Travel & Lifestyle Writer / San Francisco & Beyond
Big, fancy resort hotels are normally not my thing. There is a sanitized sameness to many of them, detached from the life and culture of the places where they are located, that leaves me cold. So when I encountered the sprawling, 252-room Mauna Kea Beach Hotel during my family’s first visit to Hawaii’s Big Island
“At Hanauma Bay,” the concierge at our Waikiki hotel told us, “you’ll see more people than fish.” She advised us to skip this popular Oahu snorkling destination and take a kayak or catamaran tour instead. But the tours were pricey and Hanauma Bay, a thirty minute drive southeast of downtown Honolulu, was only $7.50 each