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Hawaii Romantic Adventures
Hawaii offers couples numerous excursions they can do together.
A honeymoon or romantic getaway to Hawaii conjures up images of moonlight trysts and fast embraces amid spectacular scenery. However, love is one thing, wanderlust another, and even on a romantic journey, couples may long for activity and adventure.
Luckily, Hawaii offers couples hiking to hidden waterfalls, riding horseback along the beach, surfing some of the world's best waves, climbing smoldering volcanoes and zip lining in rainforests.
Here are some of the opportunities available for a romantic adventure in Hawaii:
The Big Island: Verdant mountains, open desert, pristine beaches, tropical rainforests and even an active volcano (Kilauea) lure visitors to the Big Island. Bicyclers can pump their way up the frosty, high-altitude slopes of the Pacific's tallest peak, Mauna Kea ("White Mountain"), which rises 13,796 feet above sea level.
Couples who are adventuresome and fit can lead themselves, stopping at the Visitor Information Station at about 9,000 feet to acclimate to the thin air. Others can join the occasional bike tour up the mountain lead by Mauna Kea Mountain Bikes (www.bikehawaii.com). The firm also guides guests to less challenging excursions. Bike rentals run $50 to $100 per day and for experienced triathletes, there's also swimming and running gear. Mauna Kea is also home to the world's most powerful observatories. Sunset and stargazing expeditions are available. Prices start at $178 per person.
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Kauai: Kauai offers camping, hiking, surfing and snorkeling on its elegant North Shore and its warmer and sunnier East and South Shores. The island and its surrounding waters also are home to humpback whales, green sea turtles, pale gray dolphins and monk seals. Couples can conquer ocean kayaking with Kayak Kauai's (www.kayakkauai.com) 17 mile "Na Pali Coast" tour, the Everest of kayaking, from mid-May through mid-September (the period during which kayaks can reasonable manage ocean swells). The trip is strenuous but wondrous, exposing paddlers to sea caves, waterfalls and dolphin escorts. The excursion, which runs between Haena and Polihale State Beach, is priced at $203 per person. Maui: Guests on Maui know that if seeing seagoing fauna is one's fancy, then Kelii's Kayak Tours (www.keliiskayak.com) shows the most of it, including turtles, whales and dolphins. In fact, on its signature "South Shore Adventure" kayak and snorkeling tour, KKT guarantees green sea turtle sightings. Among KKT's other offerings is the "North Shore Explorer," which features snorkeling in Honolua Bay, where one typically encounters spinner dolphins and whales, and which is priced at $79. |
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Bike Hawaii's top-of-the-line, all-inclusive "Bike, Hike, Sail and Snorkel" tour provides vistas of Honolulu and Diamond Head and otherwise centers around the warm waters in and around Waikiki. The tour includes a rainforest downhill bike ride, an ocean/reef snorkeling dive, a rainforest waterfall hike and an ocean sailing adventure for $144 plus tax per person. The company's other notable guided tour is "Mountain Biking the Kaaawa Valley at Kualoa," which goes to the filming sites of movies such as "Jurassic Park," "Godzilla" and "Windtalkers." Lanai and Molokai: Couples can ride mountain bikes on Lanai's red-clay plantation roads and on Molokai's miles of trick trails. Within a short ride of Lanai is a white-sand beach set against Hulopoe Bay, a protected marine reserve. Water sports equipment, including scuba and snorkeling gear, is rentable from the Four Seasons Resort Lanai at Manele Bay. There are also beaches, trails, mountains, even ruins to explore without ever seeing another person for days. Molokai boasts the Molokai Ranch, Hawaii's second-largest working ranch, with 65,000 acres of beach and upcountry land. Guests can go ocean kayaking and take guided cultural hikes that extend to hallowed fishing shrines and other ancient sites. There's also horseback riding along Kaupoa Beach and guided spear fishing. After a day of adventure, couples wanting to relax and unwind have a range of hotels and resorts to return to in Hawaii. Most offer packages that include accommodations, excursions, entertainment, meals and other perks. Among them:
The romance package at the Four Seasons Resort Lanai at Manele Bay on Lanai includes two keepsake bathrobes, a music CD, breakfast, champagne and spa oils. The resort's sister property, the Lodge at Koele, offers resort guests full reciprocal privileges. |
The Hilton Waikoloa Village on the Big Island's Kohala Coast is offering a three night minimum "Perfect Honeymoon" package, including daily buffet breakfast, one dinner, a seaside cabana couples' massage, a sunset catamaran sail with Red Sails Sports and complimentary daily use of the Kohala Sports Club and Spa. Nightly room rates in 2007 start at $529.
On Maui, the Fairmont Kei Lani Hotel in Kihei offers the "Honi Honi Romance Package". Included are a one-bedroom suite, breakfast in bed for two, a sunset cruise, a poolside dinner by candlelight, a gourmet picnic basket and a tandem massage for two at the Spa Kei Lani. 
Starwood's Princeville Resort on Kauai offers the "Experience of Love" package, which includes a nonsmoking executive suite with a Jacuzzi, as well as a bottle of champagne, fresh flowers, breakfast for two and the "Kauai Guidebook."
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