Kona · 6–13 December 2026

Mantas after dark, dinner at 9,000 ft.

A week on the dry side of the Big Island. Mantas under the boat lights on Tuesday, Jabari’s first dive on Wednesday, and Mauna Kea on Thursday, in a new-moon week, with dinner at 9,000 ft and a telescope after dark. The rest of the week is ours to fill, or not.

The idea

The Big Island rather than Oahu, because the manta night dive is off Kona and nowhere near Honolulu. About 200,000 people on an island bigger than all the others put together, and an open-air airport where everyone walks down the stairs into the sun.

Three days have something in them. The others are free, and the cards further down are for those, or for nothing.

  • Diving and altitude do not mix. Both Mauna Kea operators refuse anyone who has been on scuba in the previous 24 hours, and the flight home wants a clear day too. That is what sets the order: underwater Tuesday and Wednesday, the mountain on Thursday, dry land after.
  • The house is booked. Kailua-Kona, up the hill from the bay, from 15:00 on Sunday the 6th to 10:00 on Sunday the 13th. The dive shops and the town car rental are a short walk away.
  • A car for one day, not seven. Everything in town is on foot or on the Kona Trolley, the boats and the mountain are rides, and Saturday is the one day that needs wheels.
  • Mornings are for work, for whoever is working. Kona is 5 hours behind Miami, so a 9:00 Miami start is 4:00 here and the workday is over by lunch.

The shape of the week

Three days with something in them.

  1. Sun 6 Dec
    Into Kona

    A ride from KOA, about 20 minutes, and the house from 15:00. Sunset on the seawall if the flight allows.

  2. Mon 7 Dec
    Nothing booked

    Down the hill to Aliʻi Drive, the trolley to Kahalu‘u to snorkel with the turtles, and getting over the Pacific.

  3. Tue 8 · afternoon
    The mantas

    One boat for both of us from Honokōhau. Two tanks for Os, a day dive then the mantas after dark, and Jabari snorkels them from the surface under the same lights. Kaloko-Honokōhau is next to the harbour for before.

  4. Wed 9 · morning
    Jabari’s first dive

    Discover Scuba, boat out around 8:30 and back by 13:00. Os dives the same boat or takes the morning off. Huliheʻe Palace reopens on Wednesdays, for the afternoon.

  5. Thu 10 Dec
    Mauna Kea

    Picked up in town early afternoon, back around 22:00. More than 24 hours after the dive, which is the rule. The whole evening is below.

  6. Fri 11 Dec
    Free, and dry

    Town, the palace, the market, Magic Sands if the sand is in, or nothing.

  7. Sat 12 Dec
    The car day

    Picked up in town between 9:00 and 12:00. South to the coffee farms, the place of refuge and Two Step, or the long drive to Volcanoes. Not both.

  8. Sun 13 Dec
    Out by 10:00

    Car back at KOA on the way to the flight, and on to Miami. Sunday is the likely day; the tickets are not bought yet.

Thursday · new moon week

Dinner at 9,000 ft, then the sky.

  1. Kailua-Kona

    Pickup in town, then a 4WD van up the mountain, which rental cars are not allowed to drive.

  2. 9,000 ft

    Dinner at the mid-level station, partly for the food and partly to adjust to the height.

  3. Nearly 14,000 ft

    Sunset from the summit, around 17:45, above the clouds and among the big research observatories. Parkas and gloves are provided, because it is close to freezing up there.

  4. Back to 9,000 ft

    A telescope session with hot drinks, on 11-inch scopes.

The Milky Way arching over the dark summit ridge of Mauna Kea
What is up that week
  • Jupiter
  • Saturn
  • Andromeda
  • The Orion Nebula
  • The Milky Way

The tours, side by side

All four include summit sunset, parkas, transport and a telescope session, and all refuse anyone who has been on scuba in the previous 24 hours. Hawaiʻi Forest & Trail is the pick: the only pickup we can walk to, the smallest group, and the photos to keep. For two people it comes to roughly $720 to $760 with tax and a tip. Nobody near Kona runs a telescope-only night without the summit that works without a car. The new moon is on the 8th, so Thursday is about as dark as the mountain gets.

In the water

The boats leave from Honokōhau, about 4 mi north of the house. None of them pick up.

