This tour was UNBELIEVABLE! Totally worth it. The sunset and star-gazing was out-of-this-world!
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Attended as: | Solo Travelers |
Activity Date: | 2021/06/09 |
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I highly recommend this tour! They picked us up right by our hotel. The tour guide was very informative on the drive up the mountain. He also took a lot of really cool photos for us and airdropped them before the end of the night. The sunset view and stargazing can not be beat. We really wanted to go to the summit and Hawaiian Eyes made the whole experience very easy and fun. Would definitely do it again.
Aloha, Dani.
Thank you for participating in our tour. I am very happy that the weather was nice and everybody enjoyed the spectacular view from the summit of Mauna Kea.
Please join us on our tour next time again !!
A hui hou !!
Hawaiian Eyes Tours
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Attended as: | Couples |
Activity Date: | 2021/05/29 |
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The good- our guide Garry was incredibly knowledgeable about the rocks, plants, birds, very accommodating regarding bathroom breaks and stops along the way, and incredibly kind and thoughtful. We have nothing but raves for him. The company on the other hand was a bit of a pain in the butt. We first booked this tour as a party of 6, and we were told that these tours booked in groups of 9, so they would be adding in 3 additional fares to the tour group. Later they informed me that my son was too young for the group tour, but the private tour had no age restrictions. For an extra ~$400-500 we booked the private tour, since we wanted a tour that would let us see the lava glow at night, and this was literally the only tour that did that. However, even though we were paying so much extra for a private tour, they said that they couldn't accommodate us by going to any stops different from the usual tour, they couldn't start/end earlier, and they were unable to provide pick up/drop off from our hotel 15min away. Then, a few days before the tour, they called to tell us that because the lava flows stopped, they were changing the tour from 10a-10p, to 7a-7p, and adding a stop at Rainbow falls to make up for the loss of the lava flow at night. No dinner meal. Still unable to pick up/drop off from the hotel. And unwilling to make any time changes. I would have appreciated some compromise for our requests considering the extra costs of the private tour or some discount since they were both unable to accommodate our requests and had changed the original nature of the tour significantly.
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Attended as: | Families with Young Children |
Activity Date: | 2021/05/27 |
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I went solo. There were 2 tour guides. They were informative and funny. I threw up because of road sick and maybe too much caffeine and food coma in the morning (I assumed - I ate my bf&coffee b4 the tour started and ate their bf & tasted their coffee again). The lady guide took care of me well. Other people in the trip were nice too. Some lady gave me a motion sickness pill and some lady asked me how I was feeling. Thanks!
We went to 6-7 places. I like the black sand beach the most. Walking through the volcano tube was fun. But another volcano attraction was not I expected because we couldn’t get too close to the volcano. It was dangerous Lol. So I couldn’t get a clear pics of the crater.
Big island is a black island (in my opinion) because of dry black lava spreading all over the island.
They picked me up in the morning and dropped me off at the Kona airport in the evening. I flew for a day trip. Call them when you arrived at the airport. They need a reminder. I think my tour guides were Gary and Gabbie. I bought this trip to celebrate my bday. Great serviceThank you!
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Attended as: | Solo Travelers |
Activity Date: | 2021/05/27 |
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We were only on island for two days, so we had to make the most of it. Rich picked us up promptly and we set out with a total of nine passengers. The van was comfortable, and Rich had water and lunch ready for us, along with clean jackets and umbrellas for the chilly rainy segments of the trip. The drive was safe and pleasant, and Rich regaled us with information and stories. At each stop, he allowed us ample time and shared interesting information.
This was a wonderful day, and we not only saw the island but also learned a lot. Highly recommended, especially if you can get Rich as your driver/tour guide!
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Attended as: | Couples |
Activity Date: | 2021/04/05 |
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Our family had a ton of fun gazing at the stars. Our guide Krystal was amazing. Her background in astronomy provided a unique experience. She provided so much information about Hawaii, the importance of the stars for Hawaiian navagation, and any other science questions our family had.
