BIG ISLAND

The Big Island boasts more coastline than any other Hawaiian island, which makes it a prime spot for water sports such as canoeing, kayaking, sailing, fishing, surfing, body-boarding, kite-surfing and parasailing.

 

The Kona-Kohala coast is excellent snorkeling territory, with an abundance of sea turtles, dolphins, moray eels and tropical fish whose names you can't pronounce (just try saying "humuhum nukunukuapua'a"). Snorkel Bob's (www.snorkel bob.com) is everyone's favorite gear-rental shop (because it's cheap), with locations around the island. For a little whale-watching, take an ocean excursion such as Captain Dan McSweeney's (www.ilovewhales.com) three-hour voyage. Or get PADI-certified and go scuba diving in the 100-foot visibility waters. If you really want an in-depth look at the marine life, take a submarine tour. Atlantis Adventures (75-5656 Kuakini Hwy., Kailua-Kona, 800-548-6262; www.atlantisadventures.com) plunges 100 feet below the surface to explore the 25-acre coral reef and its residents. It'll give you a great perspective of the Big Island's colorful aquatic inhabitants, all without get wet.

 

 

Another great activity to do on the Big Island is land-based: looking at lava. The island is covered in black volcanic rock that once was fiery red lava strewn from one of the five volcanoes that make up the island. Four of those volcanoes are dormant, but the fifth, Kilauea, is the world's most active, continuously tossing hot lava down the mountain and into the ocean. The black lava landscape sets the Big Island apart from its predominantly white-sandy-beaches Hawaiian island sisters.

 

The rangers at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (808-985-6000; www.nps.gov/havo) do an excellent job of explaining all things lava. Ask and they'll tell you how you can get close to an active volcano without incinerating yourself, or why lava cools into jagged shards in some places and what looks like giant pans of uncooked brownies in others. You could easily spend a week in this eerie landscape, walking through the calderas and tubes created by previous eruptions, or hiking out to the active flows just outside the park boundary. For a bird's-eye view of the bubbling cauldron, hop on a helicopter flight of the volcano. Try Blue Hawaiian's (808-961-5600, 800-745-2583; www.bluehawaiian.com) two-hour Big Island Spectacular tour, which leaves from Hilo.