Snorkeling, Staying, and Skydiving in Hawaii! - Travel Tips

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Andy and Rachel:

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It was great to have Andy and Rachel back on the show to chat about their favorite place. If you missed their incredible story on how they use house-hacking and created multiple businesses to support their travel lifestyle, don’t forget to listen!

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Ka'Awaloa - Captain Cook Monument Trail, Hawaii, Hawaii - 2,675 Reviews, Map | AllTrails

Shark’s Cove - Hawaii Travel Guide (hawaiiactivities.com)

Things to Do, Tickets, Tours & Attractions | 2024 | Viator

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Transcript from YouTube:

Andy and Rachel thank you guys for coming back to the travel path podcast thank you hey guys so we're doing the travel tips segment where we have the guests come back and talk about the one destination they know best before we get into that if you haven't heard the first part definitely tune in and you'll learn that you can definitely travel without needing an RV without needing a van and you can travel with kids so definitely check out Andy and Rachel story it was really inspiring and I encourage everyone to listen you'll learn a ton so Andy and Rachel what is the destination we're talking about today Hawaii are we talking about a specific Island let's talk about all of them all them yeah we'll try we'll cheer pick maybe yeah pick favorite things from each basically I love that why is Hawaii so special to the both of you for me I think Hawaii just has a a really cool Vibe I think we kind of just align with it really well we've always it just it's like that feeling when you when you get off an airplane or you you know you finally get to a destination and you can just feel it in your like gut you're like I like this place you know we feel home there yeah so I think that's why yeah um also I think the diversity of the Landscapes really really attract I'm like doing a little hus it like really really attracts us because there's just so much diversity on each island from the waterfalls to the mountains to the beaches to Wildlife to the flowers like there's just so much going on and how much people rece ECT the Land There the locals like it's huge to respect the land that's really important to us too yeah that's awesome now how much time have you guys spent there we typically we usually can't leave for too long so what what we have done is about a week in each island and so so far the first island we went to was Maui we spent about a week there um second one was Big Island spent a week there and the third one just recently this year we we finally got to go to aahu and now we're in research for for Kawai because we're heading Kawai in March but also we ultimately would like to end up in Hawaii and so we're testing out all the islands and trying to explore like every inch to try to decide where we might want to land oh that's awesome now Hawaii obviously we know beautiful beaches like you said tons of different landscape but for someone who's looking to plan a vacation in Hawaii what do you think would be their thing that they'd want to do when they're there oh that's tricky yeah I guess it depends I mean some people love to you know go out and see the night life there in in wyi and and a aahu some people you know want to go get a little more of a chill Vibe and Maui you know there's a lot of like surfing and and just a little bit more relaxing there big Island's very cool for like a certain people who like to go want to go see like the volcanoes there or they want to see more natural um you know Le there's less people there less chill andai yeah and Kawai and stuff so so yeah it kind of depends on the person but there's so much to do there like we were saying earlier you know you could you can even go skiing you know up in the mountains there you know certain times of year so no kidding wow I don't think I knew that so that's pretty cool yeah yeah yeah have you guys ever done that we didn't go skiing but we went up to see a sun set on the mountain and we were above the clouds watching it yeah Maui the Big Island I I I'm probably gonna misquote this but I think the big island is like one of or if not the only place in the world that has like all four or of the micro uh like the climates so like the big island has like you know it has a desert area where it's just super dry and there's Cactus and there's rainforest area where um in Hilo is like the rainiest place it's like the second most rainiest place on the you know on the globe and so yeah it's kind of cool to be able to just kind of drive an hour or two hours in a different place and it and your landscape just be like completely different that's cool now I know you said you guys have usually gone for about a week but how long would you say someone really needs to enjoy the island they're going to I'd say week minimum yeah I've heard of people island hopping a lot during a week that would be rough for us we feel like we don't even see it all that we okay we'd like to say longer than a week really really to see the islands I think anybody would we try to plan like one or two or three nights in each like area around the island so we'll go to like we'll stay in the South for two nights you know and then go to the West stay for two nights go to the north stay for two nights and that we can kind of kind of see the whole island yeah um but even then I mean it there's there's a lot to see people you know think it's a small little island but there's there's so much it's it's to do yeah very true now you guys are planning your next trip you said in March to Hawaii what other months have you been or what would you say is the best month to go to Hawaii so that's the really cool thing is that it's like pretty similar to the same weather all year um like it's really small difference in temperature from any time of the year however um there's certain months I want to say it's like November to May is whale watching season we haven't actually gone whale watching we want to we missed it by a little we either missed it in the beginning or the end but we'll be there this time for it but yeah this time we love Wildlife watching so we would definitely plan our trip around that yeah as far as Wildlife I know you guys love snorkeling too are there certain beaches or any of your favorite beaches you go when you snorkel yes Captain Cook yeah our favorite ever was Captain Cook on the big island it's close to Kona we had to hike a couple miles really Rocky we're the only ones there crowded yeah if you're if you're like a hiking type of person I would definitely recommend doing the hike yourself but if you're not into like a solid I two or three mile straight not straight down but pretty pretty treacherous path he saw a wild there were goats I mean it was it was nuts but yeah I would I would recommend anyone who's not super into hiking and travel and and super hardcore traveler to probably just get one of those boat rides that are like you know 60 bucks or something they have boat rides that bring you there they bring you right to the same similar spot and yeah it was almost like we were living in like a I don't know I feel like I was in a Little Mermaid yeah we saw like every creature it felt like yeah and and being the only person there is intense like you know mean it's kind of like one of those things where you're when you see 20 or 30 other people also doing it it kind of lowers the like like is there a reason no one else is here yeah there's a lot of cool places though we went to sharks Cove theth the NorthShore of Wahu and that was amazing supposedly there it's called sharks Cod because there's this kind of like drop off in a cave and supposedly there's baby sharks that um hang out down there and uh I'm not that good of a free diver yet to go down like I don't know was it 30 or 40 60 feet down and then you can actually swim through this cave where they have baby sharks and stuff and then there's like another exit Point like 100 feet or 100 yards like out people like go through like snort you know scuba people do it all the time but there's free drivers who go down through there but I'm not to try that yeah I haven't gotten there yet but no we have K so I know you said in your um first podcast episode that you guys have you've done home exchange when you've gone to Hawaii but how have you stayed other ways when you've gone to Hawaii so we actually mostly done pet sitting in Hawaii um which was really cool especially on Maui oh we had to pet sit there and the dog had like a fence and yard that and free access so so it's really cool we didn't have a lot of responsibility to be honest yeah they were cool they they had a bunch of rentals too they were big in real estate they had a unit there that they rented out on Big Island we had a res ridiculous deal of vbro um yeah verbo verbo I don't know what is verbo or V I think I say verbo I say

