18 Oct 2024
We came in to Hilo on a cruise ship(Holland America-Westerdam) near the end of a 53 day exploration of Japan, enroute back to Seattle. This was the last stop in Hawaii before heading back across the Pacific to Seattle. Our tour was billed as an Exploration of Waterfalls and the Highlights of the Hamakua coast. This was a full day in a beautiful 12 passenger van with excellent air conditioning-a real plus. Our guide, Victor, was incredible! We had a wonderful time visiting two waterfalls, Akaka and Rainbow, that were both beautiful and worth the visits. The best part of our tours was the non-stop educational and historical stories of the aboriginal roots of all the locations that we visited!
The tour was pricey but definitely worth the expense. We got to picnic at this incredible hidden park that was on a spectacular lava beach/ coastline with gorgeous crashing waves spewing huge waves over the lava rocks! The stop at Tex’s Malaga’s shop was delicious-I couldn’t stop myself from ordering devouring a second pineapple -Wow!
Victor was an outstanding guide with a great sense of humor and excellent driving skills, He was the driver and guide that excelled at both!