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Attended as: | Families with Young Children |
Activity Date: | 2021/03/25 |
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Awana was awesome. He did a great job from the start by getting out group of 20 together in one van. His knowledge of the island’s as well as the big island was extensive. Never a dull moment he kept us laughing and taught us a great deal. All stops were as promised. Would do the tour again
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Attended as: | Families |
Activity Date: | 2021/03/10 |
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It was a unique experience. Rich, our tour guide was very informative. We learned a lot about the history of the island of Hawaii as he drove us to different must see locations like the cave, water falls, historic sites. We also learned about plants, volcanoes, fissures, and stars in a day! We saw nebula, galaxies, a couple of satellites, shooting stars and learned about so many other stars in our constellation! It was very educational! Really appreciated it a lot!
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Attended as: | Families with Young Children |
Activity Date: | 2021/01/12 |
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Awesome awesome awesome. We had a volcano tour on 3/8/20 with Mike. He was the best. He was especially good with our very inquisitive grandson. He was knowledgeable also!!!! He was great great great!!!!
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Attended as: | Families |
Activity Date: | 2020/03/08 |
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We had a wonderful experience. Our tour guide Daniel was excellent. Informative and witty. We highly recommend this complete island tour. The steam vents at Volcanos National Park highlighted the day!!.
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Attended as: | Couples |
Activity Date: | 2020/03/14 |
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I took 2 tours with Wild Orchid in the same week and because of the weather and cruise ship schedule we reversed the order of the Hilo/rain forest and volcano tours. This allowed us to avoid hoards of tourists from the ships and getting stuck behind huge buses on Hawaii's narrow roads.
At Lee's suggestion we started our volcano tour much earlier than scheduled and avoided traffic and site congestion.
I was the only guest but it's clear that Wild Orchid's tours are never very big. This is much more conducive to an educational and intimate tour.
A long time resident of the island, Lee knows its history and its people well and works hard to share his affection with you. He knows the geologic, botanical, and human history of Hawai'i thoroughly and imparts it well.
My time here is limited but if I had time I'd take a third tour with him.
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Attended as: | Solo Travelers |
Activity Date: | 2020/03/03 |
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Pick up was right on time!
Our guide Matt was very knowledgeable and passionate about Hawaii island from legends to Hawaii original plants and animals. He kept entertaining us until his voice got hoarse! My favorite part of the tour was definitely the lava tube. it's really amazing!! The way to and from the lava tube is super bumpy and rough. If you get motion sickness, you should take medication for it. I brought kids (12 and 10) with us and they enjoyed themselves as well. Hiking was very mild so anyone can enjoy this tour, I think.
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Attended as: | Families with Young Children |
Activity Date: | 2020/02/18 |
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We had a great time on this tour. We were able to see many different places on the island and our tour guide Awana had great knowledge of the island. The tour is a lot of driving but the van is decently comfortable and they have frequent stops to get out and stretch.
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Attended as: | Couples |
Activity Date: | 2020/01/20 |
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Unforgettable experience. Amazing views. Excellent services.
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Attended as: | Families with Young Children |
Activity Date: | 2019/12/27 |
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My husband and I booked the Deluxe Circle Island Tour with Kailani Tours online @hawaiiactivities.com a few weeks before we left for our 20th anniversary on the Big Island. We loved our driver/tour guide Alana from the beginning...she was so personable, caring and knowledgeable (a former teacher). The Mercedes van was very comfortable for the 7 people on our tour and we were well provided for with plenty of water and snacks (even with my gluten free limitations). The tour was fabulous, from the Kona Joe coffee farm, lunch/tour at Volcanoes Natl Park, amazing Punalu'u Black Sand Beach, all the way to Rainbow Falls (yes, we saw a rainbow there) and beautiful Akaka Falls! It was great to see the highlights of the island at the beginning of our vacation to get the "lei" of the land so to speak, on the Big Island. This way the remainder of our trip could be spent leisurely exploring the Kohala Coast where we were staying. We highly recommend it to everyone!
