Beaches: Hapuna Beach up north, the start of the IM 70.3 Hawaii as well, is probably the nicest beach on the west side. Past the Mauna Lani on the ocean (makai side), it's a state park so there will be an entrance fee (per vehicle). On the Hilo, side, the Hilo Zoo.

Some of the Zipline companies have other fun tours (roaming around the backcountry in a custom 4x4, for example). Depending upon their interest a trip to the Kona Living History Farm, a coffee farm out of the 1930's and early 40's might be fun (enough) as well.

The Hilton Waikoloa has a day program for kids as well if you're staying there, although I've been told they take outside reservations for that. Oh and their Dolphin encounter ($$$$$, plus they're not Pacific Dolphins anyway).

Others will come to me as I have my coffee this morning.

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The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits. -- A fake Albert Einstein "quote"

Hapuna used to be my favorite beach up that way, but it is just too crowed now, too close to the resort..Try this one that is just down from it, kind of a secret spot, but not really. I went there with my kids almost every day while at Waikailoa, they loved it, I could get some shade and coolness after doing my swim, and there are some little waves to play in too..

https://www.lovebigisland.com/...aches/waialea-beach/

On the Hilo side, my then-4 year old loved the lava tube over by the exit from Hilo onto Saddle road, and he and I both thought the botanical gardens just north of town was pretty amazing - $15 or so bucks and a couple hours of adventure through the jungle leading down to waves crashing up onto huge rocks. I was impressed. I would have said snorkeling in Pahoa but Madame Pele scratched that from the list. Visiting the volcano is cool though. Also 2 Step for snorkeling.

What I noticed last year is a lot of marketing $$ gets spent there. Hoka was huge. Ventum and Cliff Bar and Cervelo too. But no Trek and Specialized had new Shiv bike on the grass by Huggos with nothing in expo. A long way from their ship container bar of 2011 in expo with Whitfield Finlay Frodo Macca Alexander...all there.

If TriCan is seeking funding from product groups not sure Kona is it. If they are seeking corp sponsors no way. We are Canada. 1/10 market of USA. I mean the race itself cant get real $$ sponsorships ever since the Ford contract with a global race series why would a NGB with 225,000 members across a huge country to fund athletes for an event someone else owns on a 4 year cycle? Better served in corp Canada boardroom pitches. Maybe they should have started by calling Vega in Burnaby BC 🤦‍♂️

Per Fleck sure lots from industry are there. Maybe some ITU dealings go on in partnership i dont know. But i cant see TriCan connecting prospects to deals via or in Kona.

Just my opinion.

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@rhyspencer

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Wait, I thought you were not going to Kona....its my first time back in 6 years. Let's connect for some rides. I'll email you offline.

Dev

what did you call your Kona threads from previous years? I wanted to search them but can't find them.

E

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

https://forum.slowtwitch.com/...na%20coffee#p6729131

Sean, there are good recommendations above. A lot of options require a fair amount of driving so maybe plan for things in town or near town ahead of the race. Then take the longer trips post-race.

If you want to see Hilo or Pahoa I’d recommend using the saddle road. The only reason to take the highway south out of Kona is to see South Point or Volcano/NP.

I don’t have kids and only made it to Hawaii once as a child. My brother and I had the best time on the Big Island because of the snorkeling. If your boys enjoy this check out Kahalu’u Beach Park at the south end of Ali’i. There is a small sea wall protecting a lot of the snorkeling area and entry/exit is easy from he beach.

We visit there all the time now, but early on we relied on The Big Island Revealed guide book. I think the format would be perfect for you and your wife and boys to flip thru and pick things to do together. It was just updated in May 2019: https://www.amazon.com/...ding=UTF8&btkr=1

Hope this helps!

Thanks so much everyone for the replies! We've got plenty of ideas now, should be a great time.

Any info on Kona fishing charters?

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Let food be thy medicine...

We did an ATV tour out last Hawi one year and the kids loved it. We also did a helicopter trip that was meh. Wouldn’t recommend. We were all pretty much bored with it after about 10mins.

When my kids were that age, their favorite activity was boogie boarding and their favorite place to do it was Manini'owali Beach on Kua Bay, a little north of the airport. If you don't want to do a ton of driving, I think you can entertain kids just fine on the Big Island by exploring the different beaches and sampling all of the shave ice spots. At least that's what my kids liked best! I would also recommend at least one good snorkeling trip by Captain Cook Monument. We enjoyed a combo kayak/snorkel trip and my kids did that at age 9.

Enjoy!

Kua Bay entrance is on the Makai side of the Queen K more or less across from the Vet's cemetery.

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The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits. -- A fake Albert Einstein "quote"

Kona Pool shutdown:

Looks like the locals are none to pleased about the long repair time.

https://www.westhawaiitoday.com/...-down-6-to-7-months/

The reader comments at the bottom are worth reading

Just drove back from Hilo over the saddle road; the road to maunakea is definitely still closed by all the protestors.

Slim pickings for hiking at volcano park since a lot of the trails are closed.

We made the drive down to Kaimū Beach Park to walk across the newest part of the earth. Pretty incredible to be honest.

Had a beer at Uncle Roberts and caught the end of the Sunday night football game; very interesting place and I’ll just leave it at that!

Safeway in town has a killer fresh ahi poke on sale for $12/lb. The previously frozen poke they have is a little cheaper

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the world's still turning? >>>>>>> the world's still turning

I've been mowing a bunch of Kikuyu grass. Rain in upcountry Hawaii leads to very fast grass growth. You can almost literally watch it grow. So, that's my excuse for missing the question.


Kona Survival Gude.

It's a bit outdated even from last year's edition. Maunakea access road is closed. The pool is closed. There are a few new businesses along Ali`i Drive and the ever-present homeless problem is worse in Kailua village atm, though they'll move out for Ironman week for the most part. Police presence is down in the village for a variety of reasons but usually pops back up for the 2 week stretch to the big dance.

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The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits. -- A fake Albert Einstein "quote"

I'm not a fisherman. In fact, I rarely eat meat. With that said there are a few that leave from the pier and a load more from the harbor. I always liked the Bite Me charters because of the name though. I'll ask around today and see who is good. and post as soon as I have a decent answer.

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The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits. -- A fake Albert Einstein "quote"