So, I don't really know how to rate our experience. For what it was, it was very good, but it didn't live up to the expectations set by the company's website.
The company's "hook" is that it's "The Only Volcano Tours Guided by Geologists in Hawaii," and " If you want to not only see the island but learn about the geology and history of Hawaii why not go with a Geologist? Experience a chance of a lifetime!"
So, we expected the tour to be more than just the standard "Here's the volcano, here's the black lava sand beach, etc."
Unfortunately, this turned out to be a fairly typical "Get in a van and see stuff" tour.
Of the approximately 11 hours we spent on the tour, only about 3 were spent in Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park and about half of that time was spent driving from place to place. Again, that's fairly typical of a "circle the island tour," but not what we expected.
On the other hand, for what it was, it was a great tour. Our guide, David, was informative and fun (but he's not a geologist by training) and we very much enjoyed the time we spent with him.
We just don't feel that the tour lived up to its advance billing.
Odpowiedź od gospodarza
Oct 2022
Since the inception of this company, we are a small company of two people, who are both Geologists, and the only two guides. We recently hired David, who is not a Geologist, but has been guiding here for longer than either of us and has an immense and broad knowledge of this island. He has expanded his knowledge of Geology of the island by spending countless hours learning from us, just as we have expanded our knowledge from his years of touring here. Nonetheless, we understand that our website, with the addition of David not being a Geologist, has now partially changed the dynamic of our company description.
We are working now to change our website to clearly represent that we are a strongly geologically focused company. We strive and succeed at spending more time in the Park than anyone else.
We are not the typical volcano national park tour. 3 hours is more than normal. We spend as much or more time in the park than any other daily tour. Island tours spend about half of that. This is the “Big Island” and it’s a 2+ hour commute each way to Volcanoes National Park from Kona. We love to showcase the island along the way with private coffee tasting and the famous Punalu’u black sand beach. On the road home, you cannot drive through the historic town of Hilo and not sightsee and see Rainbow Falls. In addition, unlike all other island tours, we provide a sit-down restaurant lunch and not a picnic, rain or shine. In the Park, we visit locations that no other tours add including walking out to the Eruption Site. Once again, we are not the typical volcano national park tour and proud of it.