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Attended as: | Couples |
Activity Date: | 2019/12/27 |
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The tour was wonderful! Rob, our guide, was very knowledgeable and friendly. We had plenty of time at each of the stops, and really got to explore the island. The hikes in Volcanoes National Park were easy, and we got to see a variety of areas and sites. The waterfalls and black sand beach in the afternoon were beautiful. Absolutely loved the day and the tour!
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Attended as: | Solo Travelers |
Activity Date: | 2020/01/06 |
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The total experience is awesome! We had a looong day without questions. But the guider made sure the tour was full of fun, stories and care, we didn't feel exhausted.
Started from the lava cave, which is cooler than I expected. Black beach is beautiful. The newly formed lava flow is stunning, also sad when we heard stories from local residents, sorry for their loss. Didn't spend much time in the national volcano park, but it was exactly what we needed, also good timing enjoying the sunset there. 3-courses dinner in the volcano house was perfect, with yummy food and wonderful view overlooking the whole crater. Last but not least, stunning stargazing with professional telescope. Sorry I'm terrible at remembering people's name, thanks very much, our lovely & kind & interesting driver & guider!
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Attended as: | Couples |
Activity Date: | 2019/12/14 |
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It was very impressive that a tour guide has shared a lot of stories about cultures of Hawai'i during the entire tour program. The courses were absolutely nice. The view of a coffee farm was so beautiful and the dinner was much nicer than I expected. When it comes to stargazing tour, the tour guide moved the spot for better sightseeing and it was brilliant. Even though I am not a native speaker, I fully enjoyed this tour program and I highly recommend this one to everyone.
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Attended as: | Solo Travelers |
Activity Date: | 2019/12/27 |
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The tour was nice and Big Island is beautiful, but our tour guide gave an extensive history of Big Island which felt removed and disconnected from what we were seeing. The guide was asked multiple times from other people on the tour about things they had noticed during the tour but the guide was stuck on the historical narrative and refused to talk about "politics", yet the questions being asked were quite simple and relevant to what we were seeing. He was very knowledgeable but it made for a very tiring and boring ride. It would be great if he could break up the historical narrative with some more present-day information about Big Island.
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Attended as: | Families |
Activity Date: | 2019/10/09 |
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This was a great tour. We enjoyed historic areas as well as a honey farm, and coffee plantation. The painted church, St. Benedict's, was awesome and our guide, V.... was knowledgeable about all we visited as well as the culture of the island.
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Attended as: | Couples |
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Outstanding outing discovering the island, its mysteries, its volcanoes, the life of its people. Thank you Uncle Jim to have made this day so lively and personalized to our group.
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Attended as: | Couples |
Activity Date: | 2019/08/26 |
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My husband and I moved to Kailua-Kona last year and are still in discovery mode, so we were happy to play tourist for a day to join this tour. Although the rides were long (it is a big island), the stops were all interesting and worthwhile, the other guests were friendly and engaged, and - notwithstanding all of our pre-move diligence and studying - we learned a ton from our fabulous tour guide, Kent. Kent was extremely knowledgeable, enthusiastic, engaged, warm, and courteous - we thoroughly appreciated the positive impact he had on the day's adventures.
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Attended as: | Couples |
Activity Date: | 2019/07/27 |
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Excellent
Lee took us to many off the beaten track places as well as the more popular tourist ones. He was knowledgeable and so very pleasant. We had a ball!!! He was punctual and ended the day with a surprise visit to a chocolate factory!!!!
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Attended as: | Friends |
Activity Date: | 2019/07/25 |
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Verry good tour. Our guide was a geologist and provided a lot of information on the formation of the island chain and the volcanic activity and its aftermath.
