Big Island
Great experience. Our tour guide Grant is top notch. His knowledge on the everything the big island and particularly the volcanoes was impressive and he makes it so much fun. Highly recommend if never have explored the big island before.
Wonderful island and volcano views from above, they make sure to take you up when sights will be great!
I ask others to go with me, and get...
'is it a big helicopter? must be stable'
'need a seat in the middle up front or I'll barf'
'doors off, are you nutz?'
Don't let them ruin it for you. Small copter with doors off is the full woohooo. The ride is smooth and stable enough. The view out the open door is wondrous. Accept nothing less. Watch a video in the comfort of your couch or get the whole experience.
While it may be a lack of research on my part, I would like to see a review of the tour promotion that prominently features nighttime photos of volcanic craters. It would be helpful to clearly inform participants that this is a tour where you generally won't see magma erupting from the volcano. Although it seems there is a note mentioning this, it only states that "it may not be visible," which gives the impression that it's a minor possibility. However, upon arriving at the site, it becomes clear that the chance of actually seeing it is quite rare and would be considered very lucky.
下調べ不足といえばそこまでだが、夜間の火山火口の写真を前面に出したツアー募集は見直して欲しい。基本的には火山からマグマが出るなんて見れないツアーということは通知しておいて欲しい。注意書きにその旨を書いているようだが、注意書きだけ見ると「見れない場合がある」程度の表記だか、現地に来ると「見れたら相当にラッキー」という確率の話。
We got a great morning, very clear skies and gorgeous views of the volc nat park!
Awesome to get to see the volcano from above to understand it much different then walking through
Great trip with Tyler being our pilot. Not only was he a great pilot he was very knowledgable about the Big Island and about things a vacationer would not know. Saw many whales and spinner dolphins.. Circle Island tour was a great experience! Support staff was great and gave us all the information needed to make the trip great, but also safe!
On the day, it rained, and it was cold, making the conditions terrible. The woman in charge explained everything clearly and patiently, providing instructions on handling the bike and setting up the navigation for us, who do not understand English. I would like to try again on a nice day.
当日は雨が降り、寒くなりコンデションは最悪でした。
担当した女性の方は分かりやすく、英語のわからない私達にバイクの取り扱いの説明、ナビの設定など丁寧に説明してくれました。
天気の良い日に再度チャレンジしたい。
I felt like I got to see all the best spots of Big Island on this 1 day tour!
This is one of the best tour I had, the driver always take care of you even if you Re late lol.
But it was an amazing experience you can meet new people and have a great time, I would do it again when I come back to kona!
Since we did this the day before leaving, it was really fun to see lots of places we'd visited on the ground from the air, and to get a better view of crater road through the park. The kids loved having the headsets and microphones, and asked lots of questions. The pilot was very patient with them and had taken the trouble to learn their names and really interact with them. He also accepted requests for minor deviations from his flight plan to see particular things, flying into clouds so that we could get a better view of a rainbow. They also take video of the whole trip, and we wound up paying for that too since it seemed reasonably priced compared with the cost of the overall experience.
We really enjoyed this tour. It is a long one so be prepared. But they keep you hydrated and fed. I loved the black sand beach, and the sea turtles and the stop along the shore the most. But all of the events were really fun. They packed so much into one day. it was a great tour and we had a lot of fun. The picnic, the stop at the bakery, and the dinner, you were all excellent quality as well.
Took this tour 6 years ago and had the most amazing experience. So I had to do it again. This tour offers the best of Big Island because you get to see Akaka Falls and Rainbow Falls. We saw lots of turtles at black sand beach and an actual rainbow at Rainbow Falls! Our guide Brent was very informative and helpful.
An absolutely fabulous experience, feeling the wind while the endless lava fields pass by below our feet. Photos without glare, a dream!
High safety, perfect pax care, highly recommended to anyone.
Many thanks!
It was a great days long adventures around the island. I would highly recommend it!
The tour was very well organized and very well planned. I felt I saw so much and learned a lot about the culture and history of the island. Jim was full of interesting information and made the trip memorable Fun group.
The tour guide ( Dexter) from Polynesian Adventure Tour picked us up from the hotel on time. Very knowledgeable and very informative . He knows all the places and history of the Big Islands (Hilo). Patiently waiting for us to finish the tour. We really had a great time. We will use the Polynesian Adventure Group again.
The perfect experience for first time visiting Kona! Loved the Coffee farm, black sand beach, and stargazing the most on this full-day excursion!
This tour was the highlight of my families trip. The tour was amazing and our guide was knowledgeable and friendly. He was happy to answer all of my children's questions.
We had the best pilot and best tour ever, amazing scenery
MUST DO!
This was a great tour - really educational and fun. Be prepared for rain, you are in the rainforest and it rains a lot. Our guide came prepared with umbrellas and rain jackets, flashlights for the lava tube, water and snacks.
Andre, our tour guide was amazing, experienced and incredibly knowlegable of the volcanoes, land, plants and trees, Hawaiian culture, plus more, and the history of all mentioned. He made sure we were always entertained during the approx. 8 hour trip.
Would recommend shorts, closed toed shoes (sneakers fine) suntan lotion, somewhat water repellant light jacket (in case your tour does not provide).
You hit it all and you do not need to drive and miss views along the way!
