Maunakea Stellar Explorer van KONA
4
Maunakea Stellar Explorer van KONA
Door KapohoKine Adventures
Informatie
Haal het meeste uit de lucht van Hawaï met deze zonnekijk- en sterrenkijkervaring op het Big Island. Reist u per minibus met een deskundige astronoomgids, bezoek het vulkanische binnenland om de zon en de sterren te observeren met behulp van hoogwaardige telescopen. Zoek naar fakkels, sterrenbeelden en planeten; krijg inzicht en tips die je anders zou missen, en geniet van een barbecuemaaltijd. Het ophalen en inleveren van geselecteerde hotels is voor het gemak inbegrepen.
vanaf per volwassene
€ 248,86
LaagsteprijsgarantieReserveer nu, betaal laterGratis annuleren
Leeftijden 18-99, maximaal 26 per groep
Duur: 6 u. 30 min.
Starttijd: Beschikbaarheid controleren
Mobiel ticket
Livegids: Engels
Meer
Hoogtepunten
- Zonne-kijk- en sterrenkijkervaring per minibus op het Big Island
- Zorgeloze manier om de zon en de sterren te observeren met een deskundige astronoom
- Gebruik krachtige telescopen om flares en sterren op toplocaties te spotten
- Inclusief licht diner en handig ophalen en wegbrengen bij geselecteerde hotels
- Flessenwater
- Chauffeur / gids
- Hotel ophalen en wegbrengen
- Jackets
- Diner
- Entree/toegang - Saddle Road
Niet inbegrepen- Fooi
- Vertrekgegevens
- Ophalen van reizigers is mogelijk.
- Bel het telefoonnummer op uw ticket / voucher voor uw ophaaltijd en -schema.
- Luchthavens:
- Keahole Airport, 73-200 Kupipi St, Kailua-Kona, Island of Hawaii, HI 96740
- Havens:
- Kona
- Ophalen bij hotel is mogelijk. Bekijk de hotellijst op onze afrekenpagina om te bekijken of jouw hotel tussen de ophaalpunten staat.
- Niet rolstoeltoegankelijk
- Dichtbij openbaar vervoer
Als u vragen heeft over de bereikbaarheid van de locatie, dan zijn we u graag van dienst. U hoeft alleen maar het onderstaande nummer te bellen en uw productcode te noemen: 5413P26- U ontvangt op het moment van boeken een bevestiging
- Geen hartproblemen of andere ernstige medische problemen
- Geschikt voor vrijwel alle reizigers
- Er is bij deze ervaring een minimumaantal reizigers vereist. Indien deze wordt geannuleerd als het aantal niet wordt gehaald, kunt u kiezen voor een andere datum/ervaring of een volledige restitutie
- Er nemen maximaal 26 reizigers deel aan deze tour/activiteit
- Annuleer minimaal 24 uur vóór de startdatum van de activiteit voor een volledige restitutie.
- Ik ben een vegetariër / ik heb allergieën / ik ben gluten- of lacto-vrij.
- Laat ons tijdens het afrekenen eventuele dieetvereisten weten in het vakje 'Speciale vereisten' in het gedeelte 'Details reizigers'. Of u kunt ons dit na boeking laten weten door 'Mijn boeking beheren' te bezoeken en ons daar te e-mailen.
- Wat is de afhaallocatie?
- Wij bieden ophaaldiensten van de meeste hotels. Laat ons tijdens het afrekenen weten waar u verblijft in het vak 'Speciale vereisten' in het gedeelte 'Travellers Details'. Of u kunt ons dit na boeking laten weten door 'Mijn boeking beheren' te bezoeken en ons daar te e-mailen.
- Als u vragen heeft over deze tour of als u hulp nodig heeft om uw boeking te doen, dan zijn we u graag van dienst. U hoeft alleen maar het onderstaande nummer te bellen en uw productcode te noemen: 5413P26
Uw plek reserveren
Omzet beïnvloedt de ervaringen die worden uitgelicht op deze pagina. Lees hier meer informatie.
