Hawaii advice: where to stay, where to rent a bike
Looking like I'll be heading to Honalulu in early July (10-15) for a meeting associated with my work. Tough deal I know. Unfortunately family not able to come so I'll be solo and this will be my first time to the island(s). Going to be pretty busy for 5 days during meeting in Honalulu so figure I'll run and maybe swim during what free time I have. Meeting ends around 12 noon on the 15th and I'm considering hopping a flight over to Kona for a few days of swimming, riding, running, sightseeing there. Looking for suggestions on where I should consider staying, where I could rent a bike for a few days, anyone local who may want to hook up for some workouts if I can make this happen. Tentatively thinking I would arrive mid day on the 15h, have all day on the 16th to play (ride long, swim, etc), morning of the 17th to play some more before catching a flight back to Honalulu mid afternoon and flight to the mainland that evening. Short, quick trip but thinking I could get a couple of fun days and long training in.
Any advice from you Kona experience folks would be greatly appreciated.
Comments
My #1 favorite tri related activity on the Big Island is swimming in "A Bay"- basically the public beach at the Waikoloa Resort area. # 2 is snorkeling in the waters at Place of Refuge Nat'l Park. More ambitious? Try kayaking or swimming from Napo'opo' to the Captain Cook monument (about 2.5 mi round trip). If you want the flavor of The Race there, then of course run down Ali'i south of Kailua Town (Kona), jump in the bay at the pier (BEFORE 9 AM) and swim a bit from Dig Me Beach, and ride the Queen K around 1 PM from mile post 89 ("Veteren's Cemetery") to 69 and back - desolate, hot and windy conditions every day, guarenteed.
These folks have, IMO, the best guidebook and most complete/up-to-date lodging advice. If you want posh and expensive, can't beat one of the places around Waikoloa or Mauna Kea resorts. More into funk and island charm? Try a condo in Kona. Click on "Resorts" to get to their aerial photos of lodgings, along with reviews and pricing.
I live on Oahu, Windward side. There are running routes around Kapiolani Park/Diamond Head that range from 2-6 miles and there is also running around Ala Moana Park. Ala Mo also has a protected breakwater(read:reef) swimming area with supposedly 1000 m and 2000 m round trip swim buoys. Having done the biathlon series there with the 5 K run(yes, it really was) and 1000 m swim I can assure you 1000 m it ain't. Plan to SUP it sometime with the Garmin 310 and actually check distance but guess around 1200-1300 m. These suggestions assume your meeting is townside in the Waikiki/downtown area. There's a funky little tri shop called Island Tri and Bike not too far up the street the zoo is on.
I second Al's suggestion about the Revealed series. I have all 4 books and find them quite useful.(not in the books but good to know- there's a cluster of good places to eat with Lava Java of Ironman lore having good breakfast/lunch plus coffee type beverages, a Thai place 20 ft away and a Crepe place out back) On our multitude of trips to the Big Island we've stayed in Kailua-Kona town, out at Keeahou, and Waikaloa and the only one that's doable without a car is K-K town. Where to stay is dependent on how many stars hotel you're used to with the nicest places actually being out of town. Definitely do the swim from the pier, gorgeous and awesome to get the flavor of the Big One. Ali'i Drive is a very popular marked running route and the Queen K is the single best road in the islands for riding based on shoulder width and road quality. I ride alot of narrow shouldered crappy chipseal here and I thought roads mostly broke up secondary to freeze-thaw cycles but some(many) of them here really suck. So bike rentals- BikeWorks Kona is a great shop to deal with and have a wide variety of rentals from high zoot tri bikes to yo mama's cruiser. I also heartily recommend a trip to Kona Brewing Company- good brews and good food.
Hope this helps and feel free to ask for more details.
Lynne
Thanks for the advice, suggestions. I'll definitely look through the link (Revealed series) and do some homework now. It was quite intimidating trying to figure out where to start getting information and what you posted is very helpful.
I need to learn a little geography / look at maps to understand relative locations of things. My conference/meeting is at the Convention Center and if / when I get around to make my hotel reservations I'm planning to stay at the Hilton Hawaiin Village (one of the conference hotels). Looks like this is Waikiki area so I'm excited about the running routes you describe.
Time to do some reading and learning. Thanks again.
If you can get to Mauii, climbing Haleakela is a great ride. I did an organized tour a bunch of years ago. They will give you full support and even rent bikes / gear.
http://www.gocyclingmaui.com/index.html
tom