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Attended as: | Solo Travelers |
Activity Date: | 2019/07/24 |
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The beauty of big island speaks for itself, and it only gets better with an awesome tour guide! Brett was an exceptional tour guide. He is extremely knowledgeable, loves what he does, and it shows. I had a great time learning so much about the islands and volcanoes from him, and he's a great storyteller too! The black sand beach is beautiful, and the sunset from the volcano house is unforgettable. Probably the highlight of the tour was stargazing at the end. We got lucky with a gorgeous clear sky! There's a lot of driving so just relaxing in the van listening to Brett tell us about the islands while staring out at the scenery made for a great and laid back day. Just what I needed to end my vacation with before getting back to school. Thanks for teaching me so much! I highly recommend this tour, and will hopefully do it again when I come back with my family!
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Attended as: | Friends |
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Our tour guide knew so much about the island - history, weather, plants, animals, local favorite spots for food and fun, beaches, etc. I wish we had reserved the tour earlier in our stay so that we could take advantage of the tips he gave! We had plenty of time at each stop to really experience each of them - Kona coffee, lava tubes, black sand beaches, turtles, volcanoes, waterfalls and more! We had beautiful weather everywhere except Akaka Falls and the driver was equipped with rain jackets for everyone. I highly recommend this tour!
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Attended as: | Families |
Activity Date: | 2019/07/18 |
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What a GREAT day!! 14 passenger van was very clean and our driver was very knowledgeable and professional. We had teenagers with us who stayed totally engaged. We enjoyed lunch at a wonderful little mom and pop restaurant along the way - Sharky’s. Our private party of 8 visited waterfalls, overlooks, a black beach, learned history of the island and spent time at Volcano National Park. Thank you for a wonderful day!!!
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Attended as: | Families |
Activity Date: | 2019/07/02 |
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My wife and I did not have a car for the week but wanted to see the Island for what it had to offer. This tour came to our Hotel and picked us up as well as brought us back and gave a view of the Island most people would not be able to see. Our driver Nathan was excellent and gave us a relaxed and informed trip and even gave us some extra insights that a book would not give. The views were amazing and gave you an option if you wanted to come back and stay for more indepth viewing. I would recommend going with a tour to really get the flavor of the Island.
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Attended as: | Couples |
Activity Date: | 2019/06/20 |
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I decided on this tour/adventure package because it’s something that really interests me. From the coffee, to the excellent bbq picnic, the solar view of the sun setting, and of course the stars! Todd was our guide and he was so professional and was beyond knowledgeable in each area of the tour. He made everyone feel comfortable and was very engaging. I would HIGHLY recommend this to anyone wishing to do something that feels laid back, but covers a lot of ground.
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Attended as: | Couples |
Activity Date: | 2019/06/11 |
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This was purchased as a birthday gift for my sister. She has always been fascinated by volcanoes and it's been her lifelong dream to come to the island and see the volcano for herself. She was incredibly excited to have this tour. However, the day before it was scheduled, she received a call and was told that there had been a mistake when recording her reservation and they no longer had room for her on her scheduled date. They offered to move her reservation to a different day or to schedule her for the same day as her initial reservation for instead for the Epic Circle Island Volcano Journey. She chose to keep her originally scheduled day and do the Epic Circle Island Volcano Journey.
The woman who called was very apologetic and kind, let's face it, humans make mistakes sometimes, we've all done it. They did their very best to make it right. In the end, my sister said her experience was incredible and she was glad there had been a little bit of a mix up, because she thought the tour she went on was better (granted, that is based purely on the description of the originally scheduled tour).
Her guide was knowledgeable and told all kinds of stories about Pele and the island and recounted the history of the volcano. The lava tube they visited was unique and interesting and fascinated her.
Overall, it was a huge win and even in spite of the little problem I would definitely book again!
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Attended as: | Friends |
Activity Date: | 2019/06/07 |
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Reply from activity provider
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Aloha, Shalimi
Thank you for participating in our tour. I am very happy that the weather was nice and everybody enjoyed the spectacular view from the summit of Mauna Kea.
Please join us on our tour next time again !!
Mahalo,
Hawaiian Eyes Tours