Soortgelijke ervaringen
Reisroute
- U wordt opgehaaldVertrekgegevens bekijken
- 1Kailua-KonaStop: 90 minutenMeer informatie
- 2Saddle RoadStop: 60 minuten - Toegangsprijs inbegrepenMeer informatie
- 3Mauna KeaStop: 90 minutenMeer informatie
- U keert terug naar het startpunt
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4.0
39 beoordelingen
Uitstekend
24
Heel goed
2
Voldoende
3
Slecht
1
Vreselijk
9
Kathryn C
8 bijdragen
We were very fortunate to have great weather for viewing some constellations and planets (Saturn and Jupiter were viewable) with the solar telescope. Our guide was Sam who brought his environmental science background to the tour and was also incredibly knowledgeable about the local culture and, of course, astronomy. Also very thankful for the coats they provided, it was below 50 degrees at our stargazing point! A must do excursion!
Geschreven op 21 oktober 2023
Deze beoordeling is de subjectieve mening van een Tripadvisor-lid en niet de mening van Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor voert controles uit op beoordelingen.
rebeccas
Winchester, KY3 bijdragen
Please read thoroughly because the description is very clear this does not go to the top of Mauna Kea. I saw a few not great reviews because it did not go to the summit. We had Rich as a guide he was amazing. So much knowledge about constellations and the Hawaiian islands. We have children who are teenagers and we would totally recommend this tour with Rich!
Geschreven op 23 juli 2023
Deze beoordeling is de subjectieve mening van een Tripadvisor-lid en niet de mening van Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor voert controles uit op beoordelingen.
Christopher H
North Carolina1 bijdrage
jul. 2023 • Gezinnen
Short version: Do not spend your money or time on this tour. Cancel if you have already booked. Trust me.
We booked this back in January for our Hawaii trip in July. We paid approximately 1100 USD for our family of 4. We are traveling with two kids aged 8 and 11 so we knew that we would not be going to the summit from the outset.
We were picked up at 3:50 pm near Mauna Lani. Then drove 35 to 40 minutes to Kona to pick up the other six members of the party. We then went to Kona Harbor for dinner and honestly what we were served was probably 15 dollars per meal. Basic fish and chips and hamburgers. The price covers a soft drink but not even a single alcoholic drink for the adults. You are on your own nickel for that. We then began our drive to what we thought was Mauna Kea.
On the way the tour guide told us we would be going to an elevation of about 8000 ft for viewing and that we would not be going to the summit because access is limited to companies with permits (apparentlu they do not have one) and there were children in the party. This was expected. He then also teased the possibility of viewing through the solar telescope to see solar flares.
After about 50 minutes of driving, we pulled into a park just off of Saddle Road, which based on Google searching later that evening is "Gilbert Kahele Recreation Area." I checked my phone, the elevation was 6300 ft, leas than half of the total elevation of Mauna Kea. We then waited at a playground for 45 min to an hour for the sun to go down. The guide made it seem like they were eyeing cloud conditions during this time like we could move to higher elevation if need be.
Eventually the clouds did begin to clear after sunset and we piled back into the van and drove.....across the street. Our viewing area for the evening was just off of Saddle Road with headlights from motorists shining into your face and lights from the bathroom at the park also providing nuisance lighting. Not at one point during this tour did I feel that I was on Mauna Kea or had climbed Mauna Kea. I know the actual location is on the slopes of Mauna Kea, but at less than half the.elevation and right next to Saddle Road you never felt that you were "on" the mountain if that makes any sense.
At this point, the guide then began to setup the telescope. He pointed out some planets, constellations and stars with the laser pointer. The telescope was a complete and total letdown. All the bluster on their website about how great it is and you will see galaxies ane nebulas....Looking through the eyepiece I could see a slightly larger version of what I could see with the naked eye. Someone else wrote a review saying it was about the same magnification you could achieve with a good pair of binoculars. I totally agree. What we were told was a galaxy was a star with a glow around it. After this my kids totally lost interest.