yeah who knows either way we we found this crazy de we found this randomly one night she was like man these prices are ridiculous we got to find something in the Big Island like you know so we were looking around I was like what about Vero like let's just go look and so we looked we found this place for $19 a night and it was a tiny house on the big island we're like no way and so so anyways it was actually really close to where I I've wanted to buy land but it's it's really kind of a sketchy area it's in it's in this place called Volcano which is clearly right near the volcano and it's in like lava Zone you know one or whatever and it's like it's kind of a sketch area you can you can buy like three acres there for like 30 grand like it's it's really cheap there but um when you it was really good that we went there to know that there's no way we could live there ever yeah we were going to buy land there but but we were like let's test it out first you so anyways we stayed in this place 19 bucks a night and it was like long story short it was scet we had to drive through like these gravel roads with these like burnt out cars signs everywhere we have guns yeah I was like it was super sketch and so we we ended up getting there and and like was like a code on the gate to get in right there like this to get in the gate and the place is like kind of like a compound like there's all these different buildings and kind of like stuff everywhere and like burnt out cars not burnt out cars but like kind of junker cars but that's kind of like the big island kind of like that area's Vibe though like it's just that part kind of like Island Style just that part yeah just that part um but anyways it was like this like he had like five units in this one building and these like really tiny unit it was actually really the actual unit was fun yeah it was actually really Co cool it was all off grid and I think we only end up staying there for like one or two nights yeah we didn't stay as long it for like five nights and the total was like 120 bucks we decided we could give the $20 we weren't really that into it we it was safe we didn't have any issues but yeah we see something listed that cheap in Hawaii it's either a typo or there's a reason for it I take it that's great so you can look on so vbo you can look for deals and then what was the app I know we touched on it in the previous podcast but for the pet sitting how did you find that no matter no matter that's right okay when you're there are you renting a car ubering what does transportation look like you'd likely want to rent a car unless you're going to bik Kei in Honolulu aahu Island and your plan is to just chill there and even if you aren't staying there the whole time it what we did when we went to Honolulu was we rented a car for only part of our trip our last part of the trip we were just downtown Wy key and we just you know turned the car in so that's kind of a a hack I guess a little yeah downtown Yi has so much to do so much food so many beaches that are in walking distance definitely don't need a car tons of entertainment yeah so some good night life there I take it yeah yeah in terms of night life is yiki kind of the spot to go any other places you'd recommend yeah so each island generally kind of has a spot the Big Island it's Kona and so sadly um in Maui it used to be L lah yeah with the fires I can't imagine yeah it be some time before that's build up again there's other cities kind of smaller in like the different corners of the island but usually there's like a main you know Kona is the main one there in Big Island and you can travel around and find restaurants and you know food trucks and farmers markets lots of food trucks which we love yeah food trucks yeah we love going to food trucks yeah I know and cuz we went there my family a long time ago and they had the Dole Plantation and I remember the pineapple was like like delicious down there are there any other like native fruits or even like restaurants or shops you'd recommend going to yeah rambutan is like my favorite fruit ever looks like a little spiky ball with like red in the middle almost looks like a grape I love Rotan um the last pets set we stayed at they had all kinds of fruit tangerin yeah they had m i mean mangoes and oranges and I always joke with her because one of the other reasons why we like to travel to a lot of tropical places is like the mangoes and oranges lemons and apple and all this stuff just grows naturally so like you could just be on like a walk and grab a mango and you have breakfast so you know it's kind of like yeah it's more expensive but you you can get free Fruit like I've got coconuts you know so yeah it's kind of a weird weird thing to do but it we've seen it bananas that's just part of the experience though right like yeah that's awesome you can't do that at home in your own neighborhood when you're taking away you get some apples that's about it food um very Hawaii thing is coffee Hawaii has tons of really good coffee yeah Kona