour excursion.

Wow! With 400+ PP, you can go over there yourself, stay in a hotel overnight, have 2 full days, and rent a car!

 

[Aviator621]

Looks like it's about $450-$500 pp, and lasts about 14 hours. Wow.

On this adventure you will…

• Pore over the fascinating exhibits at Thomas A. Jaggar Museum, learning about the nature of lava and the field of Volcanology.
• Explore Thurston Lava Tube, a natural conduit created by low-viscosity lava.
• Hike over the lava flow that covered the black sand beach at Kaimu Black Sand Beach and Kālapana in the 1980s.
• Take a ride through the historically significant Banyan Tree Drive, which has trees that were planted by numerous luminaries, as well as Native Hawaiians, dating back to 1933.
• Keep your camera ready for Rainbow Falls, located at Wailuku River State Park. Aptly named, the gorgeous 80-foot waterfall is known for reflecting rainbows on sunny mornings. It flows over a natural lava cave into a large, freshwater pool surrounded by dense tropical fauna.
• Enjoy the tour's star attraction, Kīlauea Volcano, which has been steadily erupting for more than 30 years. Your guide will entertain and educate you with a narrated tour on the way.
• Get a look at natural steam vents, and an orchid nursery in Hilo town in the excursion's other highlights.

Lunch is included, and given the high price, I have to assume airfare is included as well. I just don't know if my younger kids are up for a 14-hour excursion.

I would ask very pointed questions about this--to see the actually lava flow that is going on now requires a lengthy hike; the tour described here seems to be just a driving tour of Volcanoes National Park. (Yes, you can currently see the lava pit in Kilauea, but that is not the lava flow that was described earlier and you only see it from quite a distance.) Reference the maps here--if you look at the scale, it is currently a 5 to 7 mile hike to the flow.
https://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/maps/

 

[squirk]

Well, we are not going to spend the night on the Big Island. Just not in the cards. So this will need to be a very long day trip.

Still, my youngest is only seven. He's not going to be able to hike 5-7 miles to the flow, if that's the case.

 

[Aviator621]

Don't get me wrong; a visit to Volcanoes national Park is still a very worthwhile trip, just would hate for you to be expecting one thing and get another

 

[squirk]

Don't get me wrong; a visit to Volcanoes national Park is still a very worthwhile trip, just would hate for you to be expecting one thing and get another

Thanks. I appreciate the heads-up.

We need to (try to) see lava, like in the pic @kdonnel posted. We aren't hiking 5-7 miles to see it. We're not staying overnight on the big island.

Everything else is negotiable.

 

[Midoria]

Thanks. I appreciate the heads-up.

We need to (try to) see lava, like in the pic @kdonnel posted. We aren't hiking 5-7 miles to see it. We're not staying overnight on the big island.

Everything else is negotiable.

Nature is not going to accommodate us. If it did, whale season would be all year around because I love whales! You must have the flexibility to go where you need to go to see what you want, or accept that it's "not in the cards", as you say.

Edited to quote myself from another thread:

I feel the need to emphasize that active volcanoes are dangerous and unpredictable. This is not to sound condescending because we all know that, but sudden changes in lava flow direction, explosions, collapses, high level of VOG, etc. are constantly changing which places we can and cannot visit. Because of that, tour companies may plan a more "safe" route by taking you through dried lava fields, bike paths, seeing petroglyphs, the black sand beach, and the lava tube. If you wanna be where the action is, I would check and see if your company makes effort to take you to a place where there is surface flow or perhaps use a boat to see ocean entry. Some people assume wherever they go, they'll see flowing lava, but I made one visit to the park and didn't see any. The park updates their website daily with conditions and if a place is safe or dangerous to visit, but tour companies may not take you there because of liabilities.

 

[squirk]

Nature is not going to accommodate us. If it did, whale season would be all year around because I love whales! You must have the flexibility to go where you need to go to see what you want, or accept that it's "not in the cards", as you say.

Very much understood. We may see no lava, despite our best efforts. But if we're going down in an earlier round, we're going down swinging!