To make matters worse there was always some cloud cover throughout the evening. For the price we paid one would expect every attempt would be made to obtain a cloud free viewing, like maybe moving to higher elevation? This was not done or even hinted at.
Regarding the solar telescope, I would guess that you will have a very low chance of being able to experience this since you must have no cloud interference. The guide indicated that the clouds begin to dissipate...after sunset. So you do the math on that one.
We were then served the equivalent of Swiss Miss hot chocolate in a small paper cup and that wrapped up the evening. Note: we were not offered Kona coffee as a choice as the website indicated.
The entire viewing experience lasted about 1.5 hours and we dedicated over 6 hours of our precious time in HI between pickup and drop-off to this tour. For the last 20 to 30 minutes of the viewing time, my kids and the other party of six were so bored they were back in the van being entertained by my kids telling them stories about their friends and which YouTube videos they think are funny. My wife and I were the only ones who viewed for the entire time determined to extract any possible value we could from the tour.
Our guide was a nice guy but was not an expert in astronomy and admitted to looking up some of the knowledge from the internet. He is a college student studying marine sciences. There were two other vans from the same company that we met at the park and shared the viewing area together and he basically admitted they were more knowledgeable than him. I listened to some of their discussions and can confirm this. I certainly did not get the sense that any of the guides from this company designed the telescope or whatever claim they make on the website.
Overall this was a completely waste of money and more importantly time in Hawaii. I cannot recommend this tour to anyone and would advise you to just go to the beach with your family and keep your ONE THOUSAND hard earned dollars in your pocket. If you really have the itch to look at stars just drive to the same spot I told you about and park next to them and keep your money. Or better yet..drive to the Mauna Kea visitor center at 8000 ft and actually be above the clouds.
Final thoughts: My wife and I are from Michigan and remarked to each other that we have seen WAY better stars, I mean stars that will knock your socks off, in Northern Michigan in the summer. Am I saying MI stars are better than HI? No. But what I saw with partial cloud cover the whole time did not beat what I have seen in Michigan. Secondly, my 11 year old noticed as we walked into our rental near the beach that the stars were better here than where the tour took us.
I am just heartbroken from this experience as I had been looking forward to it for 5 months with the expectation that it would be one of the highlights of our trip. I guess I should have done more research. Do not make the same mistake!!!! Do not book this and cancel if you already have...you still have time.
We booked this back in January for our Hawaii trip in July. We paid approximately 1100 USD for our family of 4. We are traveling with two kids aged 8 and 11 so we knew that we would not be going to the summit from the outset.
We were picked up at 3:50 pm near Mauna Lani. Then drove 35 to 40 minutes to Kona to pick up the other six members of the party. We then went to Kona Harbor for dinner and honestly what we were served was probably 15 dollars per meal. Basic fish and chips and hamburgers. The price covers a soft drink but not even a single alcoholic drink for the adults. You are on your own nickel for that. We then began our drive to what we thought was Mauna Kea.
On the way the tour guide told us we would be going to an elevation of about 8000 ft for viewing and that we would not be going to the summit because access is limited to companies with permits (apparentlu they do not have one) and there were children in the party. This was expected. He then also teased the possibility of viewing through the solar telescope to see solar flares.
After about 50 minutes of driving, we pulled into a park just off of Saddle Road, which based on Google searching later that evening is "Gilbert Kahele Recreation Area." I checked my phone, the elevation was 6300 ft, leas than half of the total elevation of Mauna Kea. We then waited at a playground for 45 min to an hour for the sun to go down. The guide made it seem like they were eyeing cloud conditions during this time like we could move to higher elevation if need be.