coffee it's especially famous but that's our favorite thing to do for breakfast is to go to different coffee Farms lots of the coffee Farms have like a little shop there where you could get at least coffee sometimes a snack and or breakfast banana bread yeah we try to go to a different one every morning awesome that's a good tradition yeah this is you guys are doing a great job talking about Hawaii and as if we didn't want to go to Hawaii to begin with her defitely Mak us want to go now um so we'll transition now to the 321 countdown segment the final three questions so what are three things you'd recommend somebody do in Hawaii I'd say definitely snorkeling definitely need to get in the water there and if you're not comfortable snorkeling I would definitely get a boat ride see some dolphins whales and I feel like I have to say this because I recently saw people trying to snorkel a lot and I they were struggling I was trying to tell people if you're like new or whatever you really need to know that you need to look by rocks that's where the they're generally trying to hide in reefs or like Rocky areas is where you're going to see far more fish yeah you can almost look at a map and see if there's like a little Jetty coming off a map like you can almost guarantee that there's going to be fish like hiding in that little area and yeah we did that in the Bahamas because we couldn't see anything where we were staying in the Bahamas we didn't see anything we seen no fish nothing and then I remember like that night being looking at the map being like there's got to be a place nearby and it was like uh I don't know like 3/4 of a mile out to the right there was like that little Jetty kind of thing that was like a little you know defensive thing and sure enough we went over there it was a bunch of fish so we brought our daughters there yeah we brought our daughters there and they checked it out and stuff so and then you were saying skydiving yeah I wasn't looking into skydiving in Hawaii because Hawaii's based I think most people go to Hawaii to see like the beautiful beach and and all thate stuff and uh anyways long story short our Airbnb host was a Skydive instructor from Serbia it was a whole story point you have to go he's like yeah you come H skydiving with us I was like okay like let's do it and so yeah we went skydiving there and that was amazing be able to see Hawaii from you know 16,000 feet in the air was was insane so yeah skydiving you know probably not a lot of people think about wait let me just threw out there that he um he was like we think he wor C to get to work he literally like we booked his Airbnb last minute because it was another failed attempt at camping um that we needed an Airbnb last minute and he had rooms in his house available we never were that desperate before but um on the islands where it's more expensive we're like yeah we could stay in a room and he actually had like a separate hallway with three different rooms for Airbnb people and so we booked it for that night like an hour before we could check in we're like yes let us in and it just automatically let us in and he was like when we got there we I guess we were in the wrong room he had sent us information or whatever he was like oh sorry I didn't see it I was busy surfing like he was like he was like always like skyd or like on his motorcycle beard was like down here he was a legend yeah he was a legend that's the island Vibe down there right just everything nonchalant yeah remember Airbnb uh lucky lucky so if you're on a waho and you want a cheap place say look luy's place he also he was like do you want to use my um SN he gave us his snork gear yeah he gave us his snortable gear use you know no cost he like said we could use his surfboards like he's just like super welcoming and like once you have the experience yeah yeah and I and I when he was like hey you should go skying I in my head I'm like no I'm good you know was that your first time going yeah and so like later that day after we checked in we were we went out to this like State Park and we were just like doing our own thing and checking out beaches and stuff and we like and she's like what is this place and she's there's like people falling out of the sky and so like I pulled in I'm like oh those are those are like parachuters you know so we stop and look and I swear it was our Airbnb host it was coming down out of the sky and we're like is that him awesome so we like drove into like this like air field and like went and parked and like sure enough he was there and I was like okay this is a sign like I have to go skydiving with our Airbnb host so anyways yeah that was that was basically the story but he was nuts he was he was crazy that's awesome yeah I can't say we've gone but if we were in that situation and we're in Hawaii I mean it's hard to not go you you really had no choice there I'm sure you guys are glad you did it obviously right yeah yeah it was cool it was funny well technically he did it and now I regret it and want to