A manta ray gliding over a sandy reef floor beside a scuba diver

The manta night dive

$220 diving · $165 snorkelling About 5 hours, from late afternoon

The most reliable manta encounter anywhere. Divers kneel on sand at about 10 m with lights pointed up, snorkellers float above holding a lit board, and the mantas come in for the plankton the light pulls in, barrel-rolling inches away. Manta Ray Dives of Hawaii puts a diver and a snorkeller on the same boat in one booking. Kona Diving Company does the same for $230 and $160, with 10% off if a morning trip is booked too.

  • Honokōhau Harbor, about 4 mi away, no pickup
  • Start time follows sunset and arrives by email
  • Full refund up to 48 hours before
  • Back around 21:00, so the ride home is worth booking ahead
mantaraydiveshawaii.com
A scuba diver swimming over a wide coral reef in clear blue Hawaiian water

Jabari’s first dive

$329–350 A morning, about 8:00 to 13:00

Discover Scuba: no certification, a briefing on the boat, then two reef dives with an instructor alongside. Kona Diving Company publishes its limit, 40 ft, and is the same shop as its manta trip. Big Island Divers runs it for $329 on its regular morning boat. Either way Os can dive the same boat as an ordinary diver.

  • PADI medical form first; any yes needs a doctor’s sign-off
  • Ages 10 and up
  • Back by about 13:00, a full day before Mauna Kea
  • Does not qualify for the manta dive, which needs certification
konadivingcompany.com
Two snorkellers swimming above a green sea turtle over coral in Kahalu‘u Bay

Kahalu‘u

Free An hour or two

The gentle one. A shallow bay behind an old breakwater, about 5 mi south on the trolley, where turtles graze in water shallow enough to stand in. The easiest shore snorkel on the coast.

  • Gates 7:00 to 19:00, lifeguards 9:30 to 16:30
  • Calmest early, busiest late morning
  • Turtles are protected: about 3 m back
  • Reef-safe sunscreen only

On foot from the house

Downhill to the bay in about 20 minutes, and the Kona Trolley runs the length of Aliʻi Drive.

Kailua-Kona from the air at sunset, the white church steeple beside the curve of the bay

Aliʻi Drive and the old town

Free A morning, or an evening

About a mile of seawall from the pier to the Royal Kona, with the old town along it. Mokuʻaikaua, from 1837 and the first Christian church in Hawaiʻi, sits opposite the palace. The farmers market is at the Hualālai Road end, and the Kaʻū Coffee Mill café does free tastings for anyone without a car to reach the farms.

  • Farmers market reportedly Wednesday to Sunday, 7:00 to 16:00
  • The church is free to walk into
  • The trolley runs hourly along the drive, 6:00 to 21:00
The two-storey veranda of Huliheʻe Palace behind a lawn and palms

Huliheʻe Palace

$16, or $20 guided An hour

The royal summer house on the bay, built in 1838 and kept by the Daughters of Hawaiʻi. Small, and the lawn on the water side is the best seat on Aliʻi Drive.

  • Wednesday to Saturday, 10:00 to 15:00
  • Closed Sunday to Tuesday, so Wednesday, Friday or Saturday
  • Guided tour at 11:30
daughtersofhawaii.org
The thatched Ahuʻena Heiau on a stone platform in the water beside Kailua Pier

Kamakahonu and the pier

Free Half an hour, or a swim

Where Kamehameha I spent his last years. The thatched Ahuʻena Heiau is rebuilt on the point, and beside it is the only calm little beach in town, sheltered by the pier.

  • The heiau is seen from outside, not entered
  • The beach is small and fills at weekends
  • Right at the bottom of the hill
The sun setting into a flat sea off Kailua-Kona under a band of cloud

Sunset from the seawall

Free, beer extra Around 17:40 in December

The whole town faces west, so every evening ends the same way. Kona Brewing is at the bottom of the hill for after, and does a tour with four tasters.

  • Kona Brewing: Sunday to Thursday 11:00 to 20:00, to 21:00 on Friday and Saturday
  • Brewery tour $25, by appointment, 12:00 to 17:00
  • A lūʻau at the King Kamehameha runs about $190 each, and the seawall is free
konabrewinghawaii.com
A shave ice stand with a row of bright syrup bottles on the counter

Shave ice and poke

Roughly $6–20 Whenever

The two cheap things to eat here. Shave ice is snow-fine and soaked in syrup, nothing like a snow cone. Poke is raw fish from that morning, sold by the pound in supermarkets as much as in restaurants, which is where the good value is.