Eventually the clouds did begin to clear after sunset and we piled back into the van and drove.....across the street. Our viewing area for the evening was just off of Saddle Road with headlights from motorists shining into your face and lights from the bathroom at the park also providing nuisance lighting. Not at one point during this tour did I feel that I was on Mauna Kea or had climbed Mauna Kea. I know the actual location is on the slopes of Mauna Kea, but at less than half the.elevation and right next to Saddle Road you never felt that you were "on" the mountain if that makes any sense.
At this point, the guide then began to setup the telescope. He pointed out some planets, constellations and stars with the laser pointer. The telescope was a complete and total letdown. All the bluster on their website about how great it is and you will see galaxies ane nebulas....Looking through the eyepiece I could see a slightly larger version of what I could see with the naked eye. Someone else wrote a review saying it was about the same magnification you could achieve with a good pair of binoculars. I totally agree. What we were told was a galaxy was a star with a glow around it. After this my kids totally lost interest.
To make matters worse there was always some cloud cover throughout the evening. For the price we paid one would expect every attempt would be made to obtain a cloud free viewing, like maybe moving to higher elevation? This was not done or even hinted at.
Regarding the solar telescope, I would guess that you will have a very low chance of being able to experience this since you must have no cloud interference. The guide indicated that the clouds begin to dissipate...after sunset. So you do the math on that one.
We were then served the equivalent of Swiss Miss hot chocolate in a small paper cup and that wrapped up the evening. Note: we were not offered Kona coffee as a choice as the website indicated.
The entire viewing experience lasted about 1.5 hours and we dedicated over 6 hours of our precious time in HI between pickup and drop-off to this tour. For the last 20 to 30 minutes of the viewing time, my kids and the other party of six were so bored they were back in the van being entertained by my kids telling them stories about their friends and which YouTube videos they think are funny. My wife and I were the only ones who viewed for the entire time determined to extract any possible value we could from the tour.
Our guide was a nice guy but was not an expert in astronomy and admitted to looking up some of the knowledge from the internet. He is a college student studying marine sciences. There were two other vans from the same company that we met at the park and shared the viewing area together and he basically admitted they were more knowledgeable than him. I listened to some of their discussions and can confirm this. I certainly did not get the sense that any of the guides from this company designed the telescope or whatever claim they make on the website.
Overall this was a completely waste of money and more importantly time in Hawaii. I cannot recommend this tour to anyone and would advise you to just go to the beach with your family and keep your ONE THOUSAND hard earned dollars in your pocket. If you really have the itch to look at stars just drive to the same spot I told you about and park next to them and keep your money. Or better yet..drive to the Mauna Kea visitor center at 8000 ft and actually be above the clouds.
Final thoughts: My wife and I are from Michigan and remarked to each other that we have seen WAY better stars, I mean stars that will knock your socks off, in Northern Michigan in the summer. Am I saying MI stars are better than HI? No. But what I saw with partial cloud cover the whole time did not beat what I have seen in Michigan. Secondly, my 11 year old noticed as we walked into our rental near the beach that the stars were better here than where the tour took us.
I am just heartbroken from this experience as I had been looking forward to it for 5 months with the expectation that it would be one of the highlights of our trip. I guess I should have done more research. Do not make the same mistake!!!! Do not book this and cancel if you already have...you still have time.
Geschreven op 10 juli 2023
Deze beoordeling is de subjectieve mening van een Tripadvisor-lid en niet de mening van Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor voert controles uit op beoordelingen.
Angelica M
1 bijdrage
mei 2023 • Vrienden
Diego was super nice, and I feel bad for giving a bad review as he was great, but this tour was just not what we expected. We were hoping to go higher on the mountain, have more telescopes to look through, and have a bigger dinner experience. This tour was probably more worth $100 or less not the price we paid..
Geschreven op 15 mei 2023
Deze beoordeling is de subjectieve mening van een Tripadvisor-lid en niet de mening van Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor voert controles uit op beoordelingen.