I couldn't book the same tour I wanted, so I chose this one with an English guide as a second option. My elementary school daughter also enjoyed it without much issue. For stargazing, I always book two sessions during the trip considering weather conditions, and since I had a Japanese explanation the day before, we were able to enjoy the stars. However, compared to a full-fledged stargazing tour, this part felt more like a bonus, with less explanation and no use of a telescope. There were new discoveries as well, as the places I visited for the first time and the Kīlauea crater had changed significantly due to the eruptions.
行きたかった同じようなツアーの予約が取れず、次善の策として英語ガイドでしたが選びました。小学生の娘もさほど問題なく楽しめました。星空観察は天候の問題などを考慮して旅行中いつも2回予約するのですが、前日に一度日本語の解説をしてもらっていたので、星空も楽しめました。ただ、本格的な星空観察ツアーに比べるとその部分は「おまけ」みたいな感じで説明も少なく、天体望遠鏡を使用することもありませんでした。初めて訪れた場所や、キラウエアの火口も噴火により依然とだいぶ変わっていたり、新しい発見がありました。
Incredible tour but our Tour guide, Anson really brought the island and the tour to life. Honestly enjoyed the tour to the max but we would pay to just hang out with Anson again. Lol. I'm sure all the guides are great and extremely courteous.
All the jokes we made he would rebuttal and be involved all while still maintaining his poise and professionalism. It's the little things guys and this tour has it all. Thank you From the bottom of our hearts.
We had a lot of fun on the tour Ridge was amazing and gave us a lot of good local history and knowledge. If he didn't know the answer to a question he found it out for us. We'd highly recommend this tour to anybody looking for a great day on the island.
Aloha, Barbara!
Thank you for sharing your positive experience! Ridge is indeed a fantastic guide, always eager to provide local history and insights. We're thrilled to hear you had a lot of fun and enjoyed the tour. Your recommendation means a lot to us, and we hope to welcome you back for another great day on the island in the future! Mahalo again!
Good tour! Aaron was our guide and he did a perfect job! I only wish the volcano was erupting so we could see more activity. The meals were good, the views were good and we learned a lot.
My partner and I went on this tour with Aaron. He was a fantastic tour guide, with lots of interesting tidbits about the history of the island and plenty of jokes. He also offered to take plenty of photos of us at all the stops. A huge thank you to him for remaining so cheerful and helpful after such a long day. If it was a long day for us, I can't imagine how long it was for him.
The tour was exactly what's stated in the description. We chose to do the tour in part because we weren't certain how to navigate Volcano National Park, and the tour offered highlights of the Park. After the tour though, I wish we had had more time on the island so we could explore Volcano National Park ourselves. Two hours wasn't nearly enough. If you're lucky (we unfortunately weren't), there will be lava at the Park. But don't worry, the volcanoes on Hawaii won't kill you, but bad tour guide jokes will (thank you for that one Aaron!).
Another highlight was Punalu'u Bake Shop. Try the pineapple malasadas: you won't regret it! I was initally hesitant because I'm not a fan of pineapple not in its raw form/juice, but the pineapple malasada was the best of those we ordered. I wish we got more. The passionfruit (lilikoi) and apple ones were also delicious.
After the bakery, we went to Punalu'u Black Sand Beach. It's absolutely lovely and a nice chance to see the endangered Hawaiian sea turtles up close. It's also very picturesque. Just don't get too close to the waves or you'll get very wet.
We finished the tour with stargazing.
Overall, I highly recommend this tour for anyone who wants a quick, yet interesting and surprisingly thorough, tour of the southern part of the Big Island. If/when we go back, we would book with Wasabi Tours again.
This was a long tour, about 13 hours, and it was so informative and fun! Our guide Aaron was very safe, smart, and informative during our tour. We had a great time at the coffee plantation, black sands beach, a famous bakery, and at the volcano national park. Dinner was good and so was lunch they provided. We had a great and unforgettable time.
The fee was over 100,000 yen per person, and I thought it was expensive, but I was relieved when Tosi, the Japanese-speaking pilot, welcomed us. I also took a helicopter ride over Iguazu Falls, which was 28,000 yen for 15 minutes, and this flight was two and a half hours. If we calculate simply, that would be 280,000 yen. In reality, we flew from the Waikoloa heliport to Hilo and had to refuel, which also incurs fuel costs. Above all, the pilot explained everything in Japanese and answered various questions clearly, and the view of the volcanic crater was impressive! The waterfalls in the canyon were also wonderful. I gained a good understanding of how the Big Island was formed, and it was definitely worth it. If you have the time, the course that takes you down to the waterfalls would also be great... Participated on August 22, 2023.
料金が一人10万円超え、高いと思いながらの参加でしたが、日本語のパイロットのリクエストがかなってTosiさんがお出迎え安心しました。
イグアスの滝遊覧でもヘリに乗りましたが15分で2万8000円、今回のフライトは2時間半、単純計算で10倍とすると28万円。実際ワイコロアのヘリポートからヒロまで飛んで給油、燃料代もかかっています。何よりパイロットが日本語で説明、いろいろな質問にも明快に応えてくださり、火山の火口も迫力満点!渓谷の滝も素晴らしかったです。ハワイ島の成り立ちが良く分かり、絶対損はしません。余裕があれば滝に降りるコースもいいのでは… 2023,8,22参加
This was the BEST flight I've ever done on Big Island. The doors-off was the way to go. It was a 4-seater with only 3 of us on-board so we each got a window seat.
Tips:
-Bring/wear a windbreaker. It gets VERY chilly with the wind.
-Sunglasses are a must
-Cameras or cell phones for photos must have a wrist strap