  • Supermarket poke counters are the cheap version
  • Shave ice with ice cream underneath is the local order
  • Prices here are rough, not checked
Waves washing onto a small sand beach framed by black lava rock and palms

Magic Sands

Free An afternoon

Laʻaloa, about 4 mi south on the trolley. Named because the sand comes and goes: winter surf often strips it to rock, then it comes back. Worth a look before a swim.

  • Open 7:00 to 20:00
  • December surf can take the sand and bring a strong shore break
  • Bodyboarding when the sand is in
Lava shoreline at Kaloko-Honokōhau under a low evening sky

Kaloko-Honokōhau

Free An hour or two

Old Hawaiian fishponds, petroglyphs and a quiet beach where turtles haul out, right next to the dive harbour. It fits into the afternoon before the manta boat.

  • Open daily, visitor centre 8:30 to 16:00
  • Shadeless lava paths, so early or late
  • Next to Honokōhau Harbor
nps.gov

The car day

Saturday only. Everything here is south of town, and Volcanoes is the far end of it.

Carved wooden kiʻi and a thatched temple on the lava point at Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau

Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau

$20 per car An hour or two

The place of refuge: a walled lava point where anyone who broke a kapu could be absolved if they reached it. Carved kiʻi, a rebuilt temple, and turtles on the rocks. About 22 mi south, and Two Step is next door.

  • Cards only at the gate
  • Easy to pair with Two Step and the coffee farms
  • On the road south towards Volcanoes
nps.gov
Clear blue water over dark lava rock at Hōnaunau Bay under a bright sky

Two Step

Free to swim A morning or an afternoon

The best shore snorkel on the coast. Two natural lava steps drop straight into clear water over coral, and spinner dolphins often rest in the bay. Next to the place of refuge.

  • No sand, just the two steps
  • Dolphins rest here by day, so watching rather than chasing
  • Parking fills by mid-morning
Red and green coffee cherries along the branches of a Kona coffee tree

Greenwell Farms

Free tour Under an hour

Kona coffee comes from this slope, and Greenwell in Kealakekua has been farming it since the 1850s. The walking tour is free and ends with a tasting. December is the end of the harvest, so the trees still have red cherries on them.

  • Tours daily, 8:30 to 15:00
  • On the way south to Hōnaunau
  • Nothing to book
Orange lava glow rising from a crater at night

Volcanoes National Park

$30 per car About 2.5 hours each way

The long option. Steam vents, a lava tube, and the rim of Kīlauea’s summit caldera. The summit has been erupting in short episodes since December 2024, a few hours of fountaining every couple of weeks, so lava on the day we go is luck.

  • Entry covers seven days, cards only
  • Around 1,200 m, noticeably cooler than the coast
  • Five hours of driving, so it is this or the south coast stops, not both
  • Hurricane Nolo closed the park briefly in September, worth checking in November
nps.gov
Green sea turtles resting in a row on the black sand at Punalu‘u

Punalu‘u, and the green sand

Free On the way to Volcanoes

Black sand with green sea turtles asleep on it, about 1 hour 45 from Kona on the road to the park. Further south, Papakōlea is one of a handful of green sand beaches on earth, and a 4 km walk each way.

  • Turtles are protected: about 3 m back
  • Black sand gets very hot by midday
  • Taking sand from either beach is illegal

Getting around

No car for six of the seven days.

What needs a head start

The house is done. Five things left, roughly in the order they stop being easy.

  1. The flights Out on Sunday the 13th, most likely, landing in Miami on Monday. Not bought yet, and an overnight connection that lands at 5:00 is worth avoiding.
  2. The Mauna Kea tour Hawaiʻi Forest & Trail for Thursday the 10th, about $720 to $760 for two with tax and a tip. Twelve seats, and the new moon is on the 8th, so the week is in demand. Worth checking the pickup time at checkout.
  3. The manta boat Tuesday afternoon, one diver and one snorkeller in a single booking, so both land on the same boat.
  4. Discover Scuba Wednesday morning. The PADI medical form comes first, and any yes on it needs a doctor’s sign-off, so it is worth reading well before December.
  5. The Saturday car The town office has three hours on a Saturday, so it goes early.

Operator prices were checked on their own sites in September 2026 and are before tax. Ride fares, the car rate, the trolley fare and food prices are estimates. Hurricane Nolo closed the park and the Mauna Kea visitor station for a few days in late September; both are worth checking again in November.