Spotlight on Hawaii

INSIDER'S TIPS – HIDDEN SECRETS

 It's better to go counterclockwise around the rim and then down into the crater on the Kilauea Iki Trail at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.  You have better views that way.  Start at Kilauea Iki Overlook that's directly across from thurston Lava Tube.

2. Morning is the best time to see the rainbow at Hilo's Rainbow Falls.

3. Nestled behind a fern curtain is a scenic volcanic pit crater on the trail at Manuka State Park.  On the two-mile loop, you walk atop different lava flows in a forest filled with bird life.

4. See the magnificent armoire that took a medal at the 1889 Paris International Exhibition.  It's at Hulihee Palace.

5. Keauhou's Ka Pa Uluwehi O Na Kamehameha (The Garden of the Kamehamehas) is a short walk with native Hawaiian and Polynesian plants described on panels.

6. Hapuna Beach is best known for swimming and bodyboarding, but it has a good snorkeling spot too.  At the north end of the beach, fronting the hotel, is a tiny horsehoe cove.  Snorkel the coastline beyond the cove, floating into the many private inlets that cut into the reef.

. The International Fireplace of Friendship at Volcano's Kilauea Lodge is made up of nearly 100 stones sent from far away places like the Dead Sea, the ruins of Athen's Acropolis, Norway and Jerusalem.  The YMCA sold tokens to build it.

8. Although the sacred Puukohala Heiau in Kawaihae is best seen in the late afternoon, the entrance to the national historic site closes at 8 p.m. daily.  Go next door to Spencer Beach Park and park in the far right lot.  It's a short walk along the gated road to the heiau and a great place to watch an ocean sunset.

9. Watch the manta rays gather to feed nightly at the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel or Kona Surf Resort.  Both hotels shine a light upon the water that attracts these huge, underwater acrobats.