 

[wanderlust7]

If it's see lava or bust, you might want to look into a helicopter tour as a back up plan. It's not cheap and it'll eat into your time at VNP, but you can view inaccessible spots.

Our last trip (in 2010), the lava flow wasn't easily accessible, but we were able to see glowing lava from the helicopter.

 

[squirk]

If it's see lava or bust, you might want to look into a helicopter tour as a back up plan. It's not cheap and it'll eat into your time at VNP, but you can view inaccessible spots.

Our last trip (in 2010), the lava flow wasn't easily accessible, but we were able to see glowing lava from the helicopter.

Thanks. I don't know if the flows are seasonal or whatever, but we are going in Feb. of 2018 if that makes any difference.

I appreciate the helicopter suggestion, but my wife is terrified of flying. She can white-knuckle it through a flight on an airliner, but no way is she going up in a helicopter.

 

[wanderlust7]

Thanks. I don't know if the flows are seasonal or whatever, but we are going in Feb. of 2018 if that makes any difference.

It's completely unpredictable and not seasonal at all. The closer to your trip you get, you can get an idea of what you -might- see based on current flows, but things can change at any time.

 

[squirk]

It's completely unpredictable and not seasonal at all. The closer to your trip you get, you can get an idea of what you -might- see based on current flows, but things can change at any time.

Good to know. Thank you. It'll help me set expectations on the home front.

 

[kdonnel]

Thanks. I appreciate the heads-up.

We need to (try to) see lava, like in the pic @kdonnel posted. We aren't hiking 5-7 miles to see it. We're not staying overnight on the big island.

Everything else is negotiable.

Unless something changes with the flows, to get the picture I posted you will need to do the hike(it was long) and spend the night.

 

[nkereina]

I would think any tour price to another island must include airfare since that's the only way to get there. My only thought though is that flight prices fluctuate so how can they have a set price for the tour. BUT I am assuming inter-island flight prices are relatively stable most of the year?

I do think you could probably do it cheaper on your own by taking an early flight out and a late flight back, and renting a car while there. By doing it on your own, you also control how much you see, when you see it, and anything else you might want to do. The tour on the Big Islands sounds like a lot of it is probably spent driving on a tour bus. With your own car, you could drive to those same sites and take your time, and stop anywhere else along the way too.

 

[cgattis]

Thanks. I don't know if the flows are seasonal or whatever, but we are going in Feb. of 2018 if that makes any difference.

I appreciate the helicopter suggestion, but my wife is terrified of flying. She can white-knuckle it through a flight on an airliner, but no way is she going up in a helicopter.

There are also evening "lava cruises" that let you see where it enters the water, but not sure if those are happening currently, from where, how they fit with flight times, etc. Just wanted to mention it.

 

[squirk]

Thanks, all. Question - if volcanoes/lava is out of the question, is there anything truly geographically unique on the Big Island that can't be found on Oahu?

 

[nkereina]

Thanks, all. Question - if volcanoes/lava is out of the question, is there anything truly geographically unique on the Big Island that can't be found on Oahu?

We did not go to the Big Island, but we debated going there versus Kauai. When it came down to it, the only thing we cared about (from my own research) on the Big Island was the volcano. Kauai seemed to have a bigger bang for our buck, so we went there. Are you interested in island hopping regardless or only if you can do the volcano?

 

[Midoria]

Thanks, all. Question - if volcanoes/lava is out of the question, is there anything truly geographically unique on the Big Island that can't be found on Oahu?

I don't believe so. Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa, and Kilauea are the most unique things about the BI.

 

[wanderlust7]

Thanks, all. Question - if volcanoes/lava is out of the question, is there anything truly geographically unique on the Big Island that can't be found on Oahu?

Whether or not you see any lava is an unknown - up to Madame Pele. But the volcano is always there and very unique. I think if you look through some photos of Volcano National Park (TripAdvisor has lots), you can decide if you want to see it.

 

[Aviator621]

There are some unique features to the Big Island, but most are a lengthy drive from Hilo; in particular true black sand beaches and a green sand beach on the southern coast, sone of the more dynamic waterfalls, and the only island to get snow. There are also some very unique Hawaiian cultural sights particularly near Kona.