do it oh yeah that's okay you'll be back right yeah that's right and we'll put a link for that air Bey listing in the show notes as well as the other uh links and resources we talked about in today's show uh what are two complaints and not necessarily complaints but things that somebody might not know about Hawaii that you might want to prepare them for oh yeah so even like the islands that have less people have less roads so traffic can be stopped a lot but I mean we just combat that by being like oh we're in Hawaii like just be chill well we learned when we first went to Y and they told us about Maui like like what we were talking about earlier the road to Hana is that there are a lot of and you would think it' be the other way around but the tourists are the ones that are driving slow like looking around with you know looking around looking at everything and the uh and the locals are like Mad At The Tourist so the locals will like speed by you and honk and stuff like that so it's so yeah the traffic can be for various reasons it can be construction you know there like oneway streets oneway yeah so yeah it's hard to build roads on mountains and you know so U but yeah Wy key is busy the same reason like Los Angeles is busy there's a million people who live in that little city there so so yeah the traffic is definitely something I think a lot of people probably don't know about and the second one I think people know about cost yeah the cost of things but like you know if you aren't eating out at these like expensive restaurants you can eat out and get just as good if not better food at food trucks um or even like uh local farmers markets and stuffff we we tend to like to do the the food trucks and the farmers market because we're giving back money like directly to those uh local families and business owners and stuff and so it feels good to eat you know give your money to them sure tastes good too how was cell service out there on the island any troubles with that mostly okay I don't think we had trouble yeah mostly okay there's some dead spots when you're up in the mountains and stuff but mostly it it worked out better than you thought yeah awesome one last question what is one thing you simply cannot leave Hawaii without doing we've mentioned it so many times but snorkeling was yeah probably snorkling was Cooks Beach any other recommendations there or you just can't go wrong when you're snorking in Hawaii yeah Captain Cook and sharks Cove so far are our two favorite spots sharks Cove is really cool because it's a like a hidden area or it's like it's it's got a wall of rocks around the whole thing so if you're like a person with a young kids you're not going to get like washed away you know it's only like three or four feet deep at the at the deepest so so you can sit on a rock and see sea turtles just like you don't even need goggles right to enjoy it so that so that's yeah if you got young kids or you're an entrylevel swimmer Shar Cove in aahu definitely highly recommend oh very cool now you guys have mentioned snorkeling a lot so I know you said you have your little goggles that you bring but are there places on the island where you can rent goggles oh yeah there's like Endless Possibilities like using Viator a lot for experiences personally but because it also getes back to locals essentially we and we've also done uh sometimes you can go if you're into thrifting um and going to thrift stores we've done this also is you can go to a thrift store and pick up goggles for like a dollar or five bucks or fins fins fins are surprisingly people think fins are expensive but at at you can get them really cheap so we we've done that before too like um like for example if you're going to a place and you know you're going to go snorkeling at least a couple times or for for a week or whatever you can go and get your own pair of snorkeling you know snorkel gear for like 10 or 20 bucks versus going and renting it for like three hours and you can have it all your whole vacation and then uh what we've done too is we've given away to people like we're like you know find some people who look like you know oh hey do you want some you know or leave them at a rental for people to yeah a lot of times we leave them at our Airbnb or home exchange and we'll be like hey you know pass this along to people who are you know going to rent here so that's a really good tip pay it forward that's it all right guys awesome thanks for coming on again and explaining all your insights and ideas about Hawaii um this has been a great show this is going to help a lot of people plan their trip which was the point of the podcast so thanks again guys and um once again if you haven't listened to the part one podcast tune in to that uh Andy and Rachel talk about everything from travel planning money saving tips I know we touched on it briefly today the home exchange thing we go into much more detail in that in part one so definitely check it out and and Rachel thanks again thank you thanks so much for having us