Jane
Baltimore, MD8 bijdragen
This was the most frustrating, disappointing, and complete waste of $479.00 for my husband and me. Six hours, terrible food and no stars to be seen. We had to sit in the van for one hour and 45 minutes to pick up other people from hotels and then finally arrived at what was supposed to be a restaurant with dinner. It turned out to be a Small dump/dive like place with a very haphazard service that someone shouldn’t even have to pay five dollars for. The service was haphazard at best. Everyone at our table had finished eating before my husband even got his food. The portions were child size it was disgusting. To top it all off we drove to a parking lot stood outside and saw absolutely no stars we then drove to another parking area and saw no stores all of this for $479 is extremely disappointing to say the least I would never recommend this experience to anyone because it was a horrible waste of time on one of her precious days in Hawaii.
Geschreven op 20 september 2022
Deze beoordeling is de subjectieve mening van een Tripadvisor-lid en niet de mening van Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor voert controles uit op beoordelingen.
Toni H
Sydney, Australië99 bijdragen
We booked this tour via a local (Kona) tour agency based on their recommendation after I told them we were interested in doing a Mauna Kea summit tour. At the start of the tour though, our guide Marcus outlined the itinerary for the evening and it soon became clear that we would not be going up to the summit. Even more disappointing, we barely left Saddle Road, and could have done this drive easily ourselves.
While this could easily be viewed as a problem with the booking agency, I am mentioning it in this review as there was at least one other couple in our group who were similarly disappointed with the tour not going to the summit after booking through a different booking agent and expressing the same requirements. The fact that two agents don’t seem to know enough about this tour to sell it correctly points to an issue with the company not accurately describing the tour to those who are supposed to be selling on their behalf.
Marcus, our guide, did a great job with narrating the evening and was an excellent host. No complaints there, but the so-called dinner was another huge disappointment. For the price we paid for the tour as a whole, the dinner was completely underwhelming. The “garlic prawns” were simply 4 small prawns and a cup of white rice. Honestly, we’ve had better catering provided on the snorkelling tours we’ve done, and those tours are less than half the price of this one.
All in all we certainly wouldn’t recommend this trip to anyone - if it were to provide value for money I’d be expecting an improved quality dinner, some seating around the telescope so that we can view the stars more comfortably, a quality photo or two of us against the stars (not just an offer to take photos with our own camera against the sunset) and at least an attempt to take us some way up the summit road, for better viewing of the sky. As it was the tour did not represent value for money at all.
While this could easily be viewed as a problem with the booking agency, I am mentioning it in this review as there was at least one other couple in our group who were similarly disappointed with the tour not going to the summit after booking through a different booking agent and expressing the same requirements. The fact that two agents don’t seem to know enough about this tour to sell it correctly points to an issue with the company not accurately describing the tour to those who are supposed to be selling on their behalf.
Marcus, our guide, did a great job with narrating the evening and was an excellent host. No complaints there, but the so-called dinner was another huge disappointment. For the price we paid for the tour as a whole, the dinner was completely underwhelming. The “garlic prawns” were simply 4 small prawns and a cup of white rice. Honestly, we’ve had better catering provided on the snorkelling tours we’ve done, and those tours are less than half the price of this one.
All in all we certainly wouldn’t recommend this trip to anyone - if it were to provide value for money I’d be expecting an improved quality dinner, some seating around the telescope so that we can view the stars more comfortably, a quality photo or two of us against the stars (not just an offer to take photos with our own camera against the sunset) and at least an attempt to take us some way up the summit road, for better viewing of the sky. As it was the tour did not represent value for money at all.
Geschreven op 22 juli 2022
Deze beoordeling is de subjectieve mening van een Tripadvisor-lid en niet de mening van Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor voert controles uit op beoordelingen.
Chris
1 bijdrage
mei 2022 • Stellen
So I’ll start off by saying our tour guide Adam was FANTASTIC! Very knowledgeable and has some fire hot sauce! I was disappointed that we didn’t see many stars. The moon was bright and beautiful but also made a lot of light pollution therefore more difficult to see stars. Also thought we would be going to the actual observatory on the summit of Mauna Key based on the photo and description but we went about 1/2 way up. Overall a bit underwhelming for the money paid.
