March best snorkel sites & bus questions

[sprinkles]

Hi All,

 

Just booked last minute for March 10 cruise and have SEARCHED until my eyes hurt. We have been to Hawaii many times on land trips (and have done the sightseeing thing on ALL of our ports), although we have never been there in March. We just want to relax and snorkel where we can. WE LOVE to take the city bus whenever we can, so if you have bus advice that would be appreciated too.

 

HILO - we are planning to take the bus into town in the morning and if weather is decent go to Richardons Beach Park to snorkel, do our shopping then back to the ship for a tour to the botanical gardens at 2:30pm.

Q: bus people, does the bus run fairly often and will it be easy enough to get to Richardson,then the marketplace, then back to the ship? Q: Does anyone have a better suggestion for a snorkeling spot? Is March a good or bad time to hope for decent snorkeling at Richardsons?

 

 

HONOLULU: This is probably where I need the most help. Considering renting a car for the day (we have driven all over Oahu before). We are in port from 7:00am to 11:00pm.

Q: Where could we find the best snorkeling in March? Would it be worth it for us to drive over to the north shore? I remember once having a great day snorkeling at three tables (in May) even though it was rough. We've also had a good time body surfing and boggie boarding at Sunset beach in February. Any suggestions.

Q: What about Waimanalo or Makapuu beach parks (Southeast beaches), we've driven by but never stopped. Could we take the city bus there? If so, how long would that take? Not interested in going to Hanauma bay again.

Q: Car rental - any suggestions for a car rental without having to go to the airport?

 

KAUAI (docking at Nawilliwii).

Currently just planning on going over to the Marriott.

Q: Is the snorkeling any good there? How is that location in March?

Q: Bus people could we take the city bus to a better snorkel site - either east or west. If so, do the buses run regularly?

Also considering just booking ships snorkel tour that "possibly" goes to Lawaii Beach, is that a good place to snorkel?

 

MAUI: Will probably default to Black Rock at the Sheraton. However our favorite place to snorkel is Kapalua Bay, the buses don't run there.

Q: Does anyone know how long it would take on the city bus to Napili Bay? Do the buses run fairly regularly? If we do go up there where should we get off? I don't remember Napili Bay very well - are there chair or cabana rentals there, like at Kapalua?

 

Thanks all for ANY answers - suggestions. Again, I apologize for the length, we booked this last minute just to get away and relax, trying to make this as simple as possible, to get to nice, less popular places.

 

Mahalo,

Tammy

[Novastar]

I can only partially answer your question about Kauai. I have been going to the Marriott in March for many years. While Kalapaki beach is great for swimming, some body surfing and paddle boarding there is no snorkeling to speak of. At least I personally have never seen anything interesting there. Perhaps the closest decent snorkeling is at Poipu beach but I don't know if there is any bus service from the harbor to Poipu.

[sprinkles]

Thanks Novastar for answering. I just found out that the Sapphire is going to miss Hilo, so this just encourages me to keep things simple.

 

Still looking for advice for the bus in Maui and Kuai. Since there seems to be some interest in this thread I'll say - I finally found detailed info and we have decided to take the bus in Oahu out to Waimanalo Beach Park (South East).

 

From ship go to bus at Aloha tower for 19 or 20 bus to Ala Moana, then the 23 bus out to Sea Life Park - there may be a bus that goes all the way, otherwise we will switch to the 57 to Waimanalo Beach Park - LOL.

 

Whatever, we have the WHOLE day there and it will be an adventure (half the fun) - I will definately post a review of this adventure when we get back. But if anyone knows the Oahu bus system please let me know if our "plan" sounds right.

 

Tammy

[nunk]

Thanks Novastar for answering. I just found out that the Sapphire is going to miss Hilo, so this just encourages me to keep things simple.

 

Tammy

 

we are also booked for this sailing and wonder why you think we are skipping Hilo? I know there was poor weather conditions on this week's sailing but hoping ours will be much calmer! :)

 

Will watch this thread closely since we are also still finalizing plans!

 

Nicole

[Umbarger]

Can't help you with the bus but we rented a car in Hilo and hit Walmart and K-mart and then went to Richardson beach. The rental car was only around $30 and was worth not having to wait for transportation etc and being free to do what we wanted. The snorkeling at Richardson was good, however it was a cloudy day and the water was a little rough and stirred up, so visibility wasn't the best. Hilo is very rainy so I hope you have a good weather day.

[sprinkles]

Sorry Nunk, I was referring to the current sailing that had to skip Hilo. Who knows what can or may happen on our sailing. That's one of the reasons we're not interested in renting any cars - don't want to have to deal with getting on the internet and trying to cancel things if the port is skipped. Beyond that, DH and I just came back from a "retirement - looking for places to move to- trip" where we just put 2100 miles on a rental car in two weeks. Came home needing a vacation from our vacation and booked this cruise last minute - lol.

 

So, that's why all the questions on buses. Plus being from California DH always gets a kick out of getting around on public transportation when we travel - OK with me, he's happy and I get to spend more shopping :)

 

Thanks Umbarger, that's kind of what I was expecting at Richardsons, we have our own snorkel gear so it's no biggie, we'd just like to get "some snorkeling" in while on this trip. So if it's raining we might just skip it, do our shopping, then go back to the ship for our 2:30pm tour to the Botanical Garden.

 

OK Kuai people - ANY thoughts on bus and snorkeling???

 

Tammy

[cruisercrazy69]

Thanks Novastar for answering. I just found out that the Sapphire is going to miss Hilo, so this just encourages me to keep things simple.

 

Still looking for advice for the bus in Maui and Kuai. Since there seems to be some interest in this thread I'll say - I finally found detailed info and we have decided to take the bus in Oahu out to Waimanalo Beach Park (South East).

 

From ship go to bus at Aloha tower for 19 or 20 bus to Ala Moana, then the 23 bus out to Sea Life Park - there may be a bus that goes all the way, otherwise we will switch to the 57 to Waimanalo Beach Park - LOL.

 

Whatever, we have the WHOLE day there and it will be an adventure (half the fun) - I will definately post a review of this adventure when we get back. But if anyone knows the Oahu bus system please let me know if our "plan" sounds right.

 

Tammy

The 57 leaves right near aloha tower on alakea near nimitz also at the other pier on ala moana

[sprinkles]

Thanks, I'll definately look for the 57, it would be nice to just "stay on the bus".

 

RE: Kauai - decided to book the Princess Napili coast zodiac excursion

 

Still looking for advice on the bus in Maui up to Napili Bay - how long - where should we get off - would there be chair/umbrella rentals, Anyone???

 

Tammy

23 days to go - whoohoo