Geschreven op 16 mei 2022
Deze beoordeling is de subjectieve mening van een Tripadvisor-lid en niet de mening van Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor voert controles uit op beoordelingen.
tallbuck
Ballwin, MO55 bijdragen
This was a poor experience from the get-go. I called several days ahead to verify something and found out they didn't have a contact number for me. I had registered online. We had to give our meal request three times. We were sent standard liability releases online, but had to re-sign it on paper to board the van. Of the 7 hours of the event, we were in the van 5 of them.
Adam, our driver, had many interesting stories, but few of them related to astronomy. Most were general Hawaiian history or culture that are staples of other tours.
We knew this tour would not go to the summit, but we topped out lower than expected - under 7000 feet, he guessed. And we parked very close to an Army base, from which we got to listen to helicopter flights and live fire artillery practice!
For all the talk of providing parkas for us, it was in the mid 50s and I would have been comfortable in just a sweatshirt I brought along.
The star views were a bust. The brightness of the moon made seeing the Milky Way impossible. There were no planets. Clouds blotted out stars for a time. None of these things were the fault of Kapohokine, but they contributed to a bust of a night.
Adam wasn't very informative about astronomy. He would use an app on his phone to identify constellations, but they didn't always match up with his narrative.
This was just a poorly executed trip.
Adam, our driver, had many interesting stories, but few of them related to astronomy. Most were general Hawaiian history or culture that are staples of other tours.
We knew this tour would not go to the summit, but we topped out lower than expected - under 7000 feet, he guessed. And we parked very close to an Army base, from which we got to listen to helicopter flights and live fire artillery practice!
For all the talk of providing parkas for us, it was in the mid 50s and I would have been comfortable in just a sweatshirt I brought along.
The star views were a bust. The brightness of the moon made seeing the Milky Way impossible. There were no planets. Clouds blotted out stars for a time. None of these things were the fault of Kapohokine, but they contributed to a bust of a night.
Adam wasn't very informative about astronomy. He would use an app on his phone to identify constellations, but they didn't always match up with his narrative.
This was just a poorly executed trip.
Geschreven op 15 mei 2022
Deze beoordeling is de subjectieve mening van een Tripadvisor-lid en niet de mening van Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor voert controles uit op beoordelingen.
Miller O
Chihuahua, Mexico11 bijdragen
We had an amazing experience even though the clouds tried to affect visibility. Our guide Marcus did his best moving us from one site to another and also getting us there in time for sunset. He was very knowledgeable and more than happy to answer our questions. Even though it got pretty cold he was happy to stay as long as it took for everyone to get a view of the different planets and stars.
Geschreven op 4 januari 2022
Deze beoordeling is de subjectieve mening van een Tripadvisor-lid en niet de mening van Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor voert controles uit op beoordelingen.
babs
Maui, Hawaï2 bijdragen
Marcus, our guide, made our experience educational and most enjoyable. The telescope was very nice and he was patient and made sure everyone got to see everything. I especially liked his laser pointing out the constellations. We had a small moon and that made the sky dark for excellent viewing. His insights into Hawaiian culture were enlightening and respectful.
Geschreven op 11 november 2021
Deze beoordeling is de subjectieve mening van een Tripadvisor-lid en niet de mening van Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor voert controles uit op beoordelingen.
VolcanoLover9
Wellington, Nieuw-Zeeland17 bijdragen
Does this tour take you to the summit of MaunaKea or just to the visitor centre?
anthonyhage8901
3 bijdragen
At the time we took the tour there were protests by locals which prevented us from going to the summit. Contact the tour operator to find out if the summit is open now.
Vanessa
Berlijn, Duitsland
Der Mauna Kea scheint blockiert zu sein durch Proteste. Ist dies eine falsche Information und man kommt